A glimmer of DI

Reading Steve's post from a few days ago was encouraging because I can relate to the frustrations he has and which the other pds interns working in urban middle schools probably have as well. It seems like these schools are stuck in a system where the students are not given any responsibility for or ownership of their own learning. In my classroom, the lessons are very straightforward and barely ever feature variety. The kids are bored and it's very easy to see, even for someone like me who has spent very little time in a school. Reading through the book on Diferentiated Instruction (DI) last week was very enlightening. The book didn't answer all of my questions about DI, but it did give me a good introduction to the topic and I started to think about it as I observed my co-op's lessons. While I was reading DI in the English Classroom, I thought, "wow, this is so not part of my experience in the classroom right now. The only variation in lessons that I've seen so far have been helper note-sheets that aid students in taking notes on the days lesson. Kids with that specific IEP need are given those helper sheets, but other than that, the lesson and the assignments are pretty much the same for all students, and there's little student choice in assignments.

The other day, though, in an intensive english section, I saw one student who had finished the assigned book early and had been given the next one in the series to start. The students are learning about elements of plot and this student was allowed to use the new book for the classwork on plot. I thought that that was pretty cool. Since she was reading ahead and really seemed to be into the book, she wasn't held back by the students that just wanted to goof off.

I see DI as being both a blessing and a curse (like most things). DI is necessary because in any classroom there are students at a variety of different academic levels. Some students are more motivated than others, or are at a higher or lower reading level. Some students love to write and others need a little bit of encouragement. The principles and strategies of DI help the teacher to serve the needs of all these different students. The tough thing for me, I suppose, is that it is really difficult to figure out how to design a DI lesson plan. It seems very complicated and even after reading the book on DI I feel pretty lost. I suppose I just need to wade through it for now and hope that I can get a grasp on it by the time I'm done with these lesson plans.

Question: Classroom Management.

Okay so I know we've sort of talked about this before, but I'm bringing it up again because I'm still at a loss.

What classroom management techniques are working for you? We've tried a bunch of things and there are just some kids that will not stop acting out, talking, bouncing, etc. So I wanted to see what has been working for you all. Any good suggestions I can try out in my room??

We are a cohort, and I figured I would try to gain what I can from your experiences as well as mine. Thanks.

We got this.

I know this blog is more about our teaching and experiences in the schools, but I feel compelled to say something (hold your breath :) to I guess... I dunno... encourage us. Maybe.

All of us (or everyone I've spoken to in the PDS program) are frustrated by something involved with this experience. Whether it's the RPG's or the blue sheets, our co-ops or the seemingly endless amount of class work we have to do, we all feel like we're fighting an uphill battle.

It's been a rough semester for me too, for a ton of reasons it wouldn't make sense or be appropriate to go into on a classroom blog, and there have been mornings I've laid in bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering what the point was in even going in to my school that day. I feel like I don't have a ton to offer, like I'm spinning my wheels sometimes. For the first time in my academic life, I have missed due dates, done assignments at 2am, Sparknoted books instead of read them, skipped sleep for days at a time, and questioned the worth of it all. I have been, in a lot of ways, a terrible student. But I know it's turning me into a better teacher. Maybe that doesn't make a ton of sense. I know we need to learn to be both- to balance, and to work hard as anything (and we all are) now for a future pay-off. When I'm in the classroom, or really involved in making a lesson, I'm going to choose to do that instead of my reading. I just am. I try to get everything done the best that I can while maintaining my sanity, but if I need to miss a chapter of a book so that I can make an amazing, engaging lesson, then I'm going to choose that. Every time.

I guess my point is, it's important that we're striving, always, to do the best we can in all areas. At the end of the day, however, it comes down to how we live out what we read and what inspires us in our classrooms. We can sit all day talking about these concepts or we can put them into practice. We're working together, struggling through these issues, laughing over coffee, commiserating and celebrating, and all in the name of something greater that's going to come from this period of uncertainty. I'm not saying we're going to have it all figured out by the end of the year - we won't. But we are working through our frustrations to achieve some greater end - maybe we don't know exactly the form that's going to come in, but it will come. We've seen glimmers of it already - I know this because I read all of your blogs - and it moves us (even for just a second) forward.

I guess this post came from hearing/reading people's frustrations and anxieties and feeling the weight of my own. Maybe it wasn't helpful. There's a fair chance I just rambled on to no good end, but basically, what I'm trying to say is... if you can avoid it, try not to grow weary of the good work you're doing. It feels slow and cumbersome, overwhelming and aggravating, but the end will justify the means.

Stay golden, PDS. We got this.

DI Conversation

When you get the chance, read the debate over Differentiated Instruction that is occurring on the New York Times. You'll see how educators view it in a range of ways.http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/10/02/are-top-students-getting-short-shrift

Type I Kids

Drive's article on Type I Kids was intriguing. I think it's obviously a great idea to rather have kids engaged than compliant.

I definitely think that the three main questions for creating engaging homework is the easiest way to engage in Type I learning for students.  We always learn about not teaching to the standardized test, or not teaching "because it's going to be on the exam on friday."  This article complies (no pun intended) with that learning theory.  I think it is important for teachers to make their assignments fit the real world and actively explain to students the importance of what they're learning and creating.

