To introduce my students to Romeo & Juliet and have them make some predictions before we started reading, this week I made a crime scene of their deaths. It turned out to be one of those lessons where every student is immediately engaged.


The forensics teacher set me up with caution tape, plastic sheeting, some skulls and bones, and fake blood. I set up evidence markers for my crowbar, a stage dagger, and a vial from the theater department. I intended a table to serve as Juliet's deathbed, but it needs a tablecloth and pillow to look the part. Then I put a picture of Roman catacombs on the digital projector and taped some body outlines on the plastic sheeting.

Next year I think I'll skip the plastic sheeting and fake blood. Some students thought the blood was rubber and others thought it was a tear in the plastic. And the whole reason for the plastic sheeting was so I wouldn't stain the carpet with the fake blood. I also forgot Paris, which would have added some mystery to the activity.

Weeks later, when we were finishing the play, students could be overheard saying, "So that's why there was a crowbar!" or, "That's why she died on top of him."

If you'd like to borrow this idea, here are copies of the evidence gathering sheet, Romeo's autopsy report, and Juliet's autopsy report. If you have other ideas to make this activity better or your own unique way of starting a Shakespeare unit, leave it in the comments.

Next year I'm teaching American Literature to juniors.  The last time I taught the course was my first year teaching, so there are quite a few things I'd like to do differently.

This will also be the first summer I've had a solid job set up for next year.  I won't be spending my time completing applications for dozens of districts or signing up for licensure tests to add endorsements that are contingent for my employment.

So, because I'm a little sick¹, I already started putting together a basic year-long plan aligned with standards.


Smagorinsky (2002) states there are three ways to set up a years worth of units.  There are all out teacher selected or where students craft all the units.  Then, there is the middle ground:

In this approach to choosing a curriculum, the teacher sets up a menu of possible topics, allowing the students to select eight or so for their year's study . . . This approach has the advantage of giving the students choices in their learning while operating in a framework of topics that the teacher considers culturally and educationally important (p. 36).

I had considered doing this my first year teaching, but Smagorinsky (2002) warns against it:

It is often a good idea to wait a few years before taking this approach so that you will have several units prepared, rather than having to write many new units from scratch in your first or second year on the job (p. 36).

After teaching for five years in three different districts, I'm ready to skin this chicken.  Peel this potato.  Gut this fish.  I am all over this like ham on cheese.  And apparently in need of a snack.

Here's where you, my dear readers, come in.  Having taught American Literature only once, and for just a semester, as a first year teacher, I need a list of American Literature units.  I've got 26 ideas right now on this Google doc.  Some are bad, some are better.  I also need texts I could teach with them.  No idea is too questionable.  From this I can put together a final list and say to my students in September⁴, "Choose your top ten."

Works Cited
Smagorinsky, P. (2002). Teaching English through principled practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

1. You can use the common interpretation or the student vernacular. Go back.
2. My current favorite quote from this book: "You'll probably end up teaching the selections in an order quite different from their order in the anthology.  Such is the life of the maverick" (p. 87).³ Go back.
3. I teach mostly with mavericks . . . wait, doesn't that go against the definition?
4. Yeah, that's right, suckas!  I don't start school until after Labor Day!⁵ Go back.
5. Makes working until mid-June worth it.

Today's podcast contains some thoughts I've been tossing around regarding grouping students for reading and responding to Romeo & Juliet.  As I mention, I've got a longer post on how I'm teaching the play this year.

It's a Bud the Teacher style recording, done on my ride into work.  You can hear the mighty roar of my 4-cylinder Corolla in the background.  I'll have to play around with microphone placement for next time.

Also, I think I mentioned in the podcast that it's been two years since my last podcast.  This is incorrect.  It's actually been five years.  And what I thought was episode seven is actually episode 6.

This is what I'm introducing to my 8th grade reading workshop tomorrow.  How you like them high-expectation-apples, foo?

• Summarizing
• Previewing text
• Citing sources in text
• Creating a works cited page
• Using and creating text features

• January 26 – Topic Proposal Due
• January 27, 31, & February 1 – Research in the library
• February 3, 21, 24, & 28 – Drafting in the computer lab, additional research as necessary
• February 28 – First Draft Due
• March 3 & 7 – Self revision in the computer lab using STAR, conferences with Mr. B
• March 7 – Second Draft Due
• March 8 & 9 – Peer Revisions
• March 10, 14 & 17– Revising in the computer lab
• March 17 – Final Draft Due
• March 19 – Spring Break!

So the majority of voters in the poll went for doing this lesson on Talk Like a Pirate Day.  I was not planning on going in that direction.  I was going to hit it when I teach character.

Note to readers: this post involves me thinking aloud.  This has been proven in the state of California to cause dizziness and fainting.  Consider yourselves warned.

So I have this great idea.  On International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I'm going to dress up like a pirate and do a lesson on how dialogue can give us information about characters; we can make inferences about the character by the way they speak.  Splendid idea, yes?

