Back to school and Blog!

Goal: Get back to blogging this school year! I started this, then of course, life got in the way. Last school year, I had 2 brand new classes: AP English Language & Composition and American Literature. So it was a lot of trying, not only to keep my head above water, but to swim while I was at it. And looking back, we had a lot of successes last year - 60 percent of my AP students scored a 4 or 5; my co-taught students went from writing one paragraph essays to cohesive 5-paragraph essays; MAP scores improved overall. So swim we did. 

This year, I have those same classes again. My goal now is to refine what we did last year and reach even better results... which brings me to my focus for today: Standards-Based Grading. This summer, I read Fair Isn't Always Equal, by Rick Wormeli. 

It was recommended to me on a site visit I went on last spring to an international school in San Antonio. The book completely changed my way of thinking about mastery learning and grades. Some of my favorite insights: 

- Give open prompt test at the beginning of the unit. Students take it at the end of the unit, so that they know what they are expected to learn. We haven’t done our job if a student asks, “Will this be on the test?”

- A D is a coward’s F - the student failed, but the teacher didn’t have the courage to tell him

- Teachers who are focused on students’ growth and mastery usually allow work and assessments to be redone.

- If grades are meant to stand for the students’ level of competence at the end of the quarter, teachers must ask themselves, “Does it matter how quickly they reached competence? Does it matter if it took extra feedback or a second revision?”

- Solutions for grading come in two ways: through conversation and constant reexamination.

- One of our potential concerns with this format is that our assessments often incorporate more than one standard. Does this mean we have to record the assignment under more than one standard, and because of that, give more than one grade on each assignment? Yes.

Standards-Based Grading - the Rationale

Wormeli inspired me to reevaluate my grading systems and what they mean. I used to subscribe to categories-weighted grades: homework, assessments, etc. But now I know that those point values basically mean nothing. When a parent looks at a report card with a traditional grading system, they see points on assignments. This tells us nothing about the student's specific skill levels, though. Grading students on standards, however, exemplifies their skills and creates a grade book that reflects a student's strengths and weaknesses.

It's kind of like a baseball card. On the back side, you read Babe Ruth's statistics in each area of the game, not just an overall score assigned to him. This allows to create a picture of what kind of player he is. And that's what our grades should do - paint a picture of our students.

To figure out how this translated into an English classroom is for the next post.... Come back soon!

Six Word Memoirs

The legend goes that Ernest Hemingway was sitting at lunch with some friends, agonizing over the long-winded writers of their day. Hemingway purported that he could write a meaningful story in only 6 words. A $10 wager was collected around the table. Once the bet was in place, Hemingway took to his napkin and wrote:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn. 

And thus began the literary genre known as "flash fiction," trying to tell a story with as few word as possible. It has spun into SMITH magazine's 6 Word Memoirs and a few books. AND they have a six-word workbook!

I love six word memoirs, six word stories, six word lists, six word anything! The idea that you can tell a poignant story in only six words is beautiful to me. I hate when I read writing that is too wordy and doesn't get to the point (my main issue with Walt Whitman). This is also what I love about poetry - poems are so short that every word matters, and they must be chosen carefully. When you can only use 6 words, they're even more important.

In the classroom, this a great expressive writing activity, but also a great activity to teach poetry and the importance of choosing words. I integrated this into a creative nonfiction/memoir unit as one of their assignments.

With six word memoirs/stories, students can:

• anonymously vote on their favorite 
• create poems
• play a game to match their author
• use it to describe a character in a novel 
• create a tweet or Facebook status for a character
• write for a quick bell work activity
• use it as a starting point to create a longer story/memoir 

Here are some written by me:

A firefly blooming in a jar

Writer teaches kids; kids teach writer

My needs: love, words, kids, laughter

Book worm falls for nerd boy

The murky sea of present tense

And some of my all-time favorites by others:

Not quite what I was planning. 

I'd marry her again and again. 

I write; therefore, I lie. Often.

What are some of your favorites six word stories/memoirs? 

Writing for Real Life

I just finished reading Write Like This, by Kelly Gallagher. I cannot recommend it enough to language arts teachers! It was full of practical ideas and writing activities for the classroom.

