constructed response practice

Constructed Responses (what I would just call a paragraph, or an extended answer) have once again become a fashionable discussion point in literacy education, mostly because these types of responses ground student writing in a text.

With a new literacy emphasis taking place throughout SPS, constructed responses are a good way to assess students' reading ability--much better, I would say, than a multiple choice test like the one every student is submitted to three times a year during the Performance Series Test. In a constructed response, students must use evidence from a text to support their answer, which is a skill that is necessary and will become more and more important as 8th graders continue in their education.

So, for the last two days we have gone over a three step process that the students should use as they write constructed responses. We've also looked at and even used a new scoring guide for constructed responses; the students read and scored three constructed responses written by students from previous years. It's good practice before writing their own constructed responses.

Yesterday students in pairs and using the computers practiced writing their first constructed responses of the school year. Things went well, from my observations. The time was rich with conversation as students explained their thinking to one another, dug in to the text (it was all about Wilson's Creek National Battlefield), and worked together to form their best answer. The answers that I have read so far have been great, considering a new three step process and a new scoring guide. There is always room for improvement, and we'll be identifying those areas and working toward improvement throughout the year.

Today students will take their first Article of the Week quiz, and individually students will have to answer an extended answer question--my version of a constructed response. Hopefully the students have been studying their vocabulary words, and hopefully they have their article with them, because they get to use the article on the quiz. It will be interesting to see how things go.

The next two weeks will mostly be dedicated to district mandated testing--first we'll do the beginning-of-year writing assessment and then we'll take the Performance Series Reading and Language Arts tests. Students won't have any other homework other than reading for 30 minutes during this time.

Please let me know if you have questions or concerns regarding the schedule or assignments or anything. I feel like it's been a very good start to the year, and if we continue with this focus and work ethic, lots of progress will be made for each student.

classroom expectations

On Monday students discussed, decided, and shared their classroom expectations--for attitude and behavior. It was nice to see some of them incorporate some of what they read in the article of the week. In each class we chose the top four or five expectations, along with the order in some classes. So, here are our class-by-class expectations for 2013-2014.

2nd period

3rd period

4th period

5th period

6th period

Let us know what you think!

article of the week - week 1

Vocabulary words/phrases and questions for each class' article of the week quiz on Friday, August 23.

2nd period

3rd period

4th period

5th period

6th period

The red circled words and the red circled questions will be used for the quiz. Five of the words and one of the questions will be on the quiz.

Here's a bit of a student discussion that led to the vocab word choices and questions the students chose.

what is success?

Day one is in the books!

Lots of papers and organization for the students. But luckily we were also able to do some actual English work as well. Here are a few pictures of students doing some sharing after they wrote about what they think of success. Students also practiced sharing, as well as listening and responding.

Don't forget to get all the papers signed, or choose to complete the online syllabus sign-off form.  

a brand new year!

Another school year is beginning today.

It's an exciting time for so many reasons: new ideas and thoughts and learning to be had, new friends to make, new activities to try. I hope that we are able to take advantage of every day that we have this school year, including today, to make the year a great one.

This blog will serve as the 8th grade English class web presence, and my primary method of communication with parents and the community--those who don't get to share the physical space in room 146. My contact information is available on the next page. Please email or call (email is best though) if you have questions or concerns.

The first day of school can be a hectic, stressful time for parents and students. We in the 8th grade team hope to help alleviate any of those unnecessary stressors. We will help students get oriented to the building, if not already, and help ensure they have everything they need for their classes--as well as identifying some needs that may yet be met.

We know that it is difficult for any learning to take place when students are stressed or uncomfortable or uncertain. These first few days will be used to instill a calm routine into the 8th grade, to help students get started down a comfortable path from which they can learn and grow and explore (to use a metaphor).

Let's hope for a great year. And let's work to make it one.

