Smith's Learning Blog

Thanks to Will!

2011-05-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

I am humbled by Will Richardon's latest post "There are some people who don't wait." I can't accurately express my appreciation and admiration for what Will has done for me and my students. The leadership, vision, and quest for something better continues to drive me in my pursuit or "hunger" for my student's learning as well as my own. He takes such a personal interest in helping all of us to better our learning.

To see my personal blog, please visit me at Learning and Laptops. To see my students' work, see us at Smith English 9 or Smith English 9 Honors.

Once again, thanks Will!

Philosophy of Education

2006-08-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

It was great getting a chance to talk with everyone on Monday as well as have my new group contribute (Yeah- Adam, Amanda and Rob) and examine my philosophy of education. Together we created a strong philosophy that included:

The teacher is a facilitator, coach, mediator
The teacher is seen as student as well as the students are seen as teachers
The teacher is there to build bridges between the knowledge and skills to link the students to understanding.

I also have to say I really liked this quote from our reading this summer, " the teacher is a coach, providing scaffolding where needed, talioring mini lectures to clear up confusion or if things are going well, simply moderate discussion and allow students to figure out things on their own." I really felt as though this summarized how I would like to see my classroom.

Another try at soliciting feedback...

2006-04-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

I am going to give you guys another try at giving me some feedback on an assignment. Hopefully, this time I won't have to send email reminders, outlook calendar updates, and nagging people in class or in the hallways to complete this assignment (oh, wait that's just Karl that does that).

My seniors are teaching each other Brave New World. They began teaching their classmates after much discussion about how to teach and what good teaching looks like methods of instruction, methods of assessment; basically it was reviewing what they thought was effective form their years of education and what they thoughts was not. For the most part I have been really happy with this challenge they have undertaken. Where I am struggling is what to hold them accountable for. I have a rubric that I use to grade their group, but I feel like I am missing something on it. I want to get some fedback from you before I ask the kids what they think. The parts I am considering adding are one about classroom management (could I realistically get the kids to keep each other in-line?) and making sure they meet at least three of the five areas of the language arts curriculum in terms of reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing.

Here's the rubric:

Pre-teaching conference:
Meeting time scheduled and attended
Lesson plans ready _____ /20

Lesson:
Followed lesson plan

Participation/ Interaction required

Writing/Reading/Reacting assignment

Creativity

Anticipatory set- Beginning activity to pull class together

Culminating activity- pull class together at end

Flexibility of lesson

Focused on ideas of assigned chapters, but not limited by chapters

All teachers participated

Enhanced understanding of concepts beyond basic concepts _____/ 90

Group/ self evaluation:
All members worked well together in planning and teaching
Goal of lesson fulfilled _____/ 20

TOTAL _____/ 130

Any feedback would be appreciated otherwise I will have to sick Karl the Invincible on you!

Survey

2006-04-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

I am worried about giving out the student survey. Anybody else? What if the kids don't see the change? Or more importantly, what if they don't care? I know my freshmen Honors class as well as my seniors has been working well with me on feedback about trying new things, but I am unsure of whether or not my regular ninth grade will know what we are asking. Just something I am thinking about. I hope I can bring them to the computer lab so I can go through it with them without leading them. This is something I am also going to do with their survey from the grading pilot program.

Sing a song of six pence...

2006-04-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

I am trying to come up with a some songs that parallel themes in two novels that I am currently teaching; I need some help though trying to find the best songs. If you have a few minutes and can think of some songs, please let me know:

Brave New World:
The Use of Technology to Control Society- Video Killed the Radio Star, I Want My MTV
The Consumer Society (success of society is equated with economic growth) We Didn't Start the Fire
The Incompatibility of Happiness and Truth- (happiness at the expense of truth) Just Another Day in Paradise-Phil Collins
The Dangers of an All-Powerful State-(govt controls people) American Idiot, something by Rage Against the Machine?

