Novel Unit, Testing Unlimited

We are now officially underway with our new novel, A Single Shard. Essentially, what we are doing is examining the Historical Fiction genre, using this particular book as a vehicle for this examination. In terms of garnering student interest, this book has proven to be difficult at times. Why? Because it is a story that takes place hundreds of years ago, in foreign country, and there are few, if any, tangible aspects of this book that the students are able to connect with. The challenge is to highlight the abstract, transcendant plot elements that any 11-12 year-old can identify with: growing up, responsibility, decision-making, loss, pride, etc. To help class gain a mental picture of the artwork featured in the book, I went on a little mission at the Art Institute of Chicago. It will be interesting to see where our class discussions take us.

Switching topics, this week at school gives us the latest round of MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests. The students take two tests, via computer, that are about 50-55 questions each: math and reading. On one hand, some decent insight gained into how well our kids are learning, and where I, as their teacher, can focus my learning. On the other hand, I lose two days of instruction, and beyond that, there are plenty of questions that arise about how relevant and accurate the scores are. For example, there have already been a few students this week whose math scores have been higher, even though they took less time as compared to the fall test, and who have put little to inconsistent effort innto their math course work all year. In the end, the positives outweigh the negatives, and the scores do offer another insight into my students' abilities; as well as give us educators the possibility to put students into the right classes for success and learning.

Playing Catch-Up

Today has been a workshop day. At one of our sessions this morning, our principal talked a lot about poverty and the brain, citing works from Eric Jensen and others. There were many staggering facts brought up during this presentation, many of which I had heard before. Students who come into school having lived with chronic or severe stress - termed distress - have brains that are literally smaller than those of their peers, and in many cases have weakened, atrophied brain cells. Other writers, including Malcom Gladwell, have written about IQ and races, and what studies have shown are some of the effects of growing up in stressful, cognitively-poor environments.

As educators, we are left with two options of looking at this situation: a. this is a crisis, and b. this is an opening for opportunity. In truth, it is both. I don't think it can or should be underscored just how much this is a crisis facing our children, schools, and country. On the flip side, this definitely presents us with a chance to make some wrongs right, and help our students catch-up as best they can, so they may experience success.

No doubt this will take a ton of work, not to mention flexibility, encouragement, and tough love on our part. While this all can seem daunting, what are the alternatives?

Cultural Discovery - Art of Celedon

This coming week, we will be starting a new novel, "A Single Shard." This is the story of a young, homeless man who is trying to become the apprentice of a Master Celedon Artist.

The genre we are focusing on is Historical Fiction, with the setting as Korea, a hundreds of years ago. For some background on the art of Celedon pottery, click here.

Looking forward to more thoughts, both mine and the students', about this story as the next few weeks unfold.

Support

Last week, I was able to have an impromptu conversation with my building principal about a few different topics. This was important for a couple reasons. First, my boss is typically so busy and tied up in meetings that an encounter like this is pretty rare. Beyond that, it was great because she listened intently to everything I had to say - which on this day, was quite a bit.

Among the issues on my mind that day were...6th grade open house format, various academic interventions at our school - specifically serving 6th grade, the amount of non-academic screen time our students have on a daily basis, and whether or not students should have some exposure to grades before entering middle school.

Now, I am aware that this is quite a bit to bring up to one's boss, especially when the meeting in question started at a very informal place. We somehow went from talking about the Minnesota Twins to tackling very important issues at our school.

Which is why the kind of support, listening, and reponse I received is so great. My building principal was fully invested in what I was saying, completely honoring where I was coming from as a classroom teacher. She asked meaningful questions in attempting to find solutions, and even responded to my with more detail via e-mail later in the day. It's this type of support that makes certain people great to work for...and it's always a reminder of how much support our students need from us, even when they're coming from a very random place!

One semester is down and in the books...here's to a great second semester and warm weather just around the corner!

Connections

It's often said that students tend to learn best when they feel comfortable, safe, and welcome at school. Additionally, plenty of studies, along with anecdotal testimonies, show how strong, positive connections between teachers and students can lead to better achievement, more classroom participation, work completion, and increased attendance.

Unfortunately, this aspect of our job gets pushed to the wayside, in favor of breaking down test scores, prepping for standardized tests, modifying educational plans, etc. While ALL of these things are incredibly important, I believe people tend to overlook the importance of making and maintaining healthy, fun, and positive connections with students.

I can think of so many students over the years that I was able to have a really great connection with...and it hardly ever centered around the curriculum! Instead, we would talk music, sports, the pains of older siblings, managing life/school/family/activities, movies/tv, etc. I have had students do poorly from time to time in a class of mine, but because our relationship was positive, strong, and not centered on the material, these kids have always been able to regroup and end up doing pretty well in many ways. Other students have really outperformed where they normally would because of how good they felt about themselves and their place in the classroom that year.

The saying goes - "students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." This is a great message to always keep in the back of our minds...more and more students are coming to school with greater needs for connections, and we need to be able to be here for them. In the end, it can be just as powerful a tool as analyzing test data.

Popularity vs. individuality

In Language Arts, we are currently reading a novel entitled Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli. The book is named after one of the central characters, a sophomore who approaches life from a completely different angle than anyone else. Her heart is pure, she's accepting of all others, and celebrates life with true enthusiasm.

This is a great book to read as a whole class for many reasons, but primarily because it forces the students to look at their own lives, relationships, and school environment. How tolerant are we? Do I/we think of others first? What do I/we value in a person? A friend?

Lately, we've had some interesting discussions about popularity and individuality. Can they co-exist? Are the independent of each other? Do people try to be individualistic for popularity's sake? We have yet to come to a consensus, but that's probably the way it should be. What's interesting is some of the same students who felt as though these two qualities could co-exist are the same students who promptly and cheerfully offered plenty of ideas for thorough Stargirl "makeover" to fit into our school nicely. It will be interesting to see hear reaction and thoughts as we continue on with the book...

Creativity vs. NCLB

Although this is just one person's point of view, I consider this to be the ever-present battle in education: our responsibility as educators to foster creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills vs. the mandate to make sure students have sufficient technical math and reading skills, as told to us by legislature. Another sprinkle added into the mix is the omni-present and growing nature of technology...and how to utilize these tools to teach students what they need to know and open doors for creative outlet.

Everyone universally agrees that students need be proficient in reading, math, and writing. The problem is, schools can get so bogged down with mandates (and looming threats of lost funding) that curriculum can lean towards lower-level, rote thinking drill and practice. Typically, creative, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills lose out in this battle. On top of that, programs like the arts and physical education lose out, taking away an opportunity for countless students to grow and show some of their amazing skills.

Sir Ken Robinson talked about this a few years back, during a TED Talks seminar, and he returned to the topic again recently in this article.

How can we as educators use all of the technology and resources around us to help students become creative, critical thinkers in the 21st century? For every 1/2 point gain on a standardized test, what are we losing on the other end? How can we best prepare out students to prosper and solve tomorrow's problems? These are questions that I always have, and hopefully they are questions we can work towards answering while we find more places for creativity in our schools.