This week's readings deal with teaching to standards and an article about mandating teaching practices. The National Council of Teachers of English has developed their own set of standards linked here. Review the Alaska content standards for writing for your level.
In Chapter Five, the text states that "State curriculum documents and assessments are now carrying a new message: writing should no longer be "the silent R" of learning...Improving writing is now seen as important for learning subjects other than English." Here are a few ideas to discuss in regard to the reading:
- Do you feel both these statements are true at your site?
- How important are state standards to your daily teaching?
- How "mandated" is what you do?
- Have you ever been forced to teach in a way you did not feel was a good fit for your philosophy or style?
- What are some of your own "standards" or goals as a teacher of writing?
- If you could change or revise some of the state standards, what changes would you make?
21 comments:
Hi!
My best practices idea:
Student lead convention mini-mini-lessons
These student lead minis come from my friend and great writing teacher, Tracy Lease, and I’m sure many other excellent sources. I have used these from 2nd grade to university. They are practical and fun.
Materials:
Writing reference books for your level -- this year for us it is the Pegasus Writer’s Handbook for Grade 4. A full set is nice but if books are limited two or three will work.
Method:
1. Before I assign conventions I model lots of mini-mini-lessons. I use the reference text students will use and focus on how each convention is useful to their works. As I progress we discuss ways to they can present their minis: overhead, Smart Board, poster paper, copies for all, etc.
2. I invite students to use the rubric I will use on them when I give my minis. Depending on the grade level it can include: voice clarity, lesson speed, time, “understandability”, etc. (The ultimate mini-mini is three to five minutes.)
3. For older students I have a list and they sign-up individually or in pairs.
With younger people I assign the partners and the convention.
4. I order the list to anticipate where writers will be but this is guesswork. I find that the fun of having students teach outweighs the order of the conventions.
5. I schedule a conference with the ‘teachers’ on the day before to check accuracy and ask for questions.
6. After each mini, students question their “teachers”. This is where I can jump in to work out inconsistencies.
For these mini-mini lessons I use anything from proper ellipses placement to explaining the use of adjectives.
No matter how the presentation goes, we always learn something!
When I first started teaching fourth grade I was more aware of the curriculum and what things or topics I was to cover during the course of the year vs. what was "on the test" or "standards. Now, I can honestly say I look at the fourth grade standards and see how I can incorporate them into what I cover.
I never once asked myself if the activity or project I was doing would be covered or addressed under the standards. Not so much in my school, but definitely at others in our district, teachers must put the standard they are addressing next to each activity listed on their lesson plans.
It definitely doesn't feel the same as it did just 8 or so years ago.
As someone who is thinking about putting my administrative certificate to use one day soon - I think we have taken some of this too far. I think teacher's should be able to articulate why we are doing what we are doing, and make sure we cover the curriculum for our grade level and understand what students in our grade level should know but requiring individuals to write it down on their lesson plans is gone too far. Those are my first thoughts as I looked at Sondra's questions.
I feel that in my school a great deal of lip-service is paid to improving writing, but in reality I find very little deliberate effort goes into actually formulating a shared school-wide vision on how this will be achieved. I shamefully admit that I am not excluded from this criticism. I believe we all have an earnest desire to improve our students writing and get them excited about writing in general, but some critical pieces to acting on our desires are missing. I won't go into specifics here, except to say that with regard to the statement - "State curriculum documents and assessments are now carrying a new message: writing should no longer be "the silent R" of learning...Improving writing is now seen as important for learning subjects other than English." - our school agrees with both points in principle, but not in practical execution.
I feel that the state standards are very important in my daily practice, but only in so much as they speak to what good writing is and what good writers should be able to do. Were these standards not prescriptive, I'd still feel they were crucial to guiding my instruction and assessments as a teacher. That said, I can honestly say that there is very little in the way of a mandate regarding the effective integration of these standards into my actual teaching practice or assessments. I stress the word effective here. Any teacher can rationalize that he/she is addressing the standards; God knows I have done it on occasion. I'll create a lesson involving writing, with little forethought to what specific standard (aspect of writing) I'm going to address and assess. Later, I can "tie" my lesson to standards, but only because the state standards (speaking of 10th grade GLE's here) are so broad based as too cover just about every aspect of composition. However, this does not mean that my lesson was really addressing the standards.
