Audience

During this school year, I had kids writing a lot. One of the pieces of writing that my kids had to do on a near weekly basis was summarizing a news article for current events. A key mistake that my kids made was assuming their audience (whole group, or myself) had read the article. For example, when the BP Oil Spill started we had quite a few articles summarized for current events. My kids might lead off with: "An oil spill happened and it is hurting wildlife in the water." I'd often reply, "Where was this? Was it in Elliot Bay? Did this happen last night?" My tone would often be one of surprise, showing how the missed information was a big deal (I might run out the door and be more responsive if it was so close).

You need to know your audience, and can't always assume they'll fill in the gaps. You need to know who is reading, what they likely know, and how to draw them in on your writing. Where is this going? A Philadelphia high school private school teacher was fired because of her blogging back in April. I had heard little about it until seeing a post come through my Google Reader. The student's parents claimed that the teacher had effectively bullied a student through posting about a presentation's political views, and lack of tone (per the assignment). I spent a good 30 minutes trying to find the original post, as well as reading some of her other stuff.

Without seeing the original post, it is difficult to make a complete judgement. But there are a few things that came to mind when reading about this situation. First, you need to know who is reading your blog. If you were asked to blog by your school, you know that they will likely be reading it. Being that it is a private school (and high school), it is likely that a student or parent is reading your work too. Even veiled comments about students can be trouble. Negative comments can easily be taken down a path you don't want to go (and which she found out). Second, kids' work is often a reflection of your practice. If you want them to do something different, then you need to provide instruction that moves them in that direction. If you really were upset about a student missing the lesson on "conciliatory tone," then it would be helpful to write about ways to fix it (or how you'll teach them to get there). Similarly, I can't simply be upset students are forgetting to include integral pieces of information. Instead I need to think about my plan to get them to include that information, and improve their work. The issue becomes my own issue, and not the student's.

Lastly, don't forget that the blogosphere isn't an isolated place. What you write creates a digital fingerprint, a paper trail, of you. You're intent needs to be clear, otherwise you run the risk of your words being misconstrued. Whether you like it or not, the digital you (your postings) are a representation of you (from blogs to twitter to facebook etc). Whether I like the author or agree with her isn't the point (don't know her, and haven't read enough written by her). But I do know that I'll re-read my work to be sure it is clear, and can't be confused as disparaging a student.

Problem Solving

During the summer I like to clean out posts from my Google Reader. I tend to read more of my sports related items during the school year, opting to leave education for the occasional weekend read or for a break. Today I was cleaning out a few posts (fewer since I'd recently cleaned it out) from Weblogg-ed. A post that struck me was this one about how teachers often ask questions in order to justify inaction (in particular around technology).

I see that point of view as prevalent beyond technology. Being a first year teacher this past year, I'd often sit in trainings (with other first years, but also with veteran folks at times) where the question seemed to begging for someone to just wave a magic wand in order to solve it. "But how do I fit that in? I'm already really strapped for time." Another common one was "Well how do you do that, how do you make it all work because the kids in my room won't do that..." While some of the same questions circulated in my head, I lacked the impulse to verbalize them.

Why? Teaching takes patience in a myriad of ways. There isn't a magic wand to fix things. The reality is that your classroom will have warts, just like your practice, and just like everyone else's. You aren't alone in that. Fixing the things that aren't going well, or that you don't like, takes time. You need the time to think about what it is that is being done, how it is/isn't having the desired impact, what possible reasons for that could be, and possible solutions. Waving the white flag of "how do I do this..." may get you a short term solution. But unless you understand why you are doing it, or how you can make it work for you kids, you'll be back at the drawing board soon enough.

The Penderwicks

Just finished The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. As a whole, I enjoyed it. This wouldn't be the first book I'd pick up though, largely because of content area. I prefer books with more humor or action. Why in the world did I pick it up? Well, I owe it to my kids to read some of the books that they like. Whether it is Charlie Bone, Percy Jackson, or the Penderwicks, I need to have familiarity with books of interest. Secondly, it was a National Book Award Winner... and I like award winners, largely because someone else has judged it to be good literature (so it is, right?).

General plot: 4 sisters and their father summer at a cottage not unlike the Kennedy compound (or so it seemed). The girls befriend the young boy who lives at the house (Arundel), and trouble brews because the rich mother is not pleased with who the boy is associating with. The chapters are almost like vignettes of mini-adventures.

