On the Shoulders of Giants

ELA Lesson Sequence for the Common Core: Saying More With Less

One thing I like about the new Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts is the emphasis on looking closely at language choices authors make. NY State Standard #4 requires that students, "Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone."  Looking closely at language is a huge part of what I love about reading and writing in my own life. Standards themselves, however, don't teach any of this to students, or make it interesting.  

I'm sharing a lesson sequence on economy of language I taught last week, that provided a compelling way in to this standard. I co-planned the lesson with learning specialist, Marcia Stiman-Lavian, and I borrowed significantly from materials shared by fellow CTQ blogger, Bill Ferriter.  This sequence was a lot of fun, and it really seemed to wake students up to the power and nuance of individual words, opening the door to more intensive investigation of the function of specific words--and punctuation--in text. 

Lesson: Economy of Language

How Much Meaning Can Authors Pack Into a Few Words?

Preparation: For homework the night before, students bring in a photograph that represents something important to them or relates significantly to their lives. 

1. Free-Write first: Using their photograph as inspiration, have students free write for about 5-7 minutes.  Any genre of writing is allowed in free writing. 

2. Read 25 word stories: I got this idea from Bill Ferriter, who offers a lesson and great downloadable materials for it on his blog, The Tempered Radical here. (He first got turned on to the form by following Kevin Hodgson on Twitter.) 

I simply introduced the 25 word story to my students by saying, "There's a cool new story form out there, catching on through Twitter, called the 25 word story.  These stories have the main elements of story in only 25 words. Today we're going to look at how much meaning authors can pack into just a few words."

Then I project these two stories--both from Bill's handout. 

Understand me, John: The next time you talk about ‘dropping deuce’ in front of Grandma, you’ll be grounded for longer than you can possibly imagine!

First I ask for some general reactions. Then I ask,

• Who are the characters in this story? 
• What has happened in this story?  
• What kind of conflict is this? 
• What would you say the mood or tone of the story is? (The difference between these two is pretty difficult for middle school students. Perhaps that's another blog post. Suggestions welcome!)
• What words do the most to suggest this mood?

We look at one more example:

He sat surrounded by people yet completely alone. “Why can’t I just be normal?” he muttered to no one, tears streaming down his teenage cheeks.

We discuss the same questions.  

3. Write 25 word stories.  Next students must create a 25 word story, using their free write as a springboard.  I suggest they go about cutting the free write down to 25 words, but students can also pursue a new idea if they want. Bill suggests in his handout that students should keep in mind that a 25 word story is about 1 long sentence or 2 shorter sentences; they should write first, and then worry about getting exactly 25 words.  The process of deciding on each word, however, is where the work gets really interesting.

4. Share.  Students share their 25 word story with a classmate near them, and then I have a few share out to the whole class. 

5. Read a 6-Word Story. Next, I tell students, "Ernest Hemingway, a famous 20th Century author, was once challenged to write a six word story.  Hemingway accepted the challenge, and this is what he wrote." I project--

         For sale: baby shoes; never worn. 

Students say, "Oohhh..." as the layers of meaning in the simple story take hold of their imaginations.  We discuss, again, who the characters are, what has happened, literally, and what is suggested.

I ask students, "What image does the language put in your mind at each moment in the story?"  

We discuss, "For sale," then "baby shoes," and then "never worn."   

6. Write 6 word stories. Now students must take their 25 word story, and whittle it down to six words.  There is lots of energy in the room at this point.  The challenge often posed to students is to write a lot. It's refreshing for the challenge to be, write a little!  I allow students to talk a bit during this writing session, and I listen for interesting conversations about word choices. 

7. Share--in class and on Edmodo! The 50 minute period ends with several students sharing their 6 word stories with the class.  For homework, they must post their story on our Edmodo group space and comment on at least one other student's story.  (If you're not familiar with Edmodo, it is so worth checking out!) With a longer period, this next part could happen on the same day.  

Next day...