As far as my own standards as a writing coach are concerned, they have less to do with standards I expect my students to meet and more to do with standards I'm beginning to set for how good writing instruction and assessment will be implemented in my future classes. I feel that for the most part, the state writing standards are clearly articulated, sensible, and appropriately wide in scope. My problem is where to start in addressing them, and how to design lessons that ensure my students are meeting those standards, which is why I'm enrolling in classes such a this one.
If I could make one change to the state standards, it would be to re-fashion the manner in which they are presented to teachers. One of my greatest obstacles as a new teacher has been figuring out how to tackle a daunting array of standards, an endless list of aspects of composition to teach. Where do I begin? If I have my students write, to a focus on conventions first, or organization? Do I address them simultaneously? How do I structure my feedback so that students recognize their areas of weakness and improve on them? Where do I find the time to do all of this with 25-30 people per class? These questions and myriad more have at times, left me in cognitive paralysis. If the state standards were organized in such a way as to give new teachers some sense of direction in managing them into their actual instruction, it would be helpful. For example, perhaps the standards could be clumped together into suggested instructional modules to allow teachers to focus on a manageable unit of writing. This could be done without changing the wording of the actual standards. I recognize, of course, that the state has somewhat constructed an organizational system, hence the numbering system of the standards (e.g. 4.2 standards addressing purpose and audience, 4.3 standards address writing process, editing, etc.) Still, I don't feel they give the average teacher much direction on where to begin.
Of course, in the end I recognize that the state department of education can only go so far in customizing standards to meet the instructional needs of teachers, that little consensus might actually be reached among teachers and professionals about how such customization would actually work, and finally, that ultimately the state can't design every piece of instruction to ensure the standards are met.
In conclusion, I'm aware that this post might read like a negative condemnation of myself as a teacher, my school faculty and administration, and perhaps even the state department of education; however, I do not intend it as such. I personally am optimistic about my future success as a teacher and take a great deal of pride in my school and my colleagues. My hope is only that, by sharing my perspective on the state of writing instruction as I currently see it, we (me and my school) my evolve a bit.
Initial thoughts on chapter 5:
First, perhaps my favorite part of this chapter was the various discussions on portfolios. I can honestly say that I have never had my students actually create portfolios. Much of the reason behind this has to do with what I perceived to be time constraints. I never really imagined that portfolios were anything more than students saving copies of their old writing, and throwing some final drafts into a folder with the pretentious label "Portfolio". Recently, I have begun to question my original presumptions about portfolio writing. Nagin makes a sound case for the need for writing practice and assessment to take place over a span of time and within multiple genres. Portfolio give teachers the opportunity to evaluate student work and progress within a larger context of student writing, as opposed to grading individual compositions in an isolated context. As such, teachers are more likely to get an honest snapshot of their students' abilities as writers. The students are likely too benefit from seeing their own writing within the larger context of their work across time and genres as well.
Second, while I completely agree with the author's sentiments on rubrics, particularly the need for appropriate, valid rubrics, I admit that I still have trouble mining rubrics for all there worth. I don't dispute the necessity of virtues of rubrics, but I find that my students have trouble really benefiting from the feedback. For example, I might score a student low on sentence fluency, explain to the student why she received the score she did, and offer suggestions on how to improve the score, but I can do all of this without the rubric. More importantly, the students seldom benefit from the rubric without this oral feedback. Ultimately what I'm driving at here is this - in my experience, rubrics haven't ultimately benefited students without oral debriefing. I point to the feedback on the rubric which corresponds to their score, but they seldom really process that feedback in any meaningful way.
OK, I have the flu, so if this makes no sense, I’m apologizing in advance. I think my head has been turned inside out. To answer Sondra’s prompts, I don’t see a holistic effort to improve student writing at our site, unfortunately, just more pressure on the English department to continue to make AYP. State standards do have a daily presence in my teaching because I teach 4/5 alternative education this year, which is standards-based. When I was working on my national boards, I really enjoyed using NCTE’s standards in addition to our state GLEs. For one thing, national standards can have bolder brush strokes (funding won’t be tied to assessments of student proficiency of them like they will be for state standards-based tests for that magic number of 100% proficiency by 2013, as NCLB says they will—but Sondra says we should save our assessment discussions for another week, so I stop digressing). I found the national standards to be so much more specific, (and without GLEs that stop at grade ten!). And here’s the really soap-boxy part: one standard the NCTE has that our kids desperately need, that our state reading standards only touch upon, is media literacy. Kids need to know how to “read” visual media in addition to printed texts because they need to be able to decode the world they are entering. One half of my teaching reading (reading teaching?) assessment for my boards portfolio had to be for non-linguistic media, both that the students deconstructed as a class and for media they created themselves in response to text. I’m a little nervous teaching something like that here because our district curriculum mirrors our state GLEs (and I’ve helped write curricula before—using standards as the spine is a necessary life line). If a parent complained, I don’t know if “it’s in the national standards” would cut it.