As a compliant student myself, it was interesting for me to come to the realization that grades can easily become a reward for compliance and I feel as though that is a problem almost every teacher and school faces.  If we do not explain to students the importance of their learning, they become focused on getting good grades and pleasing teachers and parents.  The DIY rubric is a great idea, especially since we've been on the receiving end of that idea in Tim's class - specifically teaching writing.

Finally, I think the tips for giving praise are important for all teachers to remember so that praise does not result in compliance.

Oops

So, apparently I was dropping the ball with my participation in this blog. While I could go into a long diatribe(I've always wanted to use this word. I wonder if I just used it correctly) about how all of these blogs are driving me bat-shit, I won't. Although, an argument could be made that I just did since I hinted at the idea that I want to. It's kind of like one of my favorite sayings, which is:
"I'm not saying.. but I'm just saying."
My wife hates this line. But I think it holds water.

Anyway, I don't really have much to say right now other than when everyone talks about what they are doing with their students, I am always left wondering why my kids are left in the dark. To be honest, it really pisses me off. My kids have broken computers. They have to be walked to and from lunch. They are told to write vocab words 20 times each. They are given bathrooms that reek of something unimaginable. Some of their textbooks are over 20 years old. And they are tested out the ass about things that aren't even covered. Worst of all, the temporary principal that is there sees all of this and is starting the wheels of change (he is a good man) but can't even guarantee that he will be there at the end of the school year.

Ugh.

Anyway, be happy about where you are and the tools that you have. My happiness comes from merely seeing my students show up in a system set up to crush them.

DI

I have been working on developing differentiated instruction for a unit on The Great Gatsby. Also, my co-op and I are discussing how we might add DI into our upcoming unit on The Catcher in the Rye. Our plan is to provide students with options for their assessment while having them focus on answering one prompt related to the text. In other words, students can pick from a list of project ideas and work to answer an overarching question through their selected project. At the moment our assignment possibilites are divided into categories: Visual (advertisement, collage, video), Auditory (speech, debate, lecture, round table discussion, news broadcast, music), Written (essay, story, poetry, letter, blog), and Kinesthetic (role play, dramatization, experiment). They are broken up this way in hopes of appealing to the multiple intelligences. It's exciting to see the foundation of DI focused unit develop. In addition to this final assessment, we will be assessing their knowledge of vocab throughout the unit and will be using either reading check quizzes, study guide checks, or reader response journals for formative assessments.
Any ideas for how to creatively assess the students throughout the unit? I personally think the implementation of reading journals (if done creatively) could be beneficial to the students but i'm hesitant about how to get the kids excited about it. They are used to reading check quizzes and study guides (most of which either don't prepare for or don't bother filling out). I want to try to get the students more involved with the text as they go through the unit, any ideas?

Unit Plan

While working on the unit plan Dallas and I are creating for "The Great Gatsby" on identity, I can't help but think about my own identity in front of the classroom. One of our "big ideas" is the idea of perception vs. reality or, how people see you versus how you see yourself. Then there's the added factor of how you try to come off vs. how you actually appear. I think my biggest challenge with teaching is going to be relating to the students on a professional level. I mean, I'm not completely helpless (I obviously know to keep the glaringly obvious boundaries between us...) but I struggle with that delicate line where friendly meets professional. By nature, I have a pretty laid back personality. I like the freedom to be laid back with people, and I like when people are laid back with me. I'm a bit concerned about how this transfers to my position in front of the classroom. I have noticed with myself (my co-op agrees) that I tend to be too laid back, but I'm not sure how to fix it. I mean it's nothing awful. I don't curse in front of them or talk about my personal life or anything ridiculus like that. It's more subtle. The way I talk or carry myself. I guess I don't see myself as some big, important person who knows so much more about life than they do. Honestly, I don't want to come off that way, either. I think coming off as thinking I'm superior to them is the wrong approach and closes doors that need to be open for great discussion and collaboration. That being said, I know there is a need there for at least some barrier in conversation and interaction that puts me at a different "level." Any suggestions as to how to create this without coming off as elitist or cutting off open communication?

Epiphany-ish

For the past two weeks, I have been leading book discussions in class on text the students should have read (were assigned) for that day. They were going well, but it was basically the same four or five people in each class participating and leading the discussions and honestly, the quiz grades (my co-op does reading quizzes) were weak at best. So then I decided to show a video clip from one of my favorite shows that discusses tragic flaws. It was the first time one of my students, Frank, took his head of off his desk the entire year. After the video, we discussed tragic heroes in pop culture and Frank (who had never talked before - save for inappropriate comments) basically lead the whole discussion. The quiz the next day (designed by my co-op, but using the material I taught them) went amazingly. Almost everyone got an A. It felt like a break-through, and it proved to me that engaging the students - ALL the students - in content that they see in the world around them really does change everything. Just a thought.