Multimedia Compositions in a Current Events Class

Multimedia Compositions in a Current Events Classroom

That's the name of my presentation at the Reach for the Stars 2013 conference at Evangel University but sponsored by the Springfield Public Schools' English Language Arts Department.

Check out the link. Maybe it's something you'll find interesting.

Current Events Reflection

At the end of the 3rd Quarter I had students in my Current Events Exploratory class complete a reflection. I've mined it for wisdom and insight from the students, selected some of the most coherent for viewing, and written my own response. It's a four page document, so instead of presenting the whole thing here on the blog, I'm including the link to the document.

Enjoy!

Pixar story structure

I’ve been reading To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink. It’s the second book by Daniel Pink that I’ve read, the first being Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Both books are generally categorized in either the Business section or the Psychology section of the major bookstores in the area, but I’ve found quite a bit that can be applied to my thoughts and attempts toward becoming a better teacher.

One thing that jumped out to me immediately in To Sell is Human is Pink’s chapter on “Pitch.” He describes six different pitches, but for me, the last was the most important. I liked this pitch so much, that I actually used it for an activity on Thursday—the student’s last day before Spring Break.

Pink calls it “The Pixar Pitch,” and seems to borrow the structure or format, documented in a blog post by David Price, from a list of story rules originally tweeted out by Emma Coats, a former story artist at Pixar. How’s that for confusing.

I just took Pink’s Pixar Pitch and called it, for the sake of the students, “The Pixar Story Structure.” Now, is it really a story structure? Probably not. But if the story can fit well into these six sentences, then it can provide a structure from which to grow the story. My thinking is, if I can help my students write a clean and tight Pixar Story Structure, then I can also help them expand that structure into a more complete, compelling, and (hopefully) equally clean and tight story.

The six sentences for “The Pixar Pitch” or the Pixar Story Structure are:

Once upon a time _______________. Every day _______________. One day _______________. Because of that _______________. Because of that _______________. Until finally _______________.

Daniel Pink offers the plot for Finding Nemo as an example (pages 171-172), which I also used with the students.

Once upon a time there was a widowed fish named Marlin who was extremely protective of his only son, Nemo. Every day Marlin warned Nemo of the ocean’s dangers and implored him not to swim far away. One day in an act of defiance, Nemo ignores his father’s warnings and swims into the open water. Because of that, he is captured by a diver and ends up as a pet in the fish tank of a dentist in Sydney. Because of that, Marlin sets off on a journey to recover Nemo, enlisting the help of other sea creatures along the way. Until finally Marlin and Nemo find each other, reunite, and learn that love depends on trust.

I shared the idea with my wife, also a middle school English teacher, and she thought it was pretty cool. So I gave it a try, in an attempt to tell our story. You can be the judge.

Once upon a time there was a boy named Thomas and girl named Kristin who didn’t know each other but seemed to both want the same things out of life. Every day they went about their business, not knowing that the other existed. One day, in an unremarkable moment, they both went bowling at the same bowling alley on the same Friday night. Because of that, they met, and a seed was planted. Because of that, they both held on to the hope of a bright future, maybe together or maybe with someone else. Until finally, Thomas asked Kristin to go on a date, and the seed that had been planted years earlier matured into a flower—a relationship that proved to be as interesting and unique as they had always dreamed.

It’s ok, but certainly not good. I had the literary elements from poetry fresh in my head, so the metaphor of a seed planted and then growing into a flower came to mind. It’s not great, but it works. Also, my second “because of that” sentence isn’t quite as cause-effect relationally dependent upon my first “because of that” sentence, which creates serious weakness.

Based on this “Pixar Pitch,” I presented the students with two challenges:

1.     See if you can summarize a favorite story or movie using the Pixar story structure. That will give you some practice with thinking through the six sentences in an organized and concise manner.

2.     Try to write your very own creative story using the Pixar story structure. Maybe it is a story from your life, like my example provided. Maybe it is a totally fictional story that you’ve made up.

