Five Things We've Noticed Mid-District-Norming

Five Things We've Noticed Mid-District-Norming

This is one of our favorite professional development days because we love the energy of having all of the different sites present in one room to discuss, norm, and grade essays. It's an exhausting process, but one that holds so much value for all of us, especially our students. Here are five things we've noticed after norming grades 7-9 and 12:

1. Students have a lot to write about. Some have too much to write about. What a great problem to have in October! Students are grappling with high level texts, weaving fiction and non-fiction pieces, and are showing evidence of collaboration. Teachers are empowering their students by providing the outcome (prompt) first, and then purposefully preparing them for the task of marrying content and skills.

2. Read-A-Rounds have been helpful. Having tables of grade-level groups of teachers discuss and rank student essays in order to come to consensus has proven to be a solid strategy in accomplishing our goal of obtaining equity and rigor across the district.

3. The purpose of a district assessment has changed and therefore the processes both before and after grading the essays have also shifted. We are no longer simply assessing reading and writing skills with isolated content in a limited time setting. We are now using purposeful content to assess our students' ability to read and write in relation to the content, still within a time frame, but one that is less rigid, and more authentic. This initial essay is not merely a snapshot, but rather a picture taken with a wide angle lens.  

4. Teachers play an integral role in professional development by sharing their own voices with each other; all students will benefit from this meaningful collaboration.  

5. RUSD students and teachers are rising to the challenge of higher expectations.

 

 
 

Let us shine like stars

I do most of my planning for school in three places: in my car to and from school, in the shower at home, and when I am walking in my neighborhood.  If you will notice, none of these places are conducive to taking notes.  But every once in a while, I hit on an idea that makes me stop and write it down, right then and there, and that’s what happened with Bookmarked: Teen Essays on Life and Literature. Bookmarked is a compilation of my students’ essays that morphed out of an assignment I created after reading This I Believe, a book based on the CBS Radio Network program hosted by journalist Edward R. Murrow.

I was shopping with my close friends at TJ Maxx, and I was telling them about this idea that kept swirling in my head.  After reading This I Believe for my book club one night, it occurred to me that my Honors American Literature students could do the same thing; they could write about what they believed in, from their 16 or so short years of life experience. However, I needed an angle that tied into my curriculum, so I said aloud to my friend while holding up a cool shirt, “What if I had my students anchor their life philosophy in a quote from literature, from anything they’d read, from kindergarten until high school?” My friends loved the idea, so much so, that one even had me record the idea into her Blackberry to remember the idea.

As soon as I could weave it into my lessons, I assigned my students the essay prompt, not having any idea what they would turn in or use as anchor quotes. A week later, as I read through the essays, I was absolutely shocked: the stories, wisdom, and insights these young adults shared were absolutely amazing! So amazing, in fact, that I went outside of the proverbial “box” and contacted my former students in college.  I asked THEM to write to the same prompt, and brazenly suggested we create a compilation of essays to collect into a book, having NO idea that only 3 in 10,000 manuscripts ever get published.  There I was, weeks later, receiving email after email, each with an essay attached; for months, I poured over more and more stories and learned things about my students I hadn’t even known about them when they were in my classroom! Not a single essay repeated the same anchor quote and the book they had chosen were as varied as their demographics.

Fast forward: After working with two amazing student editors who have since graduated from college, I sent out a single query letter to Free Spirit Publishing.  Bookmarked was published in the spring of 2012, with 50 student essays about life and literature. It is now being used in the AVID 11^th grade curriculum for Personal Statements and I use it in my AVID and English classroom to aid juniors in writing their college and scholarship essays. 

It’s almost surreal that my students’ voices are out there, nationally, sharing their experience, strength and hope with other young people.  I am grateful for the IB program at North, which allows me the freedom to work under a fairly large umbrella of curriculum and grateful for the mindset of innovation that my administration and District supports in our classrooms. 

A short note here: throughout this project, I had to face some fairly challenging aspects about the profession I dearly loved. I figured I put in about 600 hours outside of my class over a period of 2 years. I was riddled with doubt at times, wondering if I was going to look like an idiot to my students, essentially promising this was going to be a big deal and fearing it would fall flat on its face. Except for a few pats on the back from close friends, it has taken years to get my colleagues or others in education to even read it, let alone grant any accolades about the book or the writing project…despite the fact that many of them shared the same students, which was probably the hardest thing to bear.   So often, I felt like celebrating and doing a victory dance when the book would meet the next goal or benchmark; and though there were those close to me who acknowledged the beauty of this project coming into fruition, overall, it felt like a hollow victory.   I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I have come to terms with it these days, because I finally realized that it wasn’t about me.  In fact, it wasn’t even about my student essayists. It was about believing that there is more to education than just what is in the pacing guide, or what the state curriculum dictates we do in our classrooms. 