Standards response -- Our district has an excellent language arts curriculum with 6-Traits and many good resources. It connects national and state standards/GLE's within each grade level. This is a mega-useful K-12 tool. (It is on the FNSBSD website -- also I can get a print copy if anyone is interested, especially people new to language arts.)
What is missing from this and the state GLE's are some concrete pieces for teachers to use when assessing. One place to start might be a developmental continuum with specific checklists that use work samples and a clear understanding of how children progress. I'm not talking about a rigid assessment, I mean a document that travels with each child, something k-2, 3-4, 5-6, etc with discreet skills and levels of achievement. If anyone has seen the FIRST STEPS curriculum, that is an excellent example of what I am nattering on about:
http://www.myread.org/monitoring_first.htm
And that is where my biggest problem teaching with the GLE's is -- there are not any rubrics attached to them - on-line or in printed form. This leaves glaring wholes in LOTS of places. For example one grade 4 Writing Performance states:
[4] 2.2.3 Using expressive language when responding to literature or producing text (e.g., writer’s notebook, memoirs, poetry, plays or
lyrics) (L)
It is reasonable language BUT it gives no hint as to what below, proficient or above proficient looks like. Of course we can come up with our own ideas and even agree on what an "expressive" language response looks like BUT that gets us no closer to refining our developmental and performance expectations. If standards -- our state GLE's or NCTE's-- are to be meaningful and useful they might just need to provide us with some samples.
Currently at Woodriver, we are working on improving our writing scores. This had led to a healthy series of discussions - our first was on the importance of handwriting -- this was a complex and heated topic for several days! So, I am lucky to be in the midst of a school-wide writing awareness!
We are not mandated,at this time, to teach with anything specific but we are expected to use our district curriculum and the state GLE's. However, at last night's staff meeting we did get a glimmer of next year's possibly required new reading assessment -- yikes.
In my day-to-day teaching I grapple more with how students progress in writing individually, using the standards less as a mandate and more as a glimpse into how we will be compared with to others.
That said I do feel that openly displaying the grade-level expectations and district curriculum goals as overarching objectives is important to myself and the students.
This is too long, thanks for listening!
I just finished reading Ms. Lock's essay on her experience implementing a mandated writer's work shop curriculum model. Unlike her colleagues who resist all imposed curriculum, I found myself wondering, "What are these guys complaining about?" I understand teachers' desire for instructional freedom and reluctance to accept imposed curriculum without irrefutable evidence of its effectiveness. I guess I'm just coming from a different place as a teacher. As a first year teacher, I felt like I was shoved into the classroom with a broad curriculum map and a list of books in our department, then told, "Go!" I spent my first several years floundering, trying my best to provide decent instruction and feeling like the biggest fraud of a teacher this side of the Canadian border. I would have loved an administrator to come to my classroom and impose a good curriculum. And, based on what I've seen of the writer's workshop/mini-lesson approach to instruction, the curriculum Lock speaks of is good.
An idea that I think is a best practice at Kindergarten is to have students verbalize and draw their story before writing any symbols or words. I took a class last year from one of our staff members who is also our literacy coach and one of the things she told me was “have them verbalize and then let them draw.”
By verbalizing their story first, I hold them accountable for even having a story to tell. By drawing their story and telling me about it they have something to anchor their writing to. My favorite line when they bring me just a picture is to ask them to “read me their picture”. After they do that, the words to write down come a lot easier. By this time of the year, most my students are writing two to three sentence stories and adding great detail. I think that drawing first has contributed greatly to that.
In response to the reading, I liked Kelly Lock's positive perspective on “being flexible”. We would all like to be free of politics in school, but that is just not the case, there are always politics and there are always different sides to be on. The article was a great reminder to be and stay flexible. Things will be handed down from on high not matter what, and it is the job of those in the trenches to take those decrees and still do best for kids.