But more than that, it gave me a framework for how my classroom should look. Throughout the book, Gallagher focuses on writing assignments that a similar to writing that adults would do in the real world. I loved all of the examples, but I kept thinking, What about the literature? Any high school English teacher knows that their curriculum requires novels, short stories, drama, etc. There's not a huge amount of time for just focusing on writing. As I read, that question kept popping into my mind. This all sounds great, but HOW do I work this in?

Then, as I figured he would, Gallagher gave me the answer.

He explained that the text should supplement writing. Students should write something practical for practice, apply it to the text, and then finally go back to the practical. For example, to work on analysis writing, students could write a review of a consumer product or a product on Amazon. This requires them to analyze the product and is also something they might do in real life. Students then might analyze/review a character's action in a story. This meets the standards, but also provides a real world context.

A note on the standards: The other thought in my head throughout the book was, How do you meet all the Common Core Standards that are being shoved in our faces? Gallagher basically said in so many words that he doesn't teach to the standards, or more importantly, the test. He believes that if his students get high scores on their 9th grade ELA test, but can't write a document for their boss in the future, then he hasn't succeeded in his job. RIGHT?!? He goes on to say that if his value-added score is low, that's fine with him, because he's not teaching to that test. He's teaching for real life.

I'm with it. I'm so with it. And I'd like to believe that if we teach the real world writing and reading skills well enough, then students will be able to apply them to the test. Will my students have to analyze To Kill a Mockingbird in their real jobs? Not at all. But will they need to analyze something at some point in order to be successful? Yes. Those are the skills I need to teach.

Sigh. The age old struggle: test v. real life.

Teaching Half the Sky

About four years ago, I read a book that changed my life: Half the Sky. It came to me on a whim - I was trying to join a book club my friend was in, and this was the book they were reading. On the surface, it seemed like a dry read - nonfiction, international issues. But once I started reading, I was hooked. The book is about the oppression of women in countries around the world, but focused mostly in Asia and Africa. The book is alternates between statistics and personal stories of these women.

 With every page, I kept thinking, Why aren't these things on the news every single night?! It truly changed my views on the world and got me more involved in international women's issues. Others must have felt the same way because it has spawned a movement , a game, a documentary, and a follow-up book this fall. I heard the authors speak at Kent State University last fall, which solidified my adoration for them. Nicholas Kristof is a writer for the New York Times and writes often on issues effecting disadvantaged people, both in America and abroad. I follow his posts on Facebook and Twitter, which give me my daily dose of activism inspiration. 

Since reading, I really wanted to teach this book. In my previous school district, there was little to no budget for new books. I contacted Kristof's agent and tried to score a classroom discount, but it wasn't happening. When I moved to my current school district, I was thrilled to be teaching in an international school. We're a member of the International Studies Schools Network. (I'll be presenting at our annual conference in NYC on Thursday!). I requested classroom copies of Half the Sky, and they said yes! Easy as that! I've taught this book for the past 2 years and have had great experiences each time. 

The goal with this book is more than to inform - it's to inspire. Inspired people are the ones who want to change the world, who look for more opportunities, who want to be the activists. I believe that anyone can be inspired; you just have to present them with the right stories. As we found in class, human stories are what inspire people to act. I could throw a million statistics at you - like more women have been killed in the past 50 years than all the men killed in all the wars of the 20th century - but does that inspire you to act? You feel sad, I'm sure, but it's not exactly inspirational. The book is full of inspiring stories AND ways to act to create change. The reader leaves the book feeling empowered, and my students did as well. 

I wanted my students to be informed, inspired and engaged in these stories. One activity I had them do was an experiential learning activity - Live Below the Line. This is an organized international movement, but in my classes, we created our own version. Students had to "live below the line" (poverty line) for 5 days by eating on less than $2/day. Students bought food for the week beforehand and journaled during the week. At the end, they turned in receipts, food pictures, and their journals to me. They also presented their experience to the class. 

This was probably the coolest assignment we did all year. Students reported how much it changed their lives - they had more sympathy for people in poverty after truly walking in their shoes. Some even brought their families on board to live below the line together. One mom told me that she blogged about it on her Facebook page. This took learning past understanding and comprehending, but truly experiencing life like the people they read about in the book. 

Here are some other resources I used with teaching the book:

Discussion Guide

Educator's Guide - such an AMAZING resource! Lesson plans, video clips, extension activities. 

