I am human, I make mistakes. I am not denying that. I am flawed and proud to admit it, however I am easily frustrated by those who claim to be educated but make ridiculous, egregious errors simply by a refusal to edit their own thoughts!
I am currently enrolled in a doctoral program. This summer my course is centered on writing, personal writing to be exact. Of course the themes delve much deeper into the reading and writing connection but the emphasis of the course description is writing to convey meaning. You would expect that the majority of the students enrolled in the course have some background in writing, or English Language Arts. You would ASSUME, but we all know what happens when you make assumptions don't we?
I can only imagine that these otherwise educated individuals, all of whom hold some type of advanced degree, have experience with the writing process and yet they fail to edit, a very vital step in the writing process. I am not talking about revising your thoughts for clarity. In fact, in the posts and blogging required I appreciate a little freedom to engage in stream of consciousness even if it can become confusing at times. What I am referring to, is the lack of editing. Checking over what you have read to be sure it was what you meant to say.
I have often been told by peers of other content areas that they hate presenting any writing to an English teacher for fear that it will be returned marked in red with comments out to the side for revisions. I have always felt this stereotype to be unfair. We are human and make mistakes and would surely overlook the mistakes made by others. In fact I have never minded being asked to edit, or answer questions about mechanical usage rules. I applaud them for doing so. But within this course, surrounded as I said, by fellow English Language Arts professionals and guided by a professor with tenure I would expect that all writing submissions would have gone through the editing process. I am WRONG!!
I am on the verge of becoming the stereotypical English grammar Nazi, marking all mistakes, highlighting misused punctuation. Folks I am not talking about little errors things that might have been overlooked, I mean the difference between a plural and possessive form, the difference between reading multiple "articles" and citing the "article's" meaning. The misspelling of the word "sad", S-A-D?! How can we stand up as models of writing if we overlook such outrageous errors? I used to giggle when reading students papers at the errors they made that didn't convey the intended meaning, but looking at my fellow classmates responses I am frustrated to tears.
We simply cannot ask more of our students than we are willing to do ourselves. Write it, then READ it, EDIT before you reply, post or comment. Editing, or the lack of it, separates the educated from the ignorant. Please, I beg of you, just as you would point out that some poor fellow had an ugly booger dangling from his nose, look for the nasty green dollops in your writing. Edit, make the world a happier place.
Until next time...
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Nestle Tollhouse Explains the Disintegration of Family
Yesterday my son reminded me that the school bake sale was today and I was supposed to supply 30 large cookies to support the fundraiser. As I sat there considering all of the other "more important" and pressing things I needed to do, I considered just buying three dozen cookies in the grocery store bakery and sending those. A co-worker commented that I was "one of THOSE moms", the ones who just buy the Oreo's and deliver them. I felt guilty and ashamed but undaunted. I didn't have time to stop everything and bake cookies. I am a busy woman!!
I shrugged off the ugly comment and went ahead with my plans. I headed home, then after homework was completed, track practice finished and dinner eaten I had a break to run to the store and procure my cookies.
That is when I caved. On the way to the store I remembered the Nestle Tollhouse commercials of my childhood. For those of you in the X, Y or Z generation this might be unheard of, but Nestle used to advertise for their morsels. Did you catch that? Just commercials about their chocolate chips, not the dough or the cookies but the morsels. In the commercials the mom would be stirring a giant bowl of cookie dough and the children would loving pour the morsels in and everyone would smile and laugh. Then they pulled the cookies out of the oven and everyone sat around a table and ate them with a large glass of milk. It was the picture of family perfection.
As I got older the commercial changed. The mom was now a "working mom" ergo no apron or large batch of homemade cookies but a log of prepared cookie dough. She cut the dough and placed it on the cookie sheet. They came out of the oven and a child with friends in tow ran through the kitchen grabbing a cookie or three on their way out the door.
Again as I got older the commercial changed again. This time the dough was separated into tiny pieces that could be broken off and set on the cookie sheet. Apparently now we don't even have time to cut the dough off the log. The cookies aren't enjoyed by a family but just one or two friends.
I started to think, did Nestle have their finger on the pulse of the nation or what? They have adapted to the hurried lives we now lead. Since when did making a batch of cookies become more of a chore than it was worth? The time spent and enjoyed by families is no more. It has been contorted and condensed into an act that can be accomplished with little effort. Now I really felt like dirt. I had become one of "THOSE" moms after all, I placed a higher importance on everything else and put my family at the bottom of the list.