Teaching, at its finest, is an art form, organic and alive.  My ability to take what is current in my life and build a connection for my students to cross over the “bridge” into the real world is what true education is all about.  Bringing all of our voices into being was exciting, but even more exhilarating was seeing this project come to life beyond the classroom into a real-world existence. My students will always have this evidence that what we did in my class was not just busywork.  It was a transformation of their willingness to take a chance with their writing, the courage to be vulnerable and the ability to follow through with their commitment to write regardless of the outcome or reward. To my students’ credit, when I suggested we put all proceeds from Bookmarked into a scholarship fund, all 50 essayists readily agreed, once again, reflecting how incredible these young people were and still are today.

There are so many stories that go along with this enormous undertaking I started years ago, too many to share here, but so worth telling.  Yet it is clear to me, today, what the biggest gift from this writing project has been, even more than knowing my kids’ voices are out there.  It has been the relationships and connections I have built with so many of them, as they have grown up and gone on to college, graduate school, careers and even marriages.  It has been a gift for me to be a part of sharing their successes, their challenges, and their life lessons as they’ve continued on from my classroom. As one of my students, who is now a teacher and has students of his own, wrote in Bookmarked,  “Let us shine like stars in the universe, each more brilliant than the next” and know that each one of us can make a difference.

Guest post by Ann Camacho,

North High School 

Rigorous or Ridiculous

Student directions: Choose 200 vocabulary words from chapters 1-8. Define each word, create a visual representation of each word, and construct a meaningful sentence for each word.

Teacher in a department meeting: My students are currently reading a 1,000 page novel. My classroom is full of rigor.

Teacher email to parents: Your students will be writing several essays this year.  They will be graded on the following scale: 10 paragraphs = “A,” 8 paragraphs = “B,” 6 paragraphs = “C,” 4 paragraphs = “D,” and anything less will results in a “F.”

Back in the day (can you tell we’ve read way too many student essays over the years?), many educators thought more was more, that rigor meant excess, and that quantity, without much purpose, must be present in order to ensure students were successful.

But, when we consider the three questions that guide our work:

What are you doing?  

Why are you doing it?

How does this help you to do what is important?

We really need to know… are these classroom examples rigorous or ridiculous?

With the shift to the Common Core State Standards, teachers acknowledge that students need to be doing more, but what does “more” really mean? More means writing with a purpose, and reading beyond comprehension and toward analysis. More means having students collaborate with the goal of sharpening listening and speaking skills. And more means conducting research that allows for real world application.

More also means asking teachers to grow and change. This usually means asking questions without easy answers, working without answer keys, and grappling with topics that are not “Googleable.”

Some other views on rigor:

"What Rigor is and What Rigor isn't"

"How to Add Rigor to Anything"

Rigor: It's all the Rage, but What Does it Mean?

Curating Your Classes

At home, I’m a nester. My environment is important—it’s not fancy, but I tend to surround myself with things I care about.  My giant couch is a bit threadbare, but it’s turquoise, soft, and can fit my family of three (plus dog) for a session of Netflix binging!

Every August, I would walk into my classroom, following these same instincts.  I started by asking myself: What’s my purpose?  Where do I need to get students this year?  How do I create a comfortable environment where students can take risks, but that also reinforces high expectations?

I realized, after a day of summer cleaning and letting my mind wander, that I was curating my classes.  Like my desire to organize my home into a friendly, yet functional space—I did a similar thing in my classes.  So, I came up with the following suggestions for curating your 2015-2016 year.

1. Plan your year: Create a detailed syllabus.

Create a detailed syllabus for your students (and yourself) and include more than grading policies and bathroom passes.  Give students a sense of what they can expect during the year.  List themes, books, and articles.  Include sample project topics and essays.  This begins your culture of expectations and is a great communication tool with parents.  Have them keep their syllabus close, refer to it regularly, but don’t “cover” your syllabus the first two days of class (yawn!) More on that later.

2. Plan your week: Set your tone and level of expectations.

I had a recurring dream every July.  I arrived in class and forgot how to teach. This would haunt me as I planned my first week of instruction, and as a result, I would get VERY detailed.  But, it served me well, because through this detailed planning, I created the tone and the level of expectation for my year.  The takeaway?  Your first week of class should reflect the level of interaction, rigor, and activity that you expect the rest of the year.  Want to have students interact and discuss regularly?  Have them do an activity that gets them up and discussing in the first 15 minutes of your first class.  Want to establish that close reading is going to be a recurring strategy?  Close read, together, a high interest text on the first day (like “The Myth of Homework”—that will get them talking!).  Touch on the syllabus, but don’t read it to them.  Give them a quiz during the second week instead.  By giving students meaningful, purposeful, and well-planned instruction the first week—you establish a tone that your class is important and that you care about student learning.  

3. Plan your layout: Establish your physical environment.

Hang your favorite posters. Post important notices. Create bulletin boards.  Then, think beyond the walls.  How are your desks configured?  In rows?  In a U-shape? In groups?  Establishing a culture that reinforces listening, speaking, and collaboration means that your physical environment should reflect this: desks in pairs and groups.  And configurations where students can see each other.   Then, who sits in these groups?  Friends? All of the student’s whose names end in T? Think about starting the year with a random arrangement, knowing that you will continue to mix it up during the year, maybe basing your choices on student strengths and areas for growth when you get to know your students.  

