Managing Units of Study

I am a proponent of the Units of Study, and the workshop model. The idea is to give short mini-lessons on strategies and skills that kids can use in authentic settings. During the independent work time you confer with kids, and monitor how successful they are with what you are teaching. You then wrap up with a sharing session that highlights student work, and gives students the opportunity to see student work that is (or approximates) what the lesson intended. Where I have struggled is meshing that together. In a broad sense "Units of Study" is composed of 4-6 books with 16 lessons in each. I can't necessarily teach with "Units..." wholesale. We have other reading materials, and I am also responsible for Social Studies (a literacy rich content area for sure). How do you take a really good resource, and use it while still using the other materials you have? That is where I am trying to spend some energy during this break. A great example is in reading the Units of Study for Writing book entitled "Literary Essays". The idea is to get kids writing about books by analyzing characters, and the author's word choice, therefore living in the shoes of the characters being studied. As I have been reading through it I have seen glimpses of what I already do on a much smaller scale. In my novel study packet I have had kids comparing/contrasting themselves to a character. I've had them analyzing character traits, and explaining why. But what I see in "Units..." that I haven't done is having kids add more of their feeling into their writing. That is one thing "Units.." does exceptionally well. It gets kids to empathize with characters, and pour that onto the page. I haven't stressed that, but have simultaneously hoped for it. I feel silly now, but see it as an opportunity to grow. My wavering on whether to do a third novel study has grown into a resolve to give this a try. I'll likely simplify the process for responding so that they can focus on work on employing some of the new instruction. Definitely excited.

Ways to Spend Your Time

Spring Break is here. It is half over, but it feels great. How do I fill the time?

• Read kids books. Already done with Moon Over Manifest (2011 Newbery Award Winner), and the Westing Game (also a Newbery Winner). Currently in the midst of Catching Fire (Hunger Games book 2) and purchased Heart of a Samurai, and Mockingjay.


• I run. Lots. Aiming for 90+ miles this week, which is great considering I was sick last week.


• I plan my coming weeks.


• I think big picture about instruction...

Questions I'm working over, but will address in another post...

• In what ways can I mesh the Literary Essays book of the Units of Study for Writing with my current novel study structure? So many good things in there that I do, but in a different way. How can I reinvent what I already do to be more impactful?


• How can I better utilize the end of my day? I'd virtually given up on read aloud because of where it fit. My writing instruction also hasn't been what I had envisioned either. Not coincidentally, both were/are in the last 75 minutes of my day.


• What technology tools can I leverage to do quick checks of reading comprehension? Is it google docs with a quick form? Is it using my district dropbox? I wasn't too thrilled with the latter, but that could have been my setup not the implementation.


• What quick assessments can I use to monitor skills, and better adjust my instruction? This dovetails on yesterday's posts where I want some quicker checks that I can put into a spreadsheet to help track how kids are doing on particular skills in order to ensure timely feedback. I do this... but without the papertrail that I want (or need).

Data Driven

I did some exploration today regarding the use of data in directing instruction. More specifically, how I do put Excel to work for me so that the data can be disaggregated. If you are interested in the ways that Excel can be used then you need to check out School Data Tutorials. I can certainly get myself around Excel. But I really hadn't done much with things like Pivot Tables or Filters. Definitely worth checking that out.

Where's the Data?

