Writing

I was talking to my vice principal after school on Thursday about how things were going in my classroom. He is the administrator mainly in charge of support for new teachers, and he is the one I go to when I'm freaked out about something or excited about something or I just want to check in. The most memorable statement I made was "I feel like I am finally teaching." Then I realized how bad that sounded. So I restated and said "I feel like my kids are finally learning, and I'm not just spinning my wheels." I felt sort of bad for saying that but honestly, it's true. My instruction and assessments haven't really been strongly aligned this year, and so yes, I know if they're learning to some extent, but I don't always know on a day-to-day basis. One thing that's been really cool is that I've come back to a concept that they didn't learn before (mostly because I had no clue about how to teach it) and I think they are learning it now. Not in a super thorough way, but I can tell that they are applying it to their writing in a rudimentary way and that's really exciting.

Both my 7th and 8th graders are writing narratives. The 8th graders are responding to the prompt "Have you ever had to wait for something you wanted? When you got it, was it worth the wait?" (honestly, it's kind of poorly worded because you can't exactly say "no" and not write the essay.) Working with some colleagues (the process I posted about a few weeks ago) we set up guidelines for the topic choice. We told the kids that if they wanted to write about something material (ipod, shoes, video games, shopping trip) they had to have earned it in some way, most likely by earning money, getting good grades, and/or having good behavior at school. It can also be something non-tangible like a trip somewhere, waiting for your mom to have a baby, waiting for someone to come home from the hospital or get out of jail. The thing you waited for must be meaningful to you, and you must have learned something from the experience of waiting for it and/or getting it. Kids have chosen a whole range of great topics so they are actually interesting to read. That one is a personal narrative--either it has to be true, or for kids who said "I can't think of anything," I told them that they're spoiled and they need to figure something out. I think a few of them are making up their stories but they seem realistic so I am not protesting.

The 7th graders' prompt is "You are sitting at home on a Saturday morning wondering what you will do with the day. Your phone rings and your best friend, sounding excited, says 'go out and check your mailbox.' You check it. Write a story about what you find and how it affects your day." So that's not a personal narrative, it's a made up story instead. They are writing some fun stories. My favorite one so far is by a very quirky boy in my 7th grade class. He is saying that he got a password to get into a video game in his box, so he goes into the video game. Every story must have a conflict, something to keep you in suspense, so his conflict is that he can't get out of the video game for TWO YEARS! :-)
I really appreciate his creativity, because a lot of kids wrote about getting money or a check or vacation tickets or something like that.

The really exciting part of all of this is that they are writing stories that actually have a plot line and a story arc, which makes them considerably more interesting to read, as well as more challenging to write. I didn't write the writing prompts--they're from the end of year tests from our district. I think they are fine prompts, and I couldn't have written better ones myself. It's hard to think of that kind of stuff! Overall I am pleased.

Now, this is the kicker: I have four more days of graded school with my 8th graders!!!!!! Then we have a week that includes 3 graduation rehearsals, a day-long 8th grade picnic, and one day of something undetermined. During that week, I do have to teach my 7th graders but two of the days will be assessments, and one of the days I'll be at the 8th grade picnic. Overall it kind of blows my mind that the year is so close to over, and I am so, so happy. This weekend (Memorial Day) is a four day weekend in my district, so it's like a precursor/unfair temptation for summer.

I am off to have a tasty dinner of spareribs on the barbecue, roasted potatoes, and grilled asparagus. Jesse is such a good cook!

my kids are working and learning!

i was just sitting here at my very favorite cafe, talking with one of my colleagues who i'm doing this cool new planning process with. (that would be the Understanding By Design process, that i talked about in my last post). i said to him "my kids are doing a lot of work. i mean, i don't think it's quantifiable but they are really excited about this assignment. they seem like they're getting stuff so far." he said "that's because we are doing good planning. we know where we are going and what we're trying to accomplish, and they know, also. that's the point of this planning process." it was like a light bulb went off in my head. a very bright, very cool lightbulb.

even though work is hard i am loving it. my job is so cool!
yay

planning

so, you know how i often write in my blog when i am supposed to be planning but instead i'm procrastinating because i don't quite know what to do with my students? i know i kind of vascillate between talking about planning on here, and talking about my students, i guess because those are the two most powerful things for me about teaching. the rest of it is just side dishes, and not the exciting ones, like cornbread, but the boring ones, like coleslaw. (i don't like coleslaw very much as it doesn't fit with my recent health food kick.)

so anyways, i have been engaged in a new planning process based on a book called Understanding By Design (UBD). it's like the key to my future has been unlocked. i am collaborating with several other teachers and it is just incredibly exciting for all of us. i wrote this reflection two weeks about, after our first UBD meeting, but i never posted it up here. it's a little bit cheesy but i do want to share it with you as it is basically changing my life, one little bit at a time! (so here is my reflection, from 2 weeks ago).