8. Reflect on Word Choices. Have students to share their 6 word story with a partner. They should discuss--

• What was the most difficult decision you had to make in terms of which words to use? 
• Which word would you not mind replacing with a stronger word? 
• Ask your partner--what seems to be the tone of the story? Which words convey that tone?  Which words are weaker, and don't build that tone? 
• What does the story leave the reader to wonder about? Why? Is this intentional?
• Take some time to write an alternate version of your 6 word story based on the conversation.

Another day... (You could go in many different directions now, but I took this opportunity for some much needed attention to punctuation.)

9. Learn New Punctuation. The next day, I teach the semi-colon!  Incidentally, the colon and the double dash come up in discussions, as well.  We began by looking at Hemingway's 6 word story again. I ask students to identify the 3 punctuation marks and talk in groups about why Hemingway probably chose to use each one.  I give them some exercises to help them combine or break up sentences properly using a semi-colon. 

10. Revise punctuation in previous writing. Then I ask students to add a semi-colon to either their 6 word story, their 25 word story, or their original free write, depending on what makes the most sense.  Some students experiment with colons and double dashes as well.  

11. Reflect on punctuation choices.  Share with a partner. Discuss--is the new punctuation an impovement on the old? Why or why not?  How can punctuation help create more meaning in a few words?

The next step is to apply this kind of reflection on word choices to longer texts without over-structuring the experience of reading for students. In other words, no one reads specifically to analyze language, so we have to find authentic ways to encourage this kind of thinking. We are working on it in our current novel study.  I will follow up in another post.  Hopefully this was helpful for others who are trying to find interesting ways in to this sort of work for kids. 

 

[image credit: www.createbrevity.com]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extremes of Constructivism and Data Driven Instruction: Dream Meeting?

Fellow TransformEd blogger and co-author of Teaching 2030, Renee Moore, makes an argument in this recent post, Learning Unchained, for getting rid of class schedules and grade levels!  I've heard Renee talk about this before, and, as jarring as this may sound, I totally agree with her.  At the end of her post, she asks readers if we know of schools that have replaced these models with more fluid ones. 

I thought of two NYC schools that are on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of teaching philosophy--extreme constructivist and extreme data-driven instruction. I cannot imagine either model being the optimal answer to Renee's question, but the juxtaposition is quite interesting! 

I'm painting with gross generalizations about these schools here, for the same of argument, but I would certainly welcome clarification on the models from those who know better:

1. Brooklyn Free School: Kids determine the shape of their own education, literally choosing to show up and learn whatever they want, whenever they want, and how they want, with guidance from teachers, and rules about not infiringing on the rights of others. Sounds awesome for a certain kind of kid, but seems too loose for an entire school system. I could be wrong, though. 

2. School of One: Based on the idea of personalized instruction, in response to instantaneous assessments administered and graded through computers. Kids are sorted based on mastery of skills as seen in these assessments and move on to the next skill only when they are ready.  The reliance on technology to teach and assess a large group of kids seems like it could be a limiting factor here, though I know teachers do work face to face with small groups of students. Not sure students have any agency in determining what they learn or how they learn it, and the emphasis on individualized instructionmakes me wonder whether students get experience as members of a learning community. 

But... could we get these two schools talking to each other?! Both models seem to be designed to address the same limitations of traditional schools. What if? 

[image credit: overclock.net]

A Cure for the Mania of Multiple Drafts, Multiple Formats, X 100

In my last post, I described my utter failure to effectively organize and manage my students' drafting process for writing projects.  This job has become much more complicated over the years with the availability of various technological tools for writing.  New, clear parameters are definitely necessary.  

I turned to Maia Heyck Merlin, author of The Together Teacher, for help. In an incredibly helpful phone conversation, Maia helped me come up with some solutions, customized around my students, classroom resources, and my own preferences and needs. 

The Cure: 

 One: Drafts must be submitted in hard copy.  

There's really nothing wrong with requiring this, especially when it makes such a huge difference for me later. Students do need to be able to conform to the needs of specific teachers. I know some teachers who like to comment on student work via Google Docs comment function.  That is great if they can manage it. For me, I've decided I need the hard copy.  I do sometimes type my feedback into a rubric on Word, because typing can be faster and neater.  However, I still print this out and hand it to students in hard copy. 

