Kristin's Blog

Blogging with Afghanistan

2009-11-24T14:10:00.003-07:00

As our English 10 class picked up their Kite Runner books for the first time this semester, I mentioned that we had a “friend in Afghanistan” who was eagerly awaiting their questions and comments. About five hands went up immediately. “Who is it?” “How do you know him?” And of course, “Why does he care about our class?”

I explained that our contact, Rob Dodson, had contacted me last year after reading my class blogs, and that he was a military officer stationed in Afghanistan. I had invited him to become a part of our discussion this year, and he immediately accepted the invitation.

Sending us pictures (I've included one above), responding to question after question, and guiding us with patience, he walked us through our endless inquiries about the mysterious, somewhat veiled country in the background of The Kite Runner—Afghanistan. Before our inner circle had even started discussing the assigned chapters in The Kite Runner, the outer circle was on fire with question after question, many directed to Rob. Here is an example from the very beginning of one of our blogs:

mgardner said...
Rob-Are women allowed to go to school and get an education or is that considered something that only men can do?

ericaw said...
Rob-What are the language boundaries in Afghanistan? Do most people speak the same language or are there local languages?

moe fo show122 said...
Rob-Thank you for answering my question about the realations of the Middle East and other countries. Your explanation really helped me see what was going on in "The Kite Runner".Are the taliban still in control over in Afghanistan?And have you personally seen violence ocure between a Taliban member and a civilian?

KristinW said...
Rob-Who do the men and boys become a part of the Taliban?All-How has the Taliban influenced the people in Kabul? Have the people changed because of fear or because they like living under Taliban rule?

And Rob would take the time to write paragraphs back to each individual student, validating their questions and guiding them (and me) through which stereotypes are unsubstantiated, which ones are true, and how history plays a role in this country's complicated dynamics. Consequently, our class started many days with question after question about Afghanistan. For the first time in my teaching of The Kite Runner, students were genuinely, authentically interested in the cultural background of this book. There were days when I had to tell them to put their hands down because their questions were far beyond my ken, and so they eagerly redirected them to Rob.

Many students eagerly checked the blog as soon as they walked in to see if Rob had responded to any of their questions from the day before, which of course, he always had. Moreover, he answered their questions with interest, patience, knowledge, and eloquence. Here is an example of one his responses:

robd said...
Hi,I will try to answer your questions...I think the discussion was very good by the way...

mgardner - girls are allowed to go to school, but not across the country. In the South, it is discouraged and the Taliban tend to burn down girl's schools. In Kabul, the girls go to one school the boys to another.ericaw- there are two national languages - Pashtu and Dari. Dari is a version of Persian Farsi. In addition, there is Urdu, Uzbek, French, English, German, and Turkish spoken. Most Afghans speak at least two languages, either Pashtu or Dari and then one of the others. Most Pashtuns refuse to learn Dari and the Tajiks and Uzbeks in the North refuse to speak Pashtu. Dari would be understood by most of the people in the country, however, it was discouraged by the Taliban since it is so close to what is spoken in Iran and the Taliban did not get along with the Iranians (the Taliban are Sunni Muslims, Iran is a Shia Muslim country).moe - the Taliban have a great deal of influence over a large part of the country, at least where there are Pashtuns. Yes, I have seen some of violence that is the result of the Taliban. I know a number of Hazaras and know that they are treated very poorly.

KristinW - People join the Taliban for a number of reasons. After 9/11 and during the first part of the conflict most of the Taliban were refugees from Pakistan that wanted to return to Afghanistan. Boys and men join for a number of reasons, some because the pay they are given is more than they can earn in Afghanistan (the Taliban pays $250 a month - an Afghan solider makes $160 a month). Some join because of their religious beliefs (you can erase your sins - something from the movie Kingdom of Heaven), others because there is little else for them to do.erica - there are two courts in Afghanistan, depending upon the crime. One court is similar to our system and they put people in jail. The other, for crimes against religion, the punishment is generally very harsh. Recently an Afghan converted from Islam and was sentenced to death. The Taliban only use Sharia Law for their courts, so punishment is very severe....death, cutting off of hands, etc.travis - in those areas that the Taliban control, most women do not venture out of the house. If they do they must be in the company of a male family member. The age of majority comes into play here, so the son would have to be over 14 (the age of manhood in Afghanistan).

In short, he offered us a close-up view of Afghanistan and The Kite Runner that no essay, article or video could ever give us. The results? Ask any of my 4th hour students how they liked The Kite Runner, and their faces actually light up as they respond with an enthusiastic, “It was amazing.” And it was.

If you would like to look at our other discussions with Rob, here is the link to our class blog:

http://leclaire4english10.blogspot.com/

Empty Chair

2009-03-18T16:36:00.002-06:00

“Tell Jason I said hi,” I say casually to his mother when I conference with her on a Thursday night. It is an afterthought; our conference is about Vickie, and Jason, now a college student, has moved out of my orbit.

The next Monday morning at 7 am, my fellow CSAP proctor and I distribute the Writing/Reading booklets alphabetically to the empty seats of my English 10 class. But she frowns as she puts down the last booklet. “This girl won’t be here today,” she says with weight in her voice, pointing to a yellow sticky note with Vickie’s name on it. “She won’t be here this week.” I look up at her quizzically. In response, she tells me sadly, “Her brother died this weekend.”

My thoughts race like slides being fastforwarded, each one with a cut-off thought: Her only brother is Jason--Jason sat on the right side of my English 10 class--Jason sat in the left front of my American Lit class--His backwards white hat always looked dingy—He had a happy, open-mouthed smile when he said “Hi Ms. Kakos” in the hallway--He had a note in the back sleeve of his binder that said “I love you,” presumably from Channing, his girlfriend.

He lounged in a chair-desk in room C-10, and it is impossible that he is dead.

At the funeral one week later, I am anxious to see Vickie. I finally spot her standing near the open casket, and her friends are holding her up. When I get my chance to hug her, she crumples, and it is the first time I notice how small she is. She sobs openly, the way children do, and I feel her pain physically shake its way in and out of her.

A little later, I move through the reception in search of Jason’s mother. I finally find her, and she is tiny. Her eyes are unfocused, and she nods absently as people tell her how wonderful her son was. But she really looks at me, I think, for a second as I try to tell her that I will make sure Vickie is taken care of when she returns to school. This is the best thing I can think to offer her.

I notice as I step outside the huge church that it’s a beautiful spring day. I need to breathe in as much of this air as I can, knowing that when I return to school I will have to face what I’m dreading most—a temporarily empty chair, and resting invisibly behind it, a permanently empty one. And I know that all my students can see these chairs, too.

So the next day, I sit right down in that chair at the beginning of my English 10 class. John, on my left side, is sadly without his iPod. I almost don’t recognize him without those white little earphones draped inside his gray hoodie, but I learn that John’s dad has confiscated this prized possession in response to some recent “poor decisions” on John’s part. Kaleigh, on my right side, is squinting at her laptop while biting the nails on her right hand. John is hurting without his iPod because he’s an industrial rock addict, and Kaleigh, who lost her mother just a year ago, asks me quietly about the funeral, and I know that she’s feeling more than she’s letting on.

Kids are starting to move around for peer editing, and as another boy walks behind us, John pleads to him, “Hey—can I borrow your headphones?” No dice.

John looks almost comically defeated, so I tell him cheerfully, “I’d be happy to sing for you while you work on your Macbeth essay if that helps ease the pain.”

Both he and Kaleigh give me huge grins, and John laughs as he mumbles, “No thanks.”

I’m not really that funny, but these are nice kids, and I think this will be a good spot for Vickie when she returns.

Joy to the Wordle

2009-02-28T14:01:00.007-07:00

“This is seriously the weirdest story I’ve ever read,” my students inform me, somewhat accusingly, as they enter the room after reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” For the most part, they are confused and somewhat angry about it. It is, after all, a hazy story told by an unreliable narrator whose mind either deteriorates or finds lucidity (depending on how you read it) as disturbing designs start to emerge in the wallpaper of her room.

The one thing I made them promise to me as they read the story was not to turn to any outside resources as they read; I want us, as a class, to puzzle the story together instead of reaching for an easy answer. But they want an answer, and they want it now.

So how do we work through the story in a constructivist way without sacrificing efficient interpretation-seeking?

First, we made a list as a class of all of our questions. They had...a lot.

