ELS: Introducing an Assignment or Project

Earlier in the month, I watched a teacher explain an engaging assignment for students to apply their understanding of logos, ethos, and pathos in a commercial to promote their topic/agenda. They had been studying the Presidential campaigns and speeches. The teacher prepared a clear and concise, well-organized description of the requirements as well as a rubric to make sure students understood the criteria for success.

Since this is his first year giving the assignment, we talked about saving the best student example to use as a model for next year. A quick search revealed this AP lang project. And this one that seems more refined. And this one. Could be places to begin until you have something that matches your assignment. Oh..and this one is labeled by logical fallacies and is FUNNY!

Next, we talked about an instructional "gimmick" that would turn the process of understanding the assignment to the students. Traditionally, a teacher would hand out the assignment and the rubric and explain the requirements verbally.  Very to the right on the TTESS rubric: AKA - boring.

Try one of these approaches to move toward a more student centered approach. (And keep them in mind to adapt to other instructional situations.)

1. 20 Questions Have students read the assignment and rubric. Divide the class into two groups and have them face each other across the room. The person first in line asks a question about the assignment that the team member directly across from them must answer. Since the questions are all closed (yes/no), all members of the class can participate without much modification. When you feel the students have asked enough questions to show their understanding of the assignment, review any key points you wish them to consider and let students get started with backtracking their planning from the due date. (You can assign points for competition, but I find that most students just think that playing the game is enough fun.)

2. Stump the Professor  Basically, the kids create questions to ask you salient questions about the assignment. You can set it up like: "What questions should a student be able to answer about this assignment? What questions remain after reading the assignment?" The teacher can't use their notes to answer. (But why would they need to. LOL.) Kids get "points" for asking valid questions that can be answered from the assignment/text. If students ask a question that was not addressed in the assignment description, but helps clarify the assignment or choices students could make, the student gets "double" points.

3. In the Hot Seat  Jeff Wilhelm developed this one. If I were the boss of a classroom, I'd tell students that I was going to call on a random person to sit in the hot seat to answer questions after we read about the assignment. After time to talk with a group about the assignment and possible questions they could be asked about the assignment, I would start the drumroll as I pulled a lucky victim's Popsicle stick out of my can. That person would come to the front of the room to sit in the hot seat and answer the questions posed by the class. If you are brave enough, ask the student to respond with gestures and accents as if they were you.

These strategies take no preparation from the teacher other than creating the assignment. I hope these are simple go-to strategies that you can make endless permutations and combinations to engage your learners.

Essential Lesson Structures

Teachers are busy. And God forbid if you are a coach. You have time for nothing. Lesson planning - the very thing that guides most of your day -  often gets put aside. Ironic: you spend most of your day in front of the kids teaching your guts out, yet the amount of time spent on other things in the PLC, planning time, staff development, data meetings, and administrative activities often insure that you won't have ANY time to plan at all. And if the lesson design requires that you make something to go with the lesson...out of luck. Not happening. (At least that was what it was like for me. Or I stayed there until 8 or 9 each night.)

Teachers have been asking if there is a solution. When I coach in their classrooms, they ask me - how did you know how to come up with that on the fly? The trick is knowing some basic routines and structures that you can plug in and adapt to anything. Marzano talks about the different levels a teacher goes through in learning about and using instructional strategies. The point he makes is that teachers can get to the level of innovation: "At this level, the teacher is so familiar with the strategy that he or she has adapted it to meet specific student needs." This is true in general lesson planning as well. Teachers can adapt some general structures to fit seamlessly into their curriculum and presentation with little additional preparation. 

So...I'm collecting and thinking about where we could begin. Over time, I'll post an entry that begins with ELS and a description of the category and use in the title of the blog. Let me know how they work. 

Your Fan,

Shona 

Break the Rules:You CAN Just Read for Plot

Compare these versions of the same story: 

The Original The Gift of the Magi

Simplified: The Gift of the Magi 

I can think of a lot of reasons to use multiple versions of the same text: differentiation, ESL, comparison. But I'm always weirded out a little in thinking that some kids might miss out on the beauty and craft of masters like O. Henry. I strive to make complex texts accessible for all students. To do less seems a little like educational segregation or reading level racism. 

Thomas Armstrong spoke at a New Jersey Writing Conference a while back. He spoke on how one would go about comprehending James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, a book Armstrong believes is one of the most difficult books to understand. Believe it or not, he put up a stick figure PowerPoint and explained the plot of one chapter to us before we ever read any of the words. 

He really did. I was shocked too. 