My school is looking at restructuring our Kindergarten day next year to create literacy blocks so that we can do some skills grouping across classrooms and possibly across grades. This change is coming about from our district office looking to implement Response To Intervention (RTI). RTI is a framework for making instructional decisions based on data, in order to facilitate learning for all students to the best of their abilities. Essentially there are two parts to RTI as implemented in our district, the data collection to see where skill deficits are and the interventions to meet those deficits. The district office offered a pilot to teachers that were interested and I choose to participate. The district office has the data end covered, but whenever I asked about the interventions my questions were essentially dismissed early on in the year. But as the year progressed, a discussion started in our building on how to meet the needs of the struggling children. The teachers have been able to be a part of the planning from the beginning, which I think will help the teachers that are effected to buy into the outcome. I, for one, am excited about the prospect of trying new structures, groupings, and instruction models. Lock's article was a nice reminder to be flexible as we move through the planning process this spring.
I have had the opportunity in other careers to learn the importance of writing well, being able to express one's ideas, etc. It is a necessary life skill, both in college and in the work force.
I had to agree with the writer(s) of Chapter five that public education is slow in catching up with the real world. In Britain, their entire education assessment system is based on the essay. Like Sandra Murphy (page 78 of Chapter 5), I like to see students' written work from across the curriculum to assess their writing ability. I collect many of my students' writing samples from their science, social studies, and other subjects. My colleagues and I have a wonderful working relationship where I can ask for and receive copies of my students writing in their classes.
I have been using the 6 + 1 traits writing program ever since my second year of teaching in Alaska. I was fortunate to learn how to write my own rubrics for reading, writing, math, science and social studies. I favor the thematic approach to writing by focusing on specific subject, i.e., something in science, math, social studies, etc. for each writing assignment.
When I taught Alaska Studies one semester, my students had to complete a written thematic piece for the final. We developed the grading rubric as part of the thematic process so that the students were able to understand what the assignment expectations were and apply them to their writing.
I feel that Alaska is ahead of other states in the area of writing assessment. The district in which I teach uses a system of assessments based on the state's grade level expectations for each grade from Kindergarten through High School.
I do agree with Warren Simmons' statement quoted on page 74 that too many districts' ideas for standards is some kind of a test. I had the fortunate experience of working in such a district when I started teaching and can see the wisdom in Warren's words. My personal philosophy of education dictates that the final assessment piece is the finished product which conforms to the standard and not some exam that measures whether or not the student can identify the standard.
Standards response:
In 2006 the Lower Kuskokwim School district reevaluated their writing curriculum and their alignment to the state standards. The resulting program was tested in two schools in the district and last year modifications were made to the program. At the end of last school year the entire school staff, including non writing teachers, were trained on the new curriculum and “Rubicon” the online location of all new teacher writing support materials.
What we ended up with seems, after reading chapter five, to be based on the research done by NWP. It contains on demand pieces and pieces that are expected to go through the entire writing process. Once a student is in secondary writing there are no prompts given but they are to chose a topic and write such pieces as Short Story, Expository Essay, Persuasive Essay, Research Paper, etc. We have a wonderful staff at our site! Students are assigned writing pieces across the curriculum and students are aware that they are able to get double credit for the writing piece. Students are able to bring their assigned writing pieces to writing period. They can use writing time to work on their paper and receive assistance from the writing teacher in the editing process. After they are finished, they receive credit for the piece in the writing class and the original science, social studies or Yup’ik classroom. With this incentive our students are often eager to write because, as they see it, they can receive a much larger reward for their efforts.
As far as our writing program being “Mandated”, everything is very well laid out on each level. Our district has even gone as far as creating a program where you can enter the “phase” or reading levels you have in your classroom and it will generate an aligned timeline where the cylindrical curriculum meets up on each level and you can provide whole class instruction and then recommendations where individual lessons will fit. This is all placed on a school year timeline. As discussed in our reading (pg 78) the district does include an appropriate rubric based on the 6 + 1 writing traits model. It seems to follow all the guidelines in the text including the input from a group of students when it was developed.
As far as ever being “forced to teach in a way you did not feel was a good fit for your philosophy or style?” I would have to say no. I guess I am a very open learner and figure that I’ll give anything a chance. Who knows the author or new program may come from a different direction or use a different modality that I never thought of. Besides all learning is good for something, at least if it doesn’t work you know that too. When ever given a new program to teach I always teach it exactly as taught. If you don’t you can’t come back later and say with any truthfulness that it “didn’t work.”