Then, every student picked one question that intrigued him/her and spend a few minutes brainstorming possible responses and follow-up questions. At the end of this brainstorming, they seemed even angrier and more confused. Some of them were holding their foreheads as if their brains physically hurt.

What happened next? Wordle to the rescue, and this is no exaggeration. If you haven’t tried http://www.wordle.net/, you should exit this blog to try it out right now. And then please come back, because they way that we used it was, in the words of my students, really cool.

What is wordle? It’s a site in which you can paste in a text, and it quickly designs a word collage in which the words on the original text that appear the most frequently show up largest in size in the word collage. It requires no login, no password, nothing, and it’s practically instantaneous. And there are many different collage designs that students can play with, of course.

So, we took “The Yellow Wallpaper,” page by page, and wordled it. And here’s what happened:

On the first page, the words “John” (the narrator’s husband), “physician” (the husband’s occupation) and “one” were the largest, and there many negative smaller words like “haunting” and “anxiety” surrounding them.

As the story continued, “John” got smaller and smaller as the narrator grew independent of him, and the “wallpaper” grew larger. The word “standing” was replaced with word “creeping,” and “daylight” words were replaced with “night.” Words like “one” were replaced with “we,” and many of the words grew more positive. Also, verbs jumped into the present tense and increased in their sense of urgency. By the way--I didn't notice any of these things. My students did.

The best part? It's what happens on the final page. As Austin, sophomore student, wordles the last page on his laptop, he gasps, "Oh my God! On the last page--" "Don't give it away! Don't give it away!" Shannan, another student, snaps back at him. It's last period on Friday, and you'd think that they were watching The Sixth Sense, not examining the diction of a feminist story written in the late 1800s.

If you're wondering what actually happens when you wordle the last page, here it is: The largest words on the very last page were “door” and “key,” replacing the earlier emphasis on “windows” and “walls."

We then came back to the questions we brainstormed at the beginning of class and discussed what story the words tell. Of course, the ambiguity still remains…while the door is a way out for the socially trapped narrator, it’s still closed and locked at the end of the story. But, wordle, aside from the fact that it is really cool (several students claimed that they were going to spend their entire weekends wordling) opened up a door for us. It wasn’t just fun and fluffy; it sparked intense discussion and allowed us a concrete way to analyze abstract, elusive themes. Just as the design of the wallpaper emerged to the narrator, the design of the story revealed itself to us.

They left class, I think, realizing that their confusion was not a reflection of a story poorly told, but a story carefully designed to be nebulous.

And, more importantly, they were happy because wordle really is cool.

Back of the Class

2009-02-11T16:52:00.003-07:00

I put my green backpack in the back corner and take a seat between two boys in my English 10 class, watching Randon, my student teacher, put up his PowerPoint during 3rd hour announcements. I feel a bit like an invader-- a giant trying to blend in among midgets. A little self conscious, I open my laptop and attempt to make casual conversation with Shay, the quiet, strawberry blonde soccer player on my left: “So how’s Macbeth going for you?”

Shay does not wish to make direct eye contact with me. “Umm…fine, I guess,” he responds, eyes fixated on his glowing laptop.

Aaron, on my right side, throws me a bone. “So you’re sitting back here with us, Ms. Leclaire?”
“Yep,” I reply, trying to sound enthusiastic as the reality sinks in: I am no longer in charge of this classroom. For the next ten weeks, I am not their teacher. So what happens to my role now that my student teacher has taken over?

First, I should clarify that this is not a blog about Randon. He’s having all the proud accomplishments and grueling struggles that a student teacher should have. If you'd like to read more about him, please visit his blog.

No. This is a blog about me.

So what exactly do I do here, in the back corner of the classroom, sitting amongst the masses? Here is what I’ve tried so far:
1. Typing pages of highly detailed feedback to Randon
2. Grading something easy, like vocabulary quizzes
3. Jumping into discussion every now and then when I can’t hold myself back
4. Giving quiet but dirty looks to disruptive children; even though their backs are to me, I’m hoping they can feel the silent, angry vibes of my fury and will alter their behavior accordingly

Sadly, none of this is doing it for me.

Here’s what I do now: I observe. And I mean really observe—not just Randon, but the individual students and the larger-than-life collective being that they form as a class. And I have to say that I have learned more about this class in the past four weeks of observing than I learned all of last semester.

My English 10 class is the deity of creativity and performs beautifully when engaged in activities based on performance and/or competition. My American Literature class is a slightly more volatile spirit that growls when asked to do anything to menial and cheers when given avenues for its aggressive passion, such as debates, and it is also a highly visual learner.

As for getting to know the individuals, I’ve noticed that the boy in the middle of my American Literature class who always seems to making snide comments is actually making very smart, constructive comments—it turns out that he’s just not that into raising his hand. I’ve been surprised by the fact that most students actually do talk about what they’re supposed to talk about when put into partners and groups. I saw that the quiet girl in the back who got a D last semester actually is annotating her copy of Frederick Douglass and is desperately trying to make sense of it. Actually, now that I think about it, all of the individual surprises have been happy ones. And sad ones, too, because I can’t believe how quickly I wrote these kids off last semester.

It’s a lot harder to write someone off when you sit next to him or her every day.

How do they perceive me, once so tall in the front of the room, now lounging in a chair-desk with the best of them? The only way I can describe it is like this:

At first, they were kind of like fish swimming around toward the bottom of the ocean, and I was a big snorkeler passing over them. They acknowledged me mostly through their peripheral vision, and they silently accepted my foreign presence without openly welcoming it.

But now, they’re letting me in a little, realizing that I’m not suddenly going to turn on them. They can hold a discussion with me just like I’m anyone else, and no, we’re not equals, but I can dive down a little from the surface, they can rise up a bit, and we can get close enough.

Today, I videotaped my English 10 class’s Macbeth performances, and I told Shay that he’d better step it up because I was going to zoom in on him the whole time. He shook his head as he reluctantly made his way to the front of the class.

As Shay was typing his notes, I told him that he needed to spice them up a little—they looked boring. I grabbed his laptop, set his background color to black and his font color to red. "See? Doesn't that look more Macbeth-like?" He rolled his eyes, but I'm pretty sure he agreed with me deep down.

After the bell rang, while Shay was packing up his bag, I said to him, “Set the standard high in your other classes today, Shay. Ask some good questions. Challenge yourself.” He finally abandoned his “no eye contact” rule and looked me squarely in the face. With a smile playing at the edges of his mouth, he asked, “Why are you picking on me?”

To which I responded, “Because I sit next to you.”

Quantifying a Heart

2008-10-09T08:14:00.003-06:00

For the second year in a row, I'm asking all of my students to develop a personal philosophy to guide their own learning this semester. They're using wikispaces to organize their ideas, to make connections to texts and to the rest of the outside world, and most importantly, to complicate their perceptions.

So here's the problem: I have no idea how to grade them. I've tried several different rubrics, and none of them have done justice to this personal project. Part of the issue is that the guidelines are loose; I give my students a basic outline, suggestions, and examples, but the rest is really up to them because I want their wikispaces to be unique, not formulaic. I don't want to "ruin" this project for them by giving them a long checklist of requirements, and I think they appreciate that. But when it comes down to making a rubric and to offering meaningful feedback, I struggle. I've tried making a list of what I'd like them to get out of this project and what they would like to get out of this project, but it always feels artificial to assign a point value to something that comes from their hearts.

Ideas?

Quiet Students

2008-03-06T14:47:00.003-07:00

I was speaking with Terry Sale and some of the A.P. Literature teachers about grading practices the other day, and Terry gave me a new idea...

When his students participate in Socratic seminar, the ones who don't speak receive a non-grade instead of a zero. Since I've been doing fishbowl discussion with my sophomores lately, I started thinking about whether a zero or a nongrade more aptly fits a student who simply chooses not to participate. I have many smart students who are terribly shy, and there's a part of me that feels like someone needs to "force" them to participate, however uncomfortable it may for them at first; the idea is that hopefully, they'll grow increasingly confident when it comes to class discussion once they get through the embarrassment of speaking out loud. But there's another part of me that respects the quiet, cerebral student who learns by listening, thinking, and reflecting through writing.