It was late and I knew it would take the better part of the night to accomplish, but I walked proudly down the baking aisle and bought MORSELS. This morning when I dropped my boys off at school and handed him the three dozen cookies I had spent most of the night preparing, I was happy, tired but happy.
Take a few hours and slow down. Spend the time where it will be appreciated more by the ones who really matter. Bake some cookies and drink some milk, laugh, love and find the joy in family.
Until next time...
I shrugged off the ugly comment and went ahead with my plans. I headed home, then after homework was completed, track practice finished and dinner eaten I had a break to run to the store and procure my cookies.
That is when I caved. On the way to the store I remembered the Nestle Tollhouse commercials of my childhood. For those of you in the X, Y or Z generation this might be unheard of, but Nestle used to advertise for their morsels. Did you catch that? Just commercials about their chocolate chips, not the dough or the cookies but the morsels. In the commercials the mom would be stirring a giant bowl of cookie dough and the children would loving pour the morsels in and everyone would smile and laugh. Then they pulled the cookies out of the oven and everyone sat around a table and ate them with a large glass of milk. It was the picture of family perfection.
As I got older the commercial changed. The mom was now a "working mom" ergo no apron or large batch of homemade cookies but a log of prepared cookie dough. She cut the dough and placed it on the cookie sheet. They came out of the oven and a child with friends in tow ran through the kitchen grabbing a cookie or three on their way out the door.
Again as I got older the commercial changed again. This time the dough was separated into tiny pieces that could be broken off and set on the cookie sheet. Apparently now we don't even have time to cut the dough off the log. The cookies aren't enjoyed by a family but just one or two friends.
I started to think, did Nestle have their finger on the pulse of the nation or what? They have adapted to the hurried lives we now lead. Since when did making a batch of cookies become more of a chore than it was worth? The time spent and enjoyed by families is no more. It has been contorted and condensed into an act that can be accomplished with little effort. Now I really felt like dirt. I had become one of "THOSE" moms after all, I placed a higher importance on everything else and put my family at the bottom of the list.
It was late and I knew it would take the better part of the night to accomplish, but I walked proudly down the baking aisle and bought MORSELS. This morning when I dropped my boys off at school and handed him the three dozen cookies I had spent most of the night preparing, I was happy, tired but happy.
Take a few hours and slow down. Spend the time where it will be appreciated more by the ones who really matter. Bake some cookies and drink some milk, laugh, love and find the joy in family.
Until next time...
Monday, April 14, 2014
Running Naked Through the Halls
I like blogging it allows me the freedom to write down my ideas and share them with the world without any criticism. I anxiously watch to see how many people will read what I have written. And although I fear a negative critique, I crave comments from others. The greatest part of blogging is the anonymity of the act. I can write without having to face a firing squad of rejections, red ink or editing marks. While I can hide behind my creative username, our students can't. For many students the act of writing is paramount to running naked through the hallways of school while everyone stands there shouting out comments.
Writing is scary! There is no doubt about it; many adults avoid the act for fear of showing their own weaknesses. Putting our ideas out there for the whole world is difficult, and yet we ask students to do it on a daily basis. We push them to write, to bare their souls on the page, divulge their innermost thoughts, reveal their opinions and passions. They struggle, they fight against the blank page in the endless search for ideas, until the ideas slowly emerge, the words formulate sentences and finally in a heap of mental exhaustion they have completed the task, the writing is done. Almost immediately after the ideas are on the page, we pick up red pens and start stabbing at each error, pointing out flaws in their reasoning, and questioning their word choice. Students receive their writing back, and look upon their efforts with disdain and humility.
Why does it have to be this way? The fact is, it doesn't. We can change the way writing happens in the classroom. We can remove the fear simply by changing the approach to writing. Creating a community of writers means that we remove the fear of rejection, and criticism.
REMOVING THE FEAR OF WRITING:
1. Write Everyday- We can't expect students to do anything well if we don't practice. The more writing students do the easier it will be to face the blank page. Everything that we want to improve must be practiced. Giving students time to write each day makes the practice easier. Most teachers hear "write everyday" and imagine themselves buried behind stacks of papers to grade, but notice I said students are writing I didn't say anything about grading. In fact the less that we grade the writing the more students will be likely to try new ideas and develop their writing skills.
2. Write About Any and Everything- Don't limit students to writing to a prompt. The sun doesn't rise and set on assessment prompts. In order for students to be real writers they need the freedom to write about all types of experiences. We want to teach them to think, develop ideas and create imagery. Those skills are rarely encouraged by a prompt. Instead give students questions to answer or things to explain. Some of the most interesting writing comes from asking kids to explain the unexplained such as, "Why are turtles slow?" or "What does the tooth fairy do with all the teeth she collects?" The more outrageous the questions the more creative the responses.