Farewell to Manzanar:
The Destruction of Family Life under Internment-
The Everyday Nature of Prejudice-Black or White- Michael Jackson
The Difficulty of Understanding One's Identity- Politik-Coldplay, Who are you?- The Who, Turning Japanese-The Vapors, Survivor- Destiny's Child

Editing Part 2

2006-04-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

I am having my regular freshmen redo their position papers wokring each day on a specific task, practicing editing, and then applying it to their own papers. I am astounded how little they have retained about writing from past year's English classes. It is one of the few moments in my teaching career where I am really struggling with covering all the curriculum or spending more time working on the writing process. I think I will do additional little writing assignments when we do Romeo and Juliet to help them retain what we have been working on.

I am beginning to feel that I need to change how I teach writing to my students. Up to this point, the way I have taught writing has always seemed to work, but this year it seems they are having more difficulty. Is it just this class or is it the teaching? ( The struggle every teacher faces!) Either way, I guess I am grateful for the chance to spend more time getting them to improve their writing and just hope that it sticks!

GGGGOOOOAAAAALLLLLL

2006-04-04T07:13:00.000-07:00

Progress toward my goal..I have found that I am doing a much better job after creating goals, to actually focus on achieveing them. Amazing, isn't it? I tend to be someone who sets golas in my mind but does not put them down on paper. Once they are written though, it makes me follow through and complete them. So far, I am doing a good job. My seniors actually decided with a little guidance how they wanted to complete their last novel. They decided rather than fishbowl they actually wanted to teach one another. This brought a whole new set of problems (umm, challenges) to deal with since we had to talk about what it means to teach. Group one already went and did a fantastic job. They had a multitude of acitvities during the class period and not one activity went on too long; we wrote, discussed, visualized and presented our findings. It really was impressive to see the thought and effort put into their lesson plan. I have also been trying to encourage my freshman both regular and honors to have more say in due dates and assessing their work. This is more difficult with my regular class because they aren't accustomed to having a say and now I am allowing them to help determine their grades. The biggest struggle with this is to get them to actually read and interpret the rubric I give them for a project. My sophomores did well with determining their grades so I am hoping I can encourage my freshman to do the same. We will get there eventually; I just need a little patience!

Harper's Index...

2006-03-16T08:20:00.000-08:00

Harper's Index...This is something I want Kristin to talk about at our next meeting,but I thought I would give you a preview. The man who presented this is an AP teacher in the Cherry Creek district and it is something he does to teach critical thinking skills to his AP kids. He gives them a copy of the index and asks them to categorize the statisitics themselves. Then they are to find connections among the statistics and create an interpretation of the organization of the list. Basically, why is the list organized in this way? Then he asks them to discuss their own personal interpretations together as a class. He says the discussions get quite heated at times but it is interesting to have them hear each other's opinions and try to support their side and refute another's. At the end ,he asks them to write a well constructed paragraph supporting one of their catergories and why they grouped that particular set of statisitcs together. Hopefully this makes sense...Take a look at the index when you have time. It's fun and scary all at the same time (kind of like Disney World).

Thinking 'bout a revolution (actually just next year)

2006-03-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

I have been try to think in terms of next year, how I am going to tramsform my current classroom into a laptop classroom. It is scary and exciting. I am not one of those people who is good with failing at things and so I know I need to do a lot of planning and talking with Karl, Brian, and Brad over the summer to prepare my self and my students fo r the journey they unknowlingly are going to undertake with me. In some ways, I wonder if it would be beneficial to let the students know there is a possibility they could be put in a laptop classroom much like the single gender classes. On the other side, it might be better for the shock and awe aspect (thanks Bush). I am trying to save student writing examples to practice peer editing next year. I am also trying to think of journaling assingments that aren't Microsoft Word based. Maybe on their own personal blogs?? Is that going to be too much to read? To keep up on and react to? The cool thing would be that other kids could react to their peers' thoughts and not just me.

Kristin and I got some great ideas at the CLAS conference in terms of student organization of ideas that I want her to share at our next meeting.

So much to think about but yet I still want the kids to contribute to process and decision making so I feel like I don't need to decide everything myself. Alos, I a know I am going to be pulling Ray in periodically to observe and help me reflect. It will be quite a ride!

What to do?

2006-03-06T09:18:00.000-08:00

I am thinking pessimistically here, but I know my regular ninth grade position papers are going to be worse this year to grade than in years past. Why you ask? Because the kids waited and waited to make the corrections necessary to succeed until the last minute. Also, they jsut didn't seem as motivated to understand the writing process as in years past. So now comes the big question: do I give them the ability to rewrite? I want them to learn these concepts. I want them to be able to apply all of this to their future writings, but if they haven't put in the effort by now (many did not complete the three required teacher/student conferences) , then why should I reward their lack of participation and effort?