While students usually have the option to write for credit instead of discussion, there are two times in the unit when they must come into the inner circle and discuss. Still, there are always a few students who enter the inner circle on their assigned days with the same enthusiasm with which they might approach a root canal, and they sit mutely (and awkwardly) throughout the entire discussion without offering a word. In the gradebook, this tranlates into a zero out of ten. However, judging by the pained expressions on some of their faces, they probably were trying to participate...maybe. In any case, they weren't detracting from the discussion, which makes me wonder why they should receive a failing grade. They were, instead, a non-factor, which might be better represented by a non-grade.

How should this be handled? What's more important--encouraging students to participate, or creating grades that reflect their roles as accurately as possilbe?

The Not-So-Intimidating World of Wiki

2007-10-18T07:31:00.000-06:00

One challenge that faces me each year is how to achieve cohesion between in-class activities, homework assignments, class discussions, creative projects, and essays (not to mention cohesion between units and semesters). With the guidance of the brilliant and charming Mike Porter, my students and I have discovered the glory of wikispaces.

In my American Literature classes, my students each formed a personal philosophy statement that will form the focus for the semester, and perhaps even for the year. Many of their philosophy statements explore the root of evil, the impetus for rebellion and/or obedience, the destructive force of fear, the significance of vulnerability, and other concepts that emerge from early American literature.

They then connect their philosophy statements to selected readings for the semester, as well their writings, notes, annotations, and blog comments. Also, they develop their own "creative" project exploring their philosophy, and this project should emerge from one of their strengths. Some students, for example, are writing songs that revolve around their philosophy, and then performing and podcasting them. Other students are using photostory, creative writing, photojournals, and even sportscasting to express their ideas.

I like using wikispaces because the technology doesn't get in the way; a wikispace is essentially a 21st century folder that allows for almost any type of media, emphasizes professionalism, encourages feedback, and lasts as long as you want it to, unlike a notebook that you clear out at the end of each semester. We'll keep coming back to the wikispaces throughout the semester and adding to them, and hopefully by the end of the semester they'll be able to look over their work and their ideas say, "THIS is the little piece of my soul that grew in American Literature," whether they focused on hope, goodness, evil, or any other personal topic that found its way out of a seemingly boring Puritan text.

Their first version isn't due until Monday, but here are a few links to wikispaces that are pretty well under way. Be sure to click on the links they have on the left side of the page ("Personal Philosophy," "In-class Work," and "Creative Connections"), and feel free to leave comments on the "discussion" tabs of their pages!

Hannah's Wiki
Meghan's Wiki
Brian's Wiki
Madison's Wiki

A Unit of One's Own

2007-09-21T12:36:00.000-06:00

I'm trying to figure out ways for my students to develop meaningful "portfolios" at the end of each unit. As my American Literature students have been reading The Crucible, for example, we've covered a way array of topics. However, they each wrote on five personal philosophy statements at the beginning of the unit, and I'd like them to use The Crucible to complicate and strengthen at least one of these initial personal philosophies so that months or years from now, they can say "This is what I took from The Crucible."

I'm thinking they can pick one personal philosophy statement as a focus and then support it with a selection of blogs, in-class writing prompts, pieces of essays, and other work they've done with the play; I'd also like them to extend their understanding by doing something "creative" with this focus, such as producing a short story, song, photo album, etc.

What I really need help with is finding a tool that would bring together mixed media and help organize these bits and pieces into a thematic whole that could be shared not only with me but with the rest of class and possibly linked from our class blog.

Any ideas?

Miles Ahead but Miles To Go

2007-08-30T09:52:00.000-06:00

After spending a little less than two weeks with my new classes of sophomores and juniors, I'm impressed at how far ahead of the game they already are in terms of technological proficiency. Nearly all of my students already had working blogger account before coming to class this year, and I didn't have to spend much time reviewing blogging expectations because they already knew the rules. Although many of my students did not come from laptop classrooms, the ones who did are infinitely helpful with helping their classmates troubleshoot. It's exciting not to have to revisit so many issues that seemed to dominate class last year.

Of course, this means that it's time for the bar to be raised. My goal this year to have one unit in each class in which my students are using Blogger to communicate with people outside of class. I'd love to find another class, such as an A.P. class here or a class in a different school (or even a different state or country!) that would be willing to collaborate with one of my classes. I think my classes need to start communicating with people outside of the Littleton community when discussing current controversial issues. I'd also like to expand our peer editing so that students of different ages and backgrounds can offer each other feedback. Think about how much my Honors sophomores, for example, might benefit from A.P. Literature students editing their essays. I'd like to see my juniors communicating academically with college freshmen so that they know what their professors will expect of their critical thinking and writing skills.

Any takers?

Stretch, take the nets down, and blog

2007-08-13T10:51:00.000-06:00

Taking a bunch of sweaty volleyball players into my clean laptop classroom at first seems to cross a boundary that is not necessarily meant to be crossed. However, as I face this week of volleyball tryouts thinking about what tools I can offer my team to give them an edge, I see blogging as a possibility.

Consider this: The strongest volleyball teams I’ve ever coached have had two things in common: (1) The players’ ability to communicate with each other, and

(2) their willingness to communicate with me. Blogging has significantly improved communication in all of my classes throughout the past two years—why not try it in the realm of coaching?

The fact that I coach a freshman team also makes blogging an interesting tool. Many of these girls have not found a group of friends or are watching their former middle school cliques deteriorate. Some of them are simply trying to cope with their new (and much harder) high school classes. Last year, I gave each girl on my team a little journal and had them write it in a few times; they could give it to me, and I would then write back. It was a great (though time-consuming) way for me to see what was going on in their heads, and since I would argue that volleyball is about 75% mind and 25% pure physical skill, and that the vast majority of volleyball practice is focused only on physical skill, these little journals became significant to me. I remember wishing on multiple occasions that I could show the girls each other’s journals and thinking that they could play together so much better if they could only get out of their heads and into each other’s. Anyone who has ever played or coached a team sport before knows that a player who puts herself before the rest of her team can be that team’s downfall.

I think that blogging could be a safe and inviting space for my team to talk not only about practice, games, team feeds, and other volleyball-related issues, but also how their first week of school went, how they’re balancing class with sports, and other topics that might help them build a more authentic camaraderie that will hopefully carry over to the court.

I’m thinking that I’ll only take them into the classroom just one time to get their blogs set up; the rest of the blogging will happen at home, perhaps a minimum of once a week. Any ideas or feedback? I don’t know if there are any other coaches out there who have tried this, or if I’m just overly blog-happy.

If you surrendered...

2007-02-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Today I found a quote by Toni Morrison (my favorite author and personal hero), that helped me realize why my American Literature classes have been so boring and lifeless lately. She writes, "If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it." But the air this semester has been cold and indifferent, and I haven't been willing to make myself vulnerable enough to surrender to it.

For the past two weeks in American Lit, I've been forcing my students to attempt a New Historicist reading of Huck Finn. "Why?" you ask? Because I like New Historicism, that's why. But I probably wouldn't have liked it in high school, and I can tell you that my students find it difficult, restrictive, and repetitive. So I'm going to gently let it go, and hopefully they're proficient enough with it that they will be able to use when and if they ever want to.

On the flip side, I've been loving my English 10 class lately because it's full of dramatic kids, and we're performing dramatic interpretations of Macbeth. I finally surrendered to their energy a little, so we're all riding along just fine. I think with my honors students I feel more pressure to familiarize them with every possible tool they'll need in their A.P. classes, and so their creative, fun sides get pushed aside too often. When I spend hours and hours lesson planning, I sometimes find that perfect, fun way to trick students into learning without their feeling a thing--much like an expert nurse gives a painless shot. And yes, it almost always centers on constructivist learning.

I'd like to surrender to the energy of my American Literature students and let them excel, but I just can't seem to tap into them this semester. Some of them seem to have no energy, and others shut me out. Some of them sit quietly and give me this look as if to say, "YOU figure it out. I'm full of undisclosed talents, but I'll be damned if I'm going to just come out and tell you about them. It's your job, lady, so step up already." But how do I begin?

Too Personal?

2007-01-17T17:19:00.000-07:00

Stealing the idea from Blogger tag, I asked my first hour class last night to post a comment to the class blog in which they named five things about themselves that they wanted the class to know. I set an example by doing it myself first, and here's what I posted:

1. I am a terrible sport and throw a fit when I lose--especially when it comes to board and card games.
2. I hate it when people crack their knuckles or burp in public. It's disgusting.
3. I like to watch one rerun of "Scrubs" before going to bed because I find it relaxing.
4. Sometimes I'd rather curl up in bed and read a book than go out and socialize. I would have never admitted this in high school because I used to think that it made me a dork. Now I'm automatically a dork because I'm old and a teacher, so I don't really care.
5. My mother is very, very sick, and I get upset about it everytime I'm in my car by myself.