In order to facilitate this, I am working with my school's technology coordinator to create printing stations for students, since we do not have a computer lab for students, only laptop carts (student laptops are not networked with our printers).  Once I brought the idea up, it turned out many other teachers saw the same need, and have frequently have students emailing them to print their work. 

Two: Students must decide if they are handwriters or typists. 

In my classroom, students need to be able to work on writing projects in school and at home. If a student has typing capability at home, I want to allow them to type at school. However, if the student does not have reliable typing capability at home, typing in school creates problems.  For students who strongly prefer typing, but do not have reliable computers at home, I will allow them to decide to be typists IF they agree to coming to my office hours after school on designated days during writing projects to get the work done. 

Three: Students are responsible for bringing writing materials to and from school.  

Managing materials is also a real life skill. In life, there are real consequences for failure to manage important materials.  I, for example, need to bring my wallet, house keys, and laptop to and from school every day.  If not, I will encounter serious challenges. 

Handwriters must store their drafts in their ELA folders.  If a student loses a draft, he or she is still responsible for turning in the assignment on time and must do the unfortunate work of recreating the piece.  The same goes for typists, and shaky internet cannot be an excuse.  

There are two ways typists can ensure that they have what they need to work on their writing at home and at school:

1. I allow students to bring personal Ipads or laptops to ELA class to use during writing projects. That means they always write and save in the same place and Internet is not a factor.  (I consider this a big privilege and students know they don't get a 2nd chance with this one. As with E-readers that have Internet, any use of the technology for non-ELA actvities without permission results in a loss of the privilege.)
2. Typists may use school laptops if they have their flash drives with them.  My school provides incoming 6th graders with a school flash drive, which some still have as 8th graders.  Otherwise, flash drives cost very little these days and lots of businesses give them away for free.  The flash drive allows students to write in Word or Pages, and loss of internet connectivion does not hinder them.  It also means that students can write on different laptops from day to day with no problems. 

Four: Students set goals and track their progress through the drafting process.

Maia asked me about the benefits of having students use Google Docs to see if we could achieve some of these without relying on the Internet. One benefit was that if students shared the Doc with me, I could see their progress at any point.  However, the reality of me opening and checking up on 100 students in separate Google Docs after a day of in-class writing was simply not practical.  I didn't end up doing it, except in a few, select cases.  Also, by 8th grade, I don't want to have to check up on students in that way. I want to teach them to keep track of their own progress toward a deadline and seek help when they need it.  

Students will track their own progress in 2 ways:

1. Maia suggested having students set daily goals of a certain number of words. I thought that sounded cool, because it's something real writers do and find helpful.  I plan to have students set their goals and share them with their writing partner, who they sit next to.  Students who hand-write can count how many words they write on average on a page and use that to estimate the number of words they've written each day (rather than counting each time). 
2. My co-teacher and I are working on a bulletin board that visually represents each stage of the writing process.  Students will each have their name with velcro on the back.  They'll be able to go and move their name along the continuum as they finish a piece of the project.   

I am still working a few pieces--the printing stations and the visual tracking system--to fully put this system into practice.  I look forward to updating you soon when I get the full system in place.  In the meantime, check out Maia's post--Thumbdrives, Google Docs and Longhand, Oh My!--with tips from our conversation.

Maia, thanks for helping me cure this mania!  

 

[image credit: articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com]

The Nightmare of Multiple Drafts, Multiple Formats x 100

I was getting ready to assign my first writing project and visions of myself last year, struggling to keep track of 100 students' various drafts in various formats, came flying through my brain...  

The Nightmare: (This is not for faint of heart.)  Imagine, you've just graded a stack of essays or stories, but notice a staggering amount of blanks in the gradebook, from students you know have done the assignment.  

You search your email for a student's name and find an email in which she sent you her first draft.  You search for another email and look through your Google Docs folders, but find nothing else.  You print out the draft and move on to the next student.  You search his name and find a Google Doc he shared with you.  You open it and print it (this takes a little while, because the computer has to convert the Doc into a printable format.)  You have no first draft to compare it to, because he has updated the Google Doc.  To view previous drafts, you'd have to go through draft history. No time for that. You find no emails from a third student and assign her a zero.  Later, her mother emails asking why her grade is low.  You explain why, only to find that she did email her 2nd draft, but from a different email address that doesn't come up when you search her name...