Essential learnings

2006-03-06T07:19:00.000-08:00

Recently in our English Nine and English World Literature meetings we have been discussing the idea of essential learnings. I can see the benefits of this especially in English Nine, English Ten and even in American Literature; however, the issue I am having is with English World Lit. I can see how we all need to be teaching some of the same concepts and learnings, but it seems to me that this class is purely college prep and needs to be less focused on a set standard of requirements but rather on skills the kids want and need to know before they go off to college. It is somehting I need to do some more thinking about.

Antigone

2006-02-24T10:16:00.000-08:00

Today, I had the students write up referrals for the Antigone, Haemon, and Ismene as though they were students here at AHS. They had fun doing this and it was another creative way of presenting information and their understanding The only wish I would request (Oh Great Genie Karl) is that I could have still accessed the referral template online. I was also considering taking some real referral for them to use but I wasn't sure if that was a misuse of school property.

CD project

2006-02-24T09:53:00.000-08:00

My students are creating CD's for their next presentation of an outside reading book. They need to create a CD that reflects a particular literary element of their outside reading book. Along with the CD, they need printed lyrics and to make connections between the literary element, the lyrics, and the book. As well, I require some background on the book (like you would get on the CD jacket of the music group). Last year they were very interesting and quite good to hear. Just a different means of presentation!

Another variation of this project is that they can do a personal compilation CD of the main character. Teens always make their own playlists on their Ipods and CD's , why not do one for the main character of an outside reading book?

Grammar!!!

2006-02-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

I typically do grammar units with my freshman because they don't recall grammar from middle school. We go over the lessons from their Writer's Inc. lessons, they take notes and put down examples. The following day we have a quiz over the material we prevously covered. The quizzes aren't that challenging, but on this last quiz they bombed. becuase of their low scores, I had them go back over the quiz rewriting the paragraphs with the correct punctuation and what rule goes with the correct mark of punctuation. It took them all hour and not many complained. They also appreciated the opportunity to make up the points. I guess the point of this post is when are they ever going to get and apply grammar? Any good ideas on teaching grammar? In the past I have had them create examples, but their examples still don't demonstrate their learned knowledge. They would basically use the same format as the book's examples and just replace words. Help!

Grading- It's fun for everyone

2006-02-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

I continued with the students grading each other's summary response papers for their second summary response. Then on their final summary response paper of which they found the criticism on A Separate Peace, I returned the papers to them with just my comments and a rubric attached. They were to then schedule a time this week to come in and conference with me about their paper and together we determined a grade for their paper. I am going to ask some of them to comment to this post so we can all see their reactions. It was interesting to see how difficult it was for some of them to come up with point values and actually assign a grade to their work.

Computer challenge

2006-02-03T12:28:00.001-08:00

I am frustrated at times with the lack of computer lab time. I wanted to do more editing with my regular ninth graders in a computer lab using Microsoft Word during our writing of the Freshmen persuasuve essay, but alas everyone has signed up for my days! Just needed to vent; maybe the higher powers are really telling me to get on the Writely ban wagon. Alright, I am better now.

Computer challenge

2006-02-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

I am really giving up control

2006-02-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

I stayed up late last night grading the first of three summary response papers and decided I could not bring myself to assign a letter grade/ number grade to their papers. Instead I simply gave them feedback. When I got to class I decided (per Cara's leadership) that I would let them determine what grade they should receive on their paper keeping in mind my comments, one other editor's comments, and our established expectations for a summary response. Although they graded each other a little easier than I would have, they provided each other with invaluable counsel and feedback. I am glad I took the risk. I have two more of these to go and am not sure if I want to contiue down that path again or if they will take advatage of the situation.

