Policy Roundtable Discussion

This afternoon I'm attending a policy roundtable discussion with Educators for Excellence.  Our discussion topic is focused on new teacher mentoring.  It's interesting to me that Minnesota does not have any state provision for new teacher mentoring but 22 other states do have state-funded induction programs. 


I'm excited to learn more about how an induction program would work in Minnesota.  I especially loved this quote from the Teacher Support Partnership:

"Finally, induction systems are not about evaluation. Activities that involve assessment of performance, either self-assessment by the educator or collaboratively with a peer observer, are used for formative purposes. Formal evaluation requirements that lead to summative decisions remain the responsibility of the school administrator. Induction systems are focused on the growth, development, and sustained learning of educators." Minnesota Educator Induction Guidelines

The video above is a link to a PBS story that highlights what Chicago is doing to mentor their teachers and prevent burnout.

New Words

I liked the brevity and straightforwardness of this article from The Week.  I'm thinking I might hand it out to my students: How to make a newly learned word 'stick'  I like things that demystify processes of learning for my students.

Summer

Summer is all about recharging the battery, digging in to new ideas and reflecting on the old. I'm always thinking about my classroom, and that's okay with me. Can your career be your hobby and still live a balanced life?

I think so. I've wondered the past few years if I should be adding more non-school things to my life. Right now, I don't feel like anything is missing. Hobbies are supposed to energize, and thinking about my craft does that for me.

When school starts, there just isn't always enough space to dig into new ideas. So I happily use this space: Juut, coffee, Focus by Schmoker, and summer.

Abandoning Books Can Be Meaningful

"Why aren't you reading your book?"  

"Ms. E - it's boring."  

"Oh - stop reading it and find a better one.  

What don't you like about it so you can avoid other similar titles?"

GoodReads recently did a poll to investigate what makes people abandon their books.  This can be a tricky topic for English teachers.  First, we read for different purposes.  Academic reading is an area that cannot be abandoned for many different reasons.  Whatever the hurdle, the reader has to be resilient enough to jump it.  However, reading for pleasure is a whole different thing.

We start to figure out our true personalities in high school.  While peer pressure definitely still has its place, students in our English classrooms are encouraged to pick what they love - even if you're the macho, dreamy boy all the girls crush over we still want you to keep reading your selected book, The Pregnancy Project, because for some reason it entertains, interests, and intrigues you.  As a reading teacher, I feel it's my job to give teens the space to explore whatever it is that piques their interests.  But if the Pregnancy Project suddenly sucks halfway through the book, I say quit it.

“Time is what we want most,but what we use worst.” - William Penn  

I want my students to have endurance and determination, but pleasure reading is not the place to do this.  Instead, let's use that precious non-academic reading time to our best of abilities and hook our students.  Let's give them the space to develop their identity as a reader, just like we know our own identities when it comes to music, fashion, and art. Sometimes one needs to explore new styles, quit, and restart to build self-awareness.

GoodReads: Pyschology of Abandonment

I could chat about the contents of this chart forever!  What's extra fascinating to me are the non-quitters - 38.1% always finish, no matter what.  This represents most academics I know, and sometimes it outcasts me.

In my classroom, I'd say that number is definitely smaller if only for the reason of age and developing their tastes in books.  It would be interesting to collect this same data with my 10th graders at the beginning of the year and at the end.  Would a year of great classroom library choices develop a student's tastes in reading enough to not quit so quickly out of boredom?  Is a boring book always going to be boring to you no matter how long you've been reading, making the analysis null?

Wait.  Forget that bottomless pit of questions I could create.  Maybe what's great about this chart is simpler.  There's so much stigma around quitting and a learned helplessness around it with reading. Looking at this chart, it's clear that there are socially acceptable reasons to stop a book.  Quitting doesn't define your ability in this situation.  But teens, especially struggling readers, think it does.

Maybe there's nothing too spectacular or research-based to learn from analyzing this chart in relation to my own classroom, except to share it with my students and validate their decisions as readers.

 

Did they learn anything?

Pinterest Link

No seriously, did they?  Or did they game the system?


My biggest pet peeve as a teacher (besides cheating) is when students do their work out of a desire for points.  When they game the system, do what they think they must, so they can move along.  Checking for learning is how I beat them at their game.  My biggest strategy is cold-calling, and I will keep doing it this year.  I like this info-graphic quite a bit, and I plan to diversify my learning checks a bit more using some of these suggestions.

How I want to incorporate this:
One particular cloud sticks out to me - "Compare: Compare your work to an 'A' work."  Thanks to my school's collaborative learning teams and my wonderful colleague who shares a classroom with me, I have been so much better at this in recent years.  One thing she ALWAYS does is have an exemplar for students to see what the end product should demonstrate.  We even gave students examples of different levels of achievement with certain assignments.  This seems obvious, but when I was a new teacher I struggled to add exemplars because it takes more time (who has more time!?).   

Hold up though, this isn't really my point.  Anybody can do this and check for their students' learning without an initial exemplar.  Why not take that final step in a lesson to have students reflect on how their work stacked up compared to an A?  Take the 5 minutes and give students some closure by posting or distributing an "A" assignment. Ask students to rate themselves or explain the differences in their work and the exemplar.  As teachers, we should have a few exemplars or else we just got checked - better reteach.  I also love how this helps students because the "A" work isn't an example from a textbook.

Start this habit right away - first few weeks.  Make it the norm for students to reflect on their performance.  Loop the reflection in later by asking them to analyze how the reflections have changed the way they approach learning.  If we can continue to compare and reflect we make learning authentic and meaningful.

Teach kids how to teach themselves.

Side-note:

Pinterest is full of great links to teaching ideas.  I find myself constantly adding links to my "teaching board" but never really going back to those links.  I plan to use this space to explore some of those great resources I find. 

       

Aimless Amy

I was given the nickname in college, Aimless Amy, because I knew exactly what it was I wanted to do with my life: teach.  Nine years later I still know exactly what I want, but I see how aimless the teaching profession can be without purpose, honesty, and passion.

I teach at a large city high school with amazing colleagues and even more amazing students.  The job never gets old.  I'm a proficient teacher, passionate - even.  But I continue to peel away at what it means to be a great teacher for my students and community.  I know my contributions need continual strengthening as long as there's an achievement gap at my school, in my state, in our country.

Hopefully this isn't another fledgling blog that eventually slips away from the writer.  I once found peace and inspiration in writing blog posts in college as an undergrad, because I was exploring a world that seemed so new to me.  It's important to harness that curiosity, passion, and desire even as a veteran teacher (I am a veteran teacher, now, right?).  Here I will share.  Hopefully my readers will walk away with resources or insight into what it takes to teach well.  I don't want to be aimless.  I want to approach my classroom with renewed purpose, honesty, and passion every single year.