Book Trailers

I've been thinking a lot about alternatives to the "stand in front of the class and present" projects, and was wondering if anybody had any experience with creating story/book trailers. I think the kids would have fun with this and it could replace the traditional book report. I've also been thinking about using it at the end of the month so students a couple of students can share a book they read on their own.

Any thoughts and/or websites that I could look at for examples? Also, any other ways I could use this? Thanks!

"Well that sounds good in theory..."

I am continually amazed by the belief that philosophies of education can be sound in theory but no in practice. I suppose there are some instances where this comes into play, but for the most part I see this school of thought as the biggest cop out among teachers. It's as if they've stumbled upon this great loop hole that allows them to keep doing things the wrong way. Be it out of habit, laziness, fear or stubbornness, I see this happening all the time. Take my co-op for instance; he's a great guy and his heart really is in the right place in a lot of ways, but his famous line since day one has been "that sounds good, but I don't think eighth graders can handle that." Whether he believes that or not, he uses that line regarding writing/reading workshops, writers notebooks, discussions and so many other tactics that I would not dream of keeping out of my classroom. My big thing has been quizzes. Everything they do is quizzed. They read a short story, they get a study guide, they go over the answers for a couple days, then they take a quiz that pretty much mirrors that study guide. There is just no critical thinking and no real life connections. It's all plot summary and author facts. So for my RPG i asked if i could run a class discussion about The Hunger Games, a book that the students are literally eating up. Almost 3/4 of the kids finished before the lesson plans called for it and of those kids I'd say over 1/2 are already reading the second. It's sooooooo awesome to watch these kids absolutely lose themselves in a book. Yet despite all this passion the only thing they do with it is quizes and worksheets. So what i did was Friday I set the desks up in a circle. Each person received an article as they entered the class on the topic of reality TV and culture (there were three different articles ranging in viewpoint dispersed through the class). Finally I shared the lyrics of the song "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons because the themes in the song, as well as the title, are major themes in the book. And 40 minutes we talked. Naturally because they were new to this I had to lead them more than I was used too, but they were into it. They loved uncovering the fact that just as the government in the book shows people only what they want them to see, the reality shows they watch weekly do the same. We also talked a lot about identity and how, much like characters in the book and on survivor act differently on the show and create false identities based upon perceptions, we too act differently depending on our surroundings. They got it, and they loved it. Every discussion was different, and unique to that class, yet all were on point and all of them were interrupted by the bell, leaving hands in the air and kids saying "awww I had something to say."

Here's why this was awesome. Just like characters in The Hunger Games and Reality TV shows become victims of their surroundings, I can sometimes feel myself being pulled one way or another because of the climate I see in the schools. A lot of teachers have this notion that kids can only handle a certain level of thinking, so "why bother pushing them?" And when your around that so much you kind of forget how important all these "idealistic" philosophies are that we talk about at Millersville. Friday I saw a lot of light bulbs going on above students head. They all love the book, but now they get it on a whole new level. They understand why were teaching it and how it effects their life, and thats powerful stuff. I needed to see that. To be reminded that the theories we discuss in class are so much better in practice. I don't think the atmosphere in schools is ever truly going to change, which means the pressure is always going to be on to take the easy way out; however, if 75 8th graders can have an organized discussion over social connections to The Hunger Games, then we have more than theory, we have pedagogy.

Attempt at differentiating foiled by students

On Friday I taught a lesson in the humanities class using segments from the book, The Overachievers. I copied sections from Frank, Julie and CJ and gave a different part to each student. The students read them individually and then met in small groups depending upon which character they had. I made discussion questions for the class based on the current humanities' theme, "conflict." After small group discussion, everyone participated in a whole class discussion. The discussion went so well that my co-op asked me to teach the same lesson to our 11th grade tech section.

We decided to make some changes prior to teaching the lesson: I shortened the reading, made a handout with more specific discussion questions, and we went through the class list and assigned parts based on reading ability. Some of the students in the class read at a very high level, while others are consistently scoring below basic and really struggling to complete assignments in the class. When the students entered the classroom, my co-op handed them a packet to read based on our assessments of their reading ability. After everyone read silently for thirty minutes, they broke into their small groups. As my co-op and I walked around the classroom, we noticed that the groups were not what we had arranged. The students had switched packets so that they could be with their friends!

Unfortunately, many of the students became frustrated because the reading was too difficult or too long for their skill level. I was pretty frustrated too because we had made an effort to differentiate the assignment so that everyone would only be stretched a little, not completely out of their comfort zone. The discussion groups didn't work out well because the students that were frustrated and didn't understand the reading started to distract the other students, and pretty soon everyone was off task.

At the end of the day, my co-op and I processed the differences between the humanities section and the 11th grade tech section; we both ended up feeling disappointed with the way the activity turned out in the 11th grade class. I'm not sure how to structure this activity differently so that it is more appealing to the 11th grade section...I'm going to keep thinking about it because I know those kids like reading nonfiction texts about teens, so this should be something that interest them.

Getting There One Step at a Time!