Is this really my job?  Just finding and printing 40 essays alone takes over an hour.  

On top of this mania, the writing process in the classroom is no walk in the park either.  Students save their work on one laptop, and the next day, we get a different laptop cart, rendering the student unable to make progress.  Students who write in Google Docs are immune to this problem, but the Internet goes in and out, making Google Docs unreliable as well.  Another student saves on a flash drive and then forgets it at home the next day. She begins a new draft in class, only to discard it at the end of the period, in favor the better one she has at home on the flash drive. Another student carefully hand writes his first draft and then loses it, along with your feedback from a writing conference.  Paralyzed, he never writes a next draft.  You take pity on him and don't enter any grade for the assignment, one way or the other. 

***

I wrote to my friend Maia Heyck Merlin, author of The Together Teacher and organization guru, with this organizational nightmare.  After I wrote to Maia with my problem, she suggested we talk on the phone. The solution would need to be customized around my needs, preferences and capabilities.

Maia was great at listening and helping me identify the pieces of the problem.  She asked good questions that led us to some clear, uncomplicated structures that would create order around the drafting process, and allow me to focus on the important work of giving students feedback on their writing.  

Maia has written a great post with 3 general rules for managing this issue in any classroom, called Thumbdrives, Google Docs and Long Hand, Oh My!  

In my next post, I will share the specific ways I am implementing these rules in my 8th grade ELA classroom.

 

[image credit: tx.english-ch.com]

Catching Up With EdModo!

My friend told me she's been using EdModo to allow students to continue class discussions outside of class--"it's basically Facebook for school," she said.  I was excited by what she described, and I am finally getting around to checking it out.  Wow! I'm extremely impressed with what this site can allow us to do.  

Many times in a day I have to tell students, "That's a great comment! Let's come back to that idea later," or "This conversation is so interesting, but we need to get back to ________."  And my students and I both know that most of the time there's no occasion or vehicle for coming back to the conversation. 

Now, perhaps, there is!  I started with this basic video from ASCD. A few great things I learned from the video:

• When a stduent signs up, a parent code is also generated, allowing parents to watch what their child is doing on the site.  I'm not entirely clear on how this works, but I can imagine some benefits to this.  

• Teachers can create polls for students, and see the results immediately.  We often use Google surveys at my school to do this, but this seems even more direct and easier to view and share results. 

• Teachers can create quizzes on EdModo, grade them or have the computer grade them (where possible) and send feedback to students instantly.  In fact, teachers can have their entire gradebook on EdModo if they want.  I wouldn't be able to do this, because we already have an online grade book with parent access at my school.  But creating online quizzes with instant feedback has some great possibilities.   

• Finally, you can create small groups on EdModo.  I imagine creating small groups for group projects so students can easily communicate about the work asynchronously, and I can observe and chime in if I want.  I can create an Edmodo group for my small group tutorial as well as each of my regular classes.  I can also post out questions for the whole grade.   

This past year there was quite a bit of interest in differences in the experiences of extroverted and introverted students at school. The book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain, caused quite a splash and a lot of new thinking around how we can empower introverts in school.  I'm interested in the opportunity EdModo could provide for less vocal students to get involved in academic conversations. Based on Cain's work, I predict that some students may find themselves leaders in the online environment, who are often silent during face-to-face discussions.

Some additional tips for using EdModo from their site, which I plan to read next are here and here.

Do you use EdModo?  How do you like it?

[Image Credit: techmunoz.edublogs.org--above is the starter image for a nice Prezi by Mrs. Munoz on Using EdModo in the Classroom that includes some quick teacher interviews.]

Back to School Tip: Plan Your Hydration!

So it's the season for back-to-school tips, and I'm going to jump in the conversation with my most recent adult learning... 