I appreciated how the issue of class was woven into the story. My kids could certainly appreciate the notion that background doesn't determine who you associate with. Jeffrey, the boy, enjoyed being with the girls because of their sense of adventure. His mother had a vastly different opinion, entrenching the notion of the rich being pretentious.

I enjoyed it, and many of the girls in my classroom would as well. They can relate to the story, and the various characters. But I likely wouldn't read it again, as I wasn't captivated by the action or storyline.

Next up: Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

Smartboards...Whiteboards...Chalkboards

Over on the Tempered Radical, there is a conversation around Interactive Whiteboards. The general gist of the Radical's argument is that IWB's are a fairly expensive waste of money, with this post being the case in point. He sums it up well in the latest post saying that you add technology to enhance the learning process, which should focus on kids working socially to address meaningful issues to them or show their expertise (largely pulling from issues of justice/fairness). In that regard, I couldn't agree more and have stated so (although far less succinctly here or in depth)

I've followed from the outside, not being a participant for a myriad of reasons. First is that my school district is equipped with Activboards (Smartboards, IWB's, what have you). My room didn't have one when I moved in, but they ensured that I had one prior to day one. Second is that my district is in a technologically savvy area, and the expectation is that technology is being used. We have a tech stipend around different tech tools that we can use to enhance instruction or professional collaboration. An example of that would be learning to use Microsoft's OneNote, which we use as our team meeting notebook and I used to track my reading conferences with students. Third, I just haven't gotten up the courage to post comments of late. There is a degree of self-consciousness that I've had around my practice, and I've been more comfortable processing independently (perhaps soon).

I agree with the idea that IWB's aren't essential to instruction but they can be helpful. In social studies, I've been able to have students manipulate maps, or draw on maps to illustrate understanding from a text. I've also scanned in different pages from texts or readings, and had students highlight important passages or sentences. Students have been able to illustrate how they've determined importance, and how it connects to main ideas. Instead of using butcher paper, or paper flipcharts, I can save those things and return to them later. We also use Activotes (voting device) to do informal assessments. Granted they are multiple choice, but they allow for you to check student understanding and return to them later if they need follow up. I've also seen teachers use activotes where kids are responding to text, and the discussion that follows allows for students to defend their position. While on exemplary teacher visits, I saw robust student-led discussion around books as students discussed their positions, and tried to counter the arguments of their peers. It was incredible and quite powerful. Do you need an Activboard for that? No. But it certainly can be useful.

The Lightning Thief

If you teach intermediate kids and you haven't read the Lightning Thief then you should. I would think the obvious link would be for 6th grade, since the social studies standards focus on Egypt (and Greece to a lesser extent). The next few weeks will likely feature more recaps of books being read than classroom/planning related items. That is on hiatus until July!

What I liked...

I enjoyed how you could relate to who the characters were. You felt like they were 6th graders because of how they talked and how they acted (traits of good writing). I also liked the Ancient Greek interwoven, seamlessly providing mythology along with the storyline. I had forgotten much of the mythology, and it was provided very nicely. Not a lecture, but not too child-like either.

What I didn't like as much...

My only real qualm would be the length. It was 375 pages, which made it a tad long. I lose interest relatively quickly, which is probably a good omen for this book. If it hadn't been interesting than I probably would have set it down. Instead I plowed through almost 200 pages in 2+ hours (after nights of 10-30 pages- I don't read much on school nights, too tired). Some of my kids will struggle to get through it because of the length, not to mention the lack of schema. I also found some of the plot twists to be too predictable. The saving grace, which sets up the second book, is the ending.

Next up: The Penderwicks. Very interesting contrast before leaping into the Sea of Monsters

Summer Goals

Summer is here, although it could be a touch warmer. Being packed up and checked out, I won't head back to school until July. My parents come out to visit at the end of this month, and I'll likely take them by to see where I make things happen. Hopefully Mt. Baker will be out, as it is nice to see that from the school parking lot (and brings this full circle since my big brother works up at the ski area.

Here are some school related goals for the summer:

• Take June off from planning (tougher than you'd think)
• Clean out my Google Reader. Already done! Dovetails into the first point a bit, as most of my ed-reading is done via blogs these days.
• Roughly map out my year (what content and approx when, what main objectives)
• Read at least 15 books that I'll have in my classroom library. Current list below..
• Clean up the classroom wiki and get it ready for next year.
• Work on setting up a system on Google Docs to capture ideas that I can access anywhere (I'll admit to not using docs or delicious much since leaving school. This post reminded me of the usefulness of it.