But the text would not have been accessible to me without this support. And my Lexile had nothing to do with it. You can debate about my intelligence another time. The conversations and rich discussion began from experiencing the plot in a simplified text. The conversations about craft and culture and nuance and ideas came after reading the original. To have stopped at the simplified version would have given us the "story" of the text that might be referenced in other literary works. But we would have learned nothing about finding our own meaning and interpretation of the text. We would have missed the quirky and complex reality of what it means to read James Joyce. Frankly, we'd miss the whole point. 

Fast forward more years than I'd like to count. Two weeks ago, I watched a brand new teacher use the same strategy with her Sophomore students! Does she know that she is brilliant like Thomas Armstrong? Perhaps even more brilliant than Thomas Armstrong? The kids read the simplified version on the first day, learning about the plot, the culture, how much  $1.87 cents was worth back then, connecting to their own culture and experience... 

"Suddenly she turned from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brightly, but her face had lost its color. Quickly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its complete length. If a queen had lived in the rooms near theirs, Della would have washed and dried her hair where the queen could see it. Della  knew her hair was more beautiful than any queen's jewels and gifts...So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, shinning like a falling stream of brown water. It reached below her knee. It almost made itself into a dress for her. And then she put it up on her head again, nervously and quickly." (Simplified version).

I bet when they read the second version, everyone was more successful with the original than they would have been without having read the first one for plot. And because they understood the plot, they probably saw a more vivid image the second time around. And imagine the discoveries the students would make! 

"Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass, her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length...Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts...So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her.. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly."  (O. Henry).

"...students can obtain the right schemas in order to come to their own deduction of texts, instead of resulting to unitary deductions devised by an author's style, intentions or societal norms...Using...theories in a classroom in tandem with fervid teaching can create a space that stimulates stronger, independent learners who respond dialogically to literature, thus continuing the intertextual conversation by coming to their own unique understanding. However, this process can only be accomplished if educators allow it. To build a dialogical classroom, students should become involved in the literary conversation in our classes while we inspire response through creative means. If we present enough information about each text encountered in a classroom, students will more easily understand interwoven meanings or contextual allusions. Once students have the tools to work with, response will come naturally, and understanding will erupt through creative conversation" (Whitley, 2016). 

Fervid teaching...stronger learners...with the right tools...involved in the literary conversation...eruptive understanding.

Just Brilliant.

Distinctions in Ratiocination

Sometimes, we get bogged down in the "steps" to do an activity and forget why we are doing them. Often, I find sheets of ratiocination topics and codes that turn into mindless lists for students to use when they are editing their papers. One time, I conferenced with a struggling student about his paper. "I just need a vivid verb in this sentence, Miss." Sure, we can help you with that. Why do you need a vivid verb there? Where do you think one belongs? "Miss, I don't really care. I just have to have one for this paper here," he sighed waving the long list of tasks he was to demonstrate in his paper.

Oh my. Nothing on that sheet was a bad thing for the writer to consider. Not at all. I'm just not sure he understood why he might need to do those things in his writing. He was treating the sheet as a checklist for compliance rather than a tool for meaning to help him communicate with the reader. Jennifer Jackson Whitley, in the 2016 Journal of Literacy Innovation Article of the Year, has a solution: "Students will care if we give them reason to, if they can learn how to make connections from texts to what they care about - from words to life (2016, p. 9).

The teacher and I developed this set of notes to guide our thinking and point students to the reasons we ratiocinate. This, of course, would happen after we have set the purpose with an engaging beginning.

(I've tried to mark the distinctions in italics for those of you that are already familiar with ratiocination.) 

1. Circle all the sentence beginnings.
2. Write them in the margin next to the paragraphs they belong to. (This makes them easier to find when revising.)
3. Come back as a class and discuss: Ask: What did you notice about your sentence beginnings? Record their ideas on the board or on a chart paper. (I think it is very important to "build your board" as you go. Make things visible and retrievable later.)

4. The kids in this class noticed what we all do when first completing this activity. And then they noticed some more. This then gave us a chance to teach from each example. We considered repeated words, articles, pronouns, conjunctions, etc.

CAUTION: Many  times, we have the kids look for things that need to be changed. Sometimes, you DON'T need to change it. You, as the author, have made an intentional choice. Our first discussion came from what the students noticed about how many of their sentences began in the same way. Sometimes, beginning a sentence in the same way is monotonous and the reader becomes bored. Other times, the writer is looking to emphasize something or create a parallel structure that fits the message or craft elements. 

