FA, a Note to Follow "So?"

Any time I can incorporate a Sound of Music reference, don't doubt that I will take that opportunity.

But really, I know the first time I heard about formative assessment, it was almost like a "So? It's just how we teach, right? Like when we walk around the room, right?" moment for me. But I can tell you that in further researching and discussing the concepts and practices behind it, I have come to realize the responsibility we have to students to make these ideals a part of our daily routines.

I have come to really enjoy and appreciate the NCTE articles we read. I think they are realistic and clear, yet not oversimplified and obvious. For example, I know that when I read this week's article, I found myself relating to the visual they used on pp. 2-3. I like having some foundation-type reading before diving into texts that foster more critical analysis on my part.

I guess I need my own scaffolding and formative assessment, eh?

And therein lies the point.

Isn't the idea of formative assessment just so real-world and true-to-life? There are sometimes those "life" days that inhabit many struggles...many instances that cause me to wonder if the day will ever come to a close. But in order to maintain a full-steam-ahead mindset, we must compartmentalize and focus on the "baby steps" so that we might eventually find ourselves content and complete.

So I find that we must also think this way in teaching our students. Yes, they're all going to be able to write a research paper and annotated bibliography by April 30, 2014, but my goodness, doesn't this seem so daunting to them to hear on the first day of class? I know I feel similarly about course objectives. They actually cause me to take a deep breath and say, "I can do this." In that regard, I find it so helpful to incorporate my own experiences in creating useful and kind lessons so that students can take their own deep breaths as the class carries on. They might feel overwhelmed at first, but our job is to break the task down into smaller goals, even as small as minute-by-minute, to help them feel a sense of accomplishment, or even feel a sense of failure, so that it is apparent and we are aware enough to do something about it.

In the end, I want my own students to eye up a task, large or small, and say, "I can do this." And formative assessment can get us there.

"I Can Post In My Blog So That I Can Reflect Upon This Week's Discussion"

I have thoroughly enjoyed and been intrigued by this week's discussion. I get the notifications of a new posting sent to my gmail, which pops up on my phone, so I've had some interesting reading all week. I especially like this week because it's giving me a fresh perspective on a topic that we discuss a lot in my district. I feel like sometimes we (my colleagues) can get pretty grumbly about in-service, so this is a nice take on a topic that has much importance in the classroom.

I liked reading Shephard's article about the history and research of assessment, which ended like kind of a "where are we going and how are we going to get there" vibe for me.  Regarding this new type of assessment, I found myself agreeing that they made much more sense. But to my surprise, I also found myself coming to the conclusion that regular old summative assessment has its place, too. I know that I use those types of assessments, but sometimes I would feel guilty about it. However, this week has given me some peace in that regard. Perhaps formative assessment can be more catered to the s/c mindset, and I think it just does that naturally, and this will lead students down a path in order to be summatively assessed.

May I digress here for a second to display my amusement/concern that the word "summative" keeps getting the red squiggle for misspelling? It's a word so new for a concept so old that our computers don't know what to do with it! Ahhh!

But anyway.

So I have to admit, I kind of groaned at the thought of reading about the NCTE standards, as our district (and I'm sure many others) has been just crushing us, via the state of Pennsylvania, via the national Common Core movement, with new standards and how to align our curriculum therein. It's frustrating to reinvent the wheel, especially for teachers who have very little free time. So when I started reading these standards on this website, I immediately felt defensive, as if to set out to prove that we are already doing these things! However, I ended up liking a different perspective from that of CCS; these were broader and more life-friendly. Ending with a smile-worthy expectation that families should be involved in the process, as well. So often do they just look at the end product: the grade. When in fact, there might (and usually is) much more to the percentage on the report card. (Like a girl I had who got a 96...probably wrote at the level of 90...but just tested well and turned in all of her homework. I hope her parents get a chance to really view her individual scores on assignments so they can understand what truly made her earn a 96...this would help her in the end, and I'm not trying to trick anyone, but I would think that I would want the same for my own child someday).