You can ask students to respond to something they have read or seen. Show a commercial and ask them if they would buy the item advertised based on the commercial. Why or why not? Show them images and ask them to create a story from what they see. I once gave my students a picture of a crowd on a busy street and asked them to assume the identity of one the pedestrians and tell me what they were thinking.
3. MODEL- We must be willing to share our own writing and put our own mistakes on display. There are federal regulations against spokespeople endorsing a product they don't use themselves and yet many teachers are doing just that. Asking their students to write but not writing with them. I don't know about you but whenever asked to do something frightening or dangerous I am not willing to try if the "expert" won't do it first.
4. Share- Students love sharing; it is hard to pull them away from Twitter and Facebook. They post the most mundane statements in hopes of getting a "like" on their page. Don't fight their natural inclination to share, ask them to share their writing with others. Just like Facebook and Twitter allow students to determine who they feel safe sharing with. Don't force them to share their ideas with others, they will be more willing to discuss their ideas when they know the person they are sharing with.
In sharing we aren't looking for things that need to be corrected we are just having a conversation about our writing with others. I used the rule that students could ask questions about the writing but they couldn't tell them what they didn't like or thought was wrong. This way students didn't feel as if they were setting themselves up for failure by sharing with someone else.
5. Conference- The one mistake that many teachers make is not looking at the essay until it is finished. You need to talk with students about their writing. Students don't care what you write on the essay after it is graded. My students would look at the grade and then file the essay away. It's like getting the bill at dinner, there isn't anything you can do after eating except pay. Students feel the same way when you give their writing back with the grade on it. The conversations, and suggestions need to happen AS they are writing, not AFTER. I would meet with my students and have a 2 minute conference. I had already read the essay and made comments in the margins and then we would talk about ways to improve the writing. This gave me an opportunity to ask questions and for the students to get a better understanding of what my comments meant. Students were then able to make revisions that were worthwhile.
We also conference at the conclusion of the writing, BEFORE I give the student their grade. We fill out the Goals/Greatness page in their writers notebook. I identify three things they did well, in this piece of writing and two things I want them to focus on for the next writing assignment. These two minute conversations were more valuable than all the time spent hunched over the essays with a red pen in hand grading. The students had some real input that helped them to improve.
Writing will always be difficult for some students, but it doesn't have to be a frightening experience. By changing the way writing is done and evaluated, we can remove the stigma. Students should feel empowered and confidant enough to bare their soul on the page, not humiliated and stripped of all their dignity by a firing squad of red pens.
Until Next time...
Writing is scary! There is no doubt about it; many adults avoid the act for fear of showing their own weaknesses. Putting our ideas out there for the whole world is difficult, and yet we ask students to do it on a daily basis. We push them to write, to bare their souls on the page, divulge their innermost thoughts, reveal their opinions and passions. They struggle, they fight against the blank page in the endless search for ideas, until the ideas slowly emerge, the words formulate sentences and finally in a heap of mental exhaustion they have completed the task, the writing is done. Almost immediately after the ideas are on the page, we pick up red pens and start stabbing at each error, pointing out flaws in their reasoning, and questioning their word choice. Students receive their writing back, and look upon their efforts with disdain and humility.
Why does it have to be this way? The fact is, it doesn't. We can change the way writing happens in the classroom. We can remove the fear simply by changing the approach to writing. Creating a community of writers means that we remove the fear of rejection, and criticism.
REMOVING THE FEAR OF WRITING:
1. Write Everyday- We can't expect students to do anything well if we don't practice. The more writing students do the easier it will be to face the blank page. Everything that we want to improve must be practiced. Giving students time to write each day makes the practice easier. Most teachers hear "write everyday" and imagine themselves buried behind stacks of papers to grade, but notice I said students are writing I didn't say anything about grading. In fact the less that we grade the writing the more students will be likely to try new ideas and develop their writing skills.
2. Write About Any and Everything- Don't limit students to writing to a prompt. The sun doesn't rise and set on assessment prompts. In order for students to be real writers they need the freedom to write about all types of experiences. We want to teach them to think, develop ideas and create imagery. Those skills are rarely encouraged by a prompt. Instead give students questions to answer or things to explain. Some of the most interesting writing comes from asking kids to explain the unexplained such as, "Why are turtles slow?" or "What does the tooth fairy do with all the teeth she collects?" The more outrageous the questions the more creative the responses.