It continues to amaze me that I can use so much of what we learned last spring in ENGL 486 and 487 in my current classroom. This week I dusted off my copy of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian to combine with The Light in the Forest. I used the split personality diagram in Diary to lead a discussion of the White/Native American characteristics as presented in the text of Light in the Forest. In order to see the importance of perspective, I drew an x/y axis with four quadrants: 1) White culture from white perspective; 2) White culture from Native American perspective; 3) Native American culture from Native American perspective; 4) Native American culture from white perspective. In a discussion format, students and I filled in the areas with topics ranging from religion to housing and clothing. Their prior complaints that they didn't understand the book faded away by the end of the period. To wrap it up, I handed out a blank split diagram with the outline of a frontier boy on one half and the outline of a Native American boy on the other half. The assignment was to fill in corresponding characteristics for homework. By the way, I did give a brief talk about True Diary at the beginning and had several students ask to borrow it at the end of class. One boy took it home and we will pass it along to the others. That was my coolest moment: having lights of understanding go on and having 7th graders ask to borrow my books!

To connect this scenario to our ENGL 488 work, my experience above relates to what Jeff Wilhelm and Bruce Novak are discussing in Book Club on English Companion Ning. One teacher wrote in asking how she could teach from the philosophical vantage that their book promotes "with her hands cuffed behind her back." She was referring to standardization and dictated "coverage." One of the authors answered her quoting Matthew Arnold, using a reference to throwing off the chains of repression. For those of us who cannot achieve that kind of complete liberation at the moment, we can create lessons that get us and our students closer to the free exploration of ideas and expression. I realize that I must take baby steps in my movement away from the "schoolish" toward the "toolish," to quote Jeff Wilhelm, but each time I do, the students' reaction makes me realize it was a rather big leap!

Motivation Idea

Hey All!!

Today, my honors section were visualizing and creating drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci.  They had to think about what they thought he looked like, based on what we've read in our novel and other background info we've studied about them.

I took it upon myself to tell the kids that if they really liked their drawing, I would take a picture of it on my iPad and post it on our class blog!  It worked pretty well.  I got six students who were willing to share, and they were super excited about their drawings going public.

Try it out sometime with something in your classroom!!

Run-on Sentences

So I am preparing a mini-lesson on run-on sentences and was wondering if anyone did one last semester. I have a few ideas that I'm bouncing around but haven't gotten any solid focus yet for how to engage the students effectively. I'm primarily teaching it to the College Prep students and each period has a number of rowdy kids that lose focus easily and need to be consistently redirected. Any ideas?

Gender Issues

I never realized how big of an issue gender can be when it comes to classroom teachers. When I was in middle and high school, it was just a minor detail whether my teacher was a man or a woman, but I am starting to realize that isn't always the case. I've heard my co-op say on several occasions that she thought that some of the issues we've been having are due to the fact that she is a woman, but I wasn't sure. There were always other variables.

But today I really saw how big of a difference gender can make.

My homeroom had a UA class first period. After they came back one of the students kept repeating something about the teacher from that class. My co-op took him into the hallway and he apparently broke down crying because of something that happened in that class. Strangely enough, my co-op has done similar things in our class, but the student has not reacted this way at all, actually he has acted quite the opposite.

When I spoke with my co-op about it later she pulled the gender card again. It was then that it hit me how big of a difference it can play. From what I've seen so far, students behave and respond better to a male teacher, but they become more attached and feel safer in the female teacher's class. This particular student has asked on several occasions to stay behind with us instead of going to other class periods.

I will be interested to see if my theory on this matter remains the same throughout the rest of the year. Any thoughts/experiences?

The Hunger Games Unit Plan

Hey guys!
As Spencer and I create our unit plan for The Hunger Games, I was just wondering how many of you have actually read The Hunger Games? I think it would be super cool to include sort of a real life Hunger Games in the classroom. Of course, I'm not going to have my students kill each other off, like they do in The Hunger Games haha, but I do want to have some sort of on going game throughout the unit. There are 12 districts in the book, and 2 people from each district get selected for the Hunger Games. I have 24 students in each of my classes, so I thought it would be really cool for 2 students to represent a district. For those of you that have read the book: any ideas on how to create this? I really want to have a focus on the government's role in the book and social justice...thoughts?
Liz

English Companion Ning

Soooo, if you haven't started a conversation on the English Companion Ning, i highly suggest you do.

The teachers on there are ridiculously helpful and more than willing to give suggestions for help with our Unit plans...i even had two different teachers upload their worksheets/documents/ideas that they use for me to steal and integrate. 

It's the easiest way i've found to find other teachers' good ideas and steal them for your own use...which we all know is the only way of legal stealing :)

ECNing book club: Wilhelm's new book

So I guess Jeff Wilhelm came out with a new book called "Teaching Literacy for Love and Wisdom: Being the Book and Being the Change" and it will be the focus of the English Companion Ning's book club this week/month. Looks like it's some great discussion if anyone hasn't seen it yet! At the bottom of this link is where you can find the discussions: http://englishcompanion.ning.com/group/book-club-teaching-literacy

Slam Poetry

I hope you're planning to participate in MU's second bi-annual Poetry Aloud! We will be teaming up with F&M's Writers House to bring an amazing evening. They will dedicate their Poetry Walk and introduce NYC Slam Poet Tyrek Greene.