Documentary - I bought my own copy and used it a lot in class to supplement the reading. Seeing the lives of people in these countries really brought it alive for my students.

Key Moment Writing

Lately, I've been into Kelly Gallagher's books, and right now, I'm on Write Like This. He gives great ideas and examples for turning around writing in your classroom. You are the best writer in your classroom, he says over and over, as a way to encourage us to model writing for students. 

One idea he gives for expressive and reflective writing is Key Moment. Students brainstorm key moments from their lives and write about how these moments changed them. He recommends it as an end of the year activity, so students can choose a key moment that happened this school year. Their goal is to reflect: to look back on something and analyze its effect, not just expressing feelings about that particular moment. Since my school year just ended, and in the interest of modeling for my students, I'm going to choose my Key Moment from this school year. 

It was early December, and I put on my best, most confident dress. Today was the day of my first observation from the principal. In Ohio, the state government adopted a new system of teacher evaluations, and this was the first school year that our district fully put them in to effect. Every teacher was on edge about them and what their final "rating" would be. 

Admittedly, I was a little on edge, as I of course didn't want a low rating. But I've never met a challenge I didn't like, and this seemed like a challenge. Also, I like performing, and being observed is really just a performance - most days, I think teaching is a form of performance art too. 

So I was ready. My lesson was great, I chose my best class, and my confidence was high. I arrived at the building early, like I usually do, and made my final copies for the class today. As the copier was shooting out staples and papers, I checked my school email. And that's when my soul was crushed. There was an email from a parent accusing me of something that I did not do. It was CCed to my principal, the head principal, and the guidance counselor. My confidence went out like a deflated balloon. I did what I always do when I'm frustrated and panicked: I cried and called my mom. Then, I went to the principal, and, amidst more tears and jumbled words, we decided to move my observation to the next day, as my emotions were all over the place. 

Luckily, I had a half-day exam planning meeting in the afternoon. This also meant missing my last period Honors English class. This class had been a challenge since the first day of school. It was on the large side - 30 students - and many had made it clear that they were in Honors because their parents or a middle school teacher wanted them to be. But they did NOT want to do Honors level work. All of the students in the class were very sweet, but very talkative. Many of our class periods were spent learning how to be quiet while I was talking. It was an exhausting way to end the day. But we had started reading The Kite Runner in November, and they were really into the book and learning about the culture of Afghanistan. Still, every day felt like a struggle to keep their attention off each other. Overall, I liked their energy, but wasn't sure how they felt about me. 

So on this particularly terrible day, I missed their class. When I returned to my room at the end of the day, exhausted and ready to go home after the events of the morning, there was a note sitting on my desk. It was from my last period class. They must have heard from their peers in my morning classes that I had a bad morning, and they made me a "Feel Better" card that each student passed around and signed. They even wrote that I was, "the best English teacher ever". Was I? After the event of this morning and the challenges that their class gave me, I felt like the worst English teacher ever. For the probably 5th time that day, I teared up. 

Something had worked in that classroom during that period. I was doing something right. 

For the rest of the year, I had a great time with that class. They jumped on any new thing that I threw at them, they met everything with enthusiasm, and they gave me their best. We just needed that key moment when they could be there for me, and I could let their confidence in me give me the confidence I needed. (And final footnote and happy ending - the incident with the parent was quickly resolved.)

Lit Lang Lady - because I love Alliteration

Allow me to introduce myself to the blogosphere - I'm Courtney, and I teach English at a high school right outside of Cleveland. For the past 5 years, I have been a 9th grade lion tamer, with a few other random classes thrown in. This fall, though, I'm moving to AP Language and 11th grade American Literature - both big new adventures! 

I love to teach because:

1) I get to laugh, smile and have fun everyday - what other job guarantees that? (OK, probably some cool jobs...)

2) I get to be creative and try new things!

3) I love how education is constantly evolving, and I can constantly challenge myself to improve as their teacher. 

4) I love the written word - there's nothing more powerful. I love using language as a tool of inspiration and expression. 

So this blog serves a few purposes for me. First, I need a place to categorize my ideas in writing - not just in pictures (though I love you dearly, Pinterest). Second, I need a tool of reflection on what can work and what will work. And finally, I've found other teacher blogs I adore, and I want to join that community. 

Follow along please! :)