So I just completely got my mind blown. Sitting with Sara, Natalie, Greg and Chad at the TFA office, I had one of the most productive professional meetings I have ever experienced (in or outside of education). We attacked the first chapter of a book called Understanding By Design. It guides you through a process of backward planning (curriculum design) that starts with the end product and draws on that to identify enduring understandings, potential misunderstandings that students will have, essential questions, key knowledge and skills, and then you get to the learning experiences (activities to meet individual objectives). We didn’t make it to learning experiences, though—the first few pieces were very time and energy intensive.
To begin, we identified that the UBD process would be a helpful way to grapple with one of the more confusing standards, so we chose the 8th grade literary devices/style standard and moved forward with it. After beginning to talk, we agreed that one of our anticipated outcomes for the meeting would be to deepen our understanding of the standard.
During my own planning I have frequently noticed a tension in the process of breaking a standard down into objectives, which for me is a simplistic, 10-15 minute process. However, there is always that nagging feeling that I’m missing something. That something has felt out of reach and I didn’t know how to try to reach it, so I’ve never tried. The UBD process that we went through today gave me a tool for reaching the purpose, or intent, of a standard. It was the intent of the standard that I never reached during the rote process of breaking the standard down into objectives. Those standards writers must have meant something—but they don’t spell it out for us. Holt has one interpretation, the CSTs have another interpretation—but we agree that often those interpretations don’t provide our students with what they really need. Therefore, the UBD process is a systematic, analytical tool for us to create our own (powerful) meaning from a standard.
Another recurring point which I was drawn to because I relate to it is that we should be setting standards mastery as what we think the “hills kids” should be doing. We create the work sample that shows exemplary mastery of the standard without being constrained by thoughts of our students’ skill levels (which are often low). We begin to consider the skill levels only when we begin the process of getting our kids to exemplary. This way, we are attempting to hold our kids to the same high standards as their counterparts on the other side of the achievement gap.
As the meeting wrapped up people mentioned that they felt renewed, inspired, and invested in our work as educators. This is not the end—and I have to remember that I have only touched the surface of this process. I hope to look back on our meeting notes someday and think “Wow—I have come so far since the first time I tried to tackle the UBD planning model. Now it guides my instruction and better yet, it’s an inherent part of the way that I think about education and learning.”
I also can’t wait to begin sharing this with other people—both TFA and non-TFA colleagues. I wouldn’t throw the whole thing at them at once, but rather I will begin infusing it into my conversations about curriculum and assessment. I have grown in leaps and bounds during my first year of teaching, and I think the UBD process will accelerate my growth on through the end of the school year and into the future.

oops...

i screamed at a student yesterday. it felt really horrible. but he is a really horrible, disrespectful, unpleasant child. he came into my strategic class late in the year because he was expelled from another school. they don't tell us why--i guess it is better that way. he was fine for about 2 weeks and then it got very unpleasant very quickly. now he is like poison in the classrooom, seriously. it feels like that.

now, there was a lot of build up to the screaming. one important thing to know is that my strategic kids had been in my classroom for almost 3 hours at that point. this boy was looking like he was going to get into something (if not a fight, then a heated exchange of words) with one of my other students, who is a confrontational bully. the confrontational bully wouldn't move very far away so i had to keep on eye on them at all times which was irritating.

this boy also curses constantly, and when i say "watch your language" he says "sorry." it is really obnoxious and unpleasant. he curses at other students, too. and says f*** a lot.

so i'm sitting there at my desk with these students right in front of me when the one boy says "i could have had donna at the beginning of the year if i'd wanted to." [not her real name].
i lost it. i slammed my hand on my desk really loudly and yelled something at him. i know i didn't curse at him or call him any names, so i think i said something like "that was innapropriate and disrespectful. i never want to hear anything like that in the classroom again. you do *not* (another hand slam on desk) talk to people that way."
he responded, "i said i could have her at the beginning of the year. damn, you're acting like i'm talking about sex. i am just talking about her being my girlfriend." now, i knew that this was a load of BS so i just ignored it. i repeated (calmly) what i had said and then told him that i was referring him to the office. but i was kind of upset about it and it didn't feel good. the other kids totally freaked out and got quiet for awhile. i was just hollering at the top of my lungs and i probably looked pretty stupid.

i talked it over with several teachers and the vice principal who is sort of my confidante. i felt a lot better about it. i also felt better that the kid didn't come to class this morning. i wouldn't have wanted to, either, if i was him.

today was infinitely better with my strategic class than yesterday. it's so funny--when i don't set limits, they push and push and piss me off pretty badly. but when i do set limits, they often meet them. they certainly did today. they also knew that it was a privilege to hang out after the test, which i was prepared to pull from them at any moment if it became necessary. but they did what i asked and watched their movie and it was good.

so, mixed bag lately. testing is NOT fun and that is why my kids have been in my classroom for 2.5-3 hours a day for the last 4 days. next week is the same. it's all good though.