Editing up a storm

2006-01-27T07:51:00.000-08:00

I took my ninth grade honors class to the computer lab to do editing on their social issue persuasive essay. We set up each computer with their paper in Word but they had to erase their name. then we used the editing features ( insert comment) to each paper they read. To jazz things up a little bit, I had them editing while implementing a little bit of musical chairs. I would have them start at one computer and then after the music stopped they had to move to another computer to begin editing another piece. It was fun and the comments they made to one another's paper were very good and often quite insightful. We did have to set up some expectations of comments and what was acceptable and what was not. I would definitely do this again. In fact we are doing it again today. The only other problem is some had issues with getting their papers to upload(some used Works even though they were told to use word, or others couldn't email their paper here) This would all be solved if they had access to their folders from home, and as a district, students could purchase for a small price Microsoft Office for students. This way all of our students would be guaranteed to have the same technology. I know I am dreaming big here!

Vocab for the Brave

2006-01-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

I came to the realization that I needed to challenge my sophomores with more vocabulary. Instead of me deciding the words and the manner in which they were going to be taught I put the kids into groups and they were responsible for teaching their peers the words and what words would be taught. They have been better than I thought. I am impressed with their creativity, we just need to work on their teaching skills. We have had memory games, a version of Balderdash, cookie quizzes, and one last presentation today to learn their words. I am also thinking that I will have them figure out, with-in reason, of how they would like to be tested on these words and definitions without it being a regurgitation quiz. It needs to be done creatively and with purpose.

Goals

2006-01-22T19:44:00.000-08:00

I was having a difficult time thinking of how to construct these goals so instead of two I have one large goal which I have broken down into three specific areas.

My goal: I will ask my students to become greater participants in determing what, how, and the assessment of their learning.

What: I want my student to become producers rather than mere consumers of the curriculum I am assigned to teach. I want them to create knowledge, reflect on their learning and challenge each other to learn. This can be done through the use of blogs, fishbowl, and feedback from my students. I want them to have a greater say in determining where this class is going and the material we are expected to read and discuss. Essentially, I want some of the decisions to fall on their shoulders. I am thinking of allowing them to choose a novel and discuss it in a small book group format. I also want them to be responsible for establishing the background information before we begin reading novels rather than it solely coming from me. I can also see them taking over our vocabulary lessons and possibly grammar lessons as well. Thus making them experts in certain areas and their responsiblity would be to instruct their classmates.

How: This will be done through a wide variety of methods. I want them to decide with guidance how they learn best oand explore that method. I can almost envision the class at different points depending on where each ones sucesses and failures take them. I especially see this with our grammar and vocaulary studies. It is like that concept of anything less than perfection is unexceptable. I want them to determine the directions of our discussions rather than it being solely teacher based. Additionally, I want their feedback on methods they enjoy and that challenge them. I can see this working extremely well with the writing process.

Assessment: This is the area I want to start challenging myslef with more and letting go more control of. I want them to have more of a say in what is to be graded, how it should be graded and the expectations of assignments. I am good at this with new assignments but am too stuck in my ways with assignments I have completed many times. I also think it would be valuable to them to have a say in determining due dates.

Blogging

2006-01-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

One thing I have been doing with my blogging classes is using the class bolgs as a starter for discussion for the class. The problem has been that it is difficult in the class to read the posts from the back of the classroom. So, in solution to this problem, I have the kids bring up a piece of paper to the front of the class and we sit (think story time from kindergarten). They aren't so crazy about sitting on the floor in C-11, but don't mind it in S-1 where it is carpeted. I have them jot down some notes as we are reading the postings to use for discussion. It is been really amazing to hear the student read his entry to the class placing proper emphasis where he wants it. In fact, I am including today's discussion from my English World Lit class. These kids really got into it. They enjoyed reflecting and analyzing each other's points of view with the blog posting as just the beginnings of the discussion.

http://smithewl.blogspot.com/2006/01/dante-believed-that-faith-was-most.html

They never would have had such a deep conversation if they weren't as open with each other from the blogging at the beginning. That allowed for them to ask questions of ones who typically wouldn't speak their mind, but had done so on the blog. Yeah for blogging!

