tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72461258880297196832024-03-05T03:02:19.786-05:00Walk the WalkBrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742836697284105094noreply@blogger.comBlogger473125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-2784168810826658152016-07-21T08:07:00.004-04:002016-07-21T08:07:54.715-04:00More Room to Write<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0em;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When conferring, I am learning to let the student lead me to their areas of need through the natural course of conversation. I practice listening so that I might respond with a question that a) I am naturally curious about (this is a conversation after all) and b) will help them with their next move as a writer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This conference with Kathryn revolved around her end of the marking period portfolio. One thing I want you to notice is that I deliberately do not get into correction or errors. We don't address the specific pieces of writing per se, but we discuss Kathryn as a writer--the writing is another portion of evidence to consider, but conferring is about helping writers grow forward, not feeling exposed or inadequate over something previously written.</span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/59/0d/d7/590dd7a99ba79e765c55e06fe7f6fff7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/59/0d/d7/590dd7a99ba79e765c55e06fe7f6fff7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Notice that Kathryn tells me "I like writing about my running" and that "it all comes to me easily"..."other stuff is kinda harder." This takes me to Mina Shaughnessy's work--her book <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Errors & Expectations</span> in particular. Shaughnessy writes, "use modes encouraging a flow of words until the pen is an extension of the mind." I have that opportunity here with Kathryn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">While running is a area of interest (and not a mode) I try to help Kathryn feel encouraged to work her writing territories into a variety of modes. I point out that she is already blending modes as she writes about running. I want Kathryn to feel my appreciate for her joy and I want her to feel that her decisions have power in the classroom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After establishing what is going well (and all writers need to hear that positive feedback), I try to find a path into what a student is going to do next. I hope to leave them with a goal or two. This does not always happen (and that is ok). Conferring through the student's agenda and needs now is a form of differentiation. Growth does not always happen on our watch, but every conference is an opportunity to continue to build trust within our writing communities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As always, please feel welcome to share or comment here, on Twitter, or on your own blogs. Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@_briank_)!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Enjoy Episode 27: More Room to Write</span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742836697284105094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-34769167227898282522016-05-26T11:12:00.000-04:002016-05-26T11:12:07.875-04:00First Classroom MentorsMy first mentor teacher, Bernie, kept a manilla folder on each student and walked the aisles, every day, folders in hand. When he checked homework, he recorded a plus or a minus on each student's folder. When students submitted work, each sheet went into a folder.<br />
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Every two weeks or so, Bernie emptied the folders into individual portfolios in a cabinet (or returned the work he no longer needed) so that the folders he carried up and down the aisles never grew too thick, too heavy. If he scored something with a number or a letter, that also went on the outside of the folder.<br />
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Every week, Bernie transcribed the records from the outsides of his folders into his grade book. That was his system, and it worked for him. He was organized and diligent. This was 1993. We did not have computers in our classrooms for students. Teachers did not have an individual computer in their classrooms. Record keeping happened with pen and paper. Writing, for the most part, happened at home.<br />
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Almost 25 years later, my memory locks onto Bernie's fastidious record keeping on manilla folders. That couldn't be all I "learned" from student teaching...was everything reduced to that one memory?<br />
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Wanting to dig deeper, I started a list of what I remember:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcO8aEn8vXnlShwdoCQ56GUM_YR2W5g-7iLJDbk00dsdKzvBPyryJTRpM7YgpV3C9oJY42prGY-Aig6XvlfSQOsqVxiiK6wQTP0X-CnyM9ompNZ0xnKAAvf0wsnB2PHNDR6a5uP7ZOxDN/s1600/FullSizeRender+%252844%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcO8aEn8vXnlShwdoCQ56GUM_YR2W5g-7iLJDbk00dsdKzvBPyryJTRpM7YgpV3C9oJY42prGY-Aig6XvlfSQOsqVxiiK6wQTP0X-CnyM9ompNZ0xnKAAvf0wsnB2PHNDR6a5uP7ZOxDN/s320/FullSizeRender+%252844%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a>-Bernie served in the Peace Corps in Brazil.<br />-In 1993, he was writing a novel based on his experiences in Brazil.<br />-He kept a theoretical chart of the consistency of symbolism. He had sketched it out for himself: midnight, winter, December/January, black, blue all aligned in the same way that 3pm, summer, red and yellow, and June/July all aligned. His chart had a dozen different layers of details...much more than I can recall.<br />-Bernie telephoned my parents to tell them how well I did as a student teacher.<br />
-As a parting gift, he bought me a first edition of a novel he loved: <u>Butterfield 8</u>, by John O'Hara.<br />-He wore a jacket and a tie every day.<br />
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-He told me he <i>worked at</i> being a better teacher every day, every year. He said it took effort.<br />-He coached soccer at various points of his career.<br />-We taught <u>Lord of the Flies</u> and <u>Romeo and Juliet</u>. We taught <u>The Scarlet Letter.</u><br />-Bernie was highly respected by his colleagues. Accordingly, his colleagues treated me very well and always spoke with great admiration about Bernie. They were pleased that they knew him, that they worked with him, and that I got to be his mentee.<br />
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The thing is, I don't remember anything about <i>how</i> we taught.<br />
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I don't remember great lessons or failed lessons. I don't remember teaching strategies. I just remember scattered fragments of content. And I remember <i>how</i> Bernie was, <i>who</i> Bernie was. I remember the great respect he afforded me, but I especially recall the great respect he gave to the profession.<br />
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In retrospect, I don't remember Bernie conferring with students or working or getting to know them. I don't recall ever seeing the students write or seeing them read. This isn't to say that it did not happen--I just did not experience it when it did happen or my memory fails me. While Bernie was a writer, I don't remember his sharing that fact (or his writing processes) with the students. I don't recall Bernie writing in front of them.<br />
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But the one thing I still carry with me is Bernie's affect--his control and confidence in who he was and what he offered in the classroom. I remember trying to process what Bernie meant about trying to be better every day...did he mean that his record keeping became more efficient? Did he mean that he grew smarter about the novels? I didn't really know, and even today I can only surmise from a different point in my life.<br />
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Bernie was true to his spirit, his style. He knew how to make himself--who he was--most effective for his students. And, it seemed at the time, that many of his colleagues also had that trait...they seemed to enjoy that they worked with people who were different than they were. Teacher A wasn't trying to be like Teacher B. Teaching wasn't standardized even though the content was. It was ok to teach to your strengths.<br />
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Maybe my one significant take-away from student teaching is just that--<i>maintaining control and confidence in who I am</i> in an escalating climate of assessment, judgement, and policy. Maintaining control and confidence comes from action. Taking control over who we are fuels our confidence.<br />
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Maybe the best we can all hope for, after leaving student teaching, is remembering <i>one key thing. </i>Maybe we are so overwhelmed by all of it that our brain does not know which kernels of experience are so valuable that we must remember them forever.<br />
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Maybe we don't really know what to see, what to hear. Or maybe a teaching career does have to begin with content, and maybe growth only comes with practice and experience. There are no magic packets or workbooks. There are no magic techniques.<br />
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As a student teacher, I remember being so concerned with knowing the facts, knowing the books, knowing the answers, that the pedagogy often came a distant second. I didn't want to be wrong. I didn't want to get caught not knowing something. What if students asked a question that I could not answer?<br />
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The only energy I put into pedagogy was a reliance on how I remembered being taught as a student and what I observed when Bernie taught. I mimicked what I experienced and observed.<br />
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And I wonder what it was, in me, that flipped a switch to start to grow, to seek change, to find a process that would help me become a better teacher later in my career. The thing about Bernie is that I met him towards the end of his career. I don't know how Bernie started. I don't know how Bernie grew. Yet, I remember Bernie telling me that the previous year was his best year of teaching. I remember being surprised. Thirty years into the profession, Bernie only <i>just</i> felt that he had a great year.<br />
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As I reflect on that experience, I am reminded that we may never master this thing we do, teaching; yet, that does not mean that we just settle on being who we were when we started.<br />
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Even though policy and climate may shift from year to year, it is incumbent on me to take responsibility to grow and change from year to year while <i>retaining the confidence and control of who I am and who I can still become in this profession. </i>I cannot wait for guidance to make me better. I cannot wait for top-down Professional Development to make me better. Growth, confidence, and control are all within my power and, quite honestly, what makes up much of my being professional in this vocation is what I do--taking responsibility for my actions and development.<br />
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<b>I wonder, what have you taken with you from student teaching or your first classroom experience? </b><br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-58319963313941440962016-05-18T14:22:00.000-04:002016-05-18T14:36:44.035-04:00The Unkept Promise of Rubrics<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">In ELA classrooms, the rubric reigns over writing. Yet, I am wondering if others also feel that rubrics aren’t truly as helpful as we make them out to be?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was thirteen-years-old, I had a hard enough time prying bubble gum from my sneakers let alone untangling the language in a rubric. And even if I could untangle it, what would I have done with it? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Would it have made me a better writer</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And now I wonder, does a rubric make a student a better writer?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbU5rfcYSHJmYMcBtnbggiBYivX-UjGSpG-SMe-h0XVm7xRIvRd3ezET5PiYXaUiy7spRQ_DSKNd73EMMGCM1iDzPZCsB6xgnBgPUvuZSk-qEYPJNGHPI8XhrEn_uuVstV2hSQiYwUnzAc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-05-18+at+9.09.43+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbU5rfcYSHJmYMcBtnbggiBYivX-UjGSpG-SMe-h0XVm7xRIvRd3ezET5PiYXaUiy7spRQ_DSKNd73EMMGCM1iDzPZCsB6xgnBgPUvuZSk-qEYPJNGHPI8XhrEn_uuVstV2hSQiYwUnzAc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-05-18+at+9.09.43+AM.png" /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consider these two variations on the left from the same slot (Organization) on the rubric for Pennsylvania Writing Assessment:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the bottom example has been rewritten as kid-friendly, it is no more helpful to students (and this is key) than the example at the top. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How does either version help kids? Reminding students to have a beginning, middle, and end is not a bad idea...but is it helpful? Does it make or break a student’s ability to grow as a writer? Seriously, is this the guidance parents are clamoring for whenever their child receives a writing assignment? In education, we scratch our heads wondering why our students don’t grow; yet, when we introduce words like </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sophisticated </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to describe the difference between a 3 and 4 we offer little evidence as to what </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sophisticated </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">means. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A consequence is that our assessment of writing becomes subjective under the guise of making expectations transparent and concrete.</span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We treat the domains on rubrics like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart treated pornography: “I know it when I see it.” </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">That colloquialism isn’t helpful to anybody, yet it is very much alive in ELA. Frustrating, isn’t it?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqYKEJlGYI88F_FWcQ_34Dq5Mm_OzkweL5vuDel667B-sxw_coXvalCP_FxcpyWMdX2xffMn0xIe83U541CEIHFI3IDVN02mG4AaUMK_zvKlKPpBGdEa8DBBaTLhZL7w1k5K4hxEaY-NG/s1600/IMG_1927.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqYKEJlGYI88F_FWcQ_34Dq5Mm_OzkweL5vuDel667B-sxw_coXvalCP_FxcpyWMdX2xffMn0xIe83U541CEIHFI3IDVN02mG4AaUMK_zvKlKPpBGdEa8DBBaTLhZL7w1k5K4hxEaY-NG/s320/IMG_1927.JPG" width="319" /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why Aren't Rubrics Effective?</span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Constructed to rank and sort, rubrics have been leaned on as guidelines f</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or the end of the process</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The time of distribution does not make up for the absence of engagement. Rubrics send the message that good writing has very specific features. Aim for these features and we’ll let you know how you did later. Just look at any state assessment. </span><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This standard fare of rubric is ineffectual in the classroom. Features such as organization become targets to hit, a finish line, and in many cases a brick wall. Writing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to the rubric</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, turns the rubric into their audience. Students do not understand what is asked of them in a rubric any more than they understand comments in the margins of essays. For example, writing “Be Concise!” in the margin helps no one unless the teacher demonstrates </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">how</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> one writes in a concise manner. </span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When rubrics are not effective it is because they became scoring guidelines first, writing guidelines second, and conversation (mentoring) guidelines last--if at all. Rubrics, too often, are dead ends for students because the feedback comes at the end of the process and that is too late. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Scoring Trap</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even though our state assessments insist on modelling it, avoid using the rubric </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to score</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The state assessment arena is much different than writing in the classroom or the real world of writers. Yet, teachers continue to debate how to best use a rubric to score according the presence of or absence of evidence from the noted domains</span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The kinds of conversations I have engaged in sounded like:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">“if a student has three areas marked a 3 and one area a 4... is that more like a B+...is that an 85% an 86%...but I really like what they did; could I still grade it with an A-?" </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">"if we treat the numbers as points and add up the 1s and 2s and 3s and 4s and divide by the number of possible points according to the number of categories..."</span></li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my opinion, these conversations were misguided. I chased the score and lost sight of what positive actions could be taken with conversations, mentoring, and modeling.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so I am left wondering--is the score on the rubric evidence of student growth or is the score on the rubric evidence of a teacher's effort? Are we scoring with rubrics for the student or are we scoring with rubrics to cover our asses?