You can ask students to respond to something they have read or seen. Show a commercial and ask them if they would buy the item advertised based on the commercial. Why or why not? Show them images and ask them to create a story from what they see. I once gave my students a picture of a crowd on a busy street and asked them to assume the identity of one the pedestrians and tell me what they were thinking.
3. MODEL- We must be willing to share our own writing and put our own mistakes on display. There are federal regulations against spokespeople endorsing a product they don't use themselves and yet many teachers are doing just that. Asking their students to write but not writing with them. I don't know about you but whenever asked to do something frightening or dangerous I am not willing to try if the "expert" won't do it first.
4. Share- Students love sharing; it is hard to pull them away from Twitter and Facebook. They post the most mundane statements in hopes of getting a "like" on their page. Don't fight their natural inclination to share, ask them to share their writing with others. Just like Facebook and Twitter allow students to determine who they feel safe sharing with. Don't force them to share their ideas with others, they will be more willing to discuss their ideas when they know the person they are sharing with.
In sharing we aren't looking for things that need to be corrected we are just having a conversation about our writing with others. I used the rule that students could ask questions about the writing but they couldn't tell them what they didn't like or thought was wrong. This way students didn't feel as if they were setting themselves up for failure by sharing with someone else.
5. Conference- The one mistake that many teachers make is not looking at the essay until it is finished. You need to talk with students about their writing. Students don't care what you write on the essay after it is graded. My students would look at the grade and then file the essay away. It's like getting the bill at dinner, there isn't anything you can do after eating except pay. Students feel the same way when you give their writing back with the grade on it. The conversations, and suggestions need to happen AS they are writing, not AFTER. I would meet with my students and have a 2 minute conference. I had already read the essay and made comments in the margins and then we would talk about ways to improve the writing. This gave me an opportunity to ask questions and for the students to get a better understanding of what my comments meant. Students were then able to make revisions that were worthwhile.
We also conference at the conclusion of the writing, BEFORE I give the student their grade. We fill out the Goals/Greatness page in their writers notebook. I identify three things they did well, in this piece of writing and two things I want them to focus on for the next writing assignment. These two minute conversations were more valuable than all the time spent hunched over the essays with a red pen in hand grading. The students had some real input that helped them to improve.
Writing will always be difficult for some students, but it doesn't have to be a frightening experience. By changing the way writing is done and evaluated, we can remove the stigma. Students should feel empowered and confidant enough to bare their soul on the page, not humiliated and stripped of all their dignity by a firing squad of red pens.
Until Next time...
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
State Assessments? What's the point?
All across the state of Texas, the wildflowers are in bloom, the trees are budding and the long awaited spring has arrived. However if you are in education, you are unaware of any of this. You are surrounded by walls covered in butcher paper, rows of desks, piles of dictionaries, and pencils sharpened to a point that could impale.
It is testing season here in Texas, and for many this marks the end of a marathon of drills and reviews, and the endless writing of essays meant to explain, persuade or entertain. As a classroom teacher the week following the state assessment, the students would invariably ask why we were still in school; the testing was over, what more did we have to do? Many parents feel the same way. The battle has been fought, in 4-6 weeks we will find out if we have slain the beast or if it has beaten us. But in reality, is this all the year has meant? Is this test, this snapshot of student achievement really what we worked all year for?
Many years ago, while in college learning the pedagogy of educational practices I was told that assessment was only as good as the decisions that we could derive from it. If we set the assessment up as the watermark for pass/fail, then we know nothing more than which students "met standard" and which did not. The State assessment serves as a useless tool for instructional decisions.
By the time the results are returned to campuses the school year is days away from completion. The information gathered by looking over the individual student reports will tell us which categories of questions we need to re-mediate before the next test, but it doesn't give us critical information about what the student understands. This test can no more determine a student's readiness for College or the next grade level than a lucky 8 ball can predict the future.
The state of Texas can't even decide what subjects will be tested. Last year as the campus testing coordinator I had to organize two testing schedules. The first was for the final year of TAKS testing for students graduating in 2014.The other was the STAAR test for all students graduating in 2015 and beyond. Last year STAAR tests were given for English I Reading, English I Writing, English II Reading, English II Writing, Algebra I, Biology, US History (field tested), English III (field tested) and Geometry (field tested). This fall the state decided that testing in all of the content areas for grades 9-11 was too much and reduced it. They introduced a new version of the English EOC by combining the reading and writing tests into one large test and decreasing the students' time to 5 hours instead of 8. There are still some out there who believe that more changes are yet to come. How can we depend on a system of assessments to discern a students understanding, when the state can't even decide what is important enough to assess and what isn't.