Scary

2006-01-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

I finished reading The World is Flat over the holiday break. What was amazing to me is how it has affected me both positively and negatively. I am in awe of the stories Friedman has woven over the course of the book regarding other countries deisre to catch-up with America, but at the same time I am scared. Scared of our children's future if we don't start doing something to bolster their creativity and keep them pushing one another. The other worry I have is regarding China and India. With such an incredible population to use to further their countries' interests (I compare it to Cherry Creek's athletic teams year after year success), I wonder how confident businesses are in expanding their interests over seas when these countries can in a way be viewed as a threat to our future. I recall Friedman addressing this concern in the novel by saying that American interests in these countries benefit both the American's and the Chinese and Indian as well so that none of us want to do anything to damage this relationship. Interesting things for us to ponder!

I am really teaching the future

2006-01-16T12:09:00.000-08:00

We recieved a web-cam for Christmas from my in-laws. No biggie there, but what shocked me was when we were having lunch yesterday I noticed the change in Emma's vocabulary; she has started using such words as on-line, email, computer, etc... I can remember being three and the most technological words I used were things like telephone and record player (and I am not even talking about a cordless telephone here people!) What a change! I was thinking about what school will be like when she enters and then the changes in education by the time she leaves. What a future!

Almost There

2006-01-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Today I actually began an assignment I have wanted to do for awhile; I had the kids explore in writing their perceptions of war and where they recieved those ideas. Then today we discussed those viewpoints and then I showed them a clip from Band of Brothers. I knew the clip I wanted but I wasn't totally sure of the connections I would see between the movie and Lord of The Flies but then as I was watching it was simply amazing to see the emotion from my kids and from the actors. It has such clear parallels. Tomorrow they are going to share their perceptions of the movie and start seeing connections to chapter one as well as Goldings reasons behind writing the novel. It should be interesting.

Crazy Day Today

2006-01-09T07:11:00.000-08:00

One thing I am realizing over and over that with change comes more work. Work is change. It seems to stay ontop and challenging myself and my students it is amazing how much time and effort we put into our assignments and class. I am one of those individuals who doesn't like to be out done (no surprise here) and I know that the drive I have to succeed keeps me pushing myself to do bigger and better things (emphasis on the better)for my kids, but all this comes with the price of hard work. I am amazed with how much work I have done this year and now it is the start of a new semester, and the ball keeps rolling. I guess it is easy to see why some teachers keep on teaching the same things over and over again. It is so much easier. I just needed to vent!

Take Five Eventually I Will Catch Up

2006-01-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

After posting my remarks about beginning of the semester activities, I talked with a friend about starting the semester on a very philosophical note with each of my classes. I have previously asked my classes at the beginning of the school year what qualities they believe good teachers and good students have. I am going to expand it this semester to what their expectations are of the class, as me as their teacher, and of themselves as students. Also, I am hoping to have a conversation with them about grades and learning as well. How do they value learning? What do they see as the value of grades? What are the purposes of grades?

Take Five Catching Up Still

2006-01-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else out there dread the start of the semester as much as I do? I mean getting ready to teach all new units, meet new kids, try to break down their barriers they have set up and get them excited to learn sometimes is so overwhelming. I am always excited to try new things and I am thinking of doing some different opening semester things with them to help this process along. I am up for suggestions of things people have done and been successful at.

Much like Kristin in her bloggin' I am trying to incorporate more writing into my English Ten and English Nine classes but struggling with the grading side of things. I am anxious to try some of the writing accessories Karl found for us and let my kids explore and give feedback. I wil need your help with this Karl!!! Another thought of mine is to have them exchange their daily writings rather than me always correcting them. This way their peers can see what each other has to say and I can grade less. Any other suggestions?

Take Five Missed Some Weeks

2006-01-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

Finals overwhelmed me and so did the end of the year, so here I am back again ready to post my little heart out. My daughter Emma is in a speech therapy class and is working on different pronunciations of words every week. She has class one hour per week but is expected to work at home on her words for at least 15 minutes per night-this might not sound like a lot but she is 3 and her attention span is very VERY limited. What is interesting is that this week she was to reconstrauct a picture story of a chipmunk building a snowman. There are four pictures that she is to put in order to tell the story. Now I thought of course she is going to start with the picture of the one snowball and work her way up to the snowman completely built. WRONG!!! She started with the completed snowman and worked her way down. Afterwards, I asked her why she put the pictures in that particular order and she told me it was because the snowman was melting. What brillance!!! If I would have stopped her and made her do it the "correct way", I never would have seen her thought process. So cool, I just had to share!