I have to admit that it felt cathartic to get this stuff out there--especially number 5. I think that my students must have felt the same way because their posts were intensely personal. I found out that one of my students had colon cancer, while another has a father in jail, another had a friend who was raped, and someone else had a drinking problem, and about 100% of the girls in my class obsess over whether they're too fat or too thin, and fun things, too--one girl is a double-dutch expert, while another guy sleepwalks, and someone else has a true phobia of fish, and someone else wants to be a country singer, and nobody wants to be judged, and nobody likes a fake.

When I read their posts last night for the first time, little alarm bells starting ringing in my head. What if their parents read their blogs? Well, so what if their parents read their blogs? Is this my students' passive aggressive way of letting the world know that these kinds of issues need some adult attention? But what if some pedophile reads these blogs and takes advantage of the situation? What have I just invited in?

The idea behind this activity was to get my class to get to know each other, respect each other, and to inspire each other with the next piece of personal writing we're working on. As far as the class goes, I'm thrilled that they want to be honest with each other. The blog seemed like the ideal medium to get the ball rolling--it offers a much larger comfort zone than does class discussion, but unlike an essay, it's interactive. However, I'm toying with the idea of deleting the post (along with their comments) at the end of the week. After all, it's served its purpose. Why leave the door to our little classroom with all of our private battles open to the world?

Any advice/opinions?

An Old Fashioned Girl After All

2006-12-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I've read one too many Bradbury stories, but I do worry about growing increasingly dependent on technology. For all technology's advantages--and it has more potential than my brain could ever consider-- it has a certain coldness to it. A detachment. And it's not even this cold indifference that scares me--it's that future generations might not recognize this quality because they won't know the warm confusion of getting lost in a library or the privacy of writing in a journal with a wobbly lock or sleepy comfort of dozing with your sister's well-creased novel in your hand. Wikipedia can't hold a candle to the brownish-red, well-worn leather dictionary my father kept in high school--the one my parents kept in the study and forced me to use each time I didn't understand a word they used.

Looking up words in books takes time, journals can't spell check, and novels don't have links for you to click on. But despite the fact that Amazon.com knows my birthday, credit card numbers, every book, film, and CD I've ever purchased, my last four addresses, and the addresses and names of my friends and family, it's impersonal. Storing my name is not the same as carrying a stain on page 84 of Pride and Prejudice from a red popsicle I ate while sitting by the pool one late afternoon.

Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream comforts Hermia by reminding her that "The course of true love never did run smooth." For me, at least, love cannot exist in a realm of logic or predictability. To be the constructivist learner, the student in classroom that's not education as usual, to be a creative thinker and a problem solver and an innovative, active contributor to society, I think you must be a lover of knowledge. And this love, by nature, must be breathtakingly inefficient.

The Lights Are on AND There's Somebody Home

2006-11-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

This is just a little post about a little topic. One challenge I've always faced in American Literature is how to teach the literary movements. In the past I've given overviews and short letters and had the students search for elements of these movements in their reading. This year they performed independent studies in which they figured out Romanticism for themselves and then used Photostory to present their discoveries. As they watched each other's Photostories, they created their own definitions of Romanticism by taking notes on the Photostories' themes. When we finished, they kept their notes out and read a Rationalist piece by Ben Franklin. I asked them to keep sticky notes on the differences between Franklin's piece and Romanticism, and then we created a Romanticism v. Rationalism t-chart on the board. I was blown away by what they were able to come up with in just five minutes; it far exceeded every lecture, overhead, and worksheet I'd given in the past. Instead of moving from whole to part, we moved from whole to part and back to whole again. I know that this constructivist business is old news by now, but I get so caught up sometimes in the technology that I forget that it's the little changes that sometimes make the difference.

Under Pressure

2006-10-02T17:56:00.000-06:00

First I should say that having laptops in the classroom has transformed my students' projects, engagement, and organization in positive ways that I hadn't anticipated, and I'm extraordinarily grateful for this.

But next I need to address some of the struggles I face almost daily because of being in a "laptop classroom." I feel some days that I'm letting down both my students and the other technology teachers because I'm not using the laptops daily in my classes. The only class that has used them each period has been my first hour class, but this will probably change once we start Fahrenheit 451. In my Honors American Literature classes, I use the laptops for only part of the period, maybe 2-3 times per week. I know that the technology has endless potential (not to mention that it was quite expensive), but I can't bring myself to make my class revolve around the laptops. Should I make this more of a priority? I hate to waste opportunities.

For example, I'm at the point in the semester where I'm beginning to introduce the philosophy book project to my sophomores. Last year, one of the greatest parts of this project was the freedom and individuality it encouraged. This year, I'm tempted to give them a little more structure for this project so that they use the technology at their fingertips. Between the blog, photostory, wikispaces, etc. etc. there is a plethora of exciting opportunities. But would this limit them or open new doors? Am I old fashioned for shutting my door to the laptops 2 days a week and having old fashioned activities?

One other confession...I love books. And I'm not talking about electronic books that talk to you and look up your vocabulary words. I love how paperback books feel in my hands. I love getting lost in libraries. I like falling asleep with a book open on top of my stomach or loosely clutched in my right hand. I am wary of a world where people like me are just getting older, and everyone else is content with the efficiency of their online texts. As much as embrace and value what the classroom set of laptops has brought to the classroom, and I would never want to go back to a classroom without them, I am scared of the holes that they leave.

After School Skills

2006-09-17T20:26:00.000-06:00

Constructivism has been spreading gradually into my coaching philosophy lately. After a frustrating four consecutive losses, I decided that my freshman volleyball team needed to regroup. As individuals, they each showed skill and athleticism that should have made it easy for them to challenge and beat the teams that we had played. But the problem is that volleyball has little to do with individual skill--it's about three touches on a play, team movement, and constant communication. In short, we were playing like six individuals instead of as a single team.

I think that trusting your teammates is something you have to practice; esepcially for freshman girls, learning how to treat each other is a skill to be learned as much as passing, setting, or hitting. Since I'm not there to monitor how to they behave towards each other in the locker room before and after practice, or in the hallways during the way, nor do I remember very clearly what it's like to be a 14-year-old girl (I think I've repressed most of my 8th and 9th grade years as a survival mechanism), I decided that they needed to come up with their own pre- and post-practice rules.

We had a meeting in a classroom during practice last week where I told them what I had been observing in the past two weeks, and then I set down two rules: (1) That they treat each member of the team with respect at all times, and (2) That each player must believe deep down that we can win, and that she must show that belief through her intensity and attitude at practice.

Then, I left them in the classroom to create their own specific expectations for how to treat each other on and off the court. About 30 minutes later, they emerged with a typed list of seven very specific expectations. Their list made it so clear what they needed of each other and of me--I could never have anticipated nor articulated their feelings and ambitions as well as they did. I asked the captains to explain each one, then after we agreed that they were fair, we all signed them. I read them again aloud at the end of practice, and I intend to keep reading them at the end of every practice.

The next day we had our next match, and we played like a team--that was our greatest victory. And yes, we did score our first official win. It was a start.

Our biggest challenge will be to uphold these expectations instead of giving into the old ways ingrained in them by the big middle school bullies--Gossip and Insecurity. I really want our team to be a safe little circle for them where they know they can be themselves, and they feel protected from the darker side of high school.

In volleyball and many sports, it's easy for the coach to dominate. Two girls walk instead of run to get balls? Ten pushups. One girl's late to practice? Three sets of stairs. And all of those strict rules for keeping intensity high are important. But why not let the players establish and enforce them? If we want them to be aggressive, confident, and self-disciplined, then why not let them be the creators and enforcers instead of just the recipients?

For many students at Arapahoe, their biggest lessons are not learned in the classroom. The volleyball court, the football field, the stage, the bandroom, wherever--these are the places our students choose to be. If our philosophy is to prepare these teenagers to be valuable members of a future society, then I think we need to recognize the windows of opportunity that don't open until 2:13.

Laptops...Friend, or Foe?

2006-08-28T12:53:00.000-06:00

The first question my students ask now as they enter the classroom is, "Do we get to use the laptops today?" When the answer is "no," disappointed sighs ensue. While my response to the laptops is largely positive, there are still a few problem areas I need to address.