I believe the 2 statements are true at my site. I think the bar is high for writing expectations, maybe even too high for middle school. My fear is that there is so much emphasis placed on the technical aspects of writing that students may begin to miss the "fun" of writing. They have some large writing projects, which are good preparation, but I think many kids lack the self discipline and organization to manage them. If you gave them 5 weeks or 5 days they probably wouldn't approach these kinds of projects any differently, procrastinating until the end.
In sp ed I focus on basic skills and functional writing skills while addressing state standards. I think the standards for writing support good teaching, but I personally don't feel mandated by them. In sp ed we can only work toward a students potential and I think there are varying degrees of mastery for each standard.
A few times I have had to use direct instruction programs that are very scripted. While they produce results, I don't like them. I tend to modify them so that I don't feel so robotic.
I'd like to see what was done with reading occur with writing. A few years back they took every piece of research and data that was ever collected and compiled it, experts in the field studied it and established the most effective and essential practices for teaching reading. I'm sure you've seen the Reading Panel book, a big thick green book. We haven't ever really done that with writing that I know of.
For example, one of the least effective strategies for improving reading is sustained silent reading, yet many classrooms do this daily. My goals for writing are that students enjoy it. I don't want them to view writing as a "subject", but more as an essential part of their life.
The standards are ok, I haven't really given much thought to changing them because I don't feel mandated by them. However, instead of the standards what I would like to see changed is how teachers are (aren't) prepared to teach writing. Perhaps a standard for teacher training in teaching writing.
Creed, you make a great point about the need to debrief with students when using a rubric. I actually have stopped assigning a point value (although if they added up the rubric, they'd figure out their grade) until they read all of my comments and attempt at least one more draft of revisions. I also have found that final drafts are really just a chance for some teacher-writer conferences before the REAL drafts are done. I know this sounds like a lot of extra work, but by the time I see their second or third "final" drafts, I know the essays so well I don't have to check for the same six traits every time. It's usually ideas or organization that need fixing, not often both.
This year and with great trepidation, I've also stopped punishing kids for late work and it has worked really well, especially with writing (we're working on separating behavioral assignments from standards-based work in our school-- since there are no language arts standards for promptness for example, if they earn 1/2 credit, say, for a late essay but the essay scored well on the six trait rubric, their grades wouldn't accurately reflect their mastery of the standards). Just recently, 100% of my regular ed. kids completed personal essays with multiple drafts, most of which were done within a reasonable time frame. I've also noticed with a flexible due date, the kids who struggle with writing seem to benefit from a little extra time.
I do feel that improving writing is important to my site, however it seems to be a district-wide struggle. In talking with my administrator this past week I was relieved to discover that he feels the same way. Writing is essential to so much that we do, there isn't a profession in the world that doesn't require writing or the skills it takes to be a process and synthesize information. Yet still, it proves difficult to get everyone at our site, let alone our district, to move forward in the same direction when it comes to writing. I'm not talking about taking away the individuality of teachers and forcing a formulaic approach into the classrooms district-wide, not at all. But why is it that we have so many systems in place to ensure that all students learn to read or pass state assessments, yet writing (essential to success) seems to get left in the dust? It would be great to see a common language, common goals, and some great research-based strategies in place to assist in the development of writers in our schools. It would be fantastic to see some high-quality professional development put into place to ensure we are all on the same page, working toward a common goal.
Currently our district is working on an instructional proposal that incorportates standards, formative assessments, collaboration and a common language for all. However, it also threatens to take away our individuality as teachers and our ability to respond to the needs of our classroom and student interests. The goals driving this proposal are outstanding, however due to lack of information to the stakeholders and an inordinate amount of fear and mistrust, many of my colleagues are left with a bad taste in their mouths.
Personally, I'm still unsure about how I feel. In reading the article this week I kept thinking to myself, "this is what I'm feeling right now!" I am doing my best to be open minded and trust that those who developed this proposal have student's best interests at heart. I am trusting that the powers that be have done the research, read some of the same material I have regarding assessment and the importance of writing and student buy-in. That said, the instant an opportunity arose to be involved in the process of development at the early stages of this proposal, I jumped at it. Meanwhile, I will continue to do the best I can every day for my students. I will continue to seek out information from those key colleagues who are well-versed in the teaching of writing. But most of all, I will continue to research, reflect on my practice and student performance, and prepare myself to become involved in something that infuriates and creates fear in my colleagues who have been in this profession far longer than I.