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This scoring trap is exacerbated when we learn that state assessments are scored holistically--as in, this is what a “4” looks like. Scorers literally create piles of paper (4s and 3s and 2s and 1s) while teachers in classrooms scrutinize rubric summaries (re: sophisticated) and mark errors on student writing in pursuit of the justification of a given grade. When teachers try to shoehorn a score into a rubric, we turn writing into a transaction--if you do </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, then we will reward you with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And this, indeed, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the trap. Too much writing has become transactional in our schools. The consequence is that students do not have enough experience with expressive writing because expressive writing is the development of thinking and the development of thinking is much more difficult to score...even though it is much more valuable developmentally.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Academic Wallpaper</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Perceived as a measure of a job well done, some schools encourage (or require) teachers to display the state rubric in all ELA classrooms--academic wallpaper to make us feel good about ourselves.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How can we transform the rubric--or our use of it--into learning and evidence of learning? How do we turn this around?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use a part of a rubric, not all of a rubric.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you can’t justify abandoning the state model or if you are precluded from using anything but a standard district model, teach it in parts.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For example, display only the Organization column. As the days and weeks pass, teach students strategies within each concept. For organization, we would focus on leads, transitions, and conclusions in addition to studying multiple structures. Exploring mentor texts to uncover how different writers organize different types of text--depending on their purpose--takes time. There is no reason to rush the process.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some of the best teaching and coaching I have experienced has been through a part-part-whole philosophy. Think of dancing lessons or yoga. We learn a series of steps or positions in stages. We learn to improve in increments and with support. We improve when our instructor talks with us, guides us, and asks us questions. They do not hand us a form with gradients of performance circled or attributed to a score and say, “see you when it’s over.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use the piece of the rubric to be the topic of conversation over a lengthy period of time. Hold professional texts up to the piece of the rubric highlighted in your class and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">talk about it. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Make time for your students to be able to write and talk about it. Let them practice on mentor texts and let them practice on their own drafts in nonjudgmental (un-scored) situations. Open up your notebook and ask the class to have a conversation about a rough piece of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>your </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">writing--pull the goals of the rubric domain into the conversation. Ask your students to brainstorm what you might do next as a writer to accomplish the organizational goal on that one slot in the rubric. I am confident our conversations will be richer and more meaningful for our students. Learning will exceed the standard set by the rubric.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And do these things again and again and again.</span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Assessing a part of the whole</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we had to use a rubric, could we use one column today and a separate column another week when the student was ready to move on? </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Could one student’s rubric grow at a different rate than another student’s rubric? <span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px;">According to Janet Emig, writing is a natural process and </span>everyone grows at differing rates. Why deliver the same doses of a writing rubric to all kids at the same rate on the same day?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For example, couldn’t we focus on organization for several different drafts--encouraging ongoing feedback during the process--and when a student articulates the elements and strategies of organization </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>add</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> another component of the rubric--</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>something they are ready for.</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> They all do not have to move through the domains of the rubric in the same order at the same rate. When it comes to writing, students are not going to be in the same place as their classmates. I have learned that student growth does not often happen by our watch.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_zCTKSjia4H__4PLcP8Rf0eJwP14X67TGHEGPKKkiXlD5R_ax9TkCD2fslMSvH6xdrsXUN1uibsIpYTMt28pLc0McmLDa-PhMaHnn0KmuV4QZ1Bpbe16gIQ1AHCcn7B5kva2VUau3jee/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-05-18+at+12.18.53+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_zCTKSjia4H__4PLcP8Rf0eJwP14X67TGHEGPKKkiXlD5R_ax9TkCD2fslMSvH6xdrsXUN1uibsIpYTMt28pLc0McmLDa-PhMaHnn0KmuV4QZ1Bpbe16gIQ1AHCcn7B5kva2VUau3jee/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-05-18+at+12.18.53+PM.png" width="281" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Asking students to highlight or explain their organization reveals more about what they are learning than a teacher serving as a judge at the end of the process. In the example to the left, a student demonstrates her learning.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I use this model at all stages of the process--and rarely at the end. I try to instill a sense that this type of rubric is more about the writer and less about the piece of writing. These writing moves are appropriate and measurable irrespective of the writing assignment. We can return to these skills again again throughout the year.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I did not have to score anything, I did score her ability to show me what she learned. Literally, all I was looking for was the student's ability to show me a writing skill found in her writing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Additionally, I confer with students about their rubric and pick their brain about their choices. Students understand that these conversations contribute to my assessment of their work. We keep the conversation alive throughout the process as the student continues to develop as a writer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another element of the re-imagined rubric is providing space for reflections and explanations. This particular rubric was built around only one domain: organization.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5n21BNC1ZjG4USsuIRvvrs9fDcBK2NtSOUHfJWw2fn-lYMx9U7NFVXp9w-8S9wMmCw8NAn5fKWjfkFPcLrUcaJR-WwcgncljDwWtyBT7yPUR5n8TTKBePbvShI6dzQ84fhgvfPaIR0bgF/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-05-18+at+12.22.43+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5n21BNC1ZjG4USsuIRvvrs9fDcBK2NtSOUHfJWw2fn-lYMx9U7NFVXp9w-8S9wMmCw8NAn5fKWjfkFPcLrUcaJR-WwcgncljDwWtyBT7yPUR5n8TTKBePbvShI6dzQ84fhgvfPaIR0bgF/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-05-18+at+12.22.43+PM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sending the message that students are not just plugging in correct answers engages them as writers. At each step, I want students thinking, writing, and talking about writing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I share these rubrics through Google Docs (Google Classroom makes everyone their own individual copy) and most students will type their responses and reflections right into the shared document.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using parts of a rubric, and building upon them, serves each student where he/she is today.</span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use the comprehensive rubric at the end of a marking period</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If a comprehensive rubric must be used in its entirety, ask students to write reflection letters about what they see in their own writing as it pertains to the classroom rubric. Perhaps students would point out topics not yet covered, but topics of concern in their own work. Students might be able to go back into their own writing and demonstrate their growth. Also, it is much more valuable for a student to explain their growth. Put another way: ask students to explain how they believe they moved from a 4 in organization to a 6 in organization. What did he/she do?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A final thought on scoring and writing</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Resist the urge to see the numbers on a rubric as reflective of a score. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Distance the score from the prose. Move the score as far away as you can. If you must score something, score the process in a portfolio at the end of the marking period or isolated skills within an early draft. Score their ability to demonstrate their strengths and weaknesses as a writers and what they would like to do about it. Score the reasons behind their upcoming goals. Score their articulation of how they feel they improved. Score </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">what is there</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> instead of</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> what is not there</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Score it in conversation in lieu of or in addition to writing. Discuss the score. Guide them. We do not need to score students in a private vacuum. If they can’t take the feedback in person with a compassionate human being what makes us believe that they can take, process, and understand </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>on their own </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">what we mark on a rubric by ourselves at our desk?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-31406851067163848172016-03-15T18:19:00.000-04:002016-03-15T18:19:53.608-04:00Paper Elephants in the Classroom<div style="text-align: justify;">
A friend summarized the difference between short and long term solutions in the teaching of math. She said kids can fall into the trap of relying on tricks. The problem rests in the fact that the trick does not promote deep understanding. The student learns a work-around without understanding the content.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.giladorigami.com/P_Elephant_Kamiya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.giladorigami.com/P_Elephant_Kamiya.jpg" height="246" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Credit: Asiatic elephant by Satoshi Kamiya</i></td></tr>
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In ELA, I find myself feeling similarly about buzz words or phrases: <i>hook</i> your reader, writer's <i>purpose</i>, <i>audience. </i>While I understand what <i>we mean</i> when, as teachers, we present concepts to kids, our terminology can often turn into paper tigers. Well, maybe tiger is too strong. Maybe our words becomes more of a paper elephant in the classroom. Large and ineffective.</div>
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Each term<i> hook your reader, purpose, audience</i> remains vague to kids as a concept and unhelpful to kids when posed as advice: set your purpose; define an audience; etc. Often, our kids are left with one silent question: "How?"</div>
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Offering concrete examples of what writers do, and constantly returning to examples helps students focus on the moves made by writers. Seeing the strategy within an authentic newspaper, magazine, or text reinforces that these tools exists. Furthermore, teaching leads, or any aspect of organization, is ongoing and recursive because each new text opens new possibilities. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNbu1jNEkVYKZdPuyb1tMl2UU2QOV3KuUdBH1BEqZxhqfBD5WV03Avz7Xo4dWn9XLW3qKnie81rgWH11d2IB7oROo_ktd2hr3A1cO7gvaOVDq3pFrq3i12bb9pKk9sdUwwvv2W58PEiiA/s1600/IMG_9361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNbu1jNEkVYKZdPuyb1tMl2UU2QOV3KuUdBH1BEqZxhqfBD5WV03Avz7Xo4dWn9XLW3qKnie81rgWH11d2IB7oROo_ktd2hr3A1cO7gvaOVDq3pFrq3i12bb9pKk9sdUwwvv2W58PEiiA/s320/IMG_9361.JPG" width="240" /></a>Some of the more common and specific moves used when writing a lead:</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">striking image</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">startling fact</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">action!</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">dialogue</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">scene that sets the stage</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">intriguing question or quote</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">anecdote</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">summary of a problem</li>
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Take a look at the following leads. These are a small sample of what I pulled to discuss with my classes over the last week. Each image from the March 2016 edition of <i>Teen Ink</i>.</div>
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When I asked my students what they noticed in the first example, they noticed that the writer blended <i>a summary of a problem</i> with <i>a scene that sets the stage. </i>We don't have these terms memorized even though we have been working with them for several months. They are still displayed on the board. Students glance back and forth from the newspaper to the list before making a decision.</div>
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It is necessary to note that I use several interchangeable words for "problem" as in "summarize a problem." Writers might use a summary of a connection, a summary of an accomplishment, a summary of a solution, et al. Often, it is this element--the summary of a [problem]--that directs a reader towards an understanding of a writer's purpose. I don't need to say <i>develop you writer's purpose. </i>Most kids don't grasp the context of that word. Most need something more concrete. Without this brief <i>summary</i>, writing tends to plummet into narrative. As the writer risks writing a(n) (un)remarkable moments without much for the reader to hold onto, the writers risks allowing the reader to drifting away from the text, disconnected, uninterested.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6QmOet04U1uZ9B8Zz-wimUmoaoeDt2tMyXSm1q2vl_f8agnv1ANdbUnFubBT1-amLCjgXG6GeuuZorW8Ijcs8fEVGXqOzaO3ZCLllntyXqEGvux2aMQGfal143S-ma-WU-2KbaTekNpQ/s1600/FullSizeRender+%252836%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6QmOet04U1uZ9B8Zz-wimUmoaoeDt2tMyXSm1q2vl_f8agnv1ANdbUnFubBT1-amLCjgXG6GeuuZorW8Ijcs8fEVGXqOzaO3ZCLllntyXqEGvux2aMQGfal143S-ma-WU-2KbaTekNpQ/s320/FullSizeRender+%252836%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Notice, in the second example, that we can point out the use of a dialogue blended with a summary of a problem. The dialogue is one of several ways in, but the path chosen by a writer always leads to a summary of <i>something</i>.</div>
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Currently, my students are wrestling adding this element--summary of [...]--to their writing. Through conferring, I understand that many are still writing to find their purpose--and this is ok. Actually, I prefer this method of writing to discover connections. Writing to make meaning. Writing to pull together fragments of life experiences, learning, and observations. </div>
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I would rather a student write and write and write in order to make their own meaning than for students trained to write for my meaning, to my prompts or to the prompts of a textbook. Students trained to make widgets. Assembly line writing. Short term methods in lieu of deeper understanding. </div>
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We do no one any favors when we focus on teaching the writing instead of teaching the writer. In other words, students can apply and adjust what they learn about leads to almost any writing or reading asked of them in school. </div>
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Encouraging students to write to find their own meaning takes time. However, we can reclaim a lot of time by offering concrete moves. When students can refer to what they want to do by a specific term, instead of the blanket term (<i>hook my reader)</i> we are all positioned to help one another move and grow as writers with a long term understanding. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9egJfyrVpA3yH1cp86IbdUauNygMTPtfpOA7OSuYpvBsJpnC3oXHiL2xTSsqJUtUY0YLCMWQ74aNLJEMWFkWb6xjqh1-Fu-yewLobWTUrPOx_fnYxDsqJPneoPA5EaR3vGbsL-o5L9HhN/s1600/11454297503_e27946e4ff_h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9egJfyrVpA3yH1cp86IbdUauNygMTPtfpOA7OSuYpvBsJpnC3oXHiL2xTSsqJUtUY0YLCMWQ74aNLJEMWFkWb6xjqh1-Fu-yewLobWTUrPOx_fnYxDsqJPneoPA5EaR3vGbsL-o5L9HhN/s1600/11454297503_e27946e4ff_h.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-40224030421213195962016-03-12T13:45:00.003-05:002016-03-12T19:27:50.854-05:00Margin Notes, Used Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMdpjRb1PYV2pPLL1VJbjDbDLLaMunbtuNu_96PY_cJ-klTK8Waz-99OtzzPdFT8QbQx0eckh_HQkhTsfdJ50VylnXV4gphbdhzOkAUhiPTuv3yphKP6dWtvrcKvlRJgdTUxT8pr-6gi7z/s1600/IMG_0464.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMdpjRb1PYV2pPLL1VJbjDbDLLaMunbtuNu_96PY_cJ-klTK8Waz-99OtzzPdFT8QbQx0eckh_HQkhTsfdJ50VylnXV4gphbdhzOkAUhiPTuv3yphKP6dWtvrcKvlRJgdTUxT8pr-6gi7z/s320/IMG_0464.JPG" width="320"></a></div>