Check out his performance on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWAek60HdLE

Louisa May Alcott

Hey Gang!
Here are some events sponsored by Etown College on Louisa May Alcott (author of Little Women and Little Men).

The Elizabethtown Public Library, with support from Elizabethtown College, has received an American Library Association/National Endowment for the Humanities grant and has organized fall 2011 programming on the theme “Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women.” Bethleen Bradford of EPL is the project director, and I am the lead scholar. The grant programming is structured around the award-winning documentary by Harriet Reisen and Nancy Porter, Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women (which has been shown on the PBS series American Masters). Ms. Reisen published a well-received biography of the same name. She will be speaking on the Etown campus in November.

You, your colleagues, and your students are cordially invited to these Alcott events. Please feel free to forward the e-mail and attachment.

· W/19 OCT.--Film screening: Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. Brinser Lecture Room in Steinman Hall (Alpha Drive), Elizabethtown College, 7:00 p.m. Parking available on College Ave. and Alpha Dr. and in the Leffler lot.

· SAT/29 OCT.--Jéan-Paul Benowitz, “Louisa May Alcott and the Civil War.” Elizabethtown Public Library Auditorium (lower level), 10:00 a.m. Free and open to the public.

· T/1 NOV. --Kimberly VanEsveld Adams and Meghan FitzGerald, “Gothic: Louisa May Alcott's Thrillers,” Brinser Lecture Room, Steinman Hall (Etown College), 3:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.

· TH/10 NOV.--Harriet Reisen, “Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women.” Leffler Chapel and Performing Arts Center, Etown College, 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Funded by an ALA/NEH grant with generous support from the Provost’s Office. Etown Public Library screenings of the documentary by Harriet Reisen and Nancy Porter, Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, to be announced.

· T/15 NOV.--Kimberly VanEsveld Adams, “Corsets, (Un)employment, Education: Louisa May Alcott and All Kinds of Reforms,” 7:45 p.m., Bucher Meeting House, Etown College. Free and open to the public.

Yours,

Kimberly VanEsveld Adams

Associate Professor of English

Women and Gender Studies Faculty

Elizabethtown College

Elizabethtown, PA 17022-2298

adamsk@etown.edu

Free audiobooks!

You guys NEED to check out the app called Audiobooks. I think there's a version that costs something, but there's a free version that has TONS of free audiobooks read by actual people. It has a bunch of Shakespeare's stuff, too. Well worth the download!

Do I care too much?

Ok, so I'm having issues. Who isn't, right? Ha.

I have numerous students that have behavioral issues. But I'm slowly uncovering unfortunate facts about their lives that are having extreme effects on these kids. One of my students approached the principal and expressed suicidal thoughts over feeling like everyone hates him. Now, if you saw this kid in the classroom, you would probably label him as a bully. He is always calling out and picking on other students. He wants everyone to hear his comments, and gets really frustrated when he is reprimanded. From this behavior, I would have never thought that he would be feeling so distressed inside. He writes inappropriate stories and tells the "goth" kids to kill themselves.

Aother student has completely stopped coming to school because he is "very sick". Well, we found out that he has actually stopped showing up because he is being picked on by other students. He came to the school district after being home schooled, so he is still learning how to act in a school setting. In a way, his actions make him a target (He created a Hitler mustache out of a post-it and wore it on his face for an entire day). I'm not saying that this is any reason to pickon him, but middle school kids are at an age when they feel the need to point out anything that seems strange.

I'm genuinely worried about these students. I know that, especially as a student teacher, it is not my place to do or say anythng. But the school is not doing anything about these problems. I understand that we have a lot of students that are dealing with issues like these, or much worse. But it's hard knowing these stories and feeling so powerlessnin the situation. I realize that there is nothing for me to do in this situation, and I think that is what is eating me so much.

It's one of those situations when I have to sit back and say nothing. I feel like I am just allowing the problem to persist.

Anybody else dealing with this?

The "Talking" Angry Bird

The more I'm in the classroom the more I realize that my co-op and I spend most of the day asking students to stop talking and/or telling them to stay on task. In a room full of 25 6th graders, it's easier said than done!

My co-op and I have the talking problem when it comes to class discussions because the students just want to talk and not listen. I proposed an idea with my co-op and we are going to try it for the first time on Friday -- the "talking" Angry Bird. The students LOVE Angry Birds (who am I kidding -- I'm addicted too!) so I bought a $5 small stuffed yellow Angry Bird. The idea is when there is a class discussion, students cannot talk unless they are holding the "talking" Angry Bird. Of course they will want to throw it at one another, so we'll obviously have to implement rules to go along with it, but I hope this will at least help with our problem! I will definitely let you all know how it goes because I'm very excited about this.

Another thing I think we're going to put into place to help with behavior/class work is a points system. I don't remember who brought this up in Tim's class, but I thought it was a great idea! I found a post in the Scholastic Community that explains a point system that has worked, so hopefully it's not too late to implement something like that in the classroom.

If anybody has any other "fun" classroom management ideas, I would love to hear them!

Something that's been on my mind...

Hey all!