Confession: I rarely ate breakfast this year, and powered through until lunch with very little sustenance. On top of that, I often found myself with a banging headache at 2pm because I hadn't had any water since the cup of coffee I drank in the morning, which doesn't count for obvious reasons. I did a little reading and found that there is now significant research that proves the obvious--that dehydration significantly diminishes cognitive functioning and quality of mood. 

In preparing for a new school year, one of my top priorities is planning to eat breakfast and stay hydrated EVERY DAY.  All the other planning, new strategies, assessment, parent outreach, and other good ideas will not yield much if I am not properly fueled when I teach. I have slacked in this regard too many times, and I'm just done with that.  

Here's the new plan.

1. Start the day with a smoothie.  This summer, I learned to make smoothies every morning, and they are delicious.  I use frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, or a combo), vanilla yogurt, coconut milk (Silk brand found in the milk section), honey, flax seeds, and occasionally almonds, fruit juice and/or kale. Blend with Ice. Drink in the car.  My friend says if you add protein powder it helps keep energy even all morning. Making the smoothie takes very little time and has quickly attained the status of full-fledged habit for me. I simply would not want to begin the day without it. 

 

2. Stay hydrated. My number one choice for hydration is water.  Nothing works better, and it's pretty much free, yet somehow I don't prioritize filling up my water bottle in the morning or throughout the day.  Sometimes I also forget to drink the water I do have.  And these are the factors that make the difference between a hydrated teacher at 2pm and a banging headache.  

Besides the gravity of my dead serious commitment to hydration this year, I plan to remind myself by using a cool tool. Here are my two choices, both borrowed from colleagues.

Reusable Plastic Cup. Several teachers at my school have begun using this kind of reusable plastic cup with built-in lid and straw.  It's less work than opening and closing a normal water bottle and it's just kind of cool.  My colleague says she sees it and it reminds her to drink water. 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration Backpack. This truly hard core gear was worn by a former colleague of mine who possesses a level of responsibility and organization that is unusual and truly admirable.  She's a runner and found herself so dydrated in her first year of teaching that she started wearing this contraption during her teaching day so she could drink water without searching for the water bottle, or opening and closing it, or forgetting it altogether! No, she did not wear a bicycle helmit... but she did say the kids thought the hydration pack was cool :)  

 

 

 

 

So I'll probably opt for the adult version of a sippy-cup... but will keep the hydration backpack in mind if that doesn't work out.

I'm confident that hydration will boost my energy and help me make the most of the rest of my efforts. Will you be hydrated this year when you put your teaching plans into action?  

 

[image credits: (1) smoothierecipe.tv, (2) vat19.com, (3) walmart.com]

Two New Sites with Great Resources!

I want to highlight two new sites that are becoming a big part of my reading routine this summer. They post excellent content related to my two big passions in education: teacher leadership and middle school education.  If you aren't familiar with these two already, then you're in for a treat!  

CTQ Teacher Leadership Weekly: This is a Scoop-It site, curated by CTQ and teacher leader, Marsha Ratzel, that collects and shares great articles and resources related to teacher leadership, things teacher leaders are doing, and things teacher leaders are talking about...each week.  You might see a fresh new post from a CTQ/TLN blogger or an article about relevant brain research or a strategy from the progressive businesses world on time management that teacher leaders would dig. I subscribed. This means every day I receive an email with the latest article to be collected here.  If the title and description catches by attention I click through, and if not, I don't.  It has been a benefit, not a bother, to my inbox!

 

MiddleWeb: MiddleWeb has been around for years, but recently got a new look (designed by Jose Vilson) and has become a go-to place to find resources, reviews, articles, and even webinars on middle grades education (defined as grades 4-8). Most of the writing is by actual teachers, which adds a lot of value and potential to this site. They are actually open to middle school educators submiting guest posts, which is great opportunity for teachers interested in writing about their work.  Scroll down to "Get Involved With MiddleWeb" on this page to learn more about that.  MiddleWeb also has a new partnership with Smartbrief Education and puts out MiddleWeb Smartbrief twice per week, which is a great way to stay on top of recent content.  

What Kind of Apps Do Teachers Want?

I recently had the opportunity to provide feedback for a large educational software company on two prototypes for an App designed for English teachers. It was an interesting way to spend an hour and I got a nice gift certificate to Amazon out of the deal. 