Recently parents have been in the headlines for stating that they won't send their kids to school on the days the state assessments will be given. They would rather keep their children home than expose them to the lunacy of state assessments. What is the point?
If we as educators can't draw information from the assessments to guide instructional practices, the state can't decide what to test, or when. or how, and parents are refusing to allow students to be subjected to the testing why are we bothering? Who does all of this nonsense benefit? To what great debt do we owe Pearson and the powers that be for creating this chaos, confusion and consternation?
I am sorry to say I don't have the answers to those questions, but I do know what I will be doing in the next few weeks. I will be throwing open the windows to let in the cool breeze of spring. I will rejuvenate classroom instruction after the long hibernation of test prep. I will welcome spring and not wait idly by the mailbox to find out what my students know, instead I will create authentic assessments that drive instructional practices and decisions.
Until next time...
It is testing season here in Texas, and for many this marks the end of a marathon of drills and reviews, and the endless writing of essays meant to explain, persuade or entertain. As a classroom teacher the week following the state assessment, the students would invariably ask why we were still in school; the testing was over, what more did we have to do? Many parents feel the same way. The battle has been fought, in 4-6 weeks we will find out if we have slain the beast or if it has beaten us. But in reality, is this all the year has meant? Is this test, this snapshot of student achievement really what we worked all year for?
Many years ago, while in college learning the pedagogy of educational practices I was told that assessment was only as good as the decisions that we could derive from it. If we set the assessment up as the watermark for pass/fail, then we know nothing more than which students "met standard" and which did not. The State assessment serves as a useless tool for instructional decisions.
By the time the results are returned to campuses the school year is days away from completion. The information gathered by looking over the individual student reports will tell us which categories of questions we need to re-mediate before the next test, but it doesn't give us critical information about what the student understands. This test can no more determine a student's readiness for College or the next grade level than a lucky 8 ball can predict the future.
The state of Texas can't even decide what subjects will be tested. Last year as the campus testing coordinator I had to organize two testing schedules. The first was for the final year of TAKS testing for students graduating in 2014.The other was the STAAR test for all students graduating in 2015 and beyond. Last year STAAR tests were given for English I Reading, English I Writing, English II Reading, English II Writing, Algebra I, Biology, US History (field tested), English III (field tested) and Geometry (field tested). This fall the state decided that testing in all of the content areas for grades 9-11 was too much and reduced it. They introduced a new version of the English EOC by combining the reading and writing tests into one large test and decreasing the students' time to 5 hours instead of 8. There are still some out there who believe that more changes are yet to come. How can we depend on a system of assessments to discern a students understanding, when the state can't even decide what is important enough to assess and what isn't.
Recently parents have been in the headlines for stating that they won't send their kids to school on the days the state assessments will be given. They would rather keep their children home than expose them to the lunacy of state assessments. What is the point?
If we as educators can't draw information from the assessments to guide instructional practices, the state can't decide what to test, or when. or how, and parents are refusing to allow students to be subjected to the testing why are we bothering? Who does all of this nonsense benefit? To what great debt do we owe Pearson and the powers that be for creating this chaos, confusion and consternation?
I am sorry to say I don't have the answers to those questions, but I do know what I will be doing in the next few weeks. I will be throwing open the windows to let in the cool breeze of spring. I will rejuvenate classroom instruction after the long hibernation of test prep. I will welcome spring and not wait idly by the mailbox to find out what my students know, instead I will create authentic assessments that drive instructional practices and decisions.
Until next time...
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Collaboration Kills Hubris
An overwhelming topic of discussion among adults over the age of 35 is the idea that the younger generation, anyone under 33, suffers from a sense of entitlement. I have to admit that I often agree hardheartedly with this statement; all too often young people think that they are entitled to praise and good grades simply because they showed up for class.
The easiest way to cure this entitlement illness is to remove the cause, hubris. Hubris, or an overdose of pride, is what causes these kids to think they are, and I quote, "Tha BomB!" After years of being told how cute and talented they were for doing very little, they have developed the idea that they can do no wrong. While this is not a fatal disease, most will snap out of it as soon as they are turned loose into the "real world", it is difficult to deal with 25-30 ego maniacs in one classroom.
I found that by having students collaborate and work together on a project egos are set to the side. When working on a collaborative team with others, everyone has equal say. Successful teams play to the strengths of all members but it also creates a dialogue that allows for critique. Students engage in critical analysis of the information and want to present the best collaboration of ideas. All members of the team must therefore evaluate what has been shared and determine how the pieces will be combined. There isn't any room for a one man show when everyone is playing a major role in the production of the presentation.