Our district does hold the belief that improving writing is important for subjects other than English. For seven years I was at the middle school level as a special education teacher. I know that the students were expected to explain how they arrived at answers to math problems, describe the outcome of science experiments, and so forth.
It is really hard to think of a student not feeling successful because they could not reach a state standard. That is what typically happens with atypical students. They are usually one, two, or more grade levels behind their peers. Yet, we expect them to be able to meet grade level standards.
That is where I feel “mandated,” when I have to attach a standard to an IEP goal. It would be great if I could attach one that is slightly above where the student actually performs, instead of their grade level.
That leads into the idea that I feel “forced” into putting on paper a plan for a child that is less than optimal. I do believe children will rise to our expectations, if they have the cognitive ability to do so.
As a sped teacher I want my students to feel successful and to enjoy learning. Allowing them to free write was what produced the most work. I shared their pain as they struggled to synthesize information for research papers, tried to use correct mechanics and spelling on multiple drafts and have them in on time. I guess if I am ever in something higher than preschool again one of my goals would be to really figure out how to help students enjoy writing.
This weeks readings were interesting since they are linked directly to the classroom, where the rubber hits the road one might say.
I think the statements are true at the site I taught at and are true at sites I work with, but there is a struggle to turn a behemoth system in a way that doesn't walk's the walk.
Standards are incredibly important. But so often what seems to take over the schedule in my experience is what I would call the symptoms of a need. The need is writing. Writing offers an opportunity for students to reach the higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy and to truly demonstrate some understanding of a topic. The attempt to demonstrate, in my mind, is the process that provides a genuine opportunity for the student to move from information and memorization to creation and knowledge.
I have been forced by systems that are in place at a building, regional level, and national levels to teach in a variety of ways that I didn't agree with - but that said, I have become a better teacher.
I believe writing is critical to the organization and demonstration of knowledge. Without writing we are simply consumers of randomness even in the most organized class or lesson. I think without writing in the classroom a student isn't provided an opportunity to truly understand or reflect.
If I could change or revise the state standards I would remember that we are what we think and writing is one form of expression that should be clearly articulated when we say "explain" or "understand", to name a few terms - in all subjects
Writing Journal Lesson Plan
Input:
This lesson is designed to help students focus on their interests in writing and to provide them with a journal to be used throughout the year. It can be implemented at any time of the year, but works quite well at the start of the year.
Materials:
-Old magazines that are kid-friendly
-Scissors
-Glue sticks
-Writing paper or booklets to be used as the paper in student journals
-9x12 construction paper (2 sheets per student if binding the journals) OR 12x18 construction paper (1 per student if covering a booklet)
-Plain paper
Possible materials:
-Book binding tape
-Binding machine and combs
-Laminator
Objective:
As a result of this activity, students will have created a collage of their interests which will serve as the cover for a writing journal.
Students will also be able to describe the items in their collage and explain the relevance of each picture to their personal lives.
Procedure:
Typically, when teaching this lesson we will discuss what we like to do outside of school. Some key questions would be:
-What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
-What is your favorite sport?
-What do you like to do for fun?
-What special skills or talents do you have?
-What was your favorite part about summer? (If at the start of the school year)
After discussing the students interests and asking a few questions about writing and how they feel about the task, I will show the students an example of a writing journal. We take a bit of time to discuss observations about the pictures on the cover and try to get them to be specific about what they do and do not see. Then I explain that this is my writing journal, and that the cover is filled with pictures of things that are meaningful to me. I will go through and explain what each picture means and then read a small excerpt from a piece of writing that relates to a picture they like. After this discussion is complete we start moving into the assignment.
Some guidelines for the collage are as follows:
-All blank space (white space) must be covered, no gaps
-Pictures on your collage must be of things that interest you personally
-There cannot be any words on the collage, not even captions or student names
Steps to putting the collage together:
-Distribute magazines, scissors, and paper to be used for the cover
-Have students browse through magazines and cut out pictures of things they like, this will take a fair bit of sharing
-Students can place their pictures on the cover sheet to ensure they have enough material to completely cover the page
-Distribute glue sticks and have students glue all pictures to their cover sheets
-Have students write topics related to the pictures on the inside cover (or back) of their collage
When students have completed their collage, hang student work around the room with a blank sheet next to or under each collage. Have the class rotate around the room and write down one observation about each collage. Make sure you discuss what appropriate comments would be; no “I like this one.”