So, I have a few things on my mind that I've been thinking about for the last couple of weeks. I guess by "things" I actually mean a few students who I'm constantly thinking about, worried about, planning for, etc. I'm sorry if this is just a jumbled mess, but I guess that kind of relates to what my mind looks like right now. I think I'll just list some of the students on my mind, and maybe you all can give me some advice about what you would do?

Student 1: This student is a 7th grade boy. He is constantly brought up during team meetings and is known as being disruptive, unmotivated, and distracting. He sits in class making noises, kicking other students underneath the table, doing absolutely no work, and talking back to the teacher. My co-op offered him a stress ball one day because she thought maybe that would help him to concentrate. He told the teacher "I'm not a freaking retard, I don't need one of those." My co-op and I were both super offended, and asked him to rephrase his sentence. At first it seemed like this student just wanted attention. However, when this student receives attention from any teacher, he begins to well up and looks like he is about to cry. My co-op e-mailed home, and his mother responded by saying that they were having similar problems at home at that "the teenage years have definitely hit." I tried changing this students seat; at first he didn't distract any other students anymore, but he still did not do his work. As time went on with the new seats, he became comfortable with his other classmates, and his old habits returned. One day, our class had to go to the auditorium for health screenings. The students were instructed to sit quietly and read their independent books during the screenings so that the doctors and nurses could hear the patients; this student decided to sit next to his friends and talk the whole time. My co-op asked the student to move seats. He talked back and once again decided to ignore instruction. I have found that this student responds very well to positive reinforcement. Anytime he is doing something on task, I make it a point to congratulate him, or thank him for his work. This helps him to stay focused, but the problem is finding something to thank him for. One activity that he did really well in was performing a play that the students had to create based off a short story the students read in class. Otherwise, I'm pretty stumped at how to help this student succeed? help??

Student 2- This "student" is actually a group of students. All 4-5 of these students are in the same class at all times during the day. It seemed as if the other teachers on the team were having more of a problem in the classroom with these students than my co-op and I were. I decided to follow the students around throughout the day. It seemed as though the students chose when and when they did not want to cooperate with the teachers. Before they entered the classroom they had already decided whether they did or did not want to learn that day. I heard them talking about specific teachers in the hallway before they even entered the classroom. If they said anything to me about a teacher, I informed them of how great they were at teaching and they should give them a chance! I guess my question for this is, how as a teacher do you address another teacher about a situation like this? As a student teacher, I don't really think it is my place right now to say anything, however, if a situation like this occurs in the future, what do you do?

I guess I'll stop for now, but thanks in advance for the advice!
Liz

sharing a success after a few weeks of thinking about it

My coop and I have very open dialogue in between and after classes. We dissect the way they reacted to lessons and materials and texts, authors themes, its almost too much sometimes. But two weeks ago now, i suggested to Mr. Karli that we do something to help students have empathy and objective understanding for people with values, beliefs, and political convictions other than their own, as I felt some of their discussions were too polarized in dichotomies and not enough common ground was being recognized. He loved the idea, and we continued to look through some of the texts on the syllabus through which we could enhance this idea and found a nonfiction text by Jack London called "What life means to me." This was perfect, and since my coop had not really done this sort of thing before he asked me right away if I would design a lesson.

It took a painstaking 4 hours to plan for one block's lesson but it was worth it:

I started out with a brief discussion on worldview, having post it notes of differing colors for the students to write down the best definition they could for "what is a worldview?"

Then, we proceeded to free write the following prompts based off of London's essay, "What life means to me?" and "What is the meaning of life?"

We opened up discussion as a class after the free writes and constructed the different factors that affect a person's worldview, i.e. race, citizenship, religious beliefs, upbringing, experiences, failures, culture, etc also using the student definitions to draw more of these sub-groups.

Next we discussed London's worldview, exposing the aspects from the text with our constructed sub-categories, finding he was a socialist, very poor, etc. leading to discussions that he may be justified in his views based on his life experiences, etc.

Finally, we broke into groups and had discussion questions to help support the essential questions, which were first seen in the free writes. The students each reported to one of the discussion questions and then students had the chance to elaborate or refute the group's response to the question. I planned for this to take approx. 20 minutes, and it ended up lasting an hour, as the students were extremely interested in fleshing out the discussion questions.

Finally, the next day, we debriefed by talking about our free-writes. Some students shared, others jet listened, but student engagement was there. I assigned them homework: a one page revision/reflection on one or both of their earlier free writes.

Now, having graded and responded to their revisions/reflections I feel I was successful in a small way, in helping them realize how they come to know and believe what they do and how others do the same thing in their lives, but in a different context. And that the strength of human bonds is found in the similarities to that experience, the compromise, the common ground.

PS- Mr. Karli used the same lesson plan I developed for his 12th graders, and assigned a larger paper, centered around finding 10 quotes that either directly support or refute the students personal worldview. They just handed it in today, so I am anxious to get to read some of their expanded essays!

Intense and humbling experience, and it wouldn't have been possible if Mr. Karli wasn't flexible and willing to hand me the reigns. It was invigorating and truly challenging to have to plan and execute an entire lesson already. It felt like a sink or swim moment, and I feel as though I was at least able to tread water!