Collaboration is not to be confused with Coopearative groups. Collaborative groups do not assign roles as in Cooperative groups but allows everyone to partake in each aspect of the project. ALL members will gather information. ALL members will evaluate the research. And ALL members will design the final product. When everyone gets to have a say, diplomacy allows all voices to be heard and no one person can is king.
I am not a violent person but I do appreciate the quick death of hubris and entitlement. Collaboration is key. Sharing ideas and allowing for evaluation of those ideas holds everyone accountable and creates a level playing field.
Until next time...
The easiest way to cure this entitlement illness is to remove the cause, hubris. Hubris, or an overdose of pride, is what causes these kids to think they are, and I quote, "Tha BomB!" After years of being told how cute and talented they were for doing very little, they have developed the idea that they can do no wrong. While this is not a fatal disease, most will snap out of it as soon as they are turned loose into the "real world", it is difficult to deal with 25-30 ego maniacs in one classroom.
I found that by having students collaborate and work together on a project egos are set to the side. When working on a collaborative team with others, everyone has equal say. Successful teams play to the strengths of all members but it also creates a dialogue that allows for critique. Students engage in critical analysis of the information and want to present the best collaboration of ideas. All members of the team must therefore evaluate what has been shared and determine how the pieces will be combined. There isn't any room for a one man show when everyone is playing a major role in the production of the presentation.
Collaboration is not to be confused with Coopearative groups. Collaborative groups do not assign roles as in Cooperative groups but allows everyone to partake in each aspect of the project. ALL members will gather information. ALL members will evaluate the research. And ALL members will design the final product. When everyone gets to have a say, diplomacy allows all voices to be heard and no one person can is king.
I am not a violent person but I do appreciate the quick death of hubris and entitlement. Collaboration is key. Sharing ideas and allowing for evaluation of those ideas holds everyone accountable and creates a level playing field.
Until next time...
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Spring has Sprung and So Should the Kids!!
As the weather warms and the flowers bloom, most students get even more antsy and restless than they were in the winter months. Now is not the time to bore them to death with "drill and kill" activities to get ready for the all important state assessments. Students need to move and stretch their bodies, which in turn, will stretch their brains and improve their overall recall. Even the most reluctant learners tend to participate when the activity allows them to fully engage. Below you will find three strategies that have worked in my classroom over the past 15 years.
Pass it On:
This is a great strategy to review content information. Students stand or sit in a circle. The first student is handed a ball of string and holds one end of it. As we review a concept or piece of text the students will toss the ball of string to another student in the circle. When they catch the ball of string they grasp the string and hold on to it before passing it on to the next student. The string creates a web as it is passed among students. When students catch the ball they can either provide a detail/fact about the concept/text or ask a question. If they ask a question then the next student they pass the ball of string to is expected to attempt an answer. It is okay if the answer is wrong, but it is important to point out the erroneous information so that students don't become confused. As students asked questions I recorded them on the blackboard, overhead, document camera, Edomodo etc. Students were expected to review the questions asked and be sure they could completely answer them before the next class. Once every student had a chance to catch the ball, we reverse the ball of string and students roll it back up again. As simple as it sounds I have noticed that doing this as a review of information before a test will improve students scores.
Show Me:
As an English teacher and Theater fanatic, I wanted the kids to create the images they read, so I had them show me. They could work in groups or pairs or do a one man show. The idea was simple, just show me what you read and understood. I would often have students take video on their phones and then show it to me or e-mail it to me. I told them they had to capture it all in less than two minutes. This kept them from trying to include every detail. I wanted the BIG picture, but I wanted them to put it in perspective. I often asked my more advanced Pre-AP students to put the text in a different setting or try to find a way to demonstrate a different point of view than that of the main characters, i.e. a person in the crowd listening to Marc Antony's speech. They loved being hams, and they were in full control. Not every student took this option but if I didn't offer it they were disappointed. The idea works for any content, ask students to show you how it works. If you aren't into acting you might try the IPad app "Showmia" and have the students create a mini slide show with audio explaining the concept.
Strike a Pose:
Vocabulary is one of the most difficult concepts for students to put to long term memory. I tried just about everything with little success. They knew it just long enough to take the quiz or test and then the following week it was gone, wiped clean from memory. In a last ditch effort actually more out of frustration than anything else I started putting poses to vocabulary when I introduced new words. For example, "conflict" accompanied a boxing pose (yes I know there are multiple types of conflict but this stuck with the kids and they understood it inherently). Once I had introduced the vocabulary and poses, we practiced, I called out the word and they struck a pose, and then they called out the definition. I even encouraged students to assign poses to their "found vocabulary" when they were reading. They LOVED it!! For whatever reason, it stuck and it got them thinking, and moving.
