Ode to Joy
Joy is only having 3 weeks left of what has been a long and draining year.
Joy is recovering a love of teaching that was lost in a landslide of work.
So here it is, the countdown to summer and boy does it feel good. What feels even better is the fact that with the stress lessening, I can really feel my love of teaching resurfacing. Here are some recent good things that have been happening in my classroom:
1) AP US History: It was always fun, but they are taking their test today. I came early and brought them breakfast from Hardees. We sat around eating and joking. When it came time for the test to begin I gathered up my things and wished them luck. They almost seemed heartbroken that I was leaving. They thought I would be staying with them. It was really sweet to see our connection so visibly apparent on their faces. I can’t wait to have a group next year that is truly all mine and I can shape the class any way I want.
2) In my psychology class they just completed a research assignment where they had to find a famous person with a mental disorder and then write up a case study as if they were the psychiatrist. This included selecting a diagnosis using the DSM-IV and justifying that diagnosis. Most of them really enjoyed it and did a great job.
3) We are watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy in History of Western Thought as an avenue for a final project. This has been my most troublesome class all year. Before starting the movies a lot of them protested that the movies were stupid (only they said this in a much more… colorful way that I will not repeat here.) Well, 4 days into it and they are all hooked!
4) We are doing some major review in US History in preparation for the end of course exam. Yesterday we reviewed social movements. This involved the creation of a multi-layered timeline, the use of my white board, and a lot of discussion. It reminded me that my favorite days are the ones where we start out with a blank piece of paper and shove around facts that we already know and turn them into some level of analysis and understanding. I NEED to do that more next year like I use to. It makes me so happy.
Well, that was lengthy, but it was so nice to write a positive post again that I just couldn’t help giving detail. I am so thankful that things have turned around so that I can go into the summer with an excited anticipation for next year instead of dread.
An Update on My New Plan
I wish I had time to post more often (or even at all!) But that just isn’t the case. I did want to give an update, though in the few minutes I have to spare today. My plan is working pretty well. I just finished a unit of Civil Rights in US History that was fairly pleasing. I bought a copy of Eyes on the Prize and anchored my unit with some of the videos from that. My goal was for students to understand the culture of segregation, the fear that kept people down and the courage and sacrifice it took for people to stand up against it. I had students write reflection questions at the end of the unit and I was very pleased that I got that message across. The plan needs a little tweaking, but I’ll be keeping it for next year.
Also I did a unit on adulthood in psychology that went really well. I broke the topic down into early, middle, and late adulthood and death and dying. At the end of each day I had them write three pieces of advice to their future selves on how to live their best life. At the very end we read a shortened version of Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture. They then compared and contrasted their advice with his and came to some final conclusion about what it is to live a good life. Reading their essays was awesome. They really put thought into it and came to some deep conclusions.
So now I’m putting aside US History and just doing standard stuff with them and picking up an interesting unit on the evolution of government from the 1700s to WWII with my History of Western Thought class. We’ll see how that goes over…
So I can say that the plan is working. However this schedule is not sustainable for me. I’ve talked with my administration about changing my course load next year, but all they could say is “we’ll see.” I’ll just have to hope for the best.
My New Plan
When do I not have a plan?
So as we all know, I’ve been pretty burnt out lately. I’ve been reflecting on this and I feel like a lot of it stems from my workload. I teach 4 different classes a day, including an AP class, an elective of my own design, and a US History class with an end of course test (psychology rounds out the four). That is a lot to plan for. All I have had time to do is standards notes - test - notes - test, and that really isn’t my style. I haven’t had the time to do all the creative planning that I love.
That brings me to my new plan. I’m going to try to do my innovative thing with two classes at a time. The other two will be standard format. Then when one interesting unit ends, I’ll switch my planning focus to the other set of classes and do something innovative with them. Hopefully this breathes a little life into my teaching, makes me feel satisfied, and gets my kids into more stimulating activities.
Pushing Through
Yes, my last post was pretty bleak, but sometimes you just have those days. I want to say thank you to “mystery teacher” and “tmango” for posting up some encouragement.