I thought it was a fun Thursday activity before Spring Break. Hopefully we’ll have some students who gave it a try over Spring Break and can share some of their writing on the Monday when we come back. And maybe we’ll be able to do something more with this story structure. We’ll just have to see. 

3rd Quarter Reading Reflection

Using their own records for what books they read this quarter, students reflected upon their reading and learning. Here are some of the responses.

Regarding the students themselves:

·         Total student number completing the reflection: 102

·         3^rd period: 26 students

·         4^th period: 23 students

·         5^th period: 26 students

·         6^th period: 26 students

·         Seven students incorrectly indicated what class they are in. Were this a high-stakes test, I guess I would be required to remediate this skill of identifying and marking the correct class period. Were this a high-stakes test, this is just the type of question that someone somewhere might believe is something that actually should be taught. I just chalk it up to user-error/laziness; I do teach 8^th graders, after all. 

·         The average Beginning of Year Lexile Level (self-reported) was 1092. This number, according to the new “stretch” Lexile Level range, is above the 9^th grade level. I’m quite proud of the good work of these students, and their teachers and parents, who have worked so hard to ensure they are good readers. Hopefully, that number will be at least 50 points higher for the average End of Year Lexile Level. That growth is dependent upon us working together, which I’m confident is quite possible.

Regarding the books the students read:

·         Total books read: 768. This breaks down to an average of 7.52 books per student.

·         3^rd period: 209. This breaks down to an average of 8.02 books per student. 

·         4^th period: 171. This breaks down to an average of 7.43 books per student.

·         5^th period: 195. This breaks down to an average of 7.5 books per student.

·         6^th period: 193. This breaks down to an average of 7. 42 books per student.

·         75 of the students expected to read MORE books than they actually did. I guess we’re all getting a little bit busier, and we’ve got less time on our hands to do the important work of teaching ourselves something new and interesting, or enlightening our minds with new poetry, or just getting lost in a good book.

·         When indicating their favorite genre:

o   Fiction—64; with lots of subgenre specifications

o   Poetry—24; with one “probably poetry”

o   Nonfiction—13; with various subgenre specifications

Students also responded with some shorter answers to open ended questions. The collection of these responses is much longer than I should present in a single post, so below you'll see that I've linked to the separate documents, for your viewing.

What was it, specifically, about your favorite genre, that you liked so much?

What was it, specifically, about your favorite book, that you liked so much?

What did you learn about yourself as a reader, this quarter?

I told the students before they completed this reflection that their responses are one of my favorite things to read all quarter. All of us keep Reading Records, and these simple documents should help us to reflect on our own reading and learning throughout the quarter. Part of being a good reader is learning about what type of a reader we are: what subjects I like to read about, what authors I enjoy reading, how long I can sustain my attention with one book. The Reading Record helps us to track this information, and the Reading Reflection helps us to intentionally look back and process this information. I don't want the students to arbitrarily plow on as readers, picking up random books and reading because they "need" to read or because I require them to read. I want to help the students discover what type of reader they are, what type of books they enjoy reading. If I can help my students discover what type of reader they are, I can help them discover their interests, I can help foster those interests, I can help focus those interests, and hopefully that will be something that sticks with them for years and years to come, since it is a part of who they are. That part of planting a seed that can sprout and grow later on down the road gives me great hope, and keeps me working to help my students to become readers--better readers but moreso engaged, interested readers.

If you take the time to read those longer documents that display the students' shorter responses, you may describe the grammar as atrocious, and think that we need to spend more time focusing on the fundamentals of writing. I will agree that there are glaring areas in need of significant improvement, and we will be focusing much of our 4th quarter on some of these skills, but mostly on just getting the little things right while still enhancing the things that we do well. I look forward to the 4th quarter, and what learning we will do together.

processing/reflection from today's training

Today I attended a presentation by Sue Szachowicz on “Leadership Lessons Learned the Hard Way.” I was lucky enough to be invited by Mrs. Aldrich to attend, along with Mrs. Green (6^th grade Math) and Mrs. Elliott (7^th grade Science). I will admit that I was under the impression that the discussion would focus upon the Common Core State Standards, but it was only mentioned once. Nonetheless, the day was productive and the presentation was insightful.