Take Five Week 9-2

2005-12-11T19:31:00.000-08:00

I have to say that sometimes it is becoming more difficult to think about a personal blogging topic. I guess I thought I would give you an update on the fishbowl for my seniors. I let them lead the discussion and explanation of what they felt is relevant after each act of Hamlet. It has been truly impressive. Each time it has been more and more of a joy to see them really dive into the literature and support their own opinions using the text rather than seeing me struggle to get the class to follow along as I lecture out an explanation on the assigned reading. I am blown away. Some groups have even managed to bring in criticism to support their beliefs or as the basis for their blog questions posed to thos eof the outer circle. I am really glad I decided to take the plunge with this group! To check out the class blog go to www.smithewl.blogspot.com

Take Five Week 9-1

2005-12-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

My regular Freshmen, which are regular by no means, are earning grades this year far below any class I have encountered previously. It led me to the idea yesterday that I must be not doing something right. I have never had a struggle like this with kids in my class before especially concerning them just turning in work. I have not ranted and raved (surprisingly, I have heard of little, if nothing, from their parents) and until a couple of days ago, did not even tell them how dissapointed I was in with their lack of achievement. To make it worse, after I did have a "Come To Jesus" meeting with them regarding their grades, there still was a good majority who did not complete the assignment for the next day. So I asked myself, "Self, what is the deal? Is it you or is it these kids?" But then I remembered something we had talked about in class; the grade I assign to them for not turning in their work is just a small measure of their learning. Look at how they talk, discuss, and participate in our discussions. Look at how involved they are with the process of learning for the fifty-five minutes I have them in my classroom. That is the learning I should be more concerned about, and not solely focusing on their letter grade. (Disclaimer: notice I said I should be more concerned about it than the letter; I am still not giving up on the letter quite yet).

Take Five Week 8-2

2005-12-01T20:21:00.000-08:00

With finals coming up, one thing I have been contemplating is the appropriateness of cummulative finals. Is it really logical in our modern world to make kids recollect information that in the real world can be found instantaneously? I mean, can't they eventually just go and look online to see who the other characters are in a particular novel and where the setting of the story was. I really think our job is much more important than that, that we should teach these kids how to become better thinkers, better question askers and seeks, and analyzers of information. Those are things that can't be found online.

Take Five Week 8-1

2005-12-01T19:50:00.000-08:00

I allowed my freshmen honors students to complete rewrites on their comparative analysis papers and they really seemed to learn from the process. My only concern is will they apply the knowledge gained from the rewriting process to their next paper or even next in-class writing assignment or were they just using me as their editor? I have confidence that some will learn and remember but I am a tad cynical about the long term effects this will have on their writing. I guess in the long run, I would rather err on the side of education versus the alternative of stifilling their learning.

Take FIve Week 7-2

2005-11-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

Now that I have taken the leap from testing the "old fashioned way" into assessing student knowledge with discussions, I have begun to think about their writing and the formula we teach kids to follow. How necessary is it to have them follow these guidelines? I have always been a big believer in the structure and organization of writing. I still believe that these are things that need to be taught as a foundation on which they can build. But, I see that is something that is very structured and limiting. I guess all I am trying to say is that is there room for me to grow in the teaching of writing without losing the importance of the foundation.

Take Five Week 7-1

2005-11-21T20:22:00.000-08:00

I thought I would let you know what I decided to do at my breakingg point last week. I decided to not give the regurgitation examination but rather to have a graded discussion for their assessment. The kids were happy about the change, but frustrated that they had spent all this time studying "facts" and now they weren't going to be assessed on those bits of information, but rather the larger ideas. Afterwards, they told me this assessment had raised the bar in terms of classroom expectations and ideas. Personally, I thought that was the best compliment!

Tak Five Week 6-2

2005-11-17T19:49:00.000-08:00

Grading:
Writing:daily journaling, blogging, essay tests, essays
Reading Comprehension:daily work, quizzes, tests
Critical Thinking/Speaking: sticky note questions, fishbowl, participation in class discussion
SAT vocab/Grammar:self explanatory
Work habits/Responsibility: daily assignments that don't fit into other catergories (non-academic assignments possibly)

My thinking has changed on these categories and I am sure they will again as time progresses. I know I want to change from the catergories I had previously (they reflected only the units I taught and how kids performed on each individual unit) rather than a refelction of their learning over time. Like Amanda said, it should show a contiuum of their learning.