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I'd read George Hillock's thoughts about writing and writing instruction in chunks. A chapter or essay here. An excerpt or quote there. </div>
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An online seller shipped me <u>Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice</u> for a the cost of a cup of coffee. Bargain.</div>
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Inside, the margins are littered with notes. Sentences and phrases are underlined. At first, it felt like reading text through dirty glass. It distracted me. Sort of like someone muttering to me all throughout a film. Now, that dirty glass strikes me that it is closer to a bottle flung into the sea, and the margin notes are, well, my note--the message from the past.</div>
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As I began to fall into Hillock's line of reasoning, the notes in the margins become less distracting. I've come to see these notes as evidence of a person who was not a writer. I recognize them because I have been there too. Maybe they were a teacher, maybe they were not. That is hard to glean. But I am fairly confident that I notice the questions and observations of a non-writer...which has made the experience of reading Hillocks, today, all the more fascinating.</div>
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The margin notes are still like someone muttering all throughout a film, but now it is like someone questioning and criticizing: "Oh, who would ever believe that! Nonsense. No one would ever be able to sneak onto the Titanic." </div>
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I can feel the presence of an occasional <i>Harumpf</i>! and the shudder of a grouse in the brush.</div>
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For example, Hillocks writes, "...writing is a special craft that requires a trained professorate." The note in the margin asks, "How do you create or divine this?" </div>
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A few pages later, Hillock writes, "The problem appears to be some combination of inadequate knowledge of what effective writing requires, absence of the strategies for producing it, and an assumption that 'people will know what I mean.'" And my margin-writer asks, "So what is the answer?"</div>
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Can I reach in through the text? If so, my hands would slip through time, grasp my new friend by the lapels, and shake him/her (gently) while pleading, "Write. At every turn of the page, and with every question you ask, the answer is almost always, write."</div>
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If it sounds like I am oversimplifying something, good. That is my intention. Sometimes, with good intentions, educators can turn obvious answers into a sticky taffy pull. </div>
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It is as if we were hunting for light switches in windowless rooms where there is no electricity, only candles and flame. </div>
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"There must be a switch somewhere."</div>
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There is no switch.</div>
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"Well, I'll just wait for a switch. Have one put in. There must be a way to put in a switch."</div>
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And we wait for switches when we, the teacher, have to strike matches. We have to touch flames to wicks. We have to come to a real, tangible, understanding of the work if we ever want to be able to teach by the light.</div>
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And so I am left wondering. How did this Hillocks book end up in my hands? Is the book like a bottle tossed into the sea? Was the person who scribbled all through this text...lost? Did they ever find the answer they were looking for?</div>
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Did they ever write?</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-27493733291713922432016-03-10T19:09:00.003-05:002016-03-10T19:09:23.970-05:00Dumbest Places I've Been<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've been in some dumb places...all for some really good reasons.</div>
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Squeezed inside the back window ledge of 280ZX in 1986. I was 18. We were driving around (aimlessly) looking for girls. We weren't thinking of accidents. Or breaking laws. Or the driving being able to see. We were thinking about girls. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EPMrHuWyZaLkSRVFDr8WsO5UHJ08QN2mPVs-J1rDcCCUJpbuTs6j3WSHPcKf5QM5dFuKofO9YW06bDaT75N8wpUNMKdHmFPNQLb5e8XxA51k6oYseiamFMyLfPDKGAb5RS2KP_wO11Eq/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-03-10+at+6.50.21+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EPMrHuWyZaLkSRVFDr8WsO5UHJ08QN2mPVs-J1rDcCCUJpbuTs6j3WSHPcKf5QM5dFuKofO9YW06bDaT75N8wpUNMKdHmFPNQLb5e8XxA51k6oYseiamFMyLfPDKGAb5RS2KP_wO11Eq/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-03-10+at+6.50.21+PM.png" width="320" /></a><br />
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Chilling on the iron posts, peering out of the opening in the middle of second "O" in the Hollywood sign. It was very late at night during the summer of 1990. Three of us, recent college graduates, climbed Mt. Lee in the Los Angeles with a couple of backpacks of beer. It just seemed like the coolest place to slug back some beers. We were from Philadelphia on job interviews. We weren't thinking about rattlesnakes, mountain lions, or it possibly being trespassing. Or falling.</div>
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Clinging to the iron pegs leading down (or out) of the sewer in Philadelphia. It was Philadelphia. I was a curious child. I'd heard there were alligators and giants rats in the sewer. I wanted to see. Two of us pried the heavy iron plate off of the sewer. And down I went. Quickly, I realized I wouldn't see much until I would be willing to climb all the way down to the bottom. Or until I would be willing to let go of the rungs. Or until I took my eyes from my hands and their death grip in the rungs. I was not willing.</div>
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The pursuit of girls, beers, and giant alligators makes males do stupid things...and it doesn't change much with age, ladies. It doesn't change much with age.</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-44750731046321246162016-03-09T21:17:00.001-05:002016-03-09T21:32:03.286-05:00Phone a Friend?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<i style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Credit: apanelofanalysts.tumblr.com</i></div>
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One November, possibly 1989 by my best estimate, my answering machine message was me "BOK-BOK-BOKKING" like a turkey. Remember when answering machine messages instilled an inordinate amount of pressure to sound cool or funny? I was in undergraduate school. Being professional wasn't on my radar yet. I felt the need to be quirky with the answering machine.</div>
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Today, I don't make voice mail messages. The thrill is gone. The default "your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system" recording is good enough.</div>
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And I don't carry a pager anymore. Remember those?</div>
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A phone was different when I was an adolescent and teenager. How we used it was different! And waiting for someone to pick up on the other end...before answering machines...we could be so patient!</div>
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Riiiiiing....Riiiiiing....Riiiiiiing.....Riiiiiiing......Riiiiiiiing.......Riiiiiiing.... </div>
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Someone from the other room would yell, "Hang up! They're not home!"</div>
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"No, no, they might pick up! She said she'd be home." </div>
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We hadn't suspected or invented screening calls yet.</div>
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I can remember walking to see people--not calling people on the phone. We would knock on doors...now, I think I might jump out of my skin if someone ever knocked on the door of our house. </div>
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In college, we would walk into strange dorm rooms and foreign apartments just because we knew one person who would invite us in. Barely any furniture. Maybe a huge computer stacked together on the floors. A few ashtrays. We'd sit on the floor. Meet new people. The door would be open to a common area or the hallway.</div>
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Back at our place, we used the phone to call our family. Maybe friends at another school. But as far as the people around us, the people we saw on a daily basis...I can't remember calling those guys much, if ever. Now, we don't even use a land line in our house. We just use the devices in our pockets.</div>
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Recently, I joked with a small group of colleagues that I have a bone to pick with the new generation of teachers. A jealous bone. I'm jealous of their college experience with smart phones. All it took for them to find their friends was to send a text message--especially late on a Friday or Saturday night.</div>
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In the 80s, Sweet Honey Iced Tea! finding your friends was almost all luck. We would walk all over campus--dorm to dorm, fraternity to steak shop, student union back to the dorms--and the people you ran into, that is who you hung out with.</div>
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Our younger colleague--the one who grew up with and went to college with a smart phone, quipped, "Yeah, I don't understand how any of you ever made any friends!"</div>
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I almost wonder.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-31973950422224349922016-03-08T20:13:00.003-05:002016-03-08T20:13:23.120-05:00Where Does the Joy Go?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2015/02/04/laststop_int_print7_wide-dc85e1f8aedd34494c559c50155439875d0568bc.jpg?s=1400" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2015/02/04/laststop_int_print7_wide-dc85e1f8aedd34494c559c50155439875d0568bc.jpg?s=1400" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: NPR.org<br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #aaaaaa; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: italic; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">Christian Robinson/Courtesy of Penguin Random House Publishing</span></div>
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Yesterday afternoon, I conducted <a href="http://goo.gl/tvGHs3" target="_blank">a podcast</a> with a few 4th and 5th grade students. It was after school. Excited and nervous, the kids volunteered to stay.</div>
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For just under an hour, we discussed the picture book <u>Last Stop on Market Street</u> by Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson.</div>
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What strikes me about the experience is that all four students spoke about content, text features, and personal connections. They extracted specific quotes from the text in order to make a point. They referenced how the illustrations worked with the text. They brought up simile and metaphor.</div>
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Most of it on their own.</div>
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What I am left with are discoveries compounded by questions--each its own slippery slope. I realize that I wouldn't have to test these kids. A conversation revealed just how much they understand about a book, reading in general, and analysis...because they could talk about it. If you listen to <a href="http://goo.gl/tvGHs3" target="_blank">the podcast</a> (15 minutes in length) you will hear the students make inferences. You will hear them use support for their positions. And you will hear their curiosity.</div>
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However, more importantly, you will hear their empathy and joy.</div>
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What will happen to their joy? In the time between 4th grade and when they reach me in 8th grade, what will happen to the joy I heard? I saw it. I sat around a table with it.</div>
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Will it stay? Or will their joy get snuffed out...extinguished...by pressure, by the loss of time, by mounting responsibilities...like so many young teenagers report to me again and again and again?</div>
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If you listen to the podcast, you will hear me ask these four kids make a promise to me...to not forget their joy, to not let it go, And to come and see me when they make it to middle school. Come tell me about your joy and the books that you love.</div>
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I hope they do.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-46921752715846927792016-03-07T13:34:00.004-05:002016-03-07T20:26:59.805-05:00Acres of Diamonds<div style="text-align: justify;">
The first video footage I ever saw of a teacher conferring with a student about writing astounded me. The conversation wasn't about correction; it was about decisions--the decisions made by the writer. </div>
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[Cue the music of angels and flood the stage with golden light]</div>
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EUREKA! There is so so so much more to discuss. There is significant value in discussing the decisions of writers. It is so valuable, in fact, that it is literally worth our time to make it work, to make it happen.</div>
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For a few years, I had been scanning the web and thumbing through professional texts for links and QR codes for more examples, but few examples exist. Sure, I found footage of Atwell, Graves and Calkins, and Kittle, but there really is not much (publicly) in the way of video/audio beyond what has already been offered by these Titans. </div>
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I had been so hungry to watch and listen to other teachers in the act of conferring with their kids, that I forgot about the acres of diamonds in my own backyard. And in your backyard! Why spend years scouring the globe when many of the answers I'd love to have are literally right here in front of me...are literally right in front of you, too!</div>
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My kids. Your kids. My students. Your students. Me. You. Why wasn't I recording my conferring?</div>
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Why aren't you??? (Are you? If so...please share!)</div>
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At the beginning of the year, I started using the Voice Record Pro app on my iPhone to record the conferences, and I haven't looked back. Instead of fumbling with clipboards, instead of the daunting task of deciphering hastily scrawled observations, I keep a library of audio recordings of my conferring right on my iPhone.</div>
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Through email, or uploading into Google Docs, or into an unlisted YouTube channel, I have shared these audio files with students and their parents. In each case, it has proven to be a concrete method of talking about what the student is saying about their writing in addition to what the student is showing in the writing. After several months of realizing what a goldmine of information my kids were sharing with me, I decided to take the leap to podcast with my kids.</div>
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Three days a week, during lunch, I sit with two or three students and discuss reading or writing. We don't talk about any one specific essay or book per se, because I am more interested in writer and not so much the writing. I am interested in what has and what continues to influence their decisions. Where is their confidence? Where is their passion? Where is their curiosity? I try to say as little as possible. I want their words to build the content.</div>
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Learn from the writer, not just the writing.</div>
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So, my niche is presenting podcast episodes between 15-20 minutes in length that address these middle school students' perspectives on writing and reading. Students often offer a different (and honest) lens to see the very issues we grapple with as teachers.</div>
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So often, my kids tell me that they used to love writing, especially before elementary school. Many claim that up to third grade they still remember loving it. When I ask what changed. they say stress. Expectations. Time. Writing, especially writing for oneself, is no longer important enough. It gets set aside, forgotten. </div>
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In the most recent episode (embedded below), <i>Blank Paper & Big Dreams</i>, one of my students says of herself as a writer, "I had big dreams." Kind of bittersweet to hear kids say this about themselves in the past tense. They are only thirteen and their writing dreams are over? <i>What are we doing???</i></div>
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Give <i><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-classroom/id1042514688?mt=2" target="_blank">The Classroom</a></i> a listen, and if so inclined, subscribe to it on iTunes. If you would rather hook up with it on your phone, I included a direct link on my Twitter profile @_briank_</div>
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In order to keep the podcast going, and in order to transition from one year and into the next year, I plan to podcast with teachers and authors over summers.</div>