Problem is, my first unit isn't on character.  No sir.  It's on fix-up strategies.  Inferences are fix-up strategies.  But they are very complex fix-up strategies that should probably be taught after a student has mastered questioning, clarifying (of which inferences are a pseudo-subset), and predicting.  And teaching a random lesson that has nothing to do with your unit assessment is poor backwards planning (you know, when you plan the assessment first, then the lessons - whatever that's called).

So I am left with the following options:

1. Dress up like a pirate on the day I teach dialogue as a way to analyze a character.
2. Dress up like a pirate on the day I teach inferences.
3. Dress up like a pirate on International Talk Like a Pirate Day and do it anyway; this is going to be one memorable lesson and I can refer back to it when we touch on inferences and character.
4. Give a boring lecture on character/inferences.

One of the better lessons I've taught was the first in my middle school practicum.

It was a summer course, and so we were assigned to the district's summer school program.  It was a group of about 30 students repeating 8th grade.  Another student and I were assigned to the two teachers who co-taught the class.  Although some of the students were going into 8th grade and wanted a head-start, the majority were not interested in listening to me teach grammar, or anything else.  Nonetheless, I was asked to teach my first lesson on sentence fragments and run-ons.

It was the summer.  I had some free-time, and I was eager to please.  So I spent a lot of time planning.  I made a pretty decent graphic organizer.  I asked my fellow undergrad if she could play a small part in the lesson.  I prepared a formal assessment.  For my first lesson, I was doing alright.  Then I created a superhero alter ego to keep the students' attention.

The day for my lesson came around and we listened to Skee-Lo's version of "The Tale of Mr. Morton" before I presented a few sentences and we identified their subjects and predicates.  It was then that my colleague, AKA the Preposition Punk, wearing a clever construction paper mask (she was in drama, if I remember right) snuck up to the board and added "When" to the beginning of a sentence: 

When Mr. Morton walked to the store.

I read the complete sentence now transformed into a dependent clause to the class and proclaimed, "this looks like a job for CAPTAIN COMMA!" while simultaneously ripping open my button-up shirt (which was no longer button-up; I'd replaced the buttons with velcro) to reveal a t-shirt emblazoned with this shield:
The students were dumbfounded, but I definitely had their attention.  I heroically slammed a comma after the dependent clause and added an indepent clause to complete the sentence and save the day. 

When Mr. Morton walked to the store., he bought a gallon of milk.

I handed out the graphic organizer and had them take a crack at it.

Fast-forward 5 years.  I still teach that lesson maybe once a year.  But it's the only lesson I teach that has that injection of edutainment right to the jugular.  The only one?  What's up with that?  Not that every lesson needs to have that element of theater to it.  It needs all the pedagogy my other lessons have, including things I missed that first time like a preassessment and differentiation.  But one lesson a year that keeps students' attention like that one, that creates murmurs throughout the hallways inbetween periods, that get students anticipating my class, is no where near enough.

Last year, for the second time I attempted an assignment asking students to create their own individualized education plan (IEP).  My first attempt as a student teacher was poorly designed and even more poorly modeled.  Last year, the design was much more in depth (perhaps too much) and the product was modeled extensively.  But the process was not.  The concept of multiple intelligence theory got a 5 to 10 minute overview in class before I threw them into the computer lab to complete their self assessment.  I asked my students to create goals for the semester, but offered no guidance on how to define short-term goals that lead to their long-term ones.  I asked them to consider accommodations that would help them learn, but I never explained fully enough what an accommodation was.

This year was different.

First, I'm broke up the design more.  The first assignment sheet could put anyone in cardiac arrest, particularly a freshmen who just started high school and isn't very pleased that they get to take reading workshop again.  So a toned down some of the reflection questions and broke the thing into parts instead of the menu¹.  Turned out this assignment sheet was also confusing, so next year maybe I'll just scrap it, or give students a checklist of all the items they need to turn in when all is done.

Day One - What's an IEP?

I had some terrific help from my special education department where a special education assistant came to the room and gave a little introduction to the federal IEP and some examples of the accommodations students receive.  This was generally well received, though I had a few students this year who thought I was saying they were stupid because they can't read.  Could be because I'm teaching reading workshop this year, or could be because of the longer presentation from special education and the lack of respect some students have for their classmates served by sped.

Days Two through Four - Multiple Intelligence Theory

Multiple intelligences were taught over three days, the first giving an overview of each intelligence and then students experienced a lesson teaching a language arts skill exclusively using one of the intelligences.  This packet was supposed to be their guide as they rotated in groups to the different areas.  In the end though, we went through each exercise together as a class. Putting together the packet turned out to be easier than I expected, as I was able to pull pieces from lessons I've used previously.