5. The second question we asked about every "noticing" brought us back to purpose, craft, accuracy, and the impact on the reader. The conversation about the use of pronouns is a perfect example of these distinctions and choices. We looked at both the positive (+)  and negative (-)elements of using pronouns and the mechanics and usage features (!) connected to this part of speech. 

+ - to avoid using the same nouns over and over, to create a flow and natural sounding sentence

! - make sure each has an antecedent; example: check to see if you have multiple people that you can still tell which pronoun references which person

- - Sometimes, logical fallacies are found when using pronouns and vague language. This could impact your ethos

-/+ - Vague langue can be imprecise and ineffective; or you could be vague for a purpose such as innuendo

6. Our conversation about sentence variety was equally rich. We had them use alternating highlighters on every sentence. This made it very easy to see run-ons, long sentences, short sentences, etc. Students decided that short sentences served these positive features:

• for emphasis - Were you repetitive on purpose? Why? 
• simplicity in explaining something difficult - Is there a place in the reading that is particularly difficult? How could you shorten the sentences to make sure the point is understood?
• break for the reader - Try reading the sentence in one breath. Will the reader be able to keep all your ideas in mind during this sentence? Have there been several long sentences in a row? 
• to speed up the pace - short sentences can sometimes pick up the pace and tone of a text

Students discussed how having a balance of sentences made the writing feel natural. They also noticed that when the paper was all one color, or seven to eight lines were the same color, that there was probably a runon, splice, or an overly complex sentence that needed revision.

7. Which leads us into the last phase of ratiocination: actual revision. With the sentence beginning activity, we had them return to their papers and highlight any words in the margin that were repetitive or boring. Next, we asked students to  highlight those that were unnecessarily boring or repetitive in the paragraphs themselves. (Not every repetitive beginning needs revision. Students need to focus on the ones that impact their purpose and message.) Now were were ready to focus on solutions: Here are the solutions we brainstormed: (I wish we would have asked students to give their examples.)

•  use a different term/synonym
• change the order of the words
• use a dependent clause at the beginning or the end
• combine sentence
• divide sentences
• use an introductory clause

8. Now it was time to revise and reconsider...we gave students time to compose and then conducted a grouping protocol to share and discuss the effectiveness of their trial revisions. 

Ratiocination "Hook"

Today, I'decided to take all the crap piled in my office and put it in one stack. I'm starting at the bottom and working down. I've come to a lovely set of papers torn from a dear friend's spiral and have begun to decipher the purple scribbles.

The teacher was working on making sure that each lesson began with an insightful "hook" or "anticipatory set." She considered this cartoon. But after we worked with the kids, we realized that there was a more powerful beginning. One of the students, after completing the activity, remarked: "I always wondered how you saw all the things that needed to be marked on my paper. Now I can see them for myself."

It reminded me of an old trick mom showed me with lemon juice and a light bulb. (Or maybe I read about it in Encyclopedia Brown and we had to try it out. Apparently, onion juice works too. Ew.) We put the juice on a toothpick and wrote a message. I remember holding the paper over a light bulb and watching the paper turn brown. Wikihow says you can do the same thing with white crayon and watercolor, milk and an iron, baking soda and juice, and one more that you'll just love.

Wouldn't it be fun to start out the class on ratiocination with an activity like that? It would be illuminating to mark all the sentence beginnings and then use one of those techniques to make the distinctions "appear." You'd transition with a comment like, "If I make the marks on your paper, what will you do when I am not here? If you knew there were mistakes, you'd be able to fix them yourselves. Let me show you how to do that kind of thinking for the paper we are working on now."

x's and o's

I finally had time to write a thank you letter. I am so blessed to work in a profession with teachers (Region 16), publishers (Corwin), book lovers and sellers (QEP), and experts (Gretchen Bernebei). The last two years have been a tremendous series of events and accomplishments through some of the greatest sorrows I have ever experienced. Yet, the people around  me continue to bless me and validate my sincere efforts to make a difference. Thank you! Here's the letter I sent yesterday. 

Dear Gretchen (and Craig and Catherine)

Earlier this year, I was delivering a staff development session  on Writing Across the Curriculum in a nearby district. I had just come home from the Corwin Institute where  Gretchen presented some incredible ideas. I knew she was a genius, but had not seen the kernel essays in action. For the district’s training, I started out with the activity using the “Damage” example that Gretchen shared at the conference from her book. I noticed that one table (coaches) were not participating as I introduced the activity. So, when it came time to share the initial kernel essays, I sat down at their table to participate.