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Finally, I would love some feedback...and I would be happy to answer any questions coming up for you. Technology has made it infinitely easy for us to keep audio libraries of our conferring as well as turn that workflow into a podcast--this is something that each of us could do in our own way. I would love to know if anyone gets something valuable from my podcast, but more importantly, I would love to know about your podcast if you decide to do something similar with conferring and talking/listening to your students.<br />
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PS Even though this looks like a video, it is an audio file.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-86049559963004845232016-03-06T08:11:00.000-05:002016-03-06T19:34:49.407-05:00Spoon Feeding Children Their Castor Oil<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><i><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2668176">Lining Up</a><br>Photo by <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2668176">Fox Photos</a> on <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2668176">Getty Images</a></i></td></tr>
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Yesterday, during the continuity session with the writing project, a colleague shared a developing situation at a school. During some training, a clear division arose over the scoring of a student writing sample.<br>
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Nothing new, right? These exercises are extremely valuable for the conversation alone. It is one way to draw colleagues into comfortable conversations about writing. By comfortable, I mean everyone is happy to offer an opinion about student writing. Often, teachers come at it from differing angles. At times, teachers focus on the mistakes in the writing. Regrettably, we can grind kids' noses in the elements needing correction.<br>
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It is more challenging to find colleagues willing to write and/or share their own writing. So, until the day when the unicorns deliver us to that end of the rainbow, we can settle on discussing the writing of children.<br>
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In this specific case, the teacher and trainer (both of whom write) scored the student work at a 5 or a 6 in one specific category. The teacher's colleagues (including an administrator) scored the writing sample at a 3. None are writers.<br>
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A few universally accepted truths bubbled up as I listened to my writing project colleagues discuss the situation:<br>
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<li>Writing is becoming a stronger emphasis in schools.</li>
<li>All stakeholders in schools want consistent experiences for students.</li>
<li>Consistent assessment is a challenge.</li>
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I walked away from our continuity session chewing on the conversation. More truths surfaced, but these are not universally acknowledged by the actions of enough teachers:<br>
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<li>Teachers who <i>do write</i> understand writing, and the rubrics for writing, differently. </li>
<li>Teachers who <i>do write</i> can identify the moves that young writers are attempting (successful and unsuccessful) and see these moves as progressive and ongoing.</li>
<li>Teachers who <i>do not write</i> tend to interpret writer's moves as outcomes, as final evidence, as endpoints. </li>
<li>Teachers who <i>do not write</i> tend to match the evidence in the writing to the surface meaning of the imperfect language on the rubric. </li>
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I can say this with confidence because I was once a teacher who did not write...and one who kept trying to write the perfect rubric.<br>
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I struggled with understanding the language on rubrics for a couple of reasons.<br>
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First, writing a rubric is brutal. We tend to overwrite them to the extent that our kids have no idea what they mean...let alone the adults. We perseverate over the specific words. We try for accuracy. And we get it...so well that when considered from a distance we end up asking ourselves, what the hell does <i>proficient</i> mean? what is the difference between <i>effectively</i> supports and <i>sufficiently </i>supports?<br>
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Can you imagine a room full of non-writers trying to ascertain how to explicate those concepts for our students? Wouldn't we be better served by actually doing what we ask our kids to do? Wouldn't we be better served by being writers? Writers understand writing. Scorers think they understand rubrics.<br>
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Second, I misinterpreted many rubrics because I did not write. I was a scorekeeper. I took on the roll of torchbearer of the state rubric, holding it high, jogging it through the community, through the halls, and into my classroom where I tacked it proudly on the wall like a Presidential portrait...because I was supposed to. Because this was the standard of good writing. Not because I understood it. I treated the teaching of writing (to borrow a metaphor I heard on Friday...thank you, Bill!) as if I were spoon feeding children their castor oil: <i>You will be good writing citizens. The state knows all. Just follow the rubric and you too can find a life of proficient writing. I'm only doing this because it is good for you! You need to learn to be better! Look to the poster! Look to the rubric.</i><br>
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Please do not be offended if you interpret this as being directed at you. I truly am writing about me. My experience. And the connections I made and internalized yesterday in a roomful of teachers (from all over several counties) who are teachers who write.<br>
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By the way, we all saw the child's writing in question as a 5 or a 6. We shared no stake in it or that school or staff. But we do share a common lens--the lens of being writers.<br>
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I can't make an impassioned plea to schools hard enough. If writing is to be emphasized, if we truly want consistency, if we want to be better at assessing writing, then become teachers who write. There is no magic pill or no magic rubric.<br>
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The real magic is in writing.<br>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-59612078215817827412016-03-05T16:58:00.002-05:002016-03-05T16:58:45.567-05:00Meet Bo's Snack Attack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpry99I6xrPoPVug8B0Hqfa1ioP2aQ4FNg8iUAYtpSCDo5QycwLLjfFmVc3na3uBApjd_s2MG05ptJNQb5BA_yIZh02yRePR2aOg6TxKEWXdtRLcd5jI5D2-rdIz6ZRB3QREhGyNWt9Uy/s1600/IMG_0242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpry99I6xrPoPVug8B0Hqfa1ioP2aQ4FNg8iUAYtpSCDo5QycwLLjfFmVc3na3uBApjd_s2MG05ptJNQb5BA_yIZh02yRePR2aOg6TxKEWXdtRLcd5jI5D2-rdIz6ZRB3QREhGyNWt9Uy/s320/IMG_0242.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Docile and calm, Bo hasn't caused much trouble in our house. But he has learned to check a certain door leading into the one bedroom where the cats eat. To keep the dogs out of the extra bedroom, we installed two features: a latch lock on the door, and a kitty door.<div>
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The kitty door works just fine. Bo can't fit. The cats can. And, quite honestly, the latch works just fine too...as long as <i>someone</i> locks it.<br /><div>
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Sometimes <i>someone</i> forgets to put the latch on the door (we won't get into who). And Bo checks that one door by ramming his head into it. When it has been locked, it sounds like Vikings are taking a battering ram to the house. He grinds his head against the wood, the hinges screech, the door jamb crackles, and the floor rumbles. Cats scatter.</div>
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When the door, unlocked and forgotten, has swung open, Bo has entered and has gobbled down all of the dry cat food from the feeder. This snack attack has happened more than once. We won't count.<br /></div>
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This act has one significant consequence: Bo gets a tummy ache. Like an old furnace asked to heat ancient pipes for one more winter, Bo whines and groans and rattles around the house for several hours. He requests to go outside...a lot. And he sounds pathetic, but the discomfort and distress eventually passes.</div>
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You'd think the humans would remember to keep the door locked!</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-6925371509062139202016-03-04T10:57:00.002-05:002016-03-04T10:58:13.814-05:00Meet Bo's Path from X to Y.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOlxwiOnQDJcNICzb3LmjYkYqi3veo13jZi32Hj2F6V12GP_OatAc2sn64A5qpKM7O7X-R-rnR3hpVFPtzgNpJtG-fCv44LM8ppz-WSY_rs6RGDEmaNmsA3fkT4HUiecpp24cVl-UElL5G/s1600/FullSizeRender+%252828%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOlxwiOnQDJcNICzb3LmjYkYqi3veo13jZi32Hj2F6V12GP_OatAc2sn64A5qpKM7O7X-R-rnR3hpVFPtzgNpJtG-fCv44LM8ppz-WSY_rs6RGDEmaNmsA3fkT4HUiecpp24cVl-UElL5G/s320/FullSizeRender+%252828%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dean (left), Bo (right)</i></td></tr>
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When we rescued Bo and Dean, they each lacked different components of being a dog. It was like they skipped a lot of school, and completely missed a unit. Too many years passed. Nothing seems to help them improve their areas of weakness.</div>
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In Dean's case, he must have missed the lessons on playing fetch. Actually, he missed the lessons on playing, period. Seriously, it has been a long process, but Dean is only just learning how to play. He won't chase any balls or squeaky toys. He doesn't really show an interest in any dog toy.</div>
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For Bo, he seems to have missed the doggy class on coordination...or manners. He rams through doors, shrubs, computer cables, extension cords, portable heaters, dining room chairs, and people. Anything in his way, Bo barrels into and through it. He barrels into the ocean. He barrels through any doggy accidents in the house...clean up is, ugh. If I am not careful, Bo damn near still takes my legs out from under me on occasion. I guess we are just in his way. Bo wants to go from point x to point y, and well, his course his set. Godspeed, Bo! Oh, and Bo lays behind Karla's feet in the kitchen--if she isn't careful, one day she just might tumble over him.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTBaonm1FB6zvHdJXxOhC90n02hQJutNvYp3OBpJloKxi6pIjqOV0mNs9fsGP-xnSxdPPKX1kA2Fz-fOFHp37v7cp757SzMA52S9IrQPpGvPwVGH5BNM9YQkTlE3y2SJGP0eJ830X6Orb_/s1600/11454297503_e27946e4ff_h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTBaonm1FB6zvHdJXxOhC90n02hQJutNvYp3OBpJloKxi6pIjqOV0mNs9fsGP-xnSxdPPKX1kA2Fz-fOFHp37v7cp757SzMA52S9IrQPpGvPwVGH5BNM9YQkTlE3y2SJGP0eJ830X6Orb_/s1600/11454297503_e27946e4ff_h.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-14396653570796741012016-03-03T11:50:00.000-05:002016-03-03T11:50:05.028-05:00Meet Bo's Sidekick<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaygpwhci1AH6pIesQYwN95GLnksUrWNpYdKVLKXRluz8H2Rq4oX_zL7BN4tIF4sSm1itxELJ1qMll4R2_v8ajx5bicCVKGkToaSSULJqHjwjqB6mcPfg9aJd4AWNtiXeCLKdHLwMpoS4u/s1600/FullSizeRender+%252827%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaygpwhci1AH6pIesQYwN95GLnksUrWNpYdKVLKXRluz8H2Rq4oX_zL7BN4tIF4sSm1itxELJ1qMll4R2_v8ajx5bicCVKGkToaSSULJqHjwjqB6mcPfg9aJd4AWNtiXeCLKdHLwMpoS4u/s320/FullSizeRender+%252827%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bo (left), Dean (right)</i></td></tr>
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Bo has a brother. Not a blood brother, but a kill shelter brother. </div>
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When inquired about adopting Bo, we learned that a second black lab was pulled from the shelter in Ohio. Both dogs would be, temporarily, at a farm. </div>
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Karla and I drove several hours into Western Maryland to meet the dogs, intent on adopting one. Well, we adopted both. But don't assume it was an immediately warm and cuddly moment. Neither dog liked the other. As a matter of fact, the family who owned the farm would not bring both dogs out together.</div>
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We were told that the attacks were vicious. These dogs had been imprinted with some serious fear, anger, anxiety, distrust, and maybe even hate. It is hard to imagine that dogs can experience hate. But listening to this family prepare us for what we were about to encounter, I can't help but wonder.</div>
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Leaning on the family, we coaxed them to show us both dogs at the same time. We wanted to see what they described. We wanted to see if we could handle Bo and Dean, rehabilitate them. We wanted to see just how bad their hatred for the other appeared. Karla took Dean by the leash. I took Bo. And, yes, they clearly did not like one another. And, yes, the farmer raised a skeptical eyebrow when we decided that we would rescue both of them. Together. </div>
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He said, "I 'spected you'd turn around, walk off without either of 'um."</div>
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Change took time. There were fights. I got nicked up a bit when trying to separate them, trying to protect them from one another. But after seeking some wonderful professional advice from an animal behaviorist, and lots of patience, Bo and Dean settled into a...friendship. At the time, we did not dare predict it. We did not see it coming. It just sort of happened one day. Literally, we woke up and things were different between them. They were sleeping alongside one another. For months, they had slept in separate rooms.</div>
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Now, this all fell into place after a long year and a well-needed neutering. So, time and <i>snip-snip</i> helped. Nevertheless, the neutering didn't to take as there were times when we didn't know for certain that Bo and Dean would ever be buddies. We were never going to give up on either. Instead, we were prepared to take care of them both even if the best we could hope for were a couple of dogs who only came to tolerate the other. We have over an acre of fenced-in land. There'd be space.</div>
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Yet, it turned out better than we had hoped. We were able to massage the anger out them. We out-waited them. We out-loved their expectations. And trust built. </div>
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It reminds me of something I picked up from Shakespeare and have never forgotten. The real magic in this world is, indeed, in time. For all of those potions in Shakespeare's plays, none ever worked as intended. Often, disaster ensued when humans tried to concoct magic out of herbs and potions. Yet, it was time...it is time...that erases mistakes, softens the edges, and brought two dogs together to write a new chapter--two dogs who were previously conditioned into a life of fear amid the unmistakable scent of death. </div>
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It is true. Time is a powerful eraser and a pencil point.</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-37068772749880878802016-03-02T22:26:00.001-05:002016-03-02T22:26:24.718-05:00Meet Bo's Tongue<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5PG9HxkFkDONZCSR7sR7bZUWFG06B2ISUcmGuOMyLZyNi31JHeTjJskfC8pjpG7bu_ZePOfyD05swB0VbgbloqAG9azlJzG-OXO-HTK5KB3RGCC3R0SigGZh5wfBgvyvy8Q-a6-KA8WAm/s1600/IMG_0163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5PG9HxkFkDONZCSR7sR7bZUWFG06B2ISUcmGuOMyLZyNi31JHeTjJskfC8pjpG7bu_ZePOfyD05swB0VbgbloqAG9azlJzG-OXO-HTK5KB3RGCC3R0SigGZh5wfBgvyvy8Q-a6-KA8WAm/s200/IMG_0163.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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As Bo ages, new quirks arise.</div>
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The first that I noticed as Bo officially became a senior dog was Bo's tongue as he slept. The tip of it slipped out and stuck into place. It has continued to every since. The tip dries a touch--not so much that it feels unhealthy. I've run my fingers over it; it just feels like a damp piece of rubber.</div>
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Sometimes, when he wakes up, it remains in place until he drinks some water or moves his tongue around and makes it wet.</div>
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Looking at him closely, his teeth have been worn down with time. With his teeth smaller and unable to keep the tongue all the way in, this view has become a visual reminder of Bo's growing senility. </div>
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This matters because I have been through this process a few times. The final years of beloved pets are bittersweet, but you learn to read the tea leaves. You prepare yourself.<br />
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Reminders are all around us. Pictures of pets from our past, pets of family members, and even a pet on social media taught me a lesson.</div>
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Recently, a loving couple chronicled the last years of their senior dog, Poh, on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pohthedogsbigadventure/?hl=en" target="_blank">Pohthedogsbigadventure</a>. It was a remarkable narrative to follow. Poh beat kidney failure while his owners carried and carted him with them around the country, from ocean to ocean. The images and short video clips continue to appear on Instagram. Poh's family continues to share his legacy. While this remains a powerful connection for me, the care of any pet, especially those in their senior years, reminds me of our humanity.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSujHRWN-ynERlo5Evf8s71EWpsdrE1MARlWkHwgVnFtdvxNi8wBMaVytD7RF79PjhjIT1UncAhjQu2wwOqacsfEd2XIO6_l1ZRjL1lazVxYjcaF_1y5wwwLCT4cqALHvRDdYWDTRkMlH/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-03-02+at+9.41.51+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSujHRWN-ynERlo5Evf8s71EWpsdrE1MARlWkHwgVnFtdvxNi8wBMaVytD7RF79PjhjIT1UncAhjQu2wwOqacsfEd2XIO6_l1ZRjL1lazVxYjcaF_1y5wwwLCT4cqALHvRDdYWDTRkMlH/s200/Screen+Shot+2016-03-02+at+9.41.51+PM.png" width="140" /></a><br />