Data is a touchy subject in teaching. We are moving, or already have, towards being a data-driven profession where our instruction is based on that information. That is scary for some, a necessary evil for others, and entirely fine for another group. I feel like I fit into the latter of those groups, but that is a feeling... data is devoid of feeling! That, to me, is where the hangup is. Data removes the heart and soul from teaching, leaving you with numbers which you wonder "are they really representative of that kid? was it just a bad day?" Where I've struggled of late is capturing the minutia in data. Here is what I mean. I teach literacy through social studies. I'll teach reading skills, we'll practice using them, and we'll use all of those skills holistically to comprehend text. When I assess, I'm often assessing holistically. That is, I am not simply looking at inferring but rather summarizing, monitoring details, envisionment, etc. When it gets scored, I don't say you are below standard in inferring, but above standard in summarizing. I note those areas that need work, but look at them holistically in order to determine where they are at as a reader. You can always be weaker in a particular area, but show proficiency in total. I struggle to capture the data when it is broken out by reading area. I know it because I make some notes, and group kids for reteaching on those areas. But as a whole I don't have a spreadsheet, or data collector, that shows that progress over time.... and I want that. That's going to toss and turn in my brain for the next foreseeable future. Author Post-Script: I had seen a post on the Tempered Radical waaaay back about this sort of thing and decided to go digging. I found it in this post, and how he used Excel to solve that problem. Worth checking out.

Video Killed the Radio Star

I got a chance to watch/listen to some of my wife's national boards for teaching videos yesterday. As part of the super rigorous process you videotape a few lessons that you taught. They are 5+ minutes in length and show different parts of your teaching- some of your instruction, some student response. She taped way more than she ended up using, largely because you need to make sure what you have fits the criteria for the particular entry you are writing for. That got me thinking about videotaping my in classroom. I haven't done any taping this year in my classroom. I taped 2-3 times last year as part of the New Teacher Support Program. It was really helpful to see what I was doing and exactly how I was doing it. How was I selecting kids? Was I selecting some kids more than others? Where was I standing? How did that impact student behavior? What level of questioning was I using? Was it aimed at my objective, or was it confusing and misdirected? I'm considering taping 1 lesson a week to see get an idea of what I am doing. It will also get me more comfortable with the videotaping process in advance of my own run through National Boards... in 2 years.

How sick?

I'm finally on Spring Break. It officially started on Friday at 3:01pm, but it feels like it started today. Why? I was sick almost all week. I would wake up feeling ok, slight cough and little runny nose, and head into work. I'd make it through until 3:30 before packing up to head home. On the ride home I'd feel achy, before laying down for 11-12 hours. The next day I'd repeat the process. I was far better Thursday evening and Friday was 1,000x better but still congested. All of that got me thinking. I went it for a few reasons. First, it is a pain to write sub plans. By the time I would have had them written I would have lost some of that much needed sleep time. While I have the skeleton for my sub plans set, it still takes time to adjust. That is particularly so when you utilize technology heavily like I do (plus we were doing a tech project). Second, I feel like I will provide better instruction than a sub regardless of my level of health. 10% of me is better than 100% of a sub, which is not to knock subs (they have a tough job, but I know my kids and know our instructional goals). If I were in another profession would I make the same decision? If I were in marketing or advertising or some other area of business, would I make the same choice? I doubt I do. While I have a tremendous amount of loyalty I doubt I'd decide to buck up and head in.

Teacher Evaluation

This morning I was cleaning out my Google Reader. I often leave my education postings to the weekend, not wanting to burn myself out on education during the week (between 7am-5pm, and twitter postings, it can be a bit much). One post I found today (from Dan Meyer) was a link to a Washington Post article on teacher evaluation. Teacher evaluation is a huge topic of discussion, particularly because of the documentary Waiting for Superman. In a nutshell, the discussion post-WFS has dealt with "bad teachers" and how to get rid of them. That doesn't even go into where "good teachers" come from, or where the line of teachers to replace the bad teachers is. Alas I digress.

The Washington Post article was difficult to read. I cringed a few times as I was reading, particularly as the evaluation wrapped up. The teacher had adjusted to meet the needs of his kids, but it appeared from the article that his lesson was flawed from the get-go. There are many blanks, largely because it is a reporter, the evaluator, and the teacher. Evaluation is objective, which is what scares people. If you don't get along with someone then they might be prejudiced in their evaluation of the teacher. The article showed that the teacher cared about his kids, but didn't clearly show if his planning set him up for effective instruction. I wonder a little bit why he moved from showing the commutative process to place value. Wouldn't you already have an idea about place value issues through some pre-assessment? It seemed a little curious to me.