First, any activity involving the laptops will consume at least half of the classtime, and if you think otherwise, you're just fooling yourself. Although technological difficulties are lessening each day, Blogger is still a mysterious and temperamental creature that lashes out when you're least expecting it, frustrating even the most experienced of bloggers and drawing out activities designed to be quick.

Second, as aforementioned, the laptops seem to be addicting. Many students are turning their noses up at activities that they used to enjoy because they'd rather "blog it out." While I recognize that this is largely because the laptops (and the blogging) are exciting because they're new, and that much of this will dissipate as the laptops become routine, it's still a bit disconcerting. I hope that teachers will use the laptops with caution...call me old fashioned, but I hate to think of a classroom where blogging is valued OVER face-to-face conversation.

Now that I've vented, I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised by the utility of the laptops each time I use them. They do shorten some activities. For example, visual collages are much more efficiently produced on the computer than the old way with scissors, paste, and magazines. It's also helpful to watch my students compose essays on the computers and to be able to model what they're doing on the overhead screen. I'm also noticing that many of the teacher web sources that I've used in the past, such as readwritethink.org, have links to interactive activities now, and the laptops will be useful for these, as for links to online literature that our anthologies are lacking.

I also see the students treating their laptops with respect, and the focus and intensity in their eyes as they work on the computer is unmatched. There is no worksheet that will inspire that kind of attention.

And I know of course, that all of these activities are still part of the technological dark ages, and that there are countless uses of the internet that I haven't even dreamed of, and this is more inspiring than it is frightening. But only by a small margin.

"I prefer to finish my education at a different school"

2006-08-20T15:17:00.000-06:00

And I'm not talking about Oxford. I was rereading Thoreau's "A Life Without Principle" just now for my American Literature class and found a passage that offered me a powerful reminder of what constructivist education is:

"We rarely meet a man who can tell us any news which he has not read in a newspaper, or been told by his neighbor; and, for the most part, the only difference between us and our fellow is that he has seen the newspaper, or been out to tea, and we have not. In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post office. You may depend on it, that the poor fellow who walks away with the greatest number of letters, proud of his extensive correspondence, has not heard from himself this long while."

I am at least as guilty as my students when it comes to trusting "authoritative" voices before trusting my own. I push my students to question information that is "fed" to them and to listen to the weight of their own voices, yet I often find myself a hypocrite in this regard. After returning from England, I have found myself increasingly critical of American culture...I find myself sucked into a system that values the neatness and ease of homogeneity over the messy authenticity of individualism. With my Starbucks in hand and SUV in the garage, it is my copy of Thoreau that seems out of place in my Mizuno bag.

We are countering something huge here.

Back in the U.S.A.

2006-08-09T10:37:00.000-06:00

I was reminded (sometimes painfully) this summer of what it was like to be a student in a challenging class, and I found myself desperately wanting to please my professor. I sent her a barrage of e-mails as I worked on my papers, hoping to win her approval, until she gently reminded me that I was writing the paper for me, not for her. Aside from being a nice way of telling me to leave her alone,--she was a very busy woman--it also gave me a constructivist-teacher-epiphany (let's call it a CTE). To throw themselves into their work with curiosity and ambition, students need to be reminded repeatedly that they are doing their work for themselves, not for us. I wouldn't have spent hours, days, weeks in the Bodleian Library if my focus had been determined for me instead of by me. Well, I probably would have because I'm too much of a perfectionist, but I know that my final product would have been far weaker.

I think too often that the discourse I use to teach writing revolves around me. I say things like, "I don't want you to use boring verbs," or "I don't want to find any apostrophe errors," or whatever. I have never once told my students that they were writing their essays for themselves, not for me. Writing an essay to ingratiate yourself to your teacher and writing an essay to satisfy yourself are two wholly different tasks, and the latter is clearly the one we're striving for here. That goal has always been lying quietly underneath the writing lessons, but it's been drowned out by the much louder, egotistical-teacher-voice. I like that quiet voice. While I'm sad that I've largely ignored it so far, I'm eager to refocus.

In her comments on my final essay, my professor described my writing as displaying a "linguistic felicity." This seemed like a strange pairing of words at the time, but I truly was happy--in a tortured kind of way--as I wrote and researched, and it apparently showed. I'd like for my students to know how this feels.

Nothing To Do with Anything

2006-06-05T22:00:00.000-06:00

A few inspiring aquatic thoughts for and by kind-of-constructivists (although this has nothing to do with education, unless you're planning on being a fisherman or cabana boy):

“The sea-shore is a sort of neutral ground, a most advantageous point from which to contemplate this world. It is even a trivial place. The waves forever rolling to the land are too far-travelled and untamable to be familiar. Creeping along the endless beach amid the sun-squall and the foam, it occurs to us that we, too, are the product of sea-slime.”
~Henry David Thoreau, "Cape Cod"

“Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen.”
~Stephen Wright

Thanks

2006-05-23T16:19:00.000-06:00

I am officially out of deep thoughts, and I need a little time for new ones to grow before Oxford hits me like a truck, but I have a few last thank you's to give.

1. Thank you to Karl. I can't even put into words what you've given me, but I know it's made me a better person and teacher.
2. Thank you to the other founding fathers of our technology team. I joined this team because I looked at your names and knew that I could trust you.
3. Thank you to my students for helping me take risks and for encouraging me unconditionally. I think the world of you.

This is beginning to sound like a senior yearbook page, so before I start saying things like, "You rock!" and "Never change," I'm going to sign off for a little while. I'll try to blog from Oxford a few times. Until then, you can find me jogging, playing frisbee, or attempting to take my cats on a walk wherever I can find a relatively dog-free park.

The Gorilla and I

2006-05-09T19:00:00.000-06:00

It's a little like wrestling a gorilla.

You don't quit when you're tired; you quit when the gorilla is tired.

-Robert Strauss

Well, both the gorilla and I are exhausted, and we are pretty much wrestling to humor each other. Can somebody offer me something that will get me through the next two and a half weeks? Does anybody understand this metaphor? I think my post-modern technological poetry website has officially ruined my brain.

Digital Down to the Bones

2006-05-03T09:52:00.000-06:00

I found a website dedicated to "technological poetry," a concept that seems almost paradoxical to me. What does technology have to do with the soul, I wonder? Here is the website's motto:

"This is a place for poetry and fiction born to pixels rather than the page--writing that's digital down to its bones. Art is the technology of the soul."

I just posted it to my 1st hour English 10 class because they're currently studying in poetry, and I'm eager to see how they'll react. If you have a few minutes and would like to play with this interactive poetry website, I'd love some feedback. Here's the address and the poems that I found particularly intriguing:
http://www.wordcircuits.com/gallery/index.html

Be sure to check out the links to the following three poems (you'll need a computer with sound):1. "Xylo" (Peter Howard)2. "Stained Word Window" (Deena Larsen)3. "The Dancing Rhinoceri of Bangladesh" (Millie Niss)

The End

2006-04-17T12:16:00.000-06:00

As I watched my fourth hour fill out their schedules for next year, I felt sadder than usual at the prospect of not being their teacher again (they're Honors, and I don't teach any classes above American Lit). I think I feel more attached to my students this year because I've taken more risks with them and made myself a little more vulnerable than usual. It's been a long road from teaching in Manhattan, where seasoned teachers warn you not to smile or let down your guard in the first three months of class. I think about how unsteady I felt with my sophomores for the first six weeks of first semester, and the thought of starting over with several classes of strangers next year is daunting.

This year my students have seemed more like actual humans to me...in past years certain students might as well have been 2-dimensional cutouts because the only things I knew about them was how often they turned in their homework and how proficient they were in reading and writing. When I look at them this year, however, I can see little pieces of the adults they're becoming. And I'm excited for their futures, even if I no longer play a part.

Goal Tracking

2006-04-04T12:49:00.000-06:00

As per Karl's request, now is a good time to examine the progress (or lack thereof) I've made with the goals I set at the end of first semester.
Goal #1: Emphasize that the course revolves around students, not around the teacher or the literature.
Progress: This has always been my teaching philosophy, but I've been more cognizant of it this semester. I model my reading assigments after my Oxford classes, which are entirely reader-centered. As my students read The Great Gatsby, for example, they annotate the text guided by their own curiosity and interest rather than by mass-produced worksheets. We are fishbowling discussions.