Musical Intelligence

For this section I used a lesson on avoiding sentence fragments using the Schoolhouse Rock song "The Tale of Mr. Morton."  I prefer the Skee-Lo version found on the album Schoolhouse Rock Rocks!²  Students listen to the song and then are asked to identify the subjects and predicates of some sample sentences.  In the original lesson some subordinate conjunctions are thrown in and students eventually are asked to fix a couple sentence fragments as well.  For the purposes of the packet, however, I just wanted to give them a taste.
Naturalistic Intelligence

Here I asked students to group like words together, same as you would with the natural world - kingdoms and phylums and everything else.  I'm not satisfied that this is the closest language arts can get to naturalistic intelligence; it seems like Thoreau or Emerson should be involved somehow.
Interpersonal/Intrapersonal Intelligence

Sometimes I ask students to do what I call a multiple intelligence explication on some text that they've read.  They can choose to come up with a soundtrack, a mind map, or write a letter to the character, which is what this activity consists of.  For many of the exercises, we read "Waiting," a piece of microfiction by Peggy McNally from the anthology Micro Fiction edited by Jerome Stern.³  Students were then to write a letter either to the speaker in the story or to the speaker's boyfriend who she wants to see but can't.

Visual/Spatial Intelligence

This mind map activity I stole from Carrie McCallum, another language arts teacher at my school.  Students respond to a text by drawing some of the things that might be going through a character's mind.  We did the same for "Waiting."

Logical/Mathematical Intelligence

For the person who reads this who has discovered how to bring logical/mathematical intelligence into the language arts classroom, you need to comment on this post or e-mail me.  My failed attempt involves translating a formulaic transition statement for essays into some sort of algebraic equation.
In an effort to prompt more thoughtfulness when deciding on goals and accommodations, I remodeled the reflection questions from last year and came up with these five.

1. When was the last time you struggled in school or received a grade lower than usual? What do you think made it difficult? Consider all the players: you, teacher, parents, classmates, class subject, outside factors (illness, death in family, divorce). Of the things you or the other players could control, what would you do differently if you could do it all over again?
2. Describe your favorite lesson you've ever been taught in school and what you learned from it. What about it or the teacher do you think made it so memorable and/or effective?
3. Who was / is your favorite teacher / role model / mentor? Describe them. What are some of the things they did that made you appreciate them? What did you learn from them and how? If you were going to be a teacher / role model / mentor to someone, what lesson would you take from them on how to do it well?
4. What specific things help you to study or stay focused in class? Are there techniques you use when learning like mnemonics (like Never Eat Soggy Waffles for remembering the points on a compass), jingles, or rhymes (“i” before “e” except after “c”)? Give a few examples.
5. Now that you've taken the multiple intelligences and modality strengths self-tests, what are some specific examples of lessons that have helped you in the past that relate to your strong intelligence areas and your modality strengths?

Judging from the responses I received, questions 1 and 2 are the most essential.  Question 3 is definitely out and while some students have good answers for 4 and 5, others haven't done the kind of meta-thinking required to answer those questions.

Day Seven & Eight - Model IEP Summary⁴

Last, the students received this sheet, which I modeled filling out using my own answers to the questions.  This was an improvement over last year's cover sheet which didn't include the ladders for small steps leading to the ultimate goal.

That first day, students had a lot of difficulty filling out the sheet.  For a brief period of about a day, I was almost convinced that this unit was awash, that I was trying to teach months of material from an IB theory of knowledge course in a couple of weeks and that I was asking too much.  Of course, my students rose to the occasion and expectations and proved me wrong.

After modeling the cover sheet a second time the next day (I didn't change how I modeled it, so I don't know what the difference was; maybe it was that the assignment was worth 100 points pass/fail and one had to turn in all the pieces for credit; maybe they just needed to see it twice), my fears proved to be mostly unfounded.  Last year, out of my 75 students, I received two really good IEPs.  This year, I got almost 30 initially, and I'm hoping the number will grow now that we've had conferences and I've been able to give the assignment to parents as well.  Over the next few weeks I can start to set up my students with the accommodations they've asked for:

• Spelling instruction
• Longer time on tests
• Reminder when work is due
• Short breaks
• Preferential seating (away from others)
• Extra warnings
• Listen to iPod (to avoid other distractions)
• Read in the hall
• Reminder when work is due
• Organization
• Additional bathroom passes
• Preferential seating (Right to Read Anywhere)
• Read in the hall
• Don't call when hand isn't raised
• Grade reports every 2 weeks
• Time to study before a test
• Read in library twice/week
• Extra time to complete assignments
• Patience and some slack on reflection sheets (the negative end of our positive behavior managment program)
  
• Allowed to eat food in class

1. The menu just confused students.  Probably because it was a dumb way to set up an assignment that wasn't really differentiated; I was just trying to make it look that way.  (back)

2.  If you haven't heard Pavement's version of "No More Kings," you have not truly lived.  (back)

3. Stern, J. (Ed.). (1996)  Micro Fiction.  New York, W.W. Norton & Co.  "Waiting" is about a substitute teacher, a story better suited for a room full of teachers.  But there's a lack of young adult microfiction, so I figured that was a pretty relatable piece; we've all had substitute teachers.  (back)

4.  I should point out that for my reading and literature workshop classes, we also took the Scholastic Reading Inventory to get a lexile score and a diagnostic assessment from the 9th grade Holt Literature teacher's suppliment.  (back)

I taught American Literature this year for juniors, and in an attempt to give the dry, American literature canon some much needed relevancy, I paired our Great Depression unit with the current economic recession and topical book clubs set during the Great Depression.