The article made me think about teacher evaluation in my district. Administrators have a pre and post evaluation meeting with you to accompany your observation. This goes along with a summative meeting at the end of the year. Administrators gather where your lesson fits in your instructional plan, why you are doing it, and how you'll instruct to meet the needs of your kids. If you alter your instruction you can discuss why you made that change, and what signalled why that change should be made. Is there a chance that bias or prejudice comes the process? Sure, we are human beings. Do I know if it happens? I can only speak for my own experience, which I judge to have been very fair thus far (so no, it has not happened to me or someone I know of). I also operate under the premise that I am going to be judged fairly, not worrying about the emotion tied to evaluation. There isn't an expectation that you are perfect, but you definitely need to know what you are doing. You need to be thinking about the evidence that will speak to the effectiveness of you instruction. But shouldn't you already be doing that?

We are in an objective profession. We aren't perfect.

Too Much!

I ordered the Units of Study for Reading at the start of March. I've been looking for some other materials to help me get my head around how I organize my literacy time. I combined Social Studies with novel study and our Houghton Mifflin materials. But I have always felt that the time is disjointed. My concern is that using either of the above materials too much ends up tilting the needle too far away from something that needs to be incorporated (i.e. lots of social studies means no fiction; lots of Houghton Mifflin means less authentic reading time AND too little authentic non-fiction).

Well the Units of Study arrived. As excited as I was to receive it, I was also overwhelmed. I've already got my assessment book to read, not to mention the class I need to attend. But I'm also leading our tech training on Friday, which gives me a little pause- you want to do well, but nerves always set in to some degree. Lastly, I have a project I want to get off the ground on Monday, so my available time has diminished significantly. If only there were more time!

Ant Farm

While we aren't getting an ant farm for the classroom, we are starting to read about the colonies. I'm particularly excited about it because of how I am planning to integrate technology. Previously I had kids read about 8 different explorers then compare them, and present a "Best Explorer" project. The project was done entirely paperless, and it worked out very well (albeit a little long because of snow). The products that the kids made were great, accomplishing the objective of comparing and contrasting explorers based on particularly information areas (background, motives, impact on native people). Kids also, for the most part, did a nice job making clear evaluations of who was best and why. Those that didn't were largely mired in presenting information and not connecting the dots in their presentation (not particularly egregious).

Where everything steps into high gear is with the colonies project. This will not be entirely paperless, but we'll cut back on the paper use quite a bit. My objective is for kids to analyze information describing the colonies. Working in reverse, I'll be assessing them two-fold:

1) by looking at a group (2 people to maximize participation) PhotoStory product advertising one of the colonies, and persuading people to live there (*assuming you can get in your time machine and go back to the 1600-1700's).
2) by looking at a short paragraph written independently explaining why someone would want to live in one of the other colonies (not the one they did in part one).

Assessment part one feeds into part two. They get a chance to work together in analyzing a colony in part one, which will be a more formal check for understanding. Part two allows for the kids to stand alone. We'll use the Photostory presentations as a jigsaw type of activity, which will also shorten the overall length that they need to read. Since Photostory is on each of the netbooks, I am pretty excited about how this should take off. Now I just need to create the storyboard for them to use!

Novel Study Take Two

I'm running a second round of novel study. This time around I've changed it up. Many of my concerns were expressed here. Running groups with 65 kids is challenging, there isn't much of an alternative. While I've seen whole classes read the same book, I'm not sure I could make that work in my classroom. The variance in reading levels makes it quite challenging.