Since the presentation didn’t start until 9:00, and I usually get to work by 6:30, I had a lot of time in the morning at home to be productive. So, I set up a diigo account and updated my Evernote app. I played around with the diigo account on my MacBook, and made sure it synced well with my iPad. I did the same with the Evernote app. This meant that I was very happy as I walked in to the White River Conference Center; even if I wasn’t sure about the presentation, at least the day would prove to be a good opportunity for me to test out the new/renewed technology tools from my morning.

As I said, the presentation by Mrs. Szachowicz proved to be insightful. She provided electronic downloads of her presentation slides, which I downloaded to my Evernote app. This allowed me to easily keep up with her fast pace. I also used the Evernote app to take a few notes, disorganized and jumbled as they are, I think I could piece a coherent summary together, if necessary. I used the diigo add-on within Safari to bookmark a two Amazon pages on books, and one PBS article/video on Brockton High, where Mrs. Szachowicz worked. Overall, I would say that I used my technology tools effectively and efficiently through the day.

By the afternoon the battery was running low, and so I only used the iPad when necessary. Throughout the day I was able to visit and talk with several old teaching buddies who I had not seen for some time. Overall, I feel like it was a successful day on two fronts, the second front being the encouragement I received in hearing Mrs. Szachowicz’s story and the brief discussion at my table.

What I most valued from the day was not my experiment with my new/renewed tech tools, but the clear and specific message Mrs. Szachowicz shared about her own experiences in “turning around a failing school.” Led by teachers in the building, the school implemented a literacy program with laser-like focus and monitored their progress like crazy. This story speaks of courage by teachers, trust among teachers, hard work by teachers, and wisdom by teachers. Certainly Mrs. Szachowicz tells of vivid disagreements throughout the implementation, roadblocks that came in the form of fellow faculty members, students, money for resources, and time. And still they plugged away, because they surely also held a strong belief in the work they were doing. The work paid off too. The students came to realize that the teachers were a unified front, focused on their success. And as the teachers were found successful in their efforts to work with each other to improve their own practices, the students likewise were found successful in their efforts to learn and use what the teachers were teaching.

I would love to get together with fellow teachers at Pleasant View, both middle school and elementary teachers, in order to develop a cross-categorical method for teaching students to write effective Constructed Response answers and longer informational/expository/argumentative essays. I would love to also develop a standard scoring guide used across all classrooms when scoring Constructed Response answers and those longer informational/expository/argumentative essays. I would love to also develop a standard strategy/procedure for students when they read questions: to effectively identify the task, to clarify what they need to know and do to complete the task, and to identify and leverage any expository information provided that might help them complete the task. As an English teacher, I would love to see something like this spread across the entire district.

The truth is, though, that we’re in a big, bureaucratic district. We’ve got many, many schools, with lots of different teachers and administrators who all have their own personal ideas and agendas. And we’ve got lots of really important administrative people who really make the big, hard decisions, and they have their own ideas and agendas as well. Pleasant View is little, and far away, and doesn’t have the opportunity to make these types of decisions. Brockton High, where Mrs. Szachowicz worked, was able to accomplish great and positive change because teachers were leaders in purposeful professional development that was adaptive to the desires of a site-based committee. That doesn’t happen in Springfield. Or, if it does, I have never seen it happen. Could it happen? Yeah, I do think it could. Would it be easy? Certainly not; Mrs. Szachowicz shared many-a-story about the roadblocks and obstacles. Would it be beneficial to students? I think it would.

Where I go from here, I’m not quite sure. I’m motivated to participate in something, should that indescribable opportunity arise. I’m fearful though, that it may never happen, or if it does, I won't see it in order to take full advantage.