Initial groan aside, I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this list and understanding a little more about these expectations. So often we get tied up in the scare of the standard that we forget to step back and view them like the NCTE details for us: in a matter of simple, yet defined, real-world tactics.

Overall for the week, I feel that I learned so much and was able to pull from things that I have filed away from previous in-service days. I like being able to reflect upon these things and think about how to use them so that my students can learn better every day!

Welcome, New Friends!

So I've been teacher-blogging for a few months, but as some new followers might be stopping by, a biographical introduction is certainly in order!

My name is Lesley and I live outside of Pittsburgh, my favorite city in the entire world, with Brussels, Paris, and San Diego all tying for second place. It was a rough roller-coaster of a year for my Steelers....sigh...pause for moment of silence... Now I'm happily cheering for anyone but the Patriots until the NFL closes out for the year and I gear up for the draft and training camp.  I'll probably watch a few hockey games in the interim, as well, but I have horrible vision so it's a struggle to keep my eyes on the puck. #annoying.

Oh, and I also speak "hashtag." Sorry in advance!

Right now I am working to complete my MEd. after earning an English 7-12 teaching certificate at Pitt in 2009. I have taught in several districts since then, starting in 7th grade language arts, then up to 8th grade, and now I'm teaching 9th-12th graders in Argumentation and Debate as well as four sections of seniors in College Writing, which they take for college credit. 

I really found myself able to finish the MEd. when I discovered the entire coursework would be online. I coach boys' high school soccer in the fall, which makes anything "extra" a little challenging, but being able to flexibly manage the work to fit my time schedule was what made it all possible.

That being said, I thrive upon the thrill of being busy. I have a journalism degree (in addition to my English degree), so I thoroughly enjoy working spontaneously and to deadline. (which tends to tie in nicely with the requirements of being a teacher!) Some other things that keep me busy are playing (not just coaching!) soccer, taking ballet classes, and running running running in preparation for the Pittsburgh half marathon in May. (Gah! Thirteen miles?!) Guilty pleasures include celebrity gossip, jetting off to Miami once a year with the girls, and this little Mexican joint in my hometown where the queso is to DIE for. Like seriously I'd request it as my last meal. Just the queso. In a bowl. Nothing thrills me more than hitting a clearance rack that's an additional 50% off (any store will do), and I can often be found on Twitter, Pinterest, and/or Facebook. But you will almost never find me in the kitchen, as I detest cooking, which is weird because I REALLY love food and eating.

Also, nerd alert, I really like going to work every day. Right now I teach mostly seniors, and even though it's a major switch from middle schoolers, which is all I knew from student teaching until this year, I enjoy them and the class so very much. In fact, seniors are why I went back to school for teaching to begin with, as I started my grown up life as a college recruiter for the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, working with seniors from high schools all over the PA, OH, WV, VA, MA... it was very rewarding but I was looking for more "face time" with the kids rather than just a few moments before moving on to the next school. I have finally stumbled upon my niche: working to help students polish their writing and language arts skills as they prepare to enter college and begin molding their adult lives. Plus, I am VERY luck to have an awesome group of students who love to learn and almost always do their homework. (That's a noticeable difference from middle school!)

I'm excited to start on a new course at Pitt, as colleagues and I often discuss our methods of assessment and the reasoning behind them. I am intrigued at the idea of formative versus summative assessment, and I'm constantly trying to revamp my skills and efforts to help students get the most out of their short semester with me. I know this class will greatly expand upon my knowledge and help me understand more about these ideas and concepts.

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to a fun and rewarding semester!

"Voicing" My Grading Procedures

One of my favorite things that happened this week at school is when my students were excited to get their last essays back and actually took ten minutes to read over my comments. 

Small things excite me in the land of teaching.

But I was so glad that they found importance in my comments. Not that I feel like I'm being overly narcissistic (am I...?!), but I am their teacher and I do want them to continue on to college with some sort of remembrance of how to improve their writing. So it was comforting and encouraging to watch them pore over their papers with inquisitive and (somewhat) happy faces. 