Goal #2: Keep class new; maintain a class routine that's comfortable but not predictable.
Progress: This is difficult but necessary at this time of year. Lauren and I are venturing into new territory in our English 10 classes; we're allowing our students to form book groups and analyze a text of literary merit that has been turned into a decent movie. Although the goals of this project are the same as they would be for our more traditional text, A Separate Peace, students will set their own schedules and work in book groups. They will still read for symobls, themes, characterization, setting, etc., but hopefully they will be more invested in their analyses because the books were of their choosing. It's difficult to be designing a unit from scratch in the last six weeks of the semester, but it's far better than forcing my students to analyze a novel that they hate/can't relate to/refuse to read. It's nice to see them get excited about reading.
Goal #3: Prepare students to be innovative and adaptable so that they can partake in the competitive global economy. The world is flat, baby.
Still no clue. Suggestions are welcome.

Live it, love it, blog it.

How To Avoid the Wall

2006-03-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

It feels as though I always find myself at this time of year smashing head-on into a wall of boredom and monotony in my classes. This is why I love attending the CLAS conference--it's not only a break from the typical weekday, but it gives me some much-needed new ideas for the classroom. This year I attended two sessions, and both were pleasantly founded in constructivism.

The first session explored how to use portfolios in the classroom without creating an excessive amount of work for the teacher. What I liked about the presenters is that they clearly addressed the uselessness of letter grades when assessing writing (how do you give someone a D on an essay about their grandmother dying?), but the necessity of grading in a high school framework. They basically balanced traditionally graded academic essays with creative pieces that received completion grades only, along with a writer's memo establishing purpose and a reader's memo establishing reflection. The creative pieces were called "YAWPs" (after Uncle Walt, of course) and encompassed a wide variety of activities. I can see some of my students absolutely loving these, especially in my Honors classroom where I often push aside their creativity to make space for timed writing, analytical essays, and vocabulary. Interestingly, the rubric used to assess the portfolio at the end of the semester is completed by the student, not the teacher, and it focuses on growth and process.

The second session focused on using Harper's Weekly in the A.P. classroom to explore rhetoric. I loved it and will definitely use it, but it seemed like a one-class deal. I'll have to think about how to expand it...I guess that first step will be to figure out what, exactly, Harper's Weekly is.

In any case, it was inspiring to be surrounded by so many people who are passionate about the same thing (this is also why I love my Oxford program). I was also careful this year to attend sessions for high school teachers only--none of this putzing around with kindergarten coloring book crap. Sometimes, I find myself suddenly and inexplicably angry with primary school teachers, and I'm not sure why. I think I blame them for all my students who can't spell or use commas. But this is a discussion for a different time and place.

Remember: Live it, love it, blog it.

E-mail Etiquette

2006-02-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine from graduate school sent me this article today addressing how e-mail lowers the boundaries between students and professors and to what extent the professors appreciate this growing intimacy. Here's a piece:

"(Feb. 21) - One student skipped class and then sent the professor an e-mail message asking for copies of her teaching notes. Another did not like her grade, and wrote a petulant message to the professor. Another explained that she was late for a Monday class because she was recovering from drinking too much at a wild weekend party."

Much of the Language Arts curriculum revolves around teaching students how to communicate effectively, and many students truly are clueless when it comes to communicating with adults via e-mail or the blog. For example, the article describes how one professor teaches her students that "the less powerful person always has to write back." This is one of those little rules that I've always abided by unconsciously but wouldn't think to verbalize to my students. In any case, the rest of the article is a good, engaging read, and it's at the following address: http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060221095709990001

Should we start addressing this more directly in the high school classroom?

Profanity on the Blog

2006-02-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

It was brought to my attention today that one of my students is using profane language on another one of my student's personal blogs. This is incredibly frustrating to me for several reasons. First, I trust my students and try to treat them like adults. When they violate this trust by acting like twelve-year-olds who have just learned their first swear words, I feel like an idiot for having trusted them in the first place. Second, I don't have time to police their personal blogs, and it's a little frightening to think what they could be posting that it ultimately linked back to my name and my class, even if it's several degrees removed. I know that some of my students have links from their personal blogs to random websites that have nothing to do with Arapahoe. Yet whatever happens to be posted on those sites is linked back to my class blog as well. I'm going to need to revise my blog expectations to address directly how personal blogs should be used, and at the risk of coming across as a Nazi, I'm going to keep it strict. I respect my students' first amendment rights, but I also have a right as to how my name is used. In any case, I'll address this right away. I think that 99% of the time my students use the blog respectfully and academically, but that 1% of the time that it's not plagues me.

Exhausted but Happy

2006-02-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

"Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things."

--The Shawshank Redemption

Sad Tonight

2006-02-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

My honors students posted their own versions of Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing," and their verses depressed me terribly. So many of them see the classroom as a place that numbs them, bores them, agitates them, deadens them...I think of Anne asking,"Who killed your love of learning?" I remember feeling stressed in high school, but I also loved my teachers and classes. I know I was just a dorky girl in a plaid skirt and knee socks, but I actually enjoyed figuring out problems in my physics book. I felt like I was accomplishing something and that school had a personal purpose.

My students are beautiful people with endless potential, but it seems to be deteriorating. I'm fairly confident that these kids loved elementary school, loved curling up with their parents at night to read, maybe even loved middle school. And now they tread to class as though in a funeral march. They live for the weekends and days off, and manage to push themselves through the day, driven by grades and parents and other shallow motivations. I feel guilty but angry at the same time; they see themselves victims and consequently neglect to take responsibility for themselves. Somewhere along the way, consciously or not, they traded their hearts and minds for A's. What a waste.

A Metablogical Post

2006-02-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but blogger has definitely been drawing in more and more students...even ones who don't take classes that require blogging. When I introduced my class to the blog this semester, nearly all of them already had an account. Last semester most of my students had blank personal blogs, but this semester many of them have started posting their writing. Reading their philosophies and their fiction has impressed and humbled me...it's also helped me get to know them. I used to hold my students at quite a distance, but so much of what we've been implementing from technology team has allowed/forced me to remember that my students actually exist outside of school. They're almost like people that way.

Anyway, I do think that the better I know my students, the better teacher I'll be. My boyfriend, who also teaches high school English, often peaks over my shoulder as I'm reading my students' blog comments--he's fascinated by how comfortable with each other we've all become on the blog (he's also waiting somewhat impatiently for his turn to use the computer). I've discovered that my students are funny, talented, sweet, obnoxious, and opinionated, and that they can use their powers for good or evil. Mostly good, though.

Turning My Lessons on Myself

2006-01-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

I forced my Honors students this week to consider what is most important them, and what they would do to achieve it. I'm glad that some of them found it useful, but it left me feeling like a hypocrite. How can I preach to them to follow their morals when I largely ignore what's important to me? In the words of one of my own students, I find myself too often in "an ocean of doubt." When I came to Arapahoe, I left behind my dedication to a certain population of students. I think I've been trying to erase everything that reminds me of Manhattan.

I've decided to try to reconnect to those kids--the ones I still I think about almost everyday--by volunteering. This weekend I explored several tutoring opportunities involving at-risk kids and hope to get started soon. Some of the organizations are looking not only for adults, but for mentors who are teenagers themselves. I have some students who would be outstanding in this, but I don't know the details of how I could possibly get them involved (this is assuming that they would even be interested). If anyone has any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated.

Goals (finally!)

2006-01-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

Many of my blog entries revolve around my teaching goals, but I thought I'd narrow my focus and delineate my most important reflections (as per Karl's request).

1. Goal: Emphasize that the course revolves around students, not around the teacher or the literature.
Action plan: Continue activities where students create questions and activities--let their interests drive class discussion; refrain from giving out "right answers" or even personal opinions unless asked. Be the facilitator.

2. Goal: Keep class new; maintain a class routine that's comfortable but not predictable.
Action plan: Use the blog when needed, but don't exhaust it. Vary class structure between whole class discussion, small groups, partner work, and individual work. Use different media--art, music, film, dramatic activities, etc.

3. Goal: Prepare students to be innovative and adaptable so that they can partake in the competitive global economy. The world is flat, baby.
Action plan: Give each student a copy of Friedman's book. Seriously though, I don't know how to do this. Hopefully 21C class today will help.