I also wanted to post up encouragement to myself. I know its just that time of the year when things get hard and you feel like you’re sinking in quicksand. But you have to just keep at it. Spring break will come, we’ll all get a little boost and before you know it the end of the year will be here. To keep me, and apparently the others who really do read this, going; here is a poem that I like that reminds me that hard work is hard work, no matter what profession. And when it comes down to it, the world is run by people who work hard. The poem is called “To be of use,” by Marge Piercy:
To be of use
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
And with that in mind, its time to go prepare for tomorrow’s lessons.
My Rant
Today I just want to rant. I don’t want to rant to any of my fellow teachers, because negativity is not what they need. I want to rant into the void that is the internet. So here, dear nonexistant readers, is my problem…
I want to rant about students who don’t care. Students who don’t try. Students who like to be mean. Students who like to be stupid. How can I endure such things? How can my enthusiasm and dedication survive constant attacks of apathy and entitlement? How many more days can I go with students who don’t take notes, even though they get low test grades? How can I push on preaching enlightenment and intellectual curiosity when I’m addressing kids whose pinacle of existance involves drinking and drug use? Its the time of the year when inspiration falls short; the pygmalian analogy is nothing more than a bedtime story. I don’t understand. I don’t have any answers. All I do is endure. Endure and hope that with the return of spring my resistance will return as well.
More from Chapter 1
Last week I wrote about “No Opt Out.” I used this a lot last year, but haven’t this year out of my unease with it. But I put it in place again and feel okay about it. We’ll see how that goes.
Two more strategies out of chapter 1 are “Right is Right” and “Stretch It.” Right is right has teachers holding out for the best possible answer when asking students questions. Doug suggests using prompting and additional questions to move a student from a half-way correct answer to a fully correct answer. I really have to watch myself on this as I tend to correct students myself because it is quicker. But if I’m holding students to a higher standard, giving them half of the answer really shouldn’t be a part of that.
Stretch it has teachers build off of student answers to look for a deeper understanding. Doug suggests asking “how” or “why” questions; asking for another way to answer the same question; asking for a better word; or asking for evidence. Considering my finding last week that a lot of students could supply me with a definition but not an example, this seems like a really good way of checking for understanding, rather than just memorization. The problem here is remembering to do it and thinking up those questions on the spot. Of course, as we’ll see in later chapters, I really should be writing out the questions I ask my students in advance…
Practice, Practice, Practice
So I figured the first step to flexible thinking is practice, practice, practice. I have decided that my students need more practice working with the ideas in class. This past week I worked on this in both my US History and my Psychology classes with a mixed degree of success and some (hopefully) valuable insights.
First to Psychology: Midway through this unit I took a day to review. I had them define each of their key terms, then keeping a common topic in mind, create their own examples for that term. This was very illuminating, showing who understood the term and who did not. The good think was I was able to discuss problems with individual students and was able to use examples that were meaningful to them (like cheerleading or music). The depressing thing was how many problems popped up over terms that I thought were very basic. It just proved the point that they can learn the definition but that doesn’t mean they understand it. I think this strategy is very effective (having them come up with examples based on their own themes, so they can’t regurgitate mine).
On to US History: I also did a review midway through the unit. During 6th period I did an “ABC” brainstorm (list all the letters of the alphabet, then find terms and names that go for each letter). This is a Marcia Tate strategy. Then using another strategy (from a book I found gathering dust on my back shelf) I had them create categories out of those terms. Finally they had to write sentences generalizing that category. These last two parts really weren’t very effective. Students came up with categories like “people” and wrote sentences like “Roosevelt and McKinley were both people.” Wow, what an insight! So in the next class I switched it up. After the ABCs I had them make 4 “tic tac toe” grids. They filled their grids with their terms. I then told them to connect three words and turn them into a sentence that relates to the unit. That was much more successful. Students had to think about the meaning of the words and how they related to each other. I got very good sentences out of it. I think I will use this second approach more often, although I have to figure out how to keep them from cheating and making sure their grids have an easy connection somewhere! Also, while the kids like the ABCs thing, it did take a long time. I might just have to have them list a certain number of terms.