What I have really been enjoying on a larger scale is how technology has changed the whole idea of not just students' writing techniques, but my grading as well. I have mentioned the sites we use and discussed other research technology in other postings, but one thing that ties in nicely with the idea of teacher commentary is the idea of VoiceThread. My students and I are very lucky that our district has purchased use of this technology, and I think I would love to be able to commentate and even grade their papers (or a sample of a few student papers) for their review. While it is public and might not be good for individual grades, wouldn't it be a cool thing to be a student and watch a teacher grade even an example paper "live?"  They are always inquiring about specific grading procedures, point values, how I got 15 instead of 18 for a certain part of the rubric...etc.  Therefore, I think it could be so useful to try something like this, maybe go through three different samples (excellent, average, poor) and do a little demonstration on what I'm looking for while having a rubric side by side.  I, myself, at this point in my life, would STILL love to see something like this...a colleague or former teacher, even...make their way through an essay. I seem to remember an audio-grading that we got from a professor at Pitt, and that was pretty neat, but the use of VoiceThread could take it to a whole new level. 

Research Can Be Fun, Too!

My students started a research paper this past week. In asking other teachers in the building, I have found out that this is the fourth year in a row they write a research paper. Well, gee, no wonder they're less than enthralled with the current event topics I let them choose from. Here I expected "oohs" and "aaahs" as I passed out the assignment sheet with "CHOOSE ONE FROM THESE SIX" at the top. Nope? No big deal to them? I supposed they are so used to doing research that they don't bat an eye at being asked to research high-interest topics such as the legalization of marijuana and the interest of marriage equality. I certainly didn't research these topics back in the 90s...but alas, times have changed.

And...so has the method of research. I know we've discussed the innate difference between OUR high school research versus THEIR high school research, but it still has shock value for me. We definitely could not, under any circumstances, "google" anything for our research papers. In fact, the online research we could complete was all intranet-based and through the school's network, if there really even was such a thing back then (saying "back then" is really funny because I understand that graduating high school in 2000 isn't even that long ago, but in terms of technology, it's light years).

Which leads me to my incorporation of EbscoHost to my 98 seniors who would much rather just plunk their topic into the google search box. Boy, were they anti-EbscoHost! And let me preface this by saying, I used to be anti this as well. I thought it was too "boring" I guess. But I let them figure out the importance of it firsthand when most of their sites regarding these hot-current-event-topics were blocked from the school's network. Ha! It's all I could do at this point (in each and every of my four class periods) from singing "I toldjya so!" But in all sincerity, it was kind of cool to watch them learn how to search for scholarly pieces of information instead of just some radical's blog posting about how Obamacare shouldn't happen, or whatever. It just kind of happened that they found out that plain old googling wasn't going to cut it. I think part of the importance of finding quality resources also came from the required annotated bibliography (oh, did I not mention that before? I guess that's pretty vital to in-depth research, eh?). I complained and complained every single time I had to do an annotated bib, but boy, they really start to see the effectiveness of their research once they are forced to quantify it.

Oh, and thanks for the tip, everyone during the first few weeks of class-- www.easybib.com works like a dream and makes them hate citations SO much less!

So here we go...research paper outlines start tomorrow, so we'll see how much information they could gather. And if not, I'll direct them toward those ancient pages between hard covers that are full of words and useful information. You know...books.

"Using Computers Makes Learning Fun!"

...said one of my wiser, more sarcastic students. Before you make him out to be a smartalecky, mean kid, I'll tell you that he has been his class's president for the past three years and is basically one of the coolest kids I've ever had the privilege to teach. Mostly, probably, due the fact that I sincerely appreciate his style of humor. His cynicism is always appropriate and meaningful, like yesterday when I had students using laptops to access www.noredink.com to practice some grammar concepts before today's big test. When he said it, all the students chuckled and I replied to agree with him and they were off to the races.

But his statement, although harmless, still made me ponder. Are teachers making their incorporation of technology too pointed? Is it just way too obvious that we're trying to connect to these age-of-informationers using media that makes sense to them? Maybe. But then the next question is, do we really care that they're on to us?