Losing Pieces of Myself

2006-01-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Like many teachers I know, I received a copy of Frank McCourt's Teacher Man for Christmas. McCourt describes his experiences as a teacher in the Manhattan public school system, and some lines are painful because they make direct contact with my own experiences and insecurities. I thought I'd share one passage that made me blush out of amusement, embarrassment, and confusion:

"In the high school classroom you are a drill sergeant, a rabbi, a shoulder to cry on, a disciplinarian, a singer, a low-level scholar, a clerk, a referee, a clown, a dress-code enforcer, a conductor, an apologist, a philosopher, a collaborator, a tap dancer, a politician, a therapist, a fool, a traffic cop, a priest, a mother-father-brother-sister-uncle-aunt, a bookkeeper, a critic, a psychologist, the last straw.

"In the teachers' cafeteria veterans warned me, Son, tell 'em nothing about yourself. They're kids, goddam it. You're the teacher. You have a right to privacy. You know the game, don't you? The little buggers are diabolical. They are not, repeat not, your natural friends. They can smell it when you're going to teach a real lesson on grammar or something, and they'll head you off at the pass, baby. Watch 'em. Those kids have been at this for years, eleven or twelve, and they have teachers all figured out. They'll know if you're even thinking about grammar or spelling, and they'll raise their little hands and put on that interested expression and ask you what games you played as a kid or who do you like for the goddam World Series. Oh, yeah. And you'll fall for it. Next thing is you're spilling your guts and they go home not knowing one end of a sentence from the other, but telling the moms and dads about your life. Not that they care. They'll get by, but where does that leave you? You can never get back the bits and pieces of your life that stick in their little heads. Your life, man. It's all you have. Tell 'em nothing."

Something Good

2006-01-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

I was a bit apprehensive about weighting my grades and setting up new categories halfway through the year, but I'm beginning to gain some footing. I set up my categories as follows:
Critical Writing (30%)
Critical Reading (30%)
Listening and Speaking (20%)
Work Habits (10%)
Vocabulary and Grammar (10%)
As I'm starting to enter grades, these categories align with my goals much better than my former ones did, and they remind me of the larger importance of each of my assignments. I don't know if my students really understand this system yet (I tried to explain it on the first day, but I got the feeling that those who nodded in agreement did so only because they knew that was what I wanted them to do). I'm also discovering that far too many of my assignments, especially for my regular English 10 class, fall under the "Work Habits" category, and too few fall under "Critical Reading." Interestingly, when I asked my classes on the first day of class this year to write down their expectations of me, of the class, and of themselves, the majority of them wished to work more on improving their critical reading skills. Nobody wanted to work on getting their books covered faster. Fascinating. My big question right now is how to keep track of assignments that come in late. I know that our gradebook can mark assignments late, but I'm wondering how exactly I factor this in on a regular basis.
I would also like to note that posting assignments on the web still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but the weighted system is perhaps the lesser of two evils.

Digital Storytelling

2006-01-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

While planning creative writing units for my classes, I came across several teacher webpages that sing praises of digital storytelling. This seems like a powerful and engaging way to narrate, and I'm wondering what resources we have at Arapahoe to accomodate this type of project (iMovie?). Food for thought, especially if your name is Karl Fisch.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

I realize this has nothing to do with constructivism, but I miss them so much! This long distance relationship is killing me, but I'll be back in Denver on Wednesday. Ah! They're so cute!

Pushing the Button

2005-12-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

As I landed in Columbus a few days go, I found myself unable to resist my superstitious act of raising my feet off of the floor just before the plane touched down. A friend of mine taught me to do this when I was eight years old; she told me it would help the plane land safely and gently. I have done it on every plane ride ever since, even after my high school and college physics classes verified that the weight of my two feet could never impact the landing of a Boeing 747. Yet, at the age of 28, I cannot stop my feet from rising into the air as the ground rises to meet me.

This time as I landed, I thought of the show Lost. A month or so ago an episode aired in which the main character, Jack, discovers an underground cove that has been housing an ongoing science experiment for years. The sole remaining "guardian" of this experiment has to push a button every 700 minutes (I can't remember the exact amount of time). He does this because he was instructed to do so by a video; he has no idea what the button does, or what will happen if he fails to push it. When he meets Jack, he runs away, leaving Jack to take over the task. At first, Jack finds it ridiculous to push a button that may be meaningless, and it becomes clear that science experiment may simply be a test of human nature--how far will we go to protect ourselves from the unknown? When does habit take control of our reactions and decisions? I wonder how many times I "push the button"...what do I do out of habit, or out of fear of the unknown? What do I do in my profession solely because I did it that way last year? Sometimes I feel passionately about things that I keep from my students for fear that I'll fail, for fear that I'll somehow lose a piece of something I love. I hate to fail, and and I absolutely hate to be out of control. Perhaps this is also why I raise my feet--it makes me feel like I'm playing an active part in landing the plane. Because of our team, I keeping trying more and more new things in the classroom, and though they've gone well, I know that something's going to fail at some point. The hard part for me will be to try it again, knowing that it might fail again, instead of falling back into my safety net. Not that everything old is bad--it's just that I need to keep questioning myself.

Luckily, our students seem to be game for change.

Unluckily, at the end of the show, Jack pushes the button.

End of Semester Reflections

2005-12-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

I think I'll use my last blog entry before winter break to consider what's gone well this semester and what needs to be changed. Let's start with the good, and then we'll explore the bad and the ugly.
The Good:
1. Philosophy books
2. Essay tests instead of scantron (They better assess whether or not my students are improving in their "essential learnings")
3. The blog--both academic entries and random ones (Gives us time to discuss extra issues, to get to know each other, to pose questions, to give voice to quiet students, and to put students in the driver's seat)
4. Including my students' voices in discussions of what's "best" for them (Why speculate on what they want and need when they are capable of telling you themselves?)
5. The remote mouse with laser (makes me feel like I'm on Star Trek: The Next Generation)

The Bad and the Ugly
1. Grades, grades, grades
2. Vocabulary (I'm up to my chin in fun vocab. activities, but it still doesn't feel like an integrated part of the course)
3. Grammar/Spelling (Why don't they learn this in elementary and middle school?)
4. Writing in my regular classes (I need more of it, which means I need to find a more efficient way to grade)
5. Finding thematic connections in English 10 (Fahrenheit 451, Of Mice and Men, and A Midsummer Night's Dream don't naturally click together, somehow)
6. ALIS (it somehow devoured at least a third of the semester, chewing up and spitting out some excellent short stories and poems as it marched its way to the finish line)

I took so much away from yesterday's discussion...As a final thought here, it is an honor to be part of a group that gets me excited about changing and improving the strucutre of my classes (and, I might add, it's not too easy to get me excited when I'm as stressed and sleep-deprived as I am this week). So, thanks!

Following Through...

2005-12-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

I posted earlier this year that my students were working on philosophy books with the goal of making personal and meaningful connections to the units we've studied in class. I took a "constructivist" approach and allowed them to design their own projects to fit their individual methods of learning and making meaning. In class yesterday they presented their philosophy books, and I was both blown away and humbled by their talent. Moreover, their presentations gave me sense of what part of each unit they had connected with, reminding me that what I find important is not necessarily what's going to captivate them (no matter how passionately I present it). For The Crucible, for example, one of my students composed a song about loving someone you can't have. As she sang this and played her guitar, I realized that I had dismissed this facet of the play altogether; I have always seen Abigail as a wicked manipulator of power, not a lovesick teenage girl. Viewing her as a victim gives my students something to relate to and gives me a new perspective on a play that I've read one too many times. I need to get more specific feedback from my students, but the general consensus so far seems to be that they've enjoyed this project. It's also helped me get to know them a little better, which is always an honor.

I Will Teach You To Write, Dammit!

2005-12-05T12:46:00.001-07:00

In my English 10 class last week, I had my students write anonymous reflections in which they commented on what they would like more of or less of in the last three weeks of English class. About 90% of them stated that they would like less writing and more group projects, but I am still quite worried about the overal low level of their writing. If I'm going to be a constructivist, can I still dictate what my students' needs are, whether they like it or not? I know that what students say they "want" is not necessarily what they "need," but if they don't care about improving their writing, can I still help them become better writers? I devoted 15 hours of this past weekend to writing feedback on their essays, and it frustrates me to no end that the majority of them will never bother to apply my suggestions. I keep thinking of that quotation about how school is a place where teenagers come to watch adults work, and I know that constructivism has helped me flip this around in my Honors classes. I am still, however, in desperate need of some fast inspiration for my English 10 class. Should I just have them make posters or whatever for the rest of the semester? At least maybe they'd walk away from the course without a hatred for books.