Teach Like a Champion: Technique 1
Before I go into the first strategy from Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov, I want to say a few words as to why I’m doing this. To be brief I believe this book is an excellent collection of teaching tools and when used together can help me do the following:
1) Raise Test Scores: Should it all be about test scores… no, of course not. But they are a reality in our school system and part of my job is to make sure they are satisfactory (or better).
2) Hold Students Accountable: I want students to feel that learning is not optional in my classroom. I want them to put the work in and learn.
3) Get Students to Think: I think I’ve made myself clear on this one in a previous post.
4) Prepare Students for College: College is hard. I didn’t think so, but I was a super-nerd. I think this has warped my thinking for a while about what I needed to do to get them ready. For most students, college work is challenging and I can’t bear the thought that my students will be ill prepared to meet those challenges.
Chapter One: Setting High Expectations
This is an excellent chapter and I’ll have to devote a few posts to it to do it justice. Doug makes a great point in his intro to this chapter that while we all say we need “high expectations,” most of the time there are few concrete examples of how to achieve this. Not with this book. It starts out with one of the best…
No Opt Out – In this strategy there is no not answering the question. A student can not simply say “I don’t know.” When a student says this, there are many approaches you can take. If their notes or book are open, have them look it up; ask a few scaffolding questions to help guide them to the answer; if all else fails, you can have another student answer the question and then ask it again to the original student.
Why I like this – “I don’t know,” is a student’s way of avoiding thinking. If they can not immediately think of the answer, they decide to stop there. This is exactly the opposite of what I want to teach my students: not knowing the answer is the beginning of the process, not the end. We all have times where we don’t know the answer and in reality we need to figure out a way to find it.
Problems I have with this – It’s hard for me to make my students feel uncomfortable. I don’t want to put them in the hot seat because I feel bad for them. But I really need to get away from this. We all must learn to deal with pressure and I need to keep the long term goal of good thinking in mind rather than the short term desire to make everyone happy and comfortable.
My New Resolution
I am a sucker for New Year’s Resolutions. I make them every year. This year I wanted to focus a resolution on my teaching. I’ve decided to do this through the use of my blog. I created this blog to sharpen my focus on my practice, so I hope that by using it more systematically I will also teach more systematically. Remember my dilemma about doing good work, then forgetting about it? Perhaps systematic reflection will help.
So here it is: I resolve to post to this blog twice a week. On Monday or Tuesday I’ll reflect on a strategy out of Teach Like a Champion. On Friday I’ll reflect on what actually went on in class and try to keep focus on my ultimate goal of flexible thinking.
The Goal: Thinking Flexibly
So I’ve identified my problem… now what?
How do you get students to think flexibly?
Some things to look into:
- Thinking routines - to make thinking visible (Google “Visible Thinking” to see what I mean here. Rationale: To see what students are thinking and get them to question why they think they know what they know.
- Use a wider variety of class materials - Students need to see content from a variety of sources, not just me. Perhaps use materials from the textbook package and ask colleagues for their notes/tests. Rationale: To make sure students aren’t just parroting my words.
- Use “At Bats” - This TlaC tactic emphasises the need for students to practice their knowledge as much as possible. Rationale: The more students work with the material in a variety of context, the more they should be able to apply it to new situations.
- Use “Exit Tickets” - Another TlaC tactic that requires an application of knowledge before students can leave the classroom. Rationale: Another way to interact, but also a quick (hopefully) way for me to check for understanding.
I’m thinking that there is way more I could do, but I”m trying to be realistic with what I can do with my time limits. I’m mulling over a way to do these exit tickets to make them part of our class routines, such as having slips of paper that they automatically pick up when they walk in and a place for them to drop them as they leave. Good thing I have all of Christmas break to work that one out.
*This was supposed to be posted before Christmas, but at the time my internet connection would not work with me and I haven’t been able to get to it until now.