Thinking of only Steinbeck novels when trying to come up with texts in Depression-era settings, I turned to Library Thing. Using the search page, I searched for all books with the tag "great depression" and got these results. From there, I added the tag "young adult" and got these results.

I recognized some of these books. Out of the Dust was one I had read before, and Esperanza Rising was another I knew of but hadn't read. From the library I checked out these as well as Nothing to Fear, Bud, Not Buddy, and The Truth About Sparrows and began reading as quickly as I could.

My school librarian was able to find and bring from other schools all the books except for Nothing to Fear and The Truth About Sparrows. These were eliminated from the selection and Of Mice and Men was added.

Library Thing can be an excellent tool for thematic unit planning, or for finding literature of any kind. I also used it this summer to find current young adult literature to read and stay current with.

Out of everything I did last semester, the piece that I'm happiest with and the area with the greatest potential for improvement is my strategy for differentiating reading instruction.

At the beginning of the semester, I used Kylene Beers' book When Kids Can't Read to create a checklist to preassess reading skills.  She breaks her book into three basic sections: for students who have poor comprehension skills, students with poor word fluency and decoding skills, and students who have trouble finding books that are interesting.  Adapting the checklist she provided on page 28, I met with each of my students individually to determine whether they were dependent (the term Beers uses for struggling readers) or independent (able to read on their own), and if they are dependent, which single or combination of the three categories they fall into.  In my meeting with each student, I asked them to read a short, 300-word story from the anthology Micro Fiction aloud.  This allowed me to check for fluency and word recognition.  After they had read the selection, I gave them basic, open-ended questions like "what do you think the story is about," "who are the main characters," "what's the moral of the story."  These questions address reading comprehension.  Finally, I asked them some questions about what reading they do, like "what's your favorite book/author," "what genre(s) do you like to read the most." to determine if they have resources to find books that they enjoy.

After I figured out the needs of each student, I divided them into groups depending on their greatest weakness.  While this could be beneficial in instances where the teacher is modeling or given direct instruction, there were many times when a mixed group would have been better.  For example, when these same groups met in more self directed literature circles, the students who struggled with comprehension talked about how the text made no sense, and the group of students who had trouble finding literature they enjoyed talked about the relative "suckiness" of each piece.

When I was able to meet with these groups, it was most often with the comprehension group, where I modeled and guided practice of specific comprehension techniques, most often using a think aloud.  I broke down the internalized process of reading and stated what I was thinking and reading aloud.  There were seven specific processes I focused on with students: visualizing, questioning, clarifying, connecting, agreeing or disagreeing with a character, and predicting.  Each time I met with students, I tried to cover a different set of two or three.

I also met with students during class time in either small groups or individually to practice the think aloud strategy and give them some tips, like reminding them to reread or cue them to make a prediction.  When I couldn't meet with them in class, I asked them to complete double entry journals, creating a written record of their thinking.  In the left column, the student writes the quote and page number that gave them pause, and then on the right they write their response (either a question, clarification, prediction, etc.).  When my students read novels, we did the same thing, but students wrote their responses on sticky notes and stuck them to the page next to the quote.

The strategy was largely unsuccessful, not because of the pedagogy, but because I didn't follow through.  One of the hardest things for me was finding time to work with students and meaningful work for the other students to complete while I met with students.  Because of this, I was only able to do the initial preassessment in two of my classes, and meet only rarely in my third.  I only intermittently examined the half ream of written evidence I had from students.  I didn't fully address the needs of students who had decoding issues or trouble finding texts they could enjoy.  And I didn't find the time to do a post assessment at the end of the year. 

My general thought is that I can set aside either the first half of class or every other class period for sustained silent reading.  While many classes try to fit this in for 10 or 15 minutes, I think if I can keep it going for 30 or 45 minutes, I'd be able to meet with each student about once a week.  After I meet with individuals or groups, I can either send them back to silent reading, or direct them to another individual activity.  For each of my classes, I'll have a binder with a tab for each student.  There I'll keep notes from each of our meetings and I can insert work samples like the double entry journal, or sticky notes stuck to a sheet of notebook paper.  I'll work with the school librarians early in the year to teach students where to find specific genres of books, and create a "good books box" that will contain a rotating collection of good young adult literature pulled from the shelves in multiple genres for students to check out (Beers 293-5).  And I think quarterly I'll reassess students' with the checklist using a different text.