As I said these are just a few of the strategies that were successful for me. Of course all of them require that you allow students to get up and move, and sometimes... TALK. The results will speak for themselves your students will learn, remember and you won't have to "drill and kill". Let the warm weather and sunshine revive your students love for learning. Let them "spring" to life with new-found knowledge.
Until next time...
Pass it On:
This is a great strategy to review content information. Students stand or sit in a circle. The first student is handed a ball of string and holds one end of it. As we review a concept or piece of text the students will toss the ball of string to another student in the circle. When they catch the ball of string they grasp the string and hold on to it before passing it on to the next student. The string creates a web as it is passed among students. When students catch the ball they can either provide a detail/fact about the concept/text or ask a question. If they ask a question then the next student they pass the ball of string to is expected to attempt an answer. It is okay if the answer is wrong, but it is important to point out the erroneous information so that students don't become confused. As students asked questions I recorded them on the blackboard, overhead, document camera, Edomodo etc. Students were expected to review the questions asked and be sure they could completely answer them before the next class. Once every student had a chance to catch the ball, we reverse the ball of string and students roll it back up again. As simple as it sounds I have noticed that doing this as a review of information before a test will improve students scores.
Show Me:
As an English teacher and Theater fanatic, I wanted the kids to create the images they read, so I had them show me. They could work in groups or pairs or do a one man show. The idea was simple, just show me what you read and understood. I would often have students take video on their phones and then show it to me or e-mail it to me. I told them they had to capture it all in less than two minutes. This kept them from trying to include every detail. I wanted the BIG picture, but I wanted them to put it in perspective. I often asked my more advanced Pre-AP students to put the text in a different setting or try to find a way to demonstrate a different point of view than that of the main characters, i.e. a person in the crowd listening to Marc Antony's speech. They loved being hams, and they were in full control. Not every student took this option but if I didn't offer it they were disappointed. The idea works for any content, ask students to show you how it works. If you aren't into acting you might try the IPad app "Showmia" and have the students create a mini slide show with audio explaining the concept.
Strike a Pose:
Vocabulary is one of the most difficult concepts for students to put to long term memory. I tried just about everything with little success. They knew it just long enough to take the quiz or test and then the following week it was gone, wiped clean from memory. In a last ditch effort actually more out of frustration than anything else I started putting poses to vocabulary when I introduced new words. For example, "conflict" accompanied a boxing pose (yes I know there are multiple types of conflict but this stuck with the kids and they understood it inherently). Once I had introduced the vocabulary and poses, we practiced, I called out the word and they struck a pose, and then they called out the definition. I even encouraged students to assign poses to their "found vocabulary" when they were reading. They LOVED it!! For whatever reason, it stuck and it got them thinking, and moving.
As I said these are just a few of the strategies that were successful for me. Of course all of them require that you allow students to get up and move, and sometimes... TALK. The results will speak for themselves your students will learn, remember and you won't have to "drill and kill". Let the warm weather and sunshine revive your students love for learning. Let them "spring" to life with new-found knowledge.
Until next time...
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Not Another Web-sheet
I feel that I must first state a disclaimer such as the one at the beginning of every Law and Order episode "The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event." However many of you may recognize or relate to the situation I am about to describe.
Many teachers I know, and I was once one myself, thought that technology integration meant including a PPT or a Prezi when providing notes. Maybe some were even daring enough to include use of the document camera when modeling writing or solving equations. It was limited, and it was BORING. In conversations with colleagues the topic of useless technology integration comes up quite often. Teachers will create a "graphic organizer" in Google docs and ask students to fill in the diagrams. Or they want to share a link with students so they include it on a Google document for the students to find. Yes it is funny, at least to those of you who get the joke, but it also very very sad.
Technology should open up new worlds of knowledge and learning, NOT just save us on the number of copies we need to make. Too many teachers are still using the technology in their classrooms to create web-sheets. Filling in graphic organizers or taking a test on a computer isn't integrating technology. It is the same type of learning students have been doing for years. You have just changed the location of where the information is stored. Instead of recording it on paper, they put it on a screen. There is a time and place for all things; worksheets have their purpose too, but we shouldn't confuse the mundane task of filling out a form with integrating technology. Now if the students create the form in Google, analyze the responses, and then develop a plan of action based on the results that is a different conversation all together.