My answer, after a pregnant pause to ponder, is decidedly: "nope." :)

At any rate, I continued with the online grammar review, and they had so much fun! Since they get to personalize the sentences they get on the review, they were all laughing intermittently as the random and creative questions popped up (e.g., "Fifty Cent had run to the store for some lightbulbs." And so on and so on...haha!). My "sharing a new literacy website" screencast is on this site and is posted on our wiki, so feel free to check it out. The formative assessment you can do with this forum is outstanding...for instance, there is a graph that I can view in real time and if most of them are getting it wrong, I announced this and went to the board and re-explained the rule. At the end of the session, I told them, "Ok, you all seem to understand the confusable words because you're mostly all in the 90% range, but man, you guys HAVE to study plurals and possessives tonight because no one got over 75%."  Now HOW effective is it to have that instant feedback? Especially with so many grammar concepts? It's impossible to quiz them and assess them all as a group (or individually, for that matter), but this site makes it so easy. They actually verbalized how thankful they were to know what to study that evening, and some got on the site last night to practice the ones they missed. (the site gives you practice options for any that you did poorly on)

Intrigued yet? I got some other teachers on board yesterday. I'm telling you...if you want them to be engaged, check out this website. I've never had such success with grammar in my life.

So yes, Will, using computers DOES make learning fun!

It's November!!! And Other News.

I struggled all week to find something for this blog entry. So I'll just give a few tidbits about my classes from the last few days and see what happens:

1. I taught grammar all week to my seniors. They didn't hate it as much as I thought they would...instead, they sat and listened intently as I reviewed the rules and some hints at remembered them. I was SURE they'd be viciously bored, but they verbalized often that they were glad to hear these rules one more time before I sent them off into the world. Maybe it helped (scared them...?) that I mentioned this would probably be one of the last grammar lessons they would receive EVER unless they were going to be an English major in college. At any rate, I love grammar and it can be really boring to teach because, honestly, there is no way around lecturing of the rules, even though I bribe them with candy and (what I think are) funny example questions...so this was refreshing...to see them appreciate it.
2. I gave my Argument and Debate students a podcast to listen to for two days of class. I really liked a lot of the examples I found while creating my own podcast, so I wanted to see how they would react. They're all considered gifted and often challenge me (verbally) to teach them well, so I knew this would be interesting. Since the curriculum includes listening skills, I thought this would be fit perfectly. I set it up by asking them to fill in completion questions as they listened to practice jotting down MANY notes, as they have to during debates in class. A lot of them asked right away about the actual definition of a podcast, so I explained the sounds, mood creation, background themes, etc., and they seemed pretty excited. End result? They LOVED it! I used one (I think I mentioned it before) from thisamericanlife.org called "The House on Loon Lake," a true story mystery. They were absolutely riveted the entire time. They got to make predictions and voice their complaints for the ending...it was a cool way to have them use their skills from class to observe and analyze a true hour-long story, something that they will definitely have to do as we create an entire classroom debate later in the semester. 
3. All that aside, this class (as I mentioned) is quite challenging for me. I try to incorporate fun and creativity to the lessons as I am taking over for a teacher who taught this for 25+ years, so I am kind of free to change it up a bit. However, it's on a topic that does not really interest me (student congress and parliamentary procedures), so each day I struggle with the content AND the delivery. Any suggestions? I've tried voicing my concerns to our English dept. head, that this is more of a social studies class than ELA, but it's tough because then I wouldn't have a class to teach and what would that mean for furloughs and full-time status? Sigh...
4. But...I really overall have so much fun teaching my seniors for the remainder of the day (I only have one A & D class this semester), that I don't really let it bother me as much as it could. I have really gotten to know the 12th graders and I think they feel that I understand their academic needs very well because they always seem appreciative. (Probably helps that they're getting college credit for this course, right?) Anyway...I love it. 

I had a good week and I don't mind saying THANK GOODNESS OCTOBER IS OVER. (I'm a big proponent that October is the roughest teaching month...I generally love the fall weekend activities, but honestly, teaching through the whole month with no breaks is quite daunting)  So it's on to November now and I'm happy to be here!

Long string of random comments is now over ;-)