Self-Assessment

As teachers in training, we often talk of inquiry, meaningful assessment and having the student own the learning. I now realize that my co-op teacher has been doing just that in her role as my mentor. I will use a class from this past Friday as an example: I had designed a "Reading Interest Survey" for a section of students who are beginning a reading enrichment program with me, which will last the rest of the school year. Prior to beginning the book Milkweed, I wanted to use a class period for building community, so I had them pair up at their tables to interview each other with the survey questions. The students were actively engaged, stayed on task and seemed to have fun with the activity. I said something in the introduction of the assignment about pretending they were television reporters conducting the interview and that they would get to present the person as a reporter. I did this having already discovered that seventh graders love to "ham it up!" They conducted the interviews with a level of enthusiasm that would suggest they really thought television cameras were going to roll into the classroom any minute. It all worked to my advantage, because my lesson was a success and all students were on task. Then something not so spectacular developed...as the students began to present their partners to the class, those in the "audience" were restless and chatty and the disruptions grew to a point of needing to be reigned in more than once. The talk about how privileged they were to be doing a very grown-up activity fell on deaf ears, so I resorted to the 5-4-3-2...in the big voice. It was a challenge to keep order after that and the final few minutes of class exhausted me.

My co-op did a brilliant thing afterwards; she asked, "What could you have done differently with the lesson, considering that in first block I lost control of the class by following an active participation enterprise with silent reading?" Not only did she challenge me to assess myself, she used an example of how she, herself, had created a similar situation earlier in the day. I began to understand that taking students from very active participation and asking them to do silent, individual work was not a good idea with this particular group of students. My co-op and I both decided that, in the future, each of us would have any quiet, individual work precede active group work. The reigning-in of the students just becomes too much of a power struggle, we agreed, and the quality of the active work gets lost. These nuances of good teaching might not be so obvious to me if my mentor did not ask me to look at and evaluate my successes and areas for improvement. For this, I am very grateful.

Engaged Learning Part II

I think that modeling is important in a classroom. However, I particularly like how VanDeWeghe explains it one step further as being more than just showing the students what to do. Allowing students to see the teacher's thought process and feelings about the task at hand bridges the gap between "impossible" (as so many of them think classwork can be) and possible (maybe even enjoyable). I also like how he points out that when, "we plan lessons with an eye toward modeling such habits, we teach ourselves as much as we teach our subjects (51)." By putting ourselves out there to our students, they are gaining insight of how to reason in their own heads. It goes back to making the material relatable to the students.

Furthermore, I enjoyed reading the section about "Engaging Silence." In all but one of my 6 classes, I can pick out at least 2 students that will raise their hands every time the class is prompted with a question. Before I finish asking the question, I look up and there are hands raised and the class is filled with "pick me!"s. This makes the discussion go faster, and it almost becomes difficult to catch up. Thus, I like the idea of maintaining some silence. I can tell them to put their hands down until I ask for responses, and this will open up the opportunity for other students to answer. The statistics supporting the method of engaging silence really blew me away. I would really like to try this to see how my students' responses differ from their normal quick answers.

Copying Tim's Refresh Refresh mini lesson

I used a mini lesson today that Tim did for us in Teaching Writing last year and it brought out tenderness from some of the tough, disruptive boys. I made overhead transparencies of the first several pages from the graphic novel and we talked about each frame, especially what could be "read" in facial expressions and inference. In particular, I spent a lingering time on the frame in which the father's hand is on the bus window and the son is on the outside touching his hand. When I got to the stopping spot at which the boys have said goodbye to the fathers and say that they want to make the fathers proud, I said Tim's line about writing a letter from the father to the sons about their idea of toughness defining manhood. Well, the most surprising boys wrote letters that contained messages of "toughness not being a man, but tenderness and feeling and not being afraid to cry." Really! I was blown away...and none of this came from the girls.

To be real, I did have to stop and regroup them at times as they got off task and chatty, so a 15 minute free-write took about 30 minutes.

We had a sub today

I'm sitting in the lobby of a building on campus trying to put myself in a better mood/attitude for my upcoming class. On Friday my coop spent most of the day getting the kids to respond to the sub the day before and prepare them for having a sub today. We had hoped that since I would be teaching today and the sub there for merely logistical reasons that the kids would respond better and have a better day than they did on Thursday. It didn't happen.

I tried several ways to get one of our sections to be on task and quiet. Nothing worked. We had that particular section for three periods in a row, and the only way we got them to work was that the sub called the office and requested that the principal come up because the kids were so loud and unresponsive that we didn't know what to do. I felt incompetent and a failure to the teaching profession. It was one of the hardest days I've had in my short time observing this profession. (I'm talking in all of my time observing ... Like the past 3 years included.)

How do you get kids to respond when they simply won't? They know me but because there was a sub in the room they went crazy and would not stay on track or do what they were expected to do. I'm entirely drained and wiped out and I have no idea how to make it better for next time. I had some fun activities planned for one of the periods but it took us almost two whole class periods to get through something that should have taken maybe a half an hour. I'm so discouraged.