On days I'm not meeting with students and we aren't doing sustained silent reading, I'll read aloud and when we're doing units where each student is reading the same book or books on one topic, we can have large class discussion.

Then, at some point, I'll address writing, grammar, and all the other language arts.

Okay, so maybe the plan isn't fully refined yet.

What encourages me though is last year I had one student who was clearing affected by our two or three individual meetings and the modeling and guided practice we did as a class.  At the beginning of the semester, he struggled with reading comprehension and was a reluctant and often confused reader.  At the end of the semester, he wrote in his self assessment:

[I] really improved myself this semester i actually tired. your class was fun as many thought otherwise, i had to push myself to go hard.  only reason why i didnt get an A was because of the fact i didnt do book club i was gone i got zeros and then i fell behind on sticky notes.  then i read the whole book [Of Mice and Men] which is honestly a majr accomplishment for you not going to lie i have never actually read a whole book. i always never like them. but you made me realize reading is actually fun.  the truth is i actually read now at my house :).

He could have been lying.  I don't think so though.  It would explain why on the second to last day of the semester, to the surprise of his classmates and me, he asked me to model visualizing a poem we were reading.  If he wasn't lying, then I think one out of 70 isn't bad for my first year.  Maybe next year I can break 10% or better.

Beers, Kylene. (2003).  When kids can't read. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Years ago, I wrote about creating an Individualized Education Plan for every student whether they're required by law to have one or not. Next semester, I'm asking my students to do it for themselves and I need the help of my network. Below is my first draft of the assignment. Please help me make it successful by leaving your suggestions in the comments.

• Complete the Multiple Intelligences Self Test and print the results.
• Complete the Modality Strengths Self Test and print the results.

• Interview a parent or former teacher. Ask them what they see your strengths and weaknesses are as a student and what things they believe help you to learn best.

1. What kind of student do you think you are (poor, fair, average, great)? Why do you believe this? What kind of student do you want to be?
2. Identify at least three attainable goals you have for this semester in language arts. What do you need to do to meet them? How will you know when you've met them?
3. Reflect on and write about a time in school (a year, a unit, a particular assignment, a class) when you didn't do well. How did you know you didn't do well? What made it difficult? Go into as much depth as possible.
4. Reflect on and write about a time in school (a year, a unit, a particular assignment, a class) when you really succeeded. How did you know you did well? What made it possible? Go into as much depth as possible.
5. Reflect on and write about a time in school (a year, a unit, a particular assignment, a class) when you had trouble at first, but eventually succeeded. How did you know you did well? What changes did you, your parents, your teachers, or your friends make that made it possible? Go into as much depth as possible.
6. Read over your reflections from numbers 3, 4, and 5. Make a list of the things that make learning difficult for you personally, and a list of the things that make learning easy for you personally. Using those lists, create at least three accommodations you believe your teachers, parents, and classmates should provide to make it easier for you to learn and perform well in school.
7. Review your goals from number 2. Make sure they match your accommodations and still seem attainable, but not so easy that you'll achieve them all in one week. Make any changes needed.
8. Fill out the IEP Cover Sheet handed out in class.

• Share your personal reflection with another teacher or parent and ask for their comments. Particularly ask if they would add any other accommodations or goals to your lists.
• Interview a licensed clinical social worker or a psychologist in an education related field. Ask them how they determine accommodations and goals for the students they serve in their IEPs.
  

This activity I've shamelessly stolen from Mini-lessons for Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels and Nancy Steineke (2004, pg 43-7).

Start with the sports page in your local paper and announce the standings of a few of your home teams.  Point out to students that the teams typically do better at home than away (unless they are incredibly good or incredibly bad).  This begs the question, why do teams win more games at home than away?  Give students a few minutes to work with a partner or a group of three to list as many reasons why they think this is the case.  Then as a whole class, compile a master list.

Daniels and Steineke's major goal with this lesson is to discourage put-downs, and the big moment in the lesson comes when the teacher tells the students, after compiling the list, that "one of the most important ways to keep the home court advantage is to avoid using put-downs.  From now on, if anyone hears a put-down, just gently say 'home court' to remind that person to stop" (pg 44-5).  It's a great idea.

But it can be taken so much further.  Many of the items from a class list can be adjusted and implemented in the classroom.  When I worked with teachers in South Africa, they had this thing where if a student did well, the teacher would say, "give it to him."  On this cue, the 48 other students in the class would rub the palms of their hands around, one on top of the other a couple times, finally letting the top hand slide in the direction of the student.

I thought it was pretty lame the first time I saw it.  Especially in the context of corporal punishment being used by teachers so often to punish misbehaving and even simply forgetful students.  What student would care about this meaningless motion when they feel too unsafe in their classroom to learn?

But you should have seen the face of the student on the receiving end of that praise.

I'm not suggesting anything quite like that.  It would be too easily ridiculed in most middle school classrooms.  But supporting the idea of praise and encouragement between students is certainly not a bad idea.