After observations have been made, have each student share their collage and explain what the items mean to them. This allows students to share a bit about themselves and provides an opportunity for the class to get to know each other. This is especially helpful at the start of the year.
When completed, student work can be laminated and made into a book. The book will then be a writing journal for the student throughout the remainder of the year. Students will have the pictures, their own list of topics, and the list of observations made by their peers. Each picture, topic, or comment can serve as a story starter for students, providing them with endless ideas for writing!
I definitely feel that writing has been left behind as we advance curriculum. While reading this chapter I wrote all sorts of comments in the margins. I will have to grab my book before I can write on that though. Right this moment I am proctoring the writing portion of the SBA's and I can very easily say that this is a very dismal day for many students. I heard many students claim to have really liked the reading test and the number of kids looking forward to math is uplifting but the announcement of writing today met with a collective groan. As I was walking around monitoring students I saw a lot of white space and blank lines where responses were to be written. Yesterday there were a ton of kids that worked after lunch, today the numbers were itty-bitty…it is as if the kids don’t know how to expand upon their writing.
Creed-I doubt if you were ever even close to being a “fraud,” but I do understand floundering trying to find the right flow to your teaching. This may be part of the reason so many teachers quit their careers after only a couple years. Fifteen years ago when I was a fairly new teacher, I transferred to a small, rural village that was almost 1,000 miles from the district headquarters. We had plenty of money for books and/or accessories for the classroom, but no standardized curriculum within the district. This was particularly a problem for students because they typically moved from one town to the next within the semester. There was no curriculum for any school or any subject area. In one transfer who knows what a student might be asked to do under the heading of Algebra or World History or English. Over the years someone on high noticed that there needed to be a change in this philosophy. There is now a standard curriculum between the schools and it is set-up better for the brand-new teacher coming into the district. A teacher may follow the curriculum page by page, or they may add supplemental work to enhance the standardized program. It definitely made a difference in the quality of education coming out of that district. dc
Cait-Thanks for sharing your journal assignment. I have never thought about covering their books, but it sounds like a fun assignment. Any art project connected with another curriculum is great for learning. I find that kids remember the assignments better if they have to get their hands dirty! dc
I think since the Exit Exam was implemented writing became very important. Perhaps people realized that writing was not just for the English majors anymore. It is important for people to be able to express themselves coherently on paper as well as vocally. When I was in college many moons ago, there was a running argument between some staff and students about the use of English in a college course. That was approximately the time that speaking “Black” was hip and a way some people distinguished themselves from the crowd. I remember several teachers discussing the merits of proper English and English that was ever changing with time. I don’t remember how anything turned out except in my class. Proper English was use and graded accordingly.
It is about time that a focus on writing has come to the forefront. Writing is everywhere. Email is used more than letters nowadays. I think people tried to write more correctly when they put it on paper and added a stamp than they do zipping a line to a friend via email. I hate to have to decipher an email because the sender didn’t use capital letters or any punctuation. Certainly, I understand that people don’t take as much time writing an email as writing an essay to hand into a teacher, but come on. It is still writing, and you do expect someone to be able to read what you wrote. I see this with people of all ages and lifestyles, not just the educationally deprived teenager. I understand that creativity and style are important, but there has to be a middle ground for everyday writing. You shouldn’t look like a moron just because it isn’t an essay that needs to be handed into a teacher.
I’ve never been told what to teach in my classes. If anything, I could have used more direction in my early years of teaching. I don’t mind the standards now because I use them to focus me in general areas. I only look at them once a week when I make my lesson plans, and often I will be looking and seeing something that I forgot to cover or missed somewhere. I just use them to remind me to stay on track as I can wander off in a new direction fairly easily. Perhaps that’s from teaching so long in the bush where the administration is famous for saying, “Be Flexible, Be Flexible”!
I would like to see the standards change in all areas to include more reading and writing. This should be set so every curriculum is having some part of their standards to include a reading and writing component. That would resolve the huge hassle getting all the teachers to believe it is their responsibility to teach reading and writing, also. The entire school included reading in every class in Point Hope to help bolster its on-level reading scores. It took more time convincing a few (good teachers) teacher to take time to incorporate reading than it did to raise the scores once it was a priority in the school. I know it works. If everyone feels that reading and writing is important, then incorporate it into the entire curriculum and tell everyone that it is their job to improve reading and writing skills.
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