Without saying much about the idea, since it is not mine to share, I'll say that the app was geared towards helping teachers plan curriculum with attention to each standard.  Inherent in the design was that teachers would select lesson plans from a menu of pre-created materials.  This struck me, because most teachers I know do not use many pre-created materials.  

I found myself explaining that I occasionally use materials out of a text book or off the internet. More often, I might borrow something from another teacher.  In all of those cases, I usually adapt such materials for my particular group of students, my own delivery style, and other factors such as the amount of time I want to allot to the lesson or activity.  

The feedback I ended up giving was that teachers need anything that can help us organize ourselves and our students' learning better.  When it comes to curriculum, we want access to good resources that respond to our students' needs and fit into our overall curriculum focus, but we need flexibility.  

User-friendly ways of tracking and sharing information, materials, lessons taught, observations and assessment data could be very helpful and desirable for teachers.  The best apps generally increase the user's autonomy and efficency--like the App that tells you when the next train is coming, allowing you to make a more informed decision about where to be, possibly freeing you up for 20 minutes while you would otherwise have been waiting for a train.  Online gradebooks can act like this too.  I have a few App ideas of my own I may pursue at some point. 

Needless to say I was a little disappointed when I realized that the designers assumed teachers would want to build their curricula with ready-made materials... am I off-base?  Is that appealing to anyone?

 

[image credit: thacherschool.org]

Update on E-Readers In Class

I wrote recently that this is the year E-readers are actually becoming a part of my classroom.  I don't have a class set of Ipads or anything but more than a few students have their own Kindles, Nooks, HTC' tablets, or Kindle apps on their phones.  I've begun letting students read in class on these devices, and it feels surprisingly natural and normal.

The wonderful thing about the E-readers is that students can write their post-it note responses using the note function on the e-reader program.  There is then a way for me to view all the notes at once.  Normally I have students pass in their actual book and I read through the notes flipping actual pages.  The e-readers makes this a bit simpler.  I can also turn back to the page of text to which the response refers easily to better understand the student's thinking.  

Two students have books on their phones. I was worried about letting them pull out their phones for this, but I had a serious conversation with them about the importance that they use the phone for exactly what they said they would--and it hasn't been a problem.  They understand I'm giving them a freedom, a privelege and haven't abused it.

 

The only thing missing is a way for students to simply email me their notes through the e-reader. Soon I think we'll probably be reading as a class on electronic devices.  Software developers?  Want to talk to a teacher about functions that would be helpful for classroom use of e-readers?  I'm right here!

 

[image credit: betwixttween.wordpress.com]

 

 

E-Readers Creeping In!

It's now official.  Parents are asking me if they can buy their kids Kindles, Nooks, etc, so students can do their reading and their post-it note responses electronically!  On the one hand, I love it!  I am so happy this day is finally here.

Four years ago I discovered the Kindle.  I showed an Amazon promotional video to students and they were stunned.  I asked them to write on the questions, "How would school be different if every student had a Kindle?"  They wrote thougtfully about the effects this invention could have on student's organization and motivation. Although it was a plausible scenario, it presented as a futuristic dream.  It amazed me that year after year I could recycle the assignment and still, it was a pie-in-the-sky vision.  

Last year one or two students read books on their ipod touches. I found it easier to review post-its, because you can view all "notes" at once without having to flip through the pages searching for the notes. You can still refer back to the page the student is commenting on to better understand the student's thinking.  The students who did this were such voracious readers I didn't worry that they'd be on the internet. I passed by their tables a few times to check and never had an issue.   

Now that E-readers are becoming more available and commonplace, I couldn't be happier about it.  I do have to figure out what changes I will need to make to accommodate them in the classroom.  Clearly, E-readers that have internet and games on them such as Ipads and the new Nooks pose new opportunities for distractions.  There may also be organizational changes to the structures around reading I use, which I designed over the years with real-paper books.

Perhaps the changes will make new fertile territory for student writing--no longer a fanciful exercise, I could truly use students' advice on how to make E-readers work in my program!

 

[image credit: impactlab.net]