Sunday, May 30, 2010

Looking Forward, Thinking Back

The calendar is about to turn to June, which means school is nearly over. There are still a myriad of projects to finish up and content to cover, but we're certainly in the home stretch. Novel study is wrapped up with only a quick survey of kids' favorite books remaining on my to-do list. We're in the midst of some report writing linked to the World Cup. It is pretty neat to see kids deciphering information on countries, and trying to put it into writing that makes sense to a reader.

As I look ahead, I am excited to get started for next year (with a break included of course). Having a variety of novels to pick from in novel study will be paramount. I was more than slightly hamstrung by a lack of volume in my novel study selections. Yesterday I started the process of adding additional copies of books to my library. From Wringer to Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, I found second, third, and fourth copies of books. The hope is that I can have a mixture of old and new literature to chose from next year when we get started. I've tried to focus in on Newberry Award Winners and other books of note, wanting be steer kids towards books that have been recognized as quality works. But I'll admit that I've also been looking for books that are popular in the classroom, or that I've seen through the Reading Zone. The School Library Journal Top 100 has been helpful too, along with the Sasquatch Book List.

After completing A Wrinkle in Time this morning, I've moved on to When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead with the Lightning Thief coming up soon after. My goal is to read all of my prospective novel study books by August, and add on a few others as well. The days of reading a ton of school policy, education books are likely in my rear view mirror (aside from those aimed at instruction).

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Wheels on the Bus

There are some things teachers don't do well, myself included. One of those areas is "search" or "research" or data/information accumulation. Here is a common sequence of events for my kids as they tackle their CBA:
  • Issue: Wetlands/Conservation
  • Essential Question: Should wetlands be protected or developed?
  • Search (via Search engine): "Should wetlands be protected?"
  • Search Result: Some sites including WikiAnswers.com... followed by
  • Student Action: copy, paste into Word/PowerPoint slide, possible rephrasing (certainly upon teacher questioning)
  • Student Question (to teacher): So am I done yet? I've done all my research.

Granted, this is not each and every student, but this is a very common occurrence and leads me to the supposition found above. Now, I could be happy with the fact that they are crafting genuine questions about topics of interest. I could also be happy, and perhaps even satisfied, that they are doing any research. But that just isn't my style.

To tackle that I illustrated how to search, albeit in a manner that was still not as in depth as I'd like (time constraints). First I started with a discussion about search terms, generating multiple terms that were derived from their questions and stakeholders. From there we went into their method- just type in your question and hope for the best! We agreed that this was not quite the most efficient method, and didn't always yield the greatest results. Instead we tried different terms, and we tried different search engines along with a large district research database. Viola! The transformation was HUGE, making a big difference in the quality of information they found.

I'll take it as a huge victory considering the time constraints. We need to ration our time, and undoing some bad habits that have festered just isn't the highest of priorities. Undoing the "we were told to copy and paste then rewrite in our own words" (note: my quotes, not theirs) message is paramount. As I scratched the surface of that, I found that was an instructional message some kids had received somewhere. The message is essentially: don't worry about reading it, assume you agree with the writer, copy it and paste it, and rephrase to put in your own words when you're "research is done". I nearly fell out of my chair. Give the kids a little credit, they can do the work. Expect them to do it because,ultimately they'll surprise you.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

CBA Introduction Redux

This past week I introduced our Social Studies CBA (see this post here for the plan behind it). When it was all said and done, my hope was that students would be selecting issues that genuinely concern them. The more difficult part is crafting a question related to that issue, which you'll try to address in a presentation.

I presented kids with images (Internet not original, largely due to lack of time) of wetlands. The first one looked like your standard undeveloped empty lot- a mixture of standing and fallen trees, plants, shrubbery, etc. The second one looked far closer to that of a wetland, with water and grasses mixed in. I had also brought up the point that Redmond has a growing population, illustrated by our school population increase. With those pictures, and their preliminary observations, we made the gentle leap to "What should happen to this land?" How do you accommodate the people who live there, and those that want to live there? Google Earth does a great job of providing satellite views of an area, in our case showing the vastly developed area with mixed in underdeveloped land.

The range of responses to the question above was precisely what I was aiming for. As kids traversed the possible scenarios of a wetland nature preserve and an area shopping mall, the body language (and oral response) was quite striking. "Ohhh no! You couldn't tear that down for a MALL!" Again, this was by design. We talked about who the stakeholders might be, and why they would want a say in what happens there.