I'm more than slightly excited for next year. It is difficult to not get my yellow legal pad out to do some planning, but I am going to resist. Blogging will need to fill that void for the time being. Here is the list of books on the bookshelf:

• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (likely done by the end of tonight)
• Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
• The Penderwicks by Birdsall
• The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
• Wringer by Jerry Spinelli (possible book club book next year).

Last Day

Wednesday was the end of my rookie year of teaching. Year One is officially in the books. As I told my kids, you have many firsts in your life. First day of school, first day of high school, first day with a driver's license, first day of college, etc. You remember those first things vividly. This year will be no different for me.

There are a myriad of ideas running through my head. What went well? What do I want to change? How/When will I get the blog and wiki rolling next year? All of those are good questions, but I need about a week or two off. I need to bask in the afterglow of yesterday, thinking about the kind words the kids said. Someone got the idea to write a goodbye message on the front whiteboard, which spread into half of our cohort writing goodbye notes. It was touching, and gave me the impression (illusion) that I made an impact for the better. The cards I received were along the same lines.

After cleaning out the room and getting organized, I'm officially off. I won't head back to the building until early July. I'll head in to get a few of my curriculum materials, and start thinking ahead to the fall. I'll post some of the questions I am pondering as the days pass. But today... today is for the afterglow.

Example- wcydwt flooding

I would start with the image on the left (courtesy of KWTV in OKC) with no other information. The next task would be to ask the kids:

-What questions do you have about the image?
-Describe what you see in the picture?

There are a few things that the kids will be practicing as they do this. For 1, they will be practicing asking questions which is integral to everything (in particular in reading). For 2, they will be making inferences from what they see. They are saying "water is high, dark skies, then I can reasonably infer that it is raining hard and maybe causing a flood." People are having a difficult time because there are cars that aren't moving, and one has its trunk open, which is not normal.

From there we go to: what questions go together, and how can we make an organized attempt at learning more information. Perhaps even going as far as "what do we hope to know when this is all done?"

I feel like this can be done using everyday images that are both local and international. It intersects well with our current events, which will start far earlier in the year.

Realizations- CBA edition

I'm in the midst of evaluating our CBAs. I'm reading their work (most of which are powerpoints), checking their self-evaluations (OSPI rubrics), and providing feedback. The process is somewhat tedious, and certainly frustrating. Why? There isn't a way for us to go back and make changes to improve them is one reason. The second is that many of the errors are a result of revision, or lack thereof. Items on the graphic organizer that didn't make it into the presentation.

Ultimately I have some changes to make to the process. First, we'll start it in April instead of late May. We'll have an outline of the days, and what work will be done each day (at least at the start).

• Monday 4/5- Research using search terms- find one article on elibrary/print
• Tuesday 4/6- Research using search terms- find one useful website/print
• Wednesday 4/7-Deciphering research- what to use.

While we had our specific days, with explicit purposes for each, some of the points were lost in translation. Ultimately the goal is to ensure that they are successful, which providing some of those scaffolds will do.

We'll also do another WCYDWT sort of thing. That, to me, was how I started off the CBA. We started with an image and talked about it, wondered about it, gathered more information, then started on a trajectory towards putting something together. We struggled with the process of utilizing our research to the fullest extent possible. Using pictures, particularly current events stuff, is right up the "what can you do with this" alley. Kids want to know more, and want to try and make sense of the world around them. They just need the tools to do it, which requires reading, writing, and research. If I had a rewind button I'd be hitting it, putting it on 5x fast.

Last Full Week

This is the last full week of school for my district. We have 2 1/2 days the following week, but for the most part this is it. We're going to continue to have our rotations this week, which should keep a degree of normalcy in the crush of spring/summer fever. What is in store? We are going to finish up with a brief (I stress the word brief) covering of the civil war. I have always hated the word "coverage" because it places emphasis on content instead of thinking skills. But in this case I feel ok about it.

I've been able to intermingle thinking questions with content so that kids aren't left merely trying to seek knowledge level responses. A case in point would be this past week where I had posed the question to kids "Was western expansion of the United States a good thing?" This was on the board as they walked in, and they needed to respond in their social studies journal. Each kid got a chance to respond, and we tallied "good" and "bad". Both wasn't a choice, but it was clearly reflected in their responses as many said "it depends on the point of view you are looking at it from." That gives me hope for the last week as we continuing trucking along through US History.