What have been successful strategies for you as you begin your school year?  What rituals and processes have helped your students be successful?  

Have a great year!

Lorrie

The Faces Behind the Voices

                                     Courtney                 Lisa                      Lorrie                Anesha            Sarah

I started my first job teaching middle school in 1988, in Lakeview, Oregon. Marsha Nichols, my colleague, came into my classroom, sat down with her lesson plan book, and helped me plan my first semester.  And she brought me copies of all of her materials.  I don't think I fully comprehended her generosity then, but I do now.  Her willingness to share and collaborate gave me the confidence to "chart my own course."

Katie Skrove did the same thing when I started teaching AP Language.  She photocopied everything for me, sat down with me to plan, and treated me as an equal partner as we taught the same class for three years. We created a syllabus together, and I eventually began sharing lessons I created-- building that vital rapport about our craft.

When I started at King, our principal, Ray Plutko established a motto for our staff: Whatever It Takes. He challenged us to make student learning our focus, and he meant it.  Our meetings addressed how to make this happen. Our departments discussed how to make this happen. So even though we joked about it sometimes as a staff, that vision seeped into our philosophies. It was not about us and our content area-- it was about the students.

My life as an educator is continually shaped by my interactions with others-- their generosity, their willingness to collaborate, and their leadership.  

So, this blog, for me, is all about putting everything out there.  It is about sharing what we've developed, it is about snooping around to see what interesting things our colleagues are up to, and it is about collaborating to create something new. Let’s start the conversation.

Lorrie

Hello!

I am very excited about this blog. One of my favorite ways to process information is to write about it, collaborate with others, and then reflect and write some more. I am hopeful that this will be a place to do all of these things. I am starting my 17th year as an educator, which makes me feel both very proud and a little bit old. I always wanted to be a teacher, and honestly cannot imagine doing anything else (except for maybe traveling the world and getting paid to do it). I love to read and hike and ride my bike, and I especially love doing all of these things with my husband and our three kids.

My philosophy of education is quite simple: I love to learn, to explore complex questions, and to create opportunities for young people to think and contribute. I believe all students can do scholarly work, and feel that we have an obligation to design learning opportunities that lead to success for our students, and for ourselves. What is success? Well, I think I will save that for a future blog post.

Two of my educational mentors are John Dewey and Grant Wiggins, and a quote that drives my work is, “The motivating force of the theory of a Democratic way of life is still a belief that as individuals we live cooperatively, and, to the best of our ability, serve the community in which we live, and that our own success, to be real, must contribute to the success of others” by Eleanor Roosevelt.

Courtney

“Teacher? You want to be a teacher?” A question that has been asked until my first job at Earhart 
middle school. I have always wanted to teach, no question in my mind. Of course, like many teachers, I have had some amazing influences in my educational career: Mrs. Grove with her long red hair and encouraging words. Mrs. Pagliaro who invested in developing my character. Mrs. DellaRipa who modeled intellectual thought and helped connect me to school. Mr. Defrance who inspired and motivated me to pursue what he phrased as “my calling”, which I have come to understand is my passion for teaching.

My passion for teaching is a culmination of my family, education, and culture. The more I have come to understand my own journey, the more affirmed I am to be in this incredible role. The call to teach is one that I found to be deeply rooted in labor. I know, labor sounds so negative; But, it is laborious for both student and teacher to engage in critical intellectual thought. To constantly treat  ideas,my own included, with respect and compassion while challenging the very core of those ideas.Only teachers can understand this tightrope walk. To create an environment that “respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin” (hooks, 7).  And I admit, that it is both the scariest and greatest part of teaching. I know the work teachers do is powerful and I am fortunate enough to be in such an incredible field of work with great professionals.

I am extremely excited to share my passion for education and to share in yours. Collaborative work is what drives education and I am looking forward to working with such a pool of experts. We are all teachers and learners, let’s walk the tightrope to a new frontier in education.

Anesha

Hi! I’m Sarah. If you met me as a little girl and asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up I would have replied without hesitation “I’m going to be a teacher.” The five year old version of myself wanted to be a teacher because I wanted to help people and maybe, in small part, because I wanted to talk all day and boss people around. The older version of myself never waivers in my desire to be an educator but now for very different reasons. Sure I want to help students, and yes, I do talk all day and tell people what to do -  but I also desire to challenge students, to support students, to push students, and  love students in order to help them become who they were met to be and in being that individual change and impact the world. I deeply believe all were given the desire to learn and also given a nature curiosity about the world around them and it’s an educator's job to tap into that natural resource and guide students into critical thinking and deep learning that empowers students to see themselves as someone with a voice and a purpose.  I’m always learning and growing as an educator - I by no means have it all figured out. But if I could back to the smaller version of myself I would tell her that being a teacher is all she ever thought it was and more.

Outside of the classroom, I get the privilege of loving a great man, a small human, and a fur child. I love traveling and learning other cultures. And when my toddler gives me some free time (which doesn’t happen very often) I will promptly get lost in a good book and a glass of tea.

Sarah