What has changed this time around? The reading kids need to do happens mainly at home. I provide one 15 minute block for kids to read, but they are otherwise expected to get it done for homework. I went through the math with 2 or 3 kids that said they didn't have time, and they actually have close to 2 hours during the week AT SCHOOL to get it done (time in the morning, afternoon, and when we transition- reading as a settling activity we have all kids do). I've also taken away many of the other pieces of homework so that they have a focus on the reading.

What else has changed? I am having kids do discussion questions (3 of them) before meeting with their group. Previously it was one kid responding on paper for their group, and it never gave me a real eye into their thinking (duh, that was the point!). Looking at their response sheets, and listening to their groups, I was really excited about the change. Kids who said "I didn't understand that" were coming to a better understanding. Kids were excited to talk about their books with each other. I also felt like it was more equitable since everyone had something to contribute.

I'll continue to tweak. But for now, a good start. Lots to do heading into Spring Break!

Talk About It

There are times that having vibrant student discussion can be like climbing a mountain. The overt questions are fairly forgiving, if not scalable for most learners. Conceptually there is little rigor, and kids often feel fairly safe responding. Why? Because being wrong is on a lack of knowledge, a gap in their learning.

But there comes a point where the climb becomes difficult- make that the proverbial snow line, or perhaps a little further up when you start to feel the work load increase. Often this is when students need to analyze information, evaluate it, and maybe even offer an explanation for their evaluation. The fear is no longer that you don't know information, but that you won't see the information the way your peers do.

This week we had a discussion session about explorers. I crafted four slides for my Activboard flipchart that one might feasibly see in a "Best Explorer Presentation." This was spun to the kids as "These are slides that were created last year, but have been touched up to make their look more presentable." In actuality they were the result a mental compilation of slides I have seen in PowerPoint presentations in my two years of teaching. I handed out the slides, reminding kids that we were going to only be looking at the Ideas/Content column on our rubric. We then examined slides one by one, scored them based on the rubric with NO half scores. Kids needed to look at the criteria and make an evaluation that they would explain to a peer (and potentially the whole group).

The result: Fantastic student discussion focused on characteristics of a good presentation. I pulled popsicle sticks for who would respond, telling what they chose and why. The next people to respond needed to state if they agreed or disagreed and why. Kids did a fantastic job being respectful of each other, but also pointing to specific things in the rubric and slides that helped them make their evaluation. Beyond that, they then were working on their presentations and had great success integrating elements of the Level 3 (at standard) and Level 4 (exceeding standard) presentation into their work. Hopefully this yields a great set of projects, and some great learning around comparing, contrasting, and evaluating!

Are We There Yet?!

The title can mean a variety of things. Spring Break? Not there yet, but I wish we were. The red circles around my eyes are evidence of how tired I am. Finished with explorers? Nope. Wish we were, but the project we are working on has been pushed into next week. Hopefully it will end by Tuesday. Are we to novel study unit number 2? Nope. See reasons for explorer project above!

The upside is that I think we are doing some really great work. Our work on "Who is the Best Explorer?" has gone well (but a little long). Kids are analyzing information about explorers, and asking really great evaluative questions. They're wondering which explorer had the best/worst impact on native people? Who accomplished the goal they set out for? Whose accomplishments were more important or notable? While some of the questioning is subjective (well, most of it is subjective), it has forced them to analyze the information they see in a critical way. The only real downside, as I stated previously, is that it has taken longer than I'd like (we've got other things to work on!). I speak to one of our discussions this week in a post tomorrow or Monday.

A positive outcome from our explorer project has been familiarity with netbooks. We're piloting them in our grade level, and the kids have done a great job with them. They are incredibly respectful of them, and have treated them really well. I had few issues with kids going off to sites they shouldn't, or using them during instruction. The initial work with being patient as they load, being patient when waiting to get your netbook, and holding them appropriately has paid dividends. When kids are able to bring their netbook to someone's desk to show them work on the netbook, and kids don't knock stuff over, I consider it a small victory. Good stuff happening... even if it is a little bit slower than I'd like!