Help??


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Engaged, Part 2

I really have to start posting my blogs before Claudia does, as she is always stealing my thunder. I also loved the exercise on page 94, but I haven't thought of anything that will go with it yet.

I guess I can kind of pat myself on the back for already doing some of this stuff in my classroom. I have already been modeling my writing to the students. However, I have yet to do it on the projection screen. I think that next time I will try to write it on Microsoft Word so that they can watch it on the big screen in class.

I also share in the frustrations of Kortny(phenomenal pic by the way.. is that some sort of springer spaniel? maybe a short-haired pointer?) in that I am constantly trying to get my students to push beyond their self-inflicted limitations. I am always hearing, "Mister, I am not that smart. I don't know." Then, when I push them, they get it right! I also have problems getting them to understand that at least putting forth some sort of effort is better than nothing.. even if their answer is way off. This takes me down another road that I could vent about though, and that is everything having to be graded... ugh.

The one thing that I didn't fully understand was the part about how repeating the students answers is a good thing. I have done this many times already in class, and my co-op says that this is a bad thing. So now, I am trying to make sure I don't do it. I am confused. Any help on this?

Getting students to write more "exploratory" essays is a good thing.... I just worry if they will think it's a productive task; though I suppose it is my job to make them see that.

Part II Engaged Learning

My marginalia throughout Part II of Engaged Learning speaks for itself; I will use this book heavily when planning my daily lesson for student teaching. As my district's Pacing Guide calls for me to teach non-fiction texts in the winter and early spring months, I will copy the
"before reading" exercise on page 94 and use Martin Luther King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" as text that we study and use as mentor text for a writing assignment. (Also page 102 T-Chart) I will also use this book's examples of actively letting students observe my thinking aloud about the beginnings of a piece I write in front of and with them. I'll model this process from "raw bones" and ask for their input as I flesh it out and revise. I know that this is the type of process that will get them sitting up in their seats and paying attention, because it won't seem boring to them and it says to them, "I value your opinion and input on this." I believe that will go a long way in establishing trust and good behavior when the full day is my stage.

As for questions, I will never again rely on the "safe" questions that I am guilty of reverting to on some days. You know, the kind of question that allows us to swoop in with the "correct" answer, at the last minute, if no hands go up! From now on I will work hard to formulate questions that cause the students to pause and think about their opinion or that will have them analyze a piece of information in a reshaped way. This will be more invigorating for me and for them.

Carmen's story with school reading was so similar to many students in my classes and I now feel better equipped to help them engage with heart, mind and flow. I'll report back on how this all works!

Engaged Learning: Part 2

First off, I just want to say that I will be using some of these English-focused ideas when it comes time to do RPG #3. I actually wish we would have read this before we had to do RPG #2 because some of the questioning strategies could have come in handy, but I guess that's just the learning process -- finding what works and what doesn't.

One thing Reynolds MS (and maybe SDoL as a whole) is really pushing is for teachers to model to the students. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little intimidated by this because I have a weird thinking-to-action process that few can follow! I also worry about this because not all students learn this way. While modeling is great, it's probably better for the visual learners more so than the verbal learners. I've watched some of the students when my co-op models and some of them are so lost you can actually see the point when they tune out and stop listening! I've been brainstorming about how I could model a little differently than my co-op so that the students would not only be engaged, but would also understand.

I agree completely with the idea that students beat themselves up when they get a bad grade or don't understand something. This is difficult because I found several of my students won't even try if they don't think it will be right! Case in point: a student refused to answer two questions on his test, and he literally wrote, "I refuse to answer these two questions.' When asked about it, he said he just didn't understand and knew whatever he was going to put down was going to be wrong, so he didn't see the point in trying. I think it is important to acknowledge student's actions and help them positively create sort of learning identity.

I love, love, love the concept of repeating a student's answer back to them (uptake). I actually did this without realizing it when I was putting together my RPG 2 video. The interesting thing is when the student heard their response coming from my mouth, they immediately wanted to change it because they knew they didn't clarify it completely!

I can see myself using the hybrid and exploratory essays with the 6th graders. I despise structured, rigid essays because I often feel like I'm saying what someone else wants me to say and there is no room for my personal expression. If I'm reading this correctly, exploratory writing is more open to personal style and expression, but falls in with the essay because the students must have done their reading/studying in order to do it. My favorite example is asking the students, If you were a character in The Great Gatsby, would you have admired Gatsby -- or not? Why? This is something I can see myself using when the students start working on their research papers towards the second half of the year (my co-op is not a fan of teaching writing so she told me I would be more or less taking over those lessons!). This will also come in handy for our poetry unit because I could ask the students to write a poem about a concept they learned in their Social Studies class.

There is a lot more I want to touch on from this reading, but I don't want to get too lengthy! As a final note, I realized that I tend to do a lot of these engaging activities already, but there is so much room for me to improve that I'm not really sure where to start!

NYT article

Just some food for thought centered around assessment. We've been talking about this type of thing a lot in PDS so I thought I'd share.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/us/assessments-of-chicago-schools-are-flawed-report-says.html?_r=1&ref=education