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My cousin and wife adopted a senior dog, Chessie, after caring for the dog preceding Chessie--Boo. This year, Chessie was featured on Michael and Kathy's family Christmas card. I love how much they embrace their senior labs--actually, they set such a beautiful example of respect and love for all of nature. Their photographs of wildlife on the Chesapeake are beautiful.</div>
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Back in 2010, when my wife moved in with me, she brought Smudge--a really old cat. Settling in, Smudge found a spot in a corner of a back bedroom and spent most of his last months curled up. Occasionally, Smudge came out to say hello. He passed in his sleep in his 18th year. I built a coffin and then buried him out back by a tree. It was an Irish wake. I spent the late afternoon polishing off several cans of beer by his resting place until my wife made it home from work to join me.</div>
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We knew Smudge's time were limited, and with each new quirk, or signal of Bo's aging, we realize where Bo is in his life. However, that only encourages us to make him as comfortable and as happy as he can be. As he is a rescue dog pulled from a kill shelter in Ohio, his first life may not have been ideal, but his time with us will always be the best we can make it.<br />
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Hopefully, those final days are still a year or two away.</div>
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-74775778640848199982016-03-01T22:08:00.002-05:002016-03-01T22:24:41.743-05:00Meet Bo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcBFCAyKyYobZJsbWtS9lSJcS2pbxDHlM75Ebh1iKU0D8uxmwvg3MKFFxmtg_yWaRhGRq5GV3PIZUk3iLxFlWdiquBEfNSHh5lpWNhbPoU_gIWPahJ2q7SFzrdXaS89ov4_FVWvsIvPVbw/s1600/FullSizeRender+%252824%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcBFCAyKyYobZJsbWtS9lSJcS2pbxDHlM75Ebh1iKU0D8uxmwvg3MKFFxmtg_yWaRhGRq5GV3PIZUk3iLxFlWdiquBEfNSHh5lpWNhbPoU_gIWPahJ2q7SFzrdXaS89ov4_FVWvsIvPVbw/s320/FullSizeRender+%252824%2529.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
Meet Bo.<br />
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Bo is a senior dog. We are not certain of his precise age. He may have just celebrated his 11th or 12th birthday. Regardless, we celebrated this past weekend with a few treats and new dog bed.<br />
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Yet, Bo still uses the couch.<br />
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Here are five things to know about Bo, since Bo and I will be blogging (about him) throughout the month of March. He is snoring next to me on the sofa as I type...we need to discuss his participation grade tomorrow.<br />
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<b>Seeing</b><br />
Bo doesn't see very well anymore. Often, he flinches when I call his name I and am standing right beside him. He doesn't flinch like he is frightened. He flinches like he is startled and he thinks I am playing a practical joke on him, like I am a magician, appearing and disappearing at will.<br />
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<b>Moving</b><br />
Bo walks in circles around the house and the yard. That is all well and good, except my wife, Karla, and I suspect that he just doesn't know how to find his way back home. He can't see the door. We call him. He follows our voices like a beacon and he is our laboring, lost ship.<br />
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As I have been reading a bit about senior dogs, I learned today that Bo might have canine cognitive dysfunction (aka as senility). He matches the three major symptoms: pacing, restlessness, and an inability to settle at night. Bo will wake up when I go to bed. I am usually up and down every two hours or so every night. Sometimes I sleep on the couch with him. Sometimes I take him out back to let him walk a bit. We will be trying a supplement called Neutricks which may help support some healthier cognitive functions in our little, clumsy friend.<br />
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<b>Eating</b><br />
Bo still eats well, but he isn't a fan of soft fruits. He chews on a piece of a banana for about ten minutes; yet, he chomps and swallows anything solid like a gator in the Everglades.<br />
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<b>Drinking</b><br />
This has nothing to do with age, but Bo is a messy drinker. He leaves a trail of water around the house, sometimes puddles. Studying him, I know that Bo finishes his drinking by not swallowing the last four or five laps of water. He lets them pool in his mouth...and then off he goes as if his jaw was numbed with Novacaine.<br />
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<b>Chasing</b><br />
Bo doesn't chase much of anything, but I will share that on his first day in our house he chased the cats. For hours. And they weren't too thrilled with Bo. We had rescued Bo from a kill shelter in Ohio. We drove to the western reaches of Maryland to meet his initial rescuer...but back to the chasing. Imagine a chubby, friendly dog waddling after cats 10x faster than him. That was Bo. He was curious and happy and couldn't understand why the cats wouldn't keep still. Now, Bo doesn't bother with the cats--the thrill is gone--but one cat does come close to sniff Bo's head and paws when he is safely asleep.<br />
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Tomorrow, maybe I will write about his snoring...<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-34506016739093844632016-02-27T11:09:00.002-05:002016-02-27T13:35:23.254-05:00Loved to Write: The Sadness of the Past Tense<div style="text-align: justify;">Something happens when we listen to our students--we learn. </div>
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Donald Graves' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Children-Want-Write-Revolution-Childrens/dp/0325042942" target="_blank">Children Want to Write</a> (edited by Thomas Newkirk and Penny Kittle) is a book that has become a tangible part of my growth as a teacher. Graves' fingerprints are all over my classroom and my practice.</div>
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Mostly, I read him. Now, that I am podcasting with my students, I hear him.</div>
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When we podcast, we talk about writing and reading. When asked, "Do you see yourself as writers?" the students seem to nudge the conversation from "kind of, sort of" to when they <i>absolutely</i> did see themselves as writers. They prefer to talk about when they used to see themselves as writers. The answer I hear more than any other is "third grade." Boys. Girls. They say, "third grade." Those who do not say "third grade," say "elementary school."</div>
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I'm still waiting for a student to say "middle school."</div>
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In trying to get to the bottom of what makes a student believe he or she is a writer, I am learning that encouragement is the foundation, and that correction, testing, homework, and stress (their words) are the wrecking balls.</div>
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For example, Cass told me a teacher in elementary school rescued a piece of her writing from the recycling bin. Then, the teacher encouraged her to continue with it and to share it with others. That act made Cass believe she was a writer. I wish you could have seen her smile as shared that memory with me.</div>
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Em shared that her elementary teachers continually told her that she was advanced as a writer, that she was using techniques and tools naturally. By the way, Em was also a reader.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Credit: Irma Nazario Muniz</i></td></tr>
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Their stories are all beautiful and they all share several common threads. They all saw themselves as writers because they were encouraged to. The students now struggle with seeing themselves as writers in middle school. They hesitate. They best they offer to my question is an unconvincing, limp, "sort of" or "sometimes."</div>
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When asked what is wrong, what happened, what is the difference, do you know what they report?</div>
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Stress. Homework. Tests. Grades. Correctness. An emphasis on errors. Their words, not mine.</div>
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Most actually acknowledge that school should be challenging. They agree that they need to be pushed, to be asked to perform more complex tasks. I find that most want to learn and want to grow.</div>
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But at what cost, when they all admit to stress.? They are 11, 12, and 13 years of age. Without strong, active, passionate mentors around them, writing literally disappears from their lives. There isn't enough writing in a curriculum. Furthermore, when the writing in a curriculum contributes to sucking the love out of writing--something is wrong. Dramatically wrong.</div>
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We don't own their writing lives, yet we act in ways that mitigates any future shot of these kids writing for themselves. Instead, they learn to write for the teacher or the test. They learn that writing is a task to be completed. For a score. And when the writing is done. It is literally <i>done</i>.</div>
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As I talk to more students, they specifically use the word <i>love</i> in the past tense...<i>loved</i>...when they talk about writing. And, they don't even realize they are saying it that way. But I hear it. I hear the past tense.</div>
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"I lov<i>ed </i>writing when I was a child,"</div>
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"Especially in third grade. All I want<i>ed</i> to be was a writer."</div>
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I fear that the loss of wanting to write, the loss of loving writing, is a loss in wanting to think, a loss in loving thinking...a loss of problem solving...a loss of creating. The very weaknesses pointed out to us from the pundits and critics come as a result of the pressure to change...the pressure to score...the pressure to be measured with tools that do not inspire growth. They inspire endpoints. And that is sad.</div>
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When we drive our kids to a finish line, we send a message that the exercise is done. Over. You finished in <i>x</i> place and you are an <i>x</i> writer. Yes, I see the humor in the sound...<i>ex</i>-writer.</div>
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Each time I hear my kids speak about writing in the past tense, it genuinely makes me sad. However, I know I can change the tense of the conversation.</div>
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I can encourage my students, yes. By writing and talking and listening.</div>
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And I can encourage teachers and parents. By writing and talking and listening.</div>
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Not everyone is going to embrace my words. Not everyone is going to be interested or understand. Admittedly, I did not fully understand until I started talking with and listening to my students. Before that could happen, however, I needed to create the conditions for understanding--I needed to become a teacher who writes. Are you a teacher who writes? If so, good! Are your colleagues? Help them. Encourage them...and not just the English teachers. All of this, of course, is designed to help more adults <i>encourage</i> students. It strikes me that some of the conditions of education actually discourage learning and growth.</div>
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How can we stand idly by and watch that continue to happen?</div>
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I encourage you to listen to my podcast <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-classroom/id1042514688?mt=2" target="_blank">The Classroom</a> for ideas as to how you might start talking with your kids as well. If you do, share your discoveries and connections. We all need to encourage and learn from one another.</div>
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You can, and I can, encourage others by doing. By being a writer with our kids...and by being a writer for our kids. Using our writing to advocate for our students, and my writing today is one model of one type of contribution that we can all make. </div>
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Sharing our conversations through blogs, publishing with professional journals, or taking the leap and publishing our own podcasts are contributions. Inviting others into the conversation is another model. We have all heard some variation of the observation that life is defined by what happens to us, but by what we do about it. So, what are we going to do about it?</div>
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I'm going to continue to write and talk and listen.</div>
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And I'm going to encourage my kids to remember the past and to change the tense of their words--and mean it. My goal is to hear my kids tell me by the end of the year that they love writing again, that they see themselves as writers because they are treated as writers...that they feel encouraged.</div>
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So, what can you do to modify the past tense in your kids? What can you do to help them rewrite the present and future tenses of our words?</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-83287220739803787452016-02-25T18:24:00.001-05:002016-02-25T18:24:55.446-05:00Learning to Listen<div style="text-align: justify;">
When I directed the middle school play for over a decade, I learned how to listen to young people. </div>
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We began each rehearsal with "circle time." Everyone sat on the stage in a circle and took a turn to decompress from their day. At first, they talked about school. As the weeks went by, they talked about themselves. They talked about other people. They talked about society.</div>
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I said little. Mostly, I just listened.</div>
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It was ten solid years, often with more than one play, of training myself to listen to young people. To give them space without judgement. And when kids are given space, they will be kids. They will vent and dream and complain and laugh and be everything that means being alive. Yes, there was an elephant in the room--I was an adult. There was no getting around that. However, I think--I hope--they came to respect the conditions I offered them.</div>
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I tried to be an adult in their life who valued what they had to say--without the impulse of giving an answer. Yet, their example ended up leading me to discoveries about teaching that I never anticipated. Yes, listening allowed them to lead me.</div>
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Fast forward to today and the classroom podcast, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-classroom/id1042514688?mt=2" target="_blank">The Classroom.</a></div>
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The platform for the podcast is simple enough. I sit with two or three students during lunch and we talk. Mostly, I ask questions and they talk--and I listen. I purposely force myself to listen more than talk. </div>
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Typically, in class, I have spent years asking students to talk about their specific essays or texts. Over the past few years, however, I have been inviting students to talk more about their decisions and experiences as writers and readers. And a whole new world was opened up to me.</div>
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I found myself growing as a teacher.</div>
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What my students have to say matches much of the documented evidence and research regarding reading and writing. I almost can't believe I ignored this living, breathing, emotional resource. It was right there in front of me all along.</div>
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So, I thought I'd bring it in front of you. And maybe you can turn to the kids in your classroom--the greatest resource you have. They have been there all along.</div>
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I hope teachers listen to the podcast for the sake of relearning how to listen. Listen to the questions I ask. Listen to me listen. Listen to my kids struggle, and listen to my kids share their sincerity. </div>
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We all know teachers spend a lot of time talking. Talking is hard to avoid in our profession. But make some more space for listening. Listening--especially listening to student responses to questions that value what our kids think--allows space for critical thinking and engagement.</div>
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Asking better questions means asking questions that value their experience and questions that value the decisions they make. </div>
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This podcast is a space to study what our young writers believe about reading and writing in addition to rethinking what we, the adults in their lives, believe about reading and writing.</div>