Ultimately this produced some great questions...
  • (Food in Schools) Can we make school lunches healthier?
  • (Smoking in public) Can we stop people from smoking in public?
  • (Smog/Greenhouse Gases) How can we lower car pollution?
  • (Skateboarding) Why isn't skateboarding in public legal?
  • (Gun Control) How do we keep people safe from guns?
  • (Video Game Violence) Do violent video games make kids violent?
  • (Drugs) How do we stop drug dealing and usage?
  • (Racism) How can we stop racism?

The difficult part in this whole process is not having a preconceived argument. The kids need to work from their research instead of crafting their essays/presentations and finding research to support them. Research is also a difficult process, as it requires a degree of patience that I want them to have but that they often lack (at least to the extent that I'd like it). I am encouraged by the start, and hope that they week yields some great stuff. My guess is that, because of the other events taking place in the coming weeks, we're about done with the historical end of things. But I walk into next week cautiously optimistic.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Social Studies CBA

As we prepare to finish our MSP testing, my focus begins to turn towards the Social Studies CBA. A CBA is a Classroom Based Assessment, and is rooted in the standards. It allows students to use the skill based sections of the standards to address content of their choice. In our case we will be using the "You Decide" CBA, which should be really neat.

What is You Decide? Essentially kids will be selecting an issue, with some teacher direction, and creating a presentation of some sort about the issue, different points of view, and possible outcomes they would propose. An example would be: Public Spaces/Parks. A student could say that more space is needed for public parks. Society at large has a vested interest in ensuring that empty land is developed into parks so that people can enjoy the outdoors and live a healthy lifestyle in their community. Those opposed might be real estate developers who want to create a retail space for a small/large businesses. In the end, the students will research the issue, form an opinion, and then create some sort of formal presentation (poster board, poster, powerpoint, Photostory, essay, etc). Essay or Powerpoint seem the easiest and most likely, but I am sure a few will opt for the more complex method.

My approach? Well I've found myself inspired by Dan Meyer and his math teaching. In particular, I've been struck by the idea of using multimedia to help kids generate their own ideas and questions. We'll use the example above, and I'll show a picture of an open space near Marymoor Park. The start will be, what do you see in this picture? The question I have in mind to bridge the gap between usage and observation is, How do you feel about this land? I have an inkling that from those feelings will come something like "I think it should be ______," which is precisely where I want them to go (without me telling them to).

Since we have Activboards, and I have a digital camera, I can also bring over some pictures of a park and a mixed-use shopping facility. They can be dragged in to fit with the image, likely evoking a mixture of emotions, which (again) is exactly what I am looking for. The point is that issues have multiple points of view with a variety of stakeholders, and all ideas must be weighed (a concept we have talked about).

I think it will be really successful, and largely student-driven. I'm excited to get started on it.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

It's Been Too Long

Has it been 6 weeks? It has indeed. In all honesty I've simply been lazy, not in the mood to write. What has happened in the meantime? Spring Break came and went. Our focus groups for state testing came and went. State testing has come... and is almost done, with one more day and some makeups to be done.

April made a few things painfully obvious...

First was that I should have started our novel study months ago. The switch was flipped for many of our kids as they started to get engrossed in really good literature. Accompanying that was a fact/question/response log (FQR) that grabbed question stems from the standards and put them to use in responding to literature. Kids got a chance to show comprehension of literature, analyze elements of literature, and experience how quality children's authors write. I wish I'd started in the fall, but will need to settle for taking that knowledge into next year. Additionally I'll pour more money into book sets published more recently.

Second takeaway was how beneficial targeting students can be. This is a no-brainer, and is done by countless teachers on a daily basis. I've done this as well, but I've seen the payoff of late. There are times when the loudest, or the most disruptive, can monopolize your time, making teaching less about the 20+ kids in the room and more about those 1-2 children. But at some point you need to focus your resources to impact those kids that might be lost under the loud or disruptive, the kids that might more comfortable not being pushed.

Lastly, you need to maximize instructional time and focus on your standards. There are so many things that will pull you away from instructional time, from concerts to art projects to god knows what else. As we hit April, I was constantly going "gosh, there isn't much time left between now and testing time" which is when they are expected to demonstrate proficiency in the standards. Time is a luxury you have in October, but less so in March/April. You need to use it wisely.