The only questions I have are: should critical thinking be broken down into two parts of speaking and critical thinking? Do I weight these all equally seeing as how they are all important parts of the curriculum? I am also wondering about projects that I do that don't fit into these categories. Where do they go?

Take Five week 6-1

2005-11-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

One thing I am really struggling with came to a head today in my Honors class. I have been challenging myself to make sureI am pushing my students in all of my classes this year to be better than the kids I had before. I have especially done this with my Honors and sophomores. However, Iknow I am sacrificing their passion for learning for the sake of getting through material. Really it has become in my brain, after much intense soul searching and thought, the idea of what is more important to me: quality or quantity? I am even at the point after having only limited time to discuss Inherit the Wind with them that I am considering not giving the test I have assigned for tomorrow, but instead just talking with them about the play. I miss this section of our class and they do as well. It seems somewhere after the first six weeks I lost sight of the passion for literature that I have always had and instead it was replaced by the evil demons TIME AND CURRICULUM! I never seem to have enough of time in class and so I just keep pushing the kids along through each subsequent unit not really going as in depth as I typically do. This has been a hard lesson and admitting my failure to these kids has been even more difficult for me. Where I am at now is I want them to have the same passion for learning that I do; I need to keep myself focused on that aspect and not so much on the idea of teaching more but teaching less better. Does this make sense?

Take Five Week 5-2

2005-11-13T19:55:00.000-08:00

Another change I am making to my classroom is by teaching Hamlet. I am really scared! Hamlet is so difficult to understand and I know many students struggle with understanding Shakespeare (this is part of the reason I want them to teach it to each other). But, I am wondering if they will really get out of it all that is necessary (I know this comes back to the idea of why must I determine what is necessary)? Besides them fishbowling Hamlet, they are also going to be creating postings on the class blog for the outer circle to comment upon rather than writing a journaled reaction which no one else but me gets to read. That part I am quite excited about to see the depth of the question and that they will be able to recieve direct comments from their peers. I am thinking of adding a posting myself where they can comment on the fishbowl discussion itself to give the leaders and myself feedback to better the process. It is going to be an interesting rest of the semester I am sure!

Take Five Week 5-1

2005-11-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

With reading the information about grading, I have come to a point in my career where I feel as though I need to make some serious changes. SCARY! I can see this mostly affecting the way I deal with writing in my classes. Typically I assign a paper, work with the kids on it, hand it back graded, and we are done with the whole process until they compose another. However, I am thinkg of changing this process especially with my freshmen. I have always preached that writing is a process, but never really given them the opportunity nor myself, for them to do rewrites. I have always seen it as something worthwhile ,but not something I had the time for. I am going to try to set-up conferences with them on an individual basis and then allow them to rewrite the paper not just making the corrections I have suggessted but for them to actually rewrite a better paper both in their view and in mine. I used this conference method at the beginning of the semester as a chance to get to know my students and have them explain what they liked about the writing piece they had submitted so I thought it is about time to revisit this conference aspect again.

Take Five Week 4-2

2005-11-07T13:07:00.000-08:00

The other comment that I need to talk about this week is more personal but I think connects to what we are trying to do for our school and in turn to education. My grandpa passed away this last week. He was an incredible grandpa but even more so than that, he along with my grandma, instilled in me a great desire to be a life long learner. There were so many instances in my life where he would teach me a lesson. For my grandpa, one of these lesson was learning backgammon. When we reached a certain age, he would sit us down in his living room and pull out the backgammon board. He would teach us, let us make mistakes, and sometimes, even let us win (this was VERY, VERY rare). Looking back, the game wasn't about winning or losing (receiving the A or the B) but was more about spending time and developing a relationship with him, and most importantly, learning from our errors when we would make mistakes. He NEVER focused on the outcome of the game, but about how we could learn to be better next time. I really came to this realization being here at his funeral. He continually challenged us to be life long learners as he was. I miss him. Thanks grandpa!