This Is NOT a Blog About Grading

2005-11-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

I just need a little break from thinking and writing and talking about our grading system, so instead I'll write about an activity my classes did this week that combined the blog and constructivism. I asked half of my class to post discussion questions regarding a short story by Edgar Allan Poe; I specified that they needed to read the other questions before posting theirs to avoid repeating others' questions. After they posted their questions, I made copies of the questions for everyone in the class. I had all students read through the entire list of questions and highlight the ones that intrigued them the most; they then spent three minutes brainstorming/writing on each of the questions they liked. After they finished brainstorming, I asked them to share any conclusions or questions that came to mind as they did this activity, and their comments were outstanding. Usually my students are somewhat shy to talk about "The Fall of the House of Usher" because it's such a challenging text, but they seemed genuinely interested in attacking each other's questions. I think part of the interest came from the fact that I included their names by the questions they posed. This way, when students shared their responses, they could say, "I chose Caitlin's question because..." I think the activity also validated the importance of asking questions instead of passively accepting confusion. It's also rewarding to see your own name on something that the teacher handed out and to know that every student in the class is thinking about your question. I'm going to do the same activity for "The Minister's Black Veil" so that the other half of the class has a chance to ask questions as well. It's nice to have my students do the hard work instead of just watching me do it.

Inside My Students' Brains

2005-11-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

In my first hour English 10 class today, I asked my students to take ten minutes to reflect upon the class. I asked them to write down what they liked, what they wanted to see more of, and what they wanted to reduce. I gave them no additional prompts. Even though we've only used the blog twice in this class, so it's still relatively new to them, many students commented that they loved the blog and wanted more homework assignments to revolve around the blog. Unfortunately, I failed to push them to explain why, but I'll come back to this after Thanksgiving. I also asked my students how they viewed grades, learning, and motivation. I haven't had time to read their responses yet, but I'll be sure to share them with the blog. Until then, we'll wait anxiously in suspense! You may have noticed that one of my Honors students discovered the Fischbowl on her own and shared her views on grades; I find her perspective quite helpful and revealing.

A Is for Assonine?

2005-11-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

After our November 16th class, I feel confused but validated in my confusion. I can't even count how many times I've encouraged students to ignore the grade and read my feedback instead, or how many times I've made statements like, "I don't care about your grades. I only care about your improvement as a writer." In my higher level graduate courses, grades were nonexistant, and I flourished in this setting. I used to worry about grades so much in high school and college that I developed stomach problems and chronically walked in my sleep; grades took a front seat to higher learning more times than I'd like to admit. Now I see this in many of students--particularly in some of my female honors students--and I don't know how to convince them that grades aren't worth their stress.

However, I still fail to see how dividing our grades into new groups really addresses the problem. After all, we're still assigning a grade and posting a grade and giving students and parents alike something to obsess over. So I come back to the question I posed in class that no one wanted to address: why do we post grades? If we want to remove the emphasis from our grading system, why do we post them and encourage students to check them all the time? And for some students, I really do mean ALL THE TIME. I understand that it's not in our power to do away with the American system of grading, but I wish there were something else I could do besides weighting grades differently. I don't mean to sound disrespectful at all; I think Tony Winger's idea is a good start, and I'd like to know if it's making a difference in our classrooms.

Student Reflections

2005-11-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

My students have unexpectedly started commenting on my personal blog entries, but I'm very much enjoying it. It's helpful to have responses from their persepectives as well, as most of my blog entries are questions and comments regarding the success of constructivism and technology in their classes. Also, two of my students have started their own blogspot in which they hold theological debates. As always, my teaching life is somewhat out of control, but at least there's always something new.

As an aside, the article on grading somewhat offended me. I agree with its overall message (I always differentiate between grades and feedback, and I encourage my students to value the latter), but some of the word choices were insulting. I don't use grades to "threaten" my students, and I find no "relief" in assigning grades. I agonize over assessing my students work until I'm physically sick with stress. Who is the author of this article, anyway?

Will Blogs Take Over the World?

2005-11-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

I think the blog has officially taken on a life of its own. I don't know if this is good or bad; I keep thinking of how the machines become self-aware in The Terminator 2 and imagine myself, buff like Linda Hamilton, packing heat to defend the human race against giant metamorphosing blogs. This may be an exaggeration, but twice already members of the outside world have commented on our class blog (though one was actually helpful), and some of my students have used the blog to passive aggressively attack each other. I've addressed these situations, and I think use of the blog will continue to improve, but I think that so many students are accustomed to blog sites like "My Space" that the line between the personal and the academic blogs can be fuzzy, especially in a course like English. But for the most part, I am blown away both by my students' perceptive comments and by their honesty. I feel a little closer to them now, and I look forward to reading their entries. At times, I think I, too, become obsessive with the blog. As I mentioned in my last entry, I just have to maintain a philosophical focus.

As a postscript, I have seen some early drafts of my students' philosophy books, and I'm intrigued and somewhat humbled. Looking forward to the final products...

Fill in the blanks to create a perfect essay!

2005-11-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

Several of my classes are in the early stages of writing major essays, and I find myself struggling philosophically. While I believe that they will write best about topics they create and pursue independently, many of them are in constant need of more and more structure. In my regular English 10 class, I have students who are unfamiliar with outlining or using an outline to write a well-structured essay. I find myself giving suggestions that are more like fill-in-the-blank thesis statements...the more structure I give, the more appreciative my students are. Or perhaps they're just relieved because I'm doing the hard work for them. I'm wondering where other teachers who teach writing draw the line between passion and organization. I realize that structure is not the enemy of constructivism, but my zillions of handouts, mini-lessons, and rubrics are beginning to take on a life of their own.

What Just Happened?

2005-11-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I brought both of my Honors American Literature classes into the computer lab to set up their blogs. I had two prompts ready--one to do in class to work out any problems or questions, and one to respond to as homework for reinforecement. The responses were outstanding! My students' eloquence impressed me, and I noticed that many took risks that they would have circumvented in a large class discussion. I also felt as though their blog entries freed up some class time by exploring in depth many of the issues I would ordinarily spend a class period discussing. In class today I developed a powerpoint to highlight some of the blog entries, and we used them to clarify certain points. Overall, my students were engaged and excited about blogging. Several of them went far beyond the basic expectations and blogged multiple times last night. Class feels a little more intimate now, and the blog has offered us a way to extend those conversations that somehow always get shortened in class due to time constraints. Between the blogging and powerpoint, I feel a little like I just shoved my classes into a time machine and jumped into the 21st century classroom (next week I will implement rocket backpacks to expedite their speed down the hallway!). Except, of course, for the fact that most of students were already light years ahead of me in the technological universe. As a final note to myself--I need to remember that as seductive as the technology is, my focus is on constructivism. No blogging for the sake of blogging.

Philosophy Books

2005-10-26T17:05:00.000-06:00

I've decided to take a risk with my Honors American Literature class and allow them to create their own personal philosophy "books." I use the term "book" loosely here because I'm allowing their philosophies to take whatever form they choose...analytical writing, creative writing, artwork, music, film, etc. The basic expectation is each student needs to start developing his/her own personal statement using the major units we study in class. I want my students to be more active in and passionate about finding personal/philosophical relevance in every work we study. I think this is especially challening in first semester American Literature, where many of the texts seem remote upon first glance. Although a few of my students were daunted at the idea of genuinely creating their own project based on their own philosophy and personal interests, many of them stayed after class to tell me how excited they were about this project. It makes me nervous to let go of the control this way, but I want this project to be their project, not mine, just as I essentially want this class to be their class. Working drafts are coming in on Monday...I'll write more when I see where they're going with this.

Tracking

2005-10-20T13:40:00.000-06:00

My curiosity was peaked today when our group approached the tracking vs. mainstreaming debate. When I create a post for the group, I'll go into more detail on this, but I'm wondering where the rest of our class stands on this issue. Coming from New York City where almost all students are mainstreamed in public schools, grappling with teaching tracked classes has been a little uncomfortable for me. I feel that some students in my regular classes would benefit from the level of discussion in my Honors classes, and vice versa. I think it's important that students interact with a variety of people--not just those who get straight A's and B's.