One of the coaches looked at me over his football arrows to x’s and o’s, “You’re really going to make us do this, aren’t you?”

“Why, yes!” I exclaimed with my best Southern-bless-your-heart-twang and fluttered my eyes innocently.

They quickly scribbled kernel essays to share with their groups. When I started playing FDR's speech about the bombing of Pearl Harbor,  the strategy had their full attention. These middle school coaches immediately saw the beauty and genius of Gretchen's approach. We then placed the speech on a google document  and began to examine the author’s craft and applied it as revisions to our initial kernel essays.

The rest of the day seemed to go well. We closed that day with kernel essays. Teachers read kernel essay exit tickets to campus and district administration about what they had learned that day during staff development and what they planned to do as a result. Incredible, really. I packed up my things and drove back to Amarillo, knowing that you each provided excellent resources that will impact many students and teachers.

I meant to write this note to you all as a Thanksgiving note in appreciation for Gretchen's work and Corwin and QEP’s sponsorship of my registration to the conference. That day passed. I thought about writing this note as a remembrance of the infamous December 7th that inspired the kernel lesson Gretchen shared at the conference. That day slipped by as well. Now that classes are winding down, I had a moment to consider my blessings this year. I couldn’t let one more day pass without sharing my gratitude and the impact your gifts have had on my life and teachers that I support.

Later that night of the staff development I mentioned above, my phone buzzed with a text message that continues to tickle my heart. Perhaps it will bring a smile to yours as well.

Of course I responded, “Hello!” when I answered the next ring.

Merry Christmas and Thank You for the Blessing of Your Friendship and Support!

Shona 

Should we administer EOC III STAAR in Texas

Today, a client contacted me to see what the benefits were for administering the STAAR End of Course Assessment for English III. Currently, the EOC III for English and the EOC for Algebra II are not required for graduation. They can be offered at the discretion of the school. 

I tried to "google" this and see what others are saying, but there's nothing out there. Here are my thoughts and thinly veiled opinions. These do not reflect the opinions of anyone I work for, but lots of people I know:

1. If one student takes the EOC, ALL students have to take it. ALL: SPED, 504, ESL. If it breathes and is enrolled, it takes ANOTHER test. School schedules and teaching duties will be altered for another day of assessment. (And possible retakes into eternity. We are still giving TAKS, people.) 

2. It does not benefit the school. EOC III and ALG II cannot be used for any kind of accountability. Test administration and preparation requires copious amounts of time before, during, and after administration. Test results are available for these assessments, but do not impact instruction, curriculum, or scheduling considerations for the next courses. 

3. It does not benefit students unless they fit certain criteria.

     a. Most colleges are looking for ACT and SAT to provide entrance criteria for college readiness. These colleges will accept Final Recommended Level II Performance Criteria on EOC II. Kids who are doing well won't benefit from -DON’T NEED - an additional test. 

     b. I wonder if people are thinking that the EOC III could be a good "free" substitute for students in place of the ACT/SAT. That's the only benefit that I can see. Yet, most colleges have entrance exams they can give students who don't take or don't meet the requirements of ACT/SAT/STAAR. (And students that don't meet these requirements probably genuinely need the remedial coursework.) 

     c. Most students can get what they need for college readiness by making level II performance on a test they already took as required: EOC II. 

     d. For kids who struggle, it's easier to meet the requirements in another fashion, and probably is better preparation for real life. They can: 

         Take a coherent sequence of CTE courses

         Take 2 or more dual credit, AP, or IB courses

         Take the SAT or ACT

 4. Kids who struggle meeting college readiness requirements often struggle with BOTH English and Math.

    a. These kids will probably have to take TWO more tests: Kids who are having trouble meeting college and career requirements from EOC II and/or SAT/ACT will have to PASS the EOC III AND meet the requirements for Algebra II if they have not met final level II recommended performance on Algebra I AND final level II recommended performance on EOC II. 

    b. Again, this means that Juniors who already struggle (probably with both reading and math) will have and pass TWO ADDITIONAL EOC's for which they ALREADY struggled to pass the PREVIOUS Sophomore level test requirements.

5. Kids who struggle meeting college readiness requirements for only ONE subject such as English, will have to take ANOTHER assessment at an increased level of difficulty and complexity AND pass it.  (Think retakes for yet another test.)

My question is WHY would you WANT to have ALL kids in Junior English take this test? I think we need to hear from the other side of the argument. What is the benefit that people are thinking that we should consider in light of these facts? 

Student Example: Focusing on one Idea and Adding Depth

Here's the prompt: Write and essay stating your opinion on whether maturity is dependent on a person's age.