Daniels and Steineke designed this as a mini-lesson, but I devote at least a full class period.  Once you've made the list, discuss with students how these could translate into the classroom.  It might be interesting to see if they see themselves as all being on the same team, or if the grading and the current schooling system creates a more competitive attitude.  Ask students what they can do on a daily basis in the class to support a home court environment.

Daniels and Steineke suggest as a variation on their mini-lesson asking students to create posters displaying some of the elements of a home court advantage along with how these would look in a classroom.  Despite the feelings of the rest of my 2005 pre-service teaching book club, I think this is a great activity, would use it to wrap up the discussion, and put the finished posters up in the room for the remainder of the school year (while still alternating other displays in the classroom throughout the year, because us secondary teachers don't do it enough).

Previous - Day Four through Six: Two Truths and a Lie
Next - Day Eight: Creative Problem Solving

Closing in on the first week, I know a lot about my students from the information sheets they filled out.  Students began to learn each other's names by playing name games.  They may have identified with each other during the classroom grids activity.  Now I want them to get some of the information I had on the first day, but in a way that the student has more control.

Two truths and a lie takes a lot of class time, but is time well spent.  Every student gets about 10 minutes of time when everyone is giving them their complete attention and asking about them.  There's no need to force students to go, but most teenagers are alright being the center of positive attention.

One person tells the class three things about themselves.  Two of the statements are true and one is false.  Members of the class can ask any (and as many) questions as they want to figure out which statement is the lie.  The person who offered their three statements doesn't have to answer these questions truthfully - so the object is to make them slip up and reveal their lie.

I model first.  My three statements might be:

1. I was on Sesame Street when I was 8 years old.
2. I was a Boy Scout for 16 years.
3. I lived in Africa for two years.

Then I give students a good half hour to ask questions.  It gives them an opportunity to figure out and practice asking good ones.  Then we vote on which statement the students think is the lie.

For the game to be worthwhile though, the instructor has to very clearly model the activity and set some guidelines for the two truths and the lie.  Students who don't see it modeled and understand how to choose good statements might give the following three options:

1. I have five brothers.
2. This summer I went to Disney World.
3. I have a pet dinosaur.

Students who know the individual outside of school may already know they have five brothers, or that they went to Disney World.  Or that information might have shown up on the classroom grid activity.  And all students probably know that dinosaurs are extinct.

So after I model, I offer a few guidelines to help students choose their statements.
One, don't choose any statements that are related.

1. I've lived in South America.
2. I speak fluent Spanish.
3. I have a pet dinosaur.

If someone knows the majority of countries in South America are Spanish speaking, one will know that the first two statements are most likely true because only one can be false.

Two, never say never.

1. I've never failed a class.
2. I speak fluent Spanish.
3. I have a pet dinosaur.

It's hard to determine the truth value of a negative.

Three, all three statements should have a certain level of unbelievability.

1. I have two brothers.
2. I ate a hot dog yesterday.
3. Michael Jackson is my uncle.

Though you could potentially fake a number of people out, the object is to get to know each other better, and one doesn't learn a whole lot about a person by how many brothers they have or what they ate for dinner.

Four, lies need to be complete lies, not half truths.

1. My uncle is Michael Jackson.
2. I speak Spanish fluently.
3. I grow all my vegetables in my back yard.

It's pretty lame when people have voted to say "ha! I grow all my vegetables in my front yard!  Tricked you all!"

One thing that can go wrong with this activity is students will start asking all kinds of questions that don't have anything to do with the three truths.  While this is in a way the point of the whole activity (to get them to want to know more about each other), it could become uncomfortable for the student put on the spot.  One potential intervention is to limit how many questions they can ask to a hard number - "okay, only 10 more questions and then we vote!"  Students will start asking good questions about the statements rather than going off on tangents.

Each student will need about 10 minutes for offering their statements and answering questions.

Previous - Day Three: Classroom Grid
Next - Day Five: Home Team Advantage

There used to be a man at Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch in Elbert, Colorado by the name of Chuck Forsyth. He was the ranger, the man in charge of all the support for camp. He lived there year round, took care of all the facilities and got trucks running again at the start of the summer. He bought all the tents, tools, and lumber for camp. He probably did an armful of other things I don't even know about.

He has a full gray beard and piercing eyes. He has a great sense of humor, but you didn't see it before he got to know you. When I first starting working at camp, all I knew was that if I broke anything, I'd be having a talk with him, and knowing that I made sure I didn't break anything.

Chuck had gotten to know me a bit better by my sixth year at camp, and he told me about a staff member who had worked there before my time.

"He did the most important thing any staff member could do," Chuck said. "He learned the two most important words for every scout."

What are those, I wondered. Merit Badges? No, that's lame. Scout Oath and Law? Not two words.

"Their first and last names," Chuck said.