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Learning is about change and growth. And some of the best growth in my life has come from listening to and learning from the young people around me.</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-19399519745012506592016-02-21T08:08:00.000-05:002016-02-21T08:18:40.164-05:00Recognizing Sincerity<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'd heard in a documentary that Lucille Ball was mentored by Buster Keaton. Imagine those two comic titans hanging out in their youth, talking. Yet, as I scanned for mentor pairs online, I thought about the best mentors in my life, I realized mentors aren't really <i>assigned </i>in the real world. It doesn't work that way.</div>
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No one can assign a mentor.<br><div>
<br>We come to find mentors just by living. When we embrace something with all of our heart and energy, we come to find a respect for like-minded people--and we want to be around them. We want to learn from them.</div>
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I had some fun browsing a website dedicated to mentors, specifically a section highlighting mentor-mentee relationships : <a href="http://www.mentors.ca/mentorpairs.html">http://www.mentors.ca/mentorpairs.html</a>. From here, I found a few relationships to dig into...<br><div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://epmgaa.media.lionheartdms.com/img/photos/2014/11/11/quentin_tarantino_68154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://epmgaa.media.lionheartdms.com/img/photos/2014/11/11/quentin_tarantino_68154.jpg" height="160" width="320"></a></td></tr>
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While nothing indicates that Elmore Leonard and Quentin Tarentino sat down over eggs and coffee and discussed writing, we do know that Tarentino <i>read</i> Leonard. At the very least, that is where their relationship began. Reading is one way of bringing ourselves by the side of someone whom we respect. All mentor relationships are not face-to-face. Relationships can develop an intimacy through reading. Want proof? Ask any poor soul who has ever written a poem to another.<br><br>For more tangible evidence, I found Zachary Colbert's <a href="http://www.crimefictionlover.com/2015/05/the-books-of-tarantino/">The Books of Tarentino</a>. In it, Tarentino said, “Elmore Leonard was a real mentor to me as far as writing is concerned. He helped me find my voice.” <br><br>In education, I like to think Nanci Atwell could not have become "Nanci Atwell" without mentors. The same must hold true for Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher, Ralph Fletcher...<br><br>I've read that Lucy Calkins was mentored by Donald Graves. And Graves had Don Murray. Murray had Graves. They were neighbors!</div>
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When we find our mentors, we contribute <i>something</i> to the relationship. It is not a host and parasite model. Sometimes what we bring is simply a hope or a seed of a goal to be something better than we are. Mentors must see <i>something</i> in a mentee. They must recognize something bigger than talent and effort. </div>
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In <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jerry-lewis-talks-hollywood-argo-424974">Paul Bond's interview </a>of Hollywood legend Jerry Lewis, we learn that while Spielberg considered Lewis a mentor, yet the great comic wasn't so sure, "[Speilberg was] in my class, but I doubt that [he] learned anything from me. [He was] well equipped at the time [he] came into the class."<br><br>Ultimately, I think what the mentor recognizes in others is <i>sincerity</i>. And the same is true, deep down, when we want to grow in a field. We gravitate to people who can help not because of what they know but because what is behind what they know--some call it passion. I am still going to stick with <i>sincerity</i>. Without it, whatever elements are already in place would never have been there to be noticed. We can all bring different talents and skills to the world--that isn't ever the real concern. </div>
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The real concern is whether or not you are sincere.</div>
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I think a potential mentor can sniff out someone just in it for a paycheck.</div>
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I would be surprised if anyone sets out to be a mentor. Rather, I think people fall in love with their art, or science, or craft...and suddenly this other human being enters our life and we can't let them go. They bring something...pure...sincere...and full of hope. They may not bring answers. But they bring questions. Lots of them. And they remind us of ourselves because we too are full of questions.</div>
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And our questions only lead to more questions.</div>
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And questions lead to reading, conversation, writing, and experimentation. What the world recognizes as mentors and mentees, I want to recognize through another lens. We recognize the engagement, don't we? Not a mentor or a mentee. We recognize the sincerity--whether we agree with or understand it does not matter--it is the sincerity that helps us become colleagues. Not the dumb luck that we work together in the same building or studio. With engagement and sincerity, we recognize something else as well--a friend.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-71588557339294371982016-02-18T06:44:00.003-05:002016-02-18T06:51:51.140-05:00Breaking the Cycle<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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Ever since I heard a teacher use the "breaking the cycle" I have been thinking about it. The term comes from an incredible story about a teacher who helped a young girl break the cycle of non-readers in her family line. You can hear it on the back end of this powerful podcast by Penny Kittle: <a href="http://bit.ly/BLF_S1">Book Love, E1 V1</a>. Please listen to it--you will be moved and motivated (and, full disclosure, not just because I play a bit part, lol).</div>
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In short, a high school student was not a reader. The teacher gave her <i>Go Ask Alice. </i>Without spoiling the experience of listening to the teacher tell the story, the student goes through some significant life changes. We learn that this student comes back to visit her teacher and shares that her child is now a reader. This teacher helped a young person <i>break the cycle.</i></div>
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I wonder how many cycles we help recreate in any given year. Students have individualized habits and cycles in reading, writing, and within every other subject area. For example, I have never been competent in math. It crushed me in school. Broke my heart more than the girls. Everything about math almost ruined school for me--seriously. I survived and clawed my way out of it. I didn't break that cycle.</div>
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A current cycle I am challenging my class to break is their habit of writing outside of class...and their habit of only writing for school. That is a huge cycle. If I can help students rebuild that habit and belief, it will be a victory.</div>
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I challenged my classes this marking period: write for ten to fifteen minutes a day <i>for you. </i>Use your writer's notebook and jot down ideas, lists, sketches, maps, pet peeves, observations, venting, snippets of overheard conversations, memories...anything.</div>
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Several times a marking period I do spot notebook checks. During the 2nd marking period, my kids were trending downward as writers. They were not writing as much as they were during the 1st marking period--and, in my estimation, not growing at the same rate. When it comes to literary volume matters (and I tell them this).</div>
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Some of the reflections about my challenge were insightful and fair...and not everyone was thrilled about being challenged to break that particular cycle. One student's reflection is representative of most of the feedback I received from students:</div>
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Time. Anxiety over importance. These are two of the things that hold me back from writing. When I write I love it, but there are some things that just keep me from it. I know a lot of people say that they have busy lives but I do too. I know the things that I do aren't important and are irrelevant to the class but I always feel like I don't have enough time in the day. I know though that there are ways to help overpower these. I think what I can do is plan out sufficient times to write. For example, before I go to bed I can sit in bed and write for 10 min. Also at times where I am watching tv I can turn it off and write or write during commercials.</blockquote>
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When it come to anxiety over importance, I freak out if I have multiple things to do and I try to cram them close. I seem to almost do the “important” things first then the smaller things. Ways I can fix this is I can plan ahead and set specific times and or make sure i'm not cramming things in small periods of time. I think it’s not much of you to ask us to write everyday, I just think that many people have seen writing as a extra, not important thing that they will only do in class. I do think though if we start writing more at home it will become more of a habit and less of an assignment.</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Lisa (pseudonym) hits all of the notes shared by her classmates; however, what strikes me most is the line "many people have seen writing as extra, not important..." That is a cycle worth breaking.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We have about 80 days of school left, including testing and all of the fanfare of the end of school. It isn't possible. We can accomplish a lot in 80 days.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After all, didn't some people travel around the world in 80 days, or was that just fiction?</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-31384473465961361952016-02-17T07:28:00.002-05:002016-02-17T07:28:30.166-05:00Opportunities for Student ReflectionOpportunities for student reflection or conferring don't need to wait until the end of a marking period.<br />
<br />
Of course, tickets out the door have been used successfully for reflection, and teachers have often scheduled days and weeks for conferencing with students. Yet two ways that I have been building more reflection and conferring for more students--seamlessly--is two-fold:<br />
<ul>
<li>ending quizzes and tests with brief written reflections.</li>
<li>using the classroom podcast for kids to reflect on reading and writing, allowing the rest of the class to use the podcast for source-based writing.</li>
</ul>
Regarding the questions at the ends of quizzes and tests, I have varied what I have asked.<br />
<br />
Sometimes I ask students to reflect about the content on the assessment, but more often I am finding more value in asking students to reflect on their life as learners.<br />
<br />
For example:<br />
<ul>
<li>Explain your writing process outside of class.</li>
<li>Share what writing or reading was like when you were a child. Do you miss anything about it? </li>
<li>Tell me about a topic from another class, or from everyday life experiences, that you continued to think about on your own. How have you pursued learning more about that topic?</li>
<li>What obstacles keep you from pleasure reading? What could you do to overcome those obstacles?</li>
<li>Tell me about topics or classroom exercises that feel worth the effort for you.</li>
</ul>
These reflections are worth points. Attributing points is a small way to demonstrate that I value their learning beyond the content and standards. However, the longterm value comes from my follow-up in writing or in conversation (formal and informal). When we participate in their reflections, we send a message that how we learn has value. How we think and what we do matters.<br />
<br />
I find myself jotting more possible reflection questions down in my writer's notebook all the time. Now that I find that I have a place to continue to slip in more writing and more reflection, the ideas come easily. I am chasing my curiosity about my kids.<br />
<br />
More often, I find myself conferring with students about more than a specific piece of writing. Conferring happens at any time, and on any given day my kids will have several pieces of unfinished, messy, writing to reference in a conference. We can talk about reading. We can talk about their reading and writing past, goals, growth, et al.<br />
<br />
I record many of these conferences on my iPhone using the VoiceRecord Pro app. I like this app because it allows me to email the audio file or upload it to a wide variety of online storage systems such as Google Drive or DropBox.<br />
<br />
Voice Record Pro also helps me <i>share reflections</i> with all of my students in another format--the classroom podcast. I meet with students in pairs or small groups and host discussions about reading and writing. Recently, these conversations have been more about the conditions of the learning classroom (choice) as well as books that they have loved recently.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oaELRtVKpJW2j6Oov0BDXmEmgwoBo227paUP1xidAJ8sweylLuGBYBtUiJGXwjkoHU-8Bq-_BJUpNaaF6PKLjwYTcicYGkO8vUOXGTDObUWs8eW9D8a4tQcxhOwQJwzgb24wUEtU0zQM/s1600/512w.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oaELRtVKpJW2j6Oov0BDXmEmgwoBo227paUP1xidAJ8sweylLuGBYBtUiJGXwjkoHU-8Bq-_BJUpNaaF6PKLjwYTcicYGkO8vUOXGTDObUWs8eW9D8a4tQcxhOwQJwzgb24wUEtU0zQM/s200/512w.jpeg" width="200" /></a>Our students can learn from conferring, but they can also learn by listening in to the conferring that their peers experience. It happens anyway when they eavesdrop on our conferring.<br />
<br />
This podcast, <i><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-classroom/id1042514688?mt=2#episodeGuid=2fa38a43ebff44c16c85129d2c13aec5" target="_blank">The Classroom</a></i>, can be found on iTunes or through most podcasting apps. I use a podcast hosting system called Libsyn. It does cost a bit of money, but my hope is that this podcast will lead to more understanding and reflection by students, families, and teachers.<br />
<br />
One way I am bringing the student podcast into the classroom is by asking students to listen to it in class and to write a bit of a reflection on specific episodes--their writing in this instance is built on supporting academic vocabulary.<br />
<br />
For example, this week's work asks students to reflect on the word <i>implicit</i>. Once we establish a meaning together, students will listen to an episode of the classroom podcast and find something implicit in the podcast to write about.<br />
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<iframe height="300" src="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mr1WIHWkP-rWkBixYpRTwGm2FaMnbyUdeCb4WbxmCsA/pub?embedded=true" width="670"></iframe><br />
<br />
In the end, finding ways to ask students to reflect, and for me to reflect with them, brings me closer to understanding where they are today--and if I can understand that, I can help them.<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-86132128449425388062016-02-16T06:50:00.003-05:002016-02-16T07:20:43.281-05:00Sacred Cow: the Whole-Class Novel<div style="text-align: justify;">
On <a href="http://pernillesripp.com/2015/03/21/can-we-discuss-the-whole-class-novel-for-a-moment/" target="_blank">Pernille Ripp's blog</a>, I was struck by something she wrote because I discover this same truth in my own students--from lots of them. Dozens and dozens of the kids who I have taught over the last decade could be the niece Ripp describes:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
...my incredible niece who seems to inhale books told me today that since she keeps being assigned books in school she hasn’t really been reading much else. Which means her grand total of books this year is about 10. Rather than the 50 or 60 she usually reads. From 50 to 10. Let that sink in. She also told me the only reason it’s so high is because over the holidays she read a few books of her own choice, ones she had been waiting to read and finally felt she had the energy to. But 10 books is not very high, not for her at least, so there seems to be a problem here. Her English class seems to be killing her joy of reading.</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I read this and I thought, my god, this is what my kids tell me. Something is wrong here. I've read Gallagher's <u>Readicide</u>, Kittle's <u>Book Love</u>, Atwell's, <u>The Reading Zone</u>, and Miller's <u>The Book Whisperer</u>, but nothing strikes a deeper more resonate chord than an adolescent telling me the truth and reality of their reading and writing lives.</div>
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At the very least, the whole-class novel is a sacred cow worth examining. So much of growing as a teacher is recognizing that what we are seeing is more valuable that what we have been saying...or think we are saying.</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That said...let me say something...eh-hem...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
For much of the last decade I have built my classroom around choice in reading, yet I have still made room for professional reflection and reading about the possibilities of balance between choice and whole-class selections. What has some value (the whole-class novel) can easily degenerate into something taught badly--and has been taught badly for quite some time. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Believe it or not, I try to avoid teaching badly.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In my classroom, I have moved to a model where for over 90% of the year students experience complete control over their reading lives. I monitor and confer with students about their reading. We set goals together each marking period. We reflect on our growth. Yet, I have still retained a two to three week segment of the year for a whole-class novel experience...and even in that I offer some choice.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