Here is the planning:

3-5 Paragraphs
7-13 Sentences

1 - Intro, stand: you dont have to be old to be mature
2 - 1st reason - hard times
3 - 2nd reason - how you were raised
4 - 3rd reason - optional
5 - conclusion

Here is the student's essay:

     It is not nessacary to have lived a certian number of years to be considered mature. In my oppinion it's not the number of years you've lived, but how many ordeals life has put you through. 
     Maturity is dependent on the hard times you go through in a day, not how many days you've been around. It doesn't matter if youre fifteen or thirty age is for the body, not the mind. I feel if you have been through a divorce or a death of a parent, with also having siblings younger than you, makes you grow up really fast. It's sad that sixteen year old kids are having to get jobs, not for themselves, but to help pay for their parents descisions. It sickens me! I am on of those kids, and when my parents were my age, I was born. I think I'm a little more mature than they were. 
     Yes I was raised probably a little differently. I grew up in a farm, ranch, and rodeo family, if someone ever needed help I was right there. If thats not mature I don't know what is! Studies have shown that "country folk mature in a different way." like I did. I'm not old, but I would say I am very mature. 
     Age doesn't matter when it comes to maturity. The way you were raised, and how life treats you is maturity in my mind. 

First, I chose his best developed paragraph. Then, I applied Christensen's model to his paper in a backward outline and labeled the function of each of his sentences. Pointing out the function and "level" of description with the tabs helps the student see the elaboration, description, and depth.

Topic Sentence: Hard times vs days alive
     analogy: 15:30:: mind:body
     examples: divorce, death, siblings
     emotion/example: sad; job at 16 to pay for parent mistakes
           emotion: sickens
           personal anecdote: self compared to parents having a kid at his age
           restatement: I am more mature

Next, I wanted a visual metaphor for peeling back the layers of what was behind those broad statements and how he could add depth and detail.

As we peeled back the layers, I wrote questions that could prompt the writer about how he could add further depth to what he had written.

The pictures didn't turn out too well. Neither did the visual metaphor. The strips were too small and confusing. But...I do think that labeling what the sentences are doing and what actions can be taken to elaborate is a good idea. I typed out the feedback we could give students using bold font to label/name/annotate how the student's sentences were functioning. I used blue font to show what the student had written already. I used the green font to show what the student could do to elaborate and extend. 

Level One: Topic Sentence: Hard times vs days alive
     Analogy: 15:30:: mind:body
              How is that true?
              Why is that true?

     Level Two: Examples in a list: divorce, death, siblings (each is a scenario that can be developed 
                         separately or together)
              Scenario: Divorce
                       Actions/Feelings: What actions and feelings do kids of divorce take on that make
                                                      mature before their age?
             Scenario: Death:
                       Actions/Feelings/Responsibilities: What actions, feelings, and responsibilities do
                                                     kids who have experienced death have to take on that make them
                                                     mature beyond their years?
             Scenario: Siblings: 
                        Contrast:            What actions, feelings, and responsibilities do kids who have
                                                     siblings take on that make them more mature than others who do not                                                      have siblings?

      Level Two: Example/Emotion: sad: 16 yr olds getting jobs; pay for parent mistakes. 
             Explanation: How does a 16 year old getting a job pay for their parent's mistakes? Which 
             mistakes are you referring to? Why is it sad that a 16 year old should get a job? 
       

                Level Three: Emotional Response: sickens
                     Elaborate: How does it sicken you? Why? Unfairness of it all?

                Level Three: Personal Example: I am one of those kids.

                     Level Four: Comparison: self compared to parents at this age
                        Explicit Connection: Some readers will be able to make the inference here, but some 
                        may not. You may need to spell out that you have more physical self control in   
                        relationships or that you are responsible in choices for birth control. 

                     Level Four: Restatement: I am more mature. 


  

Anecdotal and Reflective Writing Record

News from the field:

Recently, I asked my Facebook friends to share their approach to the writing process. My friend Vicky Mueller shared these ideas and images of how she records her notes as she conferences with students. This method seems "real" and "doable" for classroom use.

On the right hand side, she uses one index card per student. She records the date she conferences with the student and then writes a few notes about their discussions. This seems practical to me because she can do a quick scan of the papers when they come in to see if the writer has indeed addressed the elements of the conference. She can also quickly look over the goals set from the previous conference when she meets with them again.

On the right hand side of the folder, Vicky is able to make some comments about common things she is seeing in papers that she needs to address with her whole class in mini-lessons.