I had a teacher in high school, Father Burshek, who taught world religion (comparative theology) to the seniors every year. He was considered by the student body to be one very cool guy. He had a love for music and one of the most comprehensive collections of jazz music (rumor had it) in the world. I was surprised when he greeted me by name in my sophomore year. The only time I'd seen him was when he gave Mass one Thursday a semester. I'll never forget how cool I felt - "Father Burshek knows me. He knows my name."

Rumor has it that Father Burshek flipped through the Rolodex of student names and pictures before the start of every year, memorizing the names of every student in the school. All the incoming freshmen, any transfer students, and reviewing everyone else¹.

All teachers, I think, know how important it is to learn the names of their students. But few teachers do everything they can to ensure their students know the names of each other. I attended a tracked school (school within a school) of 360 students, but never attended my core classes with the same 90 students every year for three years. I should have known everyone's name by the end of middle school, but I think I might have known only half, and knew only ten or twenty after my first year there. Middle school was not a good time for me. Knowing names works both ways - you feel more comfortable when people address you by name, and less anxious when you know the names of everyone.

There are two name games I play on the second day of class, but I'm sure there are many more and probably some better ones out there². Name tags are great too, I think. I used to think they're kind of silly, but I think they can help a lot. You might not wear them for these games though, as it sort of defeats the purpose.

In the first, everyone sits in a circle. The first student says their name, then the person to their right says the first student's name and their own name. Then the person on their right says the names of the first and second students, and their own name. This continues through the whole group until the first student who started says the name of everyone in the class.

Disadvantages:

1. The second and third person to go don't really need to listen to everyone else say their name, only the first person and those who are waiting to go. You could possibly fix this by making everyone repeat everyone's name at the end of the game, if you had the time.

Advantages:

1. The names are repeated 20 to 40 times, depending on the number of students in your class.
2. Students don't get to choose who's names they remember, they have to say everyone's, whether the student is in their social group or not.

The second game I enjoy a lot more. You'll need six tennis balls. The students all stand in a circle. There are a few rules: you have to say the name of the person you're throwing the ball to before you throw it; each person should get the ball once, but only once; you need to remember who threw the ball to you, and who you threw the ball to. The teacher can start by saying the name of a student and throwing one ball to them. Once you have the ball again, make sure everyone has thrown it once. Then, tell students they will throw again following the same pattern as before; everyone throws to the same person they did during the last round, only faster. You repeat as many times as you want, eventually adding more tennis balls and throwing them to the first student at intervals after the first ball is thrown.

Disadvantages:

1. Some students might get a little rowdy when they get to throw balls around the room. I tell them if they drop a ball, they have to start over. Usually this way they throw more gently and work together to make sure everyone catches the ball.
2. I was the kid everyone made fun of in gym class - my bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is pretty low. Some kids who, like me, can't catch, might feel the eyes of their classmates, but you can encourage a positive atmosphere. The countermeasures for the first disadvantage can help here too.

Advantages:

1. Everyone knows the name of the person they threw to during the game and hopefully picked up some other names as well (the names are repeated as many times as you play, which could be a lot if you go all the way to six balls, no mistakes).

Previous - Day One: Information Sheets
Next - Day Three: Classroom Grid

1. There were apparently at least two rumors about Father Burshek and I can't really confirm either one. The Rolodex makes a nice teacher legend though. Go back.
2. If you know other name games, you should definitely leave them in the comments. Go back.

I don't get it. Maybe it's because I was too much of the nerd in school, and never was a part of punk culture, so it doesn't resonate with me like it does with Alec. Or maybe I'm missing a crucial part of the definition. The Wikipedia stub states:

"Edupunk is an ideology referring to teaching and learning practices that result from a do it yourself (DIY) attitude."

If that's all there is too it, edupunk to me doesn't seem new, revolutionary, or going against any system. The cost or corporate ownership isn't an issue to me. If it works, use it. If is doesn't, don't.

Ms. Michetti beat me to the punch here. If you don't improve improve on something that already works really well, why do it yourself? If all the available resources stink, of course you would do it yourself. It's what a good teacher would do. As Ms. Michetti says, "it's just good practice."

Case in point: I'm co-teaching grade 7 English next semester. Since I'm in a sense mentoring the other teacher, I started planning my units by using the same textbook he is, because I saw it as the easiest way for him to improve his teaching.

I chose a unit called "Dragons." Dragons are cool, right? The students would have fun with it, I could read aloud Eragon for the first few minutes of every class, and there was an assignment in the textbook where students pretend they're on a radio show - perfect for making podcasts. And technology is great for at-risk students.

So I started writing my first lesson plan.


Luckily, built in safeguards stopped me before I got too far. Theory into Practice has been around for a while, but Relevancy/Schooliness is new. I considered adding it a while ago, and Clay convinced me of it's importance. There will be at least one kid in class who won't see the immediate relevancy of learning about dragons. Or drawing one. And that kid will be right. Not to mention the fact that the textbook wasn't using any educational theory I'm familiar with, nor did it differentiate. So no more Dragon unit, and no more textbook. The textbook doesn't work for me, so I'll do it myself.