During the whole-class novel structure, students can choose from <u>The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</u>, <u>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn</u>, or <u>Little Women</u>. If, after trying those books, they do not feel engaged, I am open to their finding another option as long as it is a piece of classic literature which challenges them and engages them. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
I handle this reading in literature circles. It breaks the class down into smaller classes within the larger class. We discuss the book, their struggles and questions, and any of their observations about the text. I bring no preset list of questions. I bring no agenda of elements of a story. We can teach character and setting and conflict and point of view throughout the year in most any text. We can dip in and out of those examples. We don't have to flog our kids with questions when they engage in a whole-class novel. So, I listen and adjust to them. It is the students' agenda, not mine. It is their reading life, not mine. I am here to support them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
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Yet, I find three major issues that I always feel I need to deal with better each time I employ the whole-class novel: pacing, the stop-and-start mentality, and distancing readers. These struggles are no different than from when I was truly struggling during my first few years of teaching...and didn't realize it.</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Pacing</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ultimately, when it comes to any whole-class novel, I find myself reflecting on how to pace each class based on the needs of the students. This is very difficult to do well. I have tried many different strategies. I tried setting a reading pace based on the slowest reader in the room. I tried to split the difference between the fastest and the slowest readers. I tried to chunk according to my schedule. I tried giving a due date far into the future, giving everyone enough time to read it at their own pace and opportunity.</div>
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In middle school, none of those work well. We always lose some kids. More than we'd like to admit. And, by lose, I mean kids don't read the book or kids grow disgruntled and frustrated.</div>
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<br></div>
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Current evidence suggests that a 2-3 week window is most appropriate for teaching a whole-class novel, but what if that pacing is too slow for readers? What if that pacing is too fast for others? What is gained by losing strong readers in addition to frustrating already struggling readers?</div>
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<br></div>
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Choosing one book and expecting it to help every reader in the room grow--when readers are just developing their stamina--is tricky business. We have the kids in one of the most malleable stages of their adolescence and the decisions we make about reading can ignite passion or dash dreams.</div>
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Our decisions can frustrate the hell out of them and snuff out their reading lives.</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Stop-and-start mentality</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Twenty-two years ago I stepped into my classroom and inherited several whole-class texts that turned the whole-novel into an Odyssean journey of tasks and obstacles. In retrospect, it was truly awful teaching. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/17/article-2607213-1D28563100000578-810_472x691.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/17/article-2607213-1D28563100000578-810_472x691.jpg" height="320" width="218"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>http://www.ltaaa.com/wtfy/12927.html</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In 7th grade students were to read <u>White Fang</u> and <u>Johnny Tremain</u>. In 8th grade, students were given <u>The Martian Chronicles</u>, <u>Romeo & Juliet</u>, and <u>The Diary of Anne Frank</u>. Some parents bristled--especially parents whose older children had already passed through the gauntlet of middle school. I remember hearing how much their kids hated reading those texts. They told me this in parent conferences--often while rolling their eyes in resignation.</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
What I left out is that I not only inherited the reading list but also the reading packets for each novel. Each novel came with a <i>thick</i> packet of single-spaced questions organized by chapter. There were over a hundred questions to be answered in each packet. For some books, there were hundreds of questions. Hundreds. Hundreds of arbitrary questions. Along the way, there were arts and crafts type of assignments (make a diorama of The Secret Annexe; construct a Martian mask).</div>
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Can you imagine this igniting a love of reading in you when you were twelve?</div>
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<b>Distancing Readers</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I can recall the purple ink and blurred edges of the letters from the mimeograph. I can recall checking to ensure that everyone answered their questions (ha!). I walked up and down the aisles, recording who did and who did not.</div>
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All that effort distinguished was who took the time to complete the task of writing an answer down...or who scrawled a few stolen answers from their friends...not who read. More importantly, that heavy packet did not help me understand who understood what they read, or who enjoyed what they read, or who had questions about what they read.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Actually, I learned more about who read and what they thought when kids drifted up to me on their own time <i>to talk about the book</i>. Can you imagine? Kids had to come up to me on their own time to talk about the book. The kids were modeling and showing me what would work--what they needed--but it took me too many years to pay attention. It goes to show you just how far away from the kids I was. Those packets distanced me.</div>
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I had my head buried in those damn packets.</div>
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That model did not inspire conversation--all of the questions were already asked. I asked the questions. I was the expert in the room. I held the Rosetta Stone. My gosh, what else of value could there possibly be to discuss?</div>
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I wish I had a time machine to go back and shake myself by the shoulders.</div>
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That model also did not inspire kids to read more. Unless they came up to me on their own, there was no discussion about what they might read next...it was all about what I was going to make them read next.</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I remember reviewing the questions with the kids--because when I did not they openly questioned why the hell they were filling out all of these questions in the first place. (Good point, Jimmy.) And I remember all of this taking a hell of a long time.</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Final Thought for the Day</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Why do we (sometimes) behave as if we own their reading lives? Why did I?</div>
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<br></div>
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I think the answer is because I believed we were supposed to. </div>
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What message does that model send? Where was the space and time for their questions? Where was the model where I honored their struggles, their reading pace, their reading interests, and their reading growth? What hope did I give them of becoming a reader? The answer is, of course, none or nowhere. </div>
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There was no space for the student to grow in that model.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That model was about little else than the content and the examples of elements of a story from that specific book. But, in each case, why <i>that</i> book? Can't we teach conflict, character, setting, et al. from <i>any</i> book? Can't we still teach those elements if thirty different books were being read by thirty different students at the same time. Yes, we can. Of course we can.</div>
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Why do we choose the individual books we do?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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I admit that there is joy in a common read and that there can be value in a whole-class novel. But doesn't the model I experienced and executed (literally) suck all of the joy and growth out of reading? </div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
I remember something a high school senior, Emily, said to me almost 20 years ago. I remember this very vividly. Emily was helping me with the middle school plays after school. She went on to study theater and worked in the biz for quite a while. At this point, I had been divorcing myself from the mimeographed packets for whole-class novels and one of the middle school actors wondered aloud why our class did not do them, yet Teacher X's class did.</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Emily interjected and said, "I would kill to able to just read and talk about books again. You guys get to talk about books?" She looked at me, resigned to the fact that it was a lost pleasure in her life as a high school student and said, "I would love that."</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-5125668989424270412016-02-15T08:46:00.001-05:002016-02-16T07:10:00.375-05:00Are there no mirrors in schools?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Education reform makes a cameo appearance in Walter Isaacson's biography <u>Steve Jobs</u>. It left me wishing Isaacson learned more and/or shared more about each man's view of education; yet, that was not the book he was writing. Understanding that these two passages are not comprehensive in their representation of either Gates' or Jobs' thoughts on education reform, I want to focus on one word that makes an appearance in each man's ideal: feedback.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Isaacson writes on page 544 about a meeting between President Obama and Steve Jobs:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
Jobs also attacked America's education system, saying that it was hopelessly antiquated and crippled by union work rules. Until the teachers' unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform. Teachers should be treated as professionals, he said not as industrial assembly-line workers. Principals should be able to hire and fire them based on how good they were. Schools should be staying open until 6pm and be in session eleven months of the year. It was absurd, he added, that American classrooms were still based on teachers standing at a board and using textbooks. All books, learning materials, and assessment should be digital and interactive, tailored to each student and providing feedback in real time.</blockquote>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
On page 553, Isaacson recounts Bill Gates' visit to see Steve Jobs as Jobs' health faltered:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
Jobs asked some questions about education, and Gates sketched out his vision of what schools in the future would be like, with students watching lectures and video lessons on their own while using the classroom time for discussions and problem solving...computers and mobile devices would have to focus on delivering more personalized lessons and providing motivational feedback.</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In each passage, the call for better feedback is real. Each example aligns improved feedback with the dexterity of digital tools as well as improved feedback generated by a changed model of a teacher's role in the classroom.</div>
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Neither wish is unreasonable, yet it can appear unattainable...in our current model.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
The blurb by Gates presumes a model where administrators and teachers are more than competent in several areas:</div>
<br>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">using digital tools personally (which may not be happening)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">designing lessons with digital tools (which may not be happening)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">mentoring a student-led model of learning (which may not be happening)</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Jobs' notes to President Obama point out few items that also raise a few eyebrows:</div>
<br>
<br>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-align: justify;">the teachers' unions cover up fractures in its foundation (it blocks growth)</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">teachers are not treated as professionals (and I feel the suggestion that we share the blame)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">quality control is a missing component (Jobs often spoke of A players, B players, C players)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">the current arc of teachers are not growing, improving...and, reading between the lines, relevant</li>
</ul>
<br>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I don't necessarily think Bill Gates or Steve Jobs have all of the answers for education, but I do value their ability to assess. I at least want to listen because these innovators have proven that they can look at systems and deliver what it needs as well as intuit its core problems.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.counter-currents.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Triple-Self-Portrait-19601.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="http://www.counter-currents.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Triple-Self-Portrait-19601.jpg" height="320" width="242"></a>So what everything suggested by Gates and Jobs is true? What if deep inside my bones I am fearful that there is truth in their perceptions? It embarrasses me. It gives me pause. </div>
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<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
What the Gates and Jobs quotes don't address is that feedback relies on someone engaged. Feedback is a conversation, not a score. But what I do admire from Gates is that he had the humanity to include the modifier "motivational."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
How can we give <i>motivational</i> feedback if we are not competent in using digital tools; not designing lessons with digital tools; allowing students to discuss and problem solve, covering up fractures in our foundation; not acting acting as professionals; too comfortable; not growing or improving?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Are there no mirrors in schools?</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-88112913390100421372016-02-14T08:49:00.002-05:002016-02-14T09:03:40.122-05:00The Care We Put Into It<div style="text-align: justify;">
Leadership in education is fragmented. Policy makers and advocates each take a turn at the white board. On the periphery, adults launch into heated exchanges about teaching in comment scrolls beneath news articles. Politicians speak in generalities; their words are little more than eyewash.</div>
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None of those people or entities get to make the one decision in education that matters. Actually, none of them can ever make this decision. They are powerless to do it because their power is not built on empathy.</div>
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Empathy matters.</div>
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You are the only person who can make the one decision that matters and that is a pretty powerful and liberating thing to realize. As teachers, we make innumerable decisions everyday, yet each of those decisions is primarily driven by one, critical, initial decision.</div>
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One.</div>
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Oddly, the one decision that counts is not policy. The one decision that counts is not curriculum or content. The one decision that counts is not what is wrangled over at Pearson. We have one powerful decision to make.</div>
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One.</div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">What type of a model are you going to be?</span></div>
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This<i> one</i> decision trumps all of the decisions made by our government and administrators. We do not have a choice concerning whether we are models or not. We only get to decide whether we will be a good model or a bad model. </div>
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In the ELA classroom, being a good model means modeling reading and modeling writing. To take it a step further, being a good model in a middle school means showing up to events, participating, and engaging with our kids outside of the classroom.</div>
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In the ELA classroom, being a bad model means making excuses for not being a reader and/or a writer. It also means making excuses for not showing up to much at all outside of the classroom.</div>
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And it makes me wonder about where we came from--about the care that was put into being the teachers we are today. And it makes me wonder about the care that we put into ourselves today that will determine the teachers who we will become tomorrow.</div>