Let me give you a very REAL scenario of the lack of integration in most technology classrooms. My youngest child told me again yesterday how lame his technology teacher was. I asked him what was wrong this time, and he explained that "Mr. Jones (not his real name) didn't know anything about technology at all and should get a different job." First I had to be sure that Jack didn't actually tell Mr. Jones this out-loud, that his filter was still working and he just THOUGHT it. After calming my fears, Jack said that the problem was Mr. Jones could tell them how to create a word document and where to put the spaces for a formal letter and he even knew a couple of "kinda cool" websites for games about school, but that he really didn't know anything about computers. The problem, it turns out, is that when asked how to download information into a game Mr. Jones simply said "I don't know I just teach computer class." Jack and I brainstormed solutions for what he wanted to do. I gave him some advice, mainly the obvious, stuff like "why not Google it" or "see if there is a YouTube video on it," and Jack went on his way happily. Secretly I started to wonder a little about Mr. Jones myself and what was the point of this computer class. This is a sad but explicit example of how so many teachers confuse using the device with integrating technology.
In order to truly give students the benefits of technology integration we must start thinking beyond the device itself. Steve Jobs, didn't spend his entire life creating new ways of communicating for you to spend money on a phone simply to make phone calls. As the changes in technology and capabilities grow we must grow with it. The days of a typing class are well behind us. Or are students just typing on laptops instead of typewriters as my example illustrates? Do me favor, do Jack a favor and do all the Mr. Jones-es out there a favor. Check on your neighbor next door, you know the teacher you can probably hear through the thin walls. Make sure they aren't boring their students to death with more web-sheets. Show them a trick or two from your varied bag of tricks. Let us not only be leaders in technology integration but guides for all those reluctant followers who may not know the way. Grab them by the hand and take them with you so that all students will reap the benefits.
Until next time...
Many teachers I know, and I was once one myself, thought that technology integration meant including a PPT or a Prezi when providing notes. Maybe some were even daring enough to include use of the document camera when modeling writing or solving equations. It was limited, and it was BORING. In conversations with colleagues the topic of useless technology integration comes up quite often. Teachers will create a "graphic organizer" in Google docs and ask students to fill in the diagrams. Or they want to share a link with students so they include it on a Google document for the students to find. Yes it is funny, at least to those of you who get the joke, but it also very very sad.
Technology should open up new worlds of knowledge and learning, NOT just save us on the number of copies we need to make. Too many teachers are still using the technology in their classrooms to create web-sheets. Filling in graphic organizers or taking a test on a computer isn't integrating technology. It is the same type of learning students have been doing for years. You have just changed the location of where the information is stored. Instead of recording it on paper, they put it on a screen. There is a time and place for all things; worksheets have their purpose too, but we shouldn't confuse the mundane task of filling out a form with integrating technology. Now if the students create the form in Google, analyze the responses, and then develop a plan of action based on the results that is a different conversation all together.
Let me give you a very REAL scenario of the lack of integration in most technology classrooms. My youngest child told me again yesterday how lame his technology teacher was. I asked him what was wrong this time, and he explained that "Mr. Jones (not his real name) didn't know anything about technology at all and should get a different job." First I had to be sure that Jack didn't actually tell Mr. Jones this out-loud, that his filter was still working and he just THOUGHT it. After calming my fears, Jack said that the problem was Mr. Jones could tell them how to create a word document and where to put the spaces for a formal letter and he even knew a couple of "kinda cool" websites for games about school, but that he really didn't know anything about computers. The problem, it turns out, is that when asked how to download information into a game Mr. Jones simply said "I don't know I just teach computer class." Jack and I brainstormed solutions for what he wanted to do. I gave him some advice, mainly the obvious, stuff like "why not Google it" or "see if there is a YouTube video on it," and Jack went on his way happily. Secretly I started to wonder a little about Mr. Jones myself and what was the point of this computer class. This is a sad but explicit example of how so many teachers confuse using the device with integrating technology.
In order to truly give students the benefits of technology integration we must start thinking beyond the device itself. Steve Jobs, didn't spend his entire life creating new ways of communicating for you to spend money on a phone simply to make phone calls. As the changes in technology and capabilities grow we must grow with it. The days of a typing class are well behind us. Or are students just typing on laptops instead of typewriters as my example illustrates? Do me favor, do Jack a favor and do all the Mr. Jones-es out there a favor. Check on your neighbor next door, you know the teacher you can probably hear through the thin walls. Make sure they aren't boring their students to death with more web-sheets. Show them a trick or two from your varied bag of tricks. Let us not only be leaders in technology integration but guides for all those reluctant followers who may not know the way. Grab them by the hand and take them with you so that all students will reap the benefits.
Until next time...
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