I plan a unit on gender roles; relevant because the girls get stuck cleaning the classroom way more often than the boys. The girls have something to gain and the boys have something to lose, maybe even beyond the schoolyard (I hope). We'll read A Girl Named Disaster aloud as part of the unit, which will fit in nicely with our next unit on immigration, which has it's relevancy in the riots that happened last month in Johannesburg and just down the road 30 km in Jane Furse. And I'll differentiate and scaffold as much as I want. Just as much as I did before anyone was calling it edupunk.

Here's the thing though: my counterparts at the school have spent the majority of their professional careers teaching under the Bantu education system. They were taught during Apartheid. They are going to need a lot of additional professional development to get to the point where they can connect lessons to specific educational theories. So when I teach my coworkers to lesson plan, we use lessons from the textbook. In the teacher's guide, each lesson is already paired with it's Learning Outcomes and Assessment Standards (standards set at the federal level). Instead of listening to a 30 minute to hour long lecture everyday¹, they're getting direct instruction, followed by modeling, followed by guided practice. Occasionally, they get to do group work, science experiments, or create authentically assessed projects. For the teachers, the textbooks work relatively better. They may be sold by a corporate power like Oxford University Press, but it's closer to good practice. So they use it. Why not?

1. I'm not saying lectures are the root of all evil, I'm just saying you don't use them every time you teach. Go back.

Charlie commented on my post where I did Clay's meme:

My question is what are truly effective ways to address bullying in schools. It seems students suffer so much and so many are unaware of this going on. How do we address it to make it stop? I've googled the bullying sites and seen the nifty programs but it still seems like too little.

My philosophy of teaching stems from my social experiences as a middle school student. To prevent bullying in my classroom, I plan to use the first month in a classroom for community building.

The last time I had a classroom of my own I was student teaching during second semester. So I haven't tried using these methods on my own. But other teachers I met during my college years have used the methods I'm detailing here.

Day One: Ask students to fill out an information sheet about themselves.

This is a nice way to get to know a few details about your students at the start of the year. I also use this day to take pictures of all my students which I then turn into flashcards and begin to learn students' names. Learning names is one of my weak points, but by doing this I usually know all their names within the first two weeks of class.

My information sheet looks something like this:

Name:

Age:

Class period:


I own a: tape player CD player mp3 player/ipod cell phone

I have access to a computer at home: yes no

I have access to the internet at home: yes no


Number of siblings:

Pets:

Sports I like to play:

Hobbies:

After school today I will:

This weekend, I will:

I think I am:

The second section helps me with a couple of ways I might try to bring technology into the classroom. When I grade writing, I like to read and think aloud and record for the student. Based on the responses I can decide if I want students to buy a tape or a CD-RW. If many have an mp3 player I might e-mail them the files or put them on a password protected website. I also want to know how fair it is for me to ask for typed work depending on the amount of time they have to complete an assignment. I'm also planning on using Twitter to break down the schoolroom walls. From this information and the student's age, I can also start to think about the socio-economic status of my students and their previous successes in school. This will inform my teaching but also just a few of the challenges I might face in helping to build community.

The third section I take and start making a grid for every class. Each grid has a space for every student with some of their facts written in, but without their name. Of course I don't put in any information that might have been shared in confidence.

On the Day Three, I'll pass out one copy of each form to the students and give them about an hour to fill in all the spaces. I might start the class with a quick icebreaker. I also might choose to associate a small grade with it and make a few different versions of the sheet to discourage cheating, but usually just saying "don't use this time as an excuse to talk to your friends" and "don't copy off of each other's sheets" works well enough. I put myself on the grid too and try to complete my own sheet modeling the activity and getting to know the students as well, finding the ones I share common things with (I don't usually remember who is who from filling out the grid during the previous two days).

Day Two: Two Truths and a Lie Name Games

I have decided to try to reflect on my lessons here so that I have a digital copy, I may receive feedback, and so because the technology might encourage me to do it more than when I was a student teacher (like, maybe for every lesson instead of none).

Before you hit unsubscribe, I've excluded reflections from the site's feed. So you won't be totally bombarded. If, for some reason you want to subject yourself to more, you should subscribe to this feed.

This post was a draft I just found today from back in April. I'm relying heavily on my lesson plans here, so I'll give this a whirl.

When I write up a lesson plan, I include some sections to keep me honest. "Theory into Practice" is one example. Same with "assessment." Master teachers may have something in mind for each of these when they jot down a lesson plan, but I like to get something down concrete to remind myself.

After teaching today and reading this post by dy/dan, I think I may want to add a section on relevancy. In language arts today, my students are completing a comprehension sheet on some non-fiction they read. But I'm pretty sure few of them have a reason for learning how stars are formed. They should know, it ties into current events (life on another planet - I think fifth graders would find that relevant).