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Steve Jobs said, "I always understood the beauty of things made by hand. I came to realize that what was really important was the care that was put into it. What I really despise is when I sense some carelessness in a product." While Jobs was concerned with the craftsmanship of his technology, we can take the lesson and apply it to teaching.</div>
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Carelessness in teaching is relying <i>solely</i> on pre-packaged content--something generated by others for the masses. Carelessness is recycling PowerPoints, packets, overheads, and support material year upon year--so much so that we get caught into what Jobs described as grooves. He believed that once a person reached their thirties they fell into habits that they could not easily extricate themselves from. We become the cliche of the teacher who uses the same overheads year after year. </div>
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We spend the first half of our life creating our habits and the last half of our life our habits make us.</div>
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For ELA teachers to reach the standard Jobs suggested for his industry and applying it to teaching--care put into a product--means <i>being readers and being writers</i>. Being a reader and a writer opens the possibility of empathy in our classrooms.</div>
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An article on Edutopia, <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-empathy-content-or-students-terry-heick" target="_blank">Teaching Empathy: Are We Teaching Content or Students?</a> nails this very point, "You must understand them [students] for who they are and where they are, not for what you hope to prepare them for."</div>
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It means investing time outside of the classroom. We can't just rely on the Pearsons and Holt-McDougals to crank out textbooks and support materials and wash our hands of it and say that's that. There is no care in that attitude.</div>
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Likewise, we can't just lean on the curriculum from our home districts and brandish the documents as if they are all-inclusive, prescriptive, panaceas to all of the problems in education. That document is brought to life by the teacher and the one critical decision we make. We have to remember that the one decision (What kind of a model are you? Are you a good one? or a bad one?) impacts almost everything that we do and who we become in our classroom. It impacts how we use the curriculum document and what we bring to the table in support of that document.</div>
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And we don't get to opt out of making the one decision that matters. Whether we realize it or not, our actions define us. Our actions show our colleagues, administrators, students, and community who we are--a good model or a bad model.</div>
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In order to be a good model, we must be readers and writers <i>who collaborate and interact with other good models</i>. Having one without the other does not work well either. Being a good model is as influential as is surrounding ourselves with bad models. We can find both models all around us. We just have to learn how to spot the good ones. Also, beyond our buildings, we can find good models through books and by attending conventions and workshops. The good models are out there. We must be willing to engage by preparing ourselves to engage--read and write.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGP1NJiXpHqavbAOLncawiyr8H-NahgMkf9UhcVvyDypvZZGOTkqun1nZPvDKGdNG4qxt6vB5q1NeV71JarBf607T-OFOttJ5-1MQq1IN5Y67_0Ocp0f1AUVtjCif-RDRj8-1Nxz8mOS4z/s1600/960.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGP1NJiXpHqavbAOLncawiyr8H-NahgMkf9UhcVvyDypvZZGOTkqun1nZPvDKGdNG4qxt6vB5q1NeV71JarBf607T-OFOttJ5-1MQq1IN5Y67_0Ocp0f1AUVtjCif-RDRj8-1Nxz8mOS4z/s320/960.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>via Hanna-Barbera Productions</i></td></tr>
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When we learn to see each other as models, we invoke one of the other core beliefs of Steve Jobs: A players like to work with A players. A players cannot stand to work with C players. </div>
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An educational leader and colleague of mine attended a conference where he heard the analogy of schools compared to buses without floors. Imagine your school as a Flintstones type of vehicle where passengers used their feet to run and move the bus. He said the some people on the bus are runners, some lift their feet and cruise along for the ride (happy to be led), and some dig in their heels and retard any prayer of progress. They are usually quick to point to excuses, problems, and what is not there rather than focusing on what is there. He said the leader advocated focusing our attention on the runners--the A players--rather than investing energy in the C players, the complainers. The dead weight. He noted that some B players will move into ranks of A players and turn into runners. Some won't. But the likelihood that C players move up to B and then to A is almost unheard of...so why waste your building's resources on bad models?</div>
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<li>Be more than the person who thinks little about their craft outside of their classroom. </li>
<li>Be more than the person relying on the worksheets and packets and PowerPoints. </li>
<li>Be more than the person satisfied (and relieved) that the thinking and heavy lifting has already been done. </li>
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If we do not, we see ourselves as little more than deliverers of content and our students little more than empty pails to be filled (everyone is a C player in that model). And that is, sadly, the Jobsian incarnation of "carelessness in a product" that can infect our schools.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-23690483976406049022016-02-10T07:08:00.002-05:002016-02-10T07:49:25.784-05:00Demand More than What<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSR6NYiKYwX9VKGJ4apMWU39DLFWFvJAB922t3BSxRuouwafeYPdUQFWQAdMzyCOEK8ynZiWTl_q31G0oyR5HPi0skpPCjTcbOLgDn4NMKnENN-StjOLOWyuzQPt3pCbufR1mRcLtJVtg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-10+at+6.25.50+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSR6NYiKYwX9VKGJ4apMWU39DLFWFvJAB922t3BSxRuouwafeYPdUQFWQAdMzyCOEK8ynZiWTl_q31G0oyR5HPi0skpPCjTcbOLgDn4NMKnENN-StjOLOWyuzQPt3pCbufR1mRcLtJVtg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-10+at+6.25.50+AM.png" /></a></div>
A long line of cars, headlights on, carries New Hampshire residents to vote in the primary. It is an image circulating social media this morning. Maybe it is a sign that more American people will vote in the upcoming election.<br />
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The image makes me wonder: what type of impulse moves people to make an effort to change?<br />
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And where do those impulses reside in education?<br />
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For the most part, the middle school experience today looks and sounds very much the same today as it did when I was twelve and thirteen years of age.<br />
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However, the anxiety and pressure to beat the world, beat the other states, beat the neighboring districts, beat my classmates, and beat our colleagues was not present in 1982. For all of the gains some believe we accomplish from that structure, I want to point out what has been lost--because we get what we emphasize.<br />
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Point blank, educators experience less conversation and consideration about what the research and evidence suggests than they do about what the test scores say. By evidence, I mean what educators <i>see</i> along with what students <i>say</i>. Not just scores and data. Yet our time is often parceled out to talk (almost) exclusively about a long line of numbers from a state or national test. As a matter of fact, it is not unusual to be encouraged to create formal plans for change based on what the scores tell us.<br />
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Numbers and scores and rankings. That is what we emphasize.<br />
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Many champion that this sort of data is indeed informative and helpful. I do not disagree. It can provide a holistic account of a grade level and a subject area. In other words, we can learn what our students scored weak in.<br />
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Yet, "what" can only inspire more <i>what...</i>or <i>what else</i>..."what" is content.<br />
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"What" is not <i>why</i>. "What" does not inspire self-reflection much deeper than facts and concepts. "What" can stall at "what"--as in <i>what</i> I must teach more of.<br />
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When teachers are encouraged to look at other classrooms, to look at students in a variety of situations, to look at observable behaviors, then we can open up conversation with colleagues about teaching. We can talk about why a decision was made...where did you find that idea...how did prepare...when would you return to that point...and yes, what would be included as well. We can't function or learn without what...but we need so much more than what.<br />
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Yet, yet, yet...I struck up conversations with several sets of teachers from different regions of the country (at NCTE in Minneapolis) who shared that <i>talking about teaching</i> with colleagues is often intimidating.<br />
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What!?<br />
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Have we become so focused on beating everyone and every test in our path that we have lost the art and value of talking with one another? Talking with colleagues can be seen as a <i>judgmental, </i><i>threatening</i>, and <i>humiliating</i>. One teacher told me he felt the conversations with his colleagues about curriculum felt like a "witch hunt."<br />
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This is the opposite of what our professional conversations should feel like!<br />
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This is the opposite of what the relationships between elementary schools and their district middle school should be like. This is the opposite of what the relationship between high school teachers and their district middle school teachers should be like.<br />
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When we focus solely on what, it becomes easy to blame. We talk so much about <i>what</i> (content) in education that we have lost the conversation--the beauty of the give and take--about teaching. We have lost collaboration. We have lost the value of what others bring to their classrooms and to our buildings.<br />
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The greatest growth as teachers that we can experience starts with listening. By listening, I mean deliberately framing time to talk and listen to what students and teachers have to say: what works for them, why it works for them, what decisions did they make, why did they make that decision, when did they realize x, how did they come to make that change, et al.<br />
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Those conversations are not presently valued. No one asks for <i>that</i> research or evidence. In the worst environments, the most teachers are ever asked for are their scores. In the worst environments, the lowest, most uninspired, outcomes are shared scores...without conversation.<br />
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Some of the greatest learning moments for me this year have come when I shared audio recordings of my conferences with students. I do not record all of them (impossible) but I record a lot of them on my iPhone and then save them. I have shared some of these recordings with other educators outside of my building and I have shared them with parents of the students.<br />
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I learn so much about my kids when I talk with them, and <i>that</i> makes me a better teacher beyond anything the scores tell me. But I learn so much more when I allow other educators to tell me what they hear in those recorded conversations. They can sift through everything in one conversation and mine the gold that sometimes lays buried beneath my concern with everything. In the moment with our kids, we often feel that everything carries an equal weight and significance. Sometimes we miss the best stuff and need others to help us find it.<br />
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Yet, we would never know that because we are not encouraged to do it. No one asks for that evidence.<br />
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Finally, sharing recorded student conferences with parents exposes history beyond the classroom walls. After all, parents know their child. In many cases, parents have listened to a recording and then enthusiastically isolated a moment in the conference that taught me something new about their child.<br />
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And when we learn more about the child, we move closer to being the teacher they deserve. We move beyond the what (content) and move into an inclusive conversations of whys, whens, hows, wheres <i>in addition to</i> the whats.<br />
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While tests_________ a. cannot measure everything, b. are imperfect, c. stack the deck, d. are a fact of life (fill in the blank with anything you'd like), it is the conversations that we do not share that fails us worse.<br />
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When will we expect (and demand) conversations built on more than just <i>what</i>?<br />
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From our national standard?<br />
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From our state standard?<br />
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From our local standard?<br />
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From ourselves?<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7246125888029719683.post-61962114522264294392016-01-20T16:49:00.000-05:002016-01-20T16:49:30.229-05:00Accounting for HarrietI last read <u>Harriet the Spy</u> by Louise Fitzhugh in 1980. The experience is bringing me flashbacks of Mr. Jordan's 6th grade English class and my grey stone Catholic grade school.<br />
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Mr. Jordan had an abandoned wasps nest hanging over one of his doors. He was the only male teacher I had from Kindergarten through 8th grade. From the last row, I could look through the windows across the black asphalt of the school yard, over I-95, and at Veteran's Stadium. I used stare at the stadium and wonder if the Phillies or Eagles were on the field practicing. I haven't thought about that in 35 years.<br />
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/81/98/9d/81989d3a393240f685f9cf0c7b527411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/81/98/9d/81989d3a393240f685f9cf0c7b527411.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I'm finding, as I read certain scenes, that I can recall the experience of reading them as a child--I remember liking the old Mrs. Golly and I can remember the line about "her big ham hands dangling helplessly at her sides."<br />
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And I remember the squiggly-lined sketches. I drew a lot as a child. I noticed drawings in books. I liked them.<br />
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But rereading it now in 2016, I am struck by something very different: Harriet not feeling any accountability for what she wrote in her notebook. Even when she dropped her notebook in public and her classmates read all of the horrible things Harriet wrote--she felt no sense of accountability. No one was supposed to read it in Harriet's mind. Harriet says to her mother, "...they shouldn't have looked. It's private. It even says PRIVATE all over the front of it."<br />
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And I thought, aren't we having these same conversations about kids and writing online today? Aren't we figuring out that nothing is really, truly private online? Yet, some might blame the device for online bullying or kids making poor decisions, but it isn't a device problem at all.<br />
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<u>Harriet the Spy</u> was published in 1964 and presents an issue which causes much anxiety today. I am wondering if anyone was blaming the notebook back then?<br />
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Harriet carrying her notebook everywhere reminds of Donald Graves carrying his writer's notebook with him everyday--everywhere he went. Anyone who saw Don speak at conferences probably saw his notebook. I am falling into the habit of carrying a notebook as well. Notebooks are portable. It can be pulled out anywhere.<br />
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And so is my iPhone...which is an extension of my notebook.<br />
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Imagine someone writing an updated <u>Harriet the Spy</u> but instead of a marble-backed notebook, Harriet spied on people with her iPhone. She'd write in it, of course. But Harriet could take pictures. She could record video and audio. She could use apps to manipulate the images of people--write horrible things on their photos. She could blog her thoughts as she spied and then accidentally "click" PUBLIC or PUBLISH.<br />
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And none of it would be the device's fault.<br />
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It all still comes down to human beings learning about a very important life skill: accountability.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This article is © Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved. You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge Brian J. Kelley as the original writer and source.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16100635437209384762noreply@blogger.com1