Take Five Week 4-1

2005-11-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

After reading some articles that Karl gave to the CIT team members to read, I have some serious thinking to do about grades. I was one of theose kids whose parents rewarded her for good grades, good report cards and good comments from parent teacher conferences. I guess I neve thought that being rewarded for working hard in school would be a detriment to me as a life long learner. In fact, I often believed, and still do, that it pushed me to work harder in school! These articles gave me considerable information to ponder concerning my grading of the students in my class as well as how I will approach Emma's interpretation and reaction towards grades. So much to think about and reflect upon.

Take Five Week Three-2

2005-10-30T20:07:00.000-08:00

After reading my Honors students blogging from 451, I am so impressed by them. They established the norms as far as their expectations for each other's comments and they have not only managed to meet those expectations but really exceeded them in a number of ways. I am in awe of the textual support they are using to validate their opinions. They continue to amaze me and now I am encouraged to try this with my other classes. I think the one thing I wish was that there was more time to write back to them or to showcase their comments to the class. Soon I will be able to do this with the installation of the projector but I fear we will be done with the blogging for a bit with the end of 451 appraoching. I am thinking of using it to post questions for our discussions of The Chosen and to top it off, their group will post the question for the rest of us to comment on.

Take Five Week 3-1

2005-10-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

Last year I introduced the idea of the fishbowl discussion to my sophomores and it went horribly wrong. I was very hesitant to try it again just believing in my head that it would go the same way. However, I decided to try it again after alot of urging on Ray's part. After having the students lead the short story dicussions, and setting up a mock fishbowl, the class completed their first fishbowl this past Tuesday. It was a fabulous success! The first remark I heard from one of my students after we were done was, "that was awesome!" They truly blew me out of the water with their questions, observations, and commentary on each other's thoughts. I was so impressed. I really took some time to reflect on why it went so much better this year than last. I couldn't figure it out. Did I set it up better? Were they better prepared for the discussion by setting up a mock discussion first? Were they just ready for something different and something for which they had more buy in? I guess I don't know but what I do know is that I learned a good lesson in failure and not giving up just because it didn't work well the first time.

Take Five Week 2-2

2005-10-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

Changing the instruction of my classes to allow for more student driven knowledge has been interesting. I put my kids in charge of teaching the short stories before we begin Fahrenheit 451. At times it is frustrating because of the lack of participation for discussing certain stories, but for the most part, especially after today's discussion on Montgomery Boycott, they really rose to the challenge. The other aspect to this is that I am hoping it prepares them in a better way for the fishbowl discussions that are going to be the basis for our understanding of 451. I am not sure if I should be grading their leadership and participation of the discussion or should it just be something I debrief with them afterwards? This is the struggle I seem to come to most often. What needs to be graded for my kids to take the assignment seriously and if I don't grade will they still care enough about their own learning?

Take 5 Week 2-1

2005-10-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

This week I set up my class blog and have really enjoyed reading their first responses. The dialogue that is occurring between my students is one that would have only occurred between a small group in class. Now they are all able to speak their mind and realize there are other view points. It is a learning process for all of us: teacher and students. I am so impressed! I just created a few more posts to have my students comment on to establish some background knowledge before we explore the larger issues in Fahrenheit 451.

Take Five Week One-2

2005-10-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

The other comment I have to make on my personal learning journey for this week is how challenging it has been to balance teaching my students in my classes and teaching my colleagues through the 21st century learning cohort. It is amazing that we are facing the same challenges in our classrooms as teachers and then to see my colleagues struggling as learners. All of us our at different levels of interest-some want to try new things, some are far ahead and need us to move faster, others barely managing to keep up. It is almost more of a challenge to reach the interest level and keep my friends captivated in the classroom than it is to keep the interest level of my own students. I guess that is what constructivist teaching is all about- making the changes necessary to encourage the learning of all our students.

Take Five Week One-1

2005-10-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

When Karl first approached me with the idea of taking 5 minutes each day to change my way of teaching into a more student centered constructivist approach, I was glad for the permission to change, to try something new. I always enjoy stepping to my classroom each day to teach my kids, but I hadn't really considered how powerful it would be to allow them to teach each other. Just over the last few weeks, it has been really encouraging to see them want to prove their point to me rather than me informing them as to the right answer. I am enjoying this!