Does anyone teach a "writing process" anymore?
I don't. Never have. Never will.
(Listen to the TSK TSK TSKs)
Instead, I teach a Creation Process.
Teaching a Creation Process rather than a Writing Process was something I'd contemplated for a while and brought to fruition during my university years after learning that education is better when it goes beyond one particular class. This truth has always seemed fairly obvious and works beautifully for ELA where a lot of the skills that are learned are cross-curricular in nature.
Now, I'm just as guilty as the next teacher when it comes to failing to link the learning in my course to others, but the idea of a Creation Process does this beautifully. And, it doesn't just relate to other courses, but also to life in general, and careers in particular.
For the past five years I have been teaching my grade 9's a formal Creation Process. A student teaching class was my test market for this and I'm thankful that I dared to question my mentor teacher when he told me I'd need to teach the class the standard writing process. Thankfully, Mr. Lent was an amazing mentor teacher and granted me permission to alter his typical content and experiment with his class.
The results were amazing. Students were engaged and participated enthusiastically. Even when it came to writi g and rewriting a text up to 8 times, there were few complaints.
There really isn't a whole lot of difference between a process of writing and one of creation, that is except for the focus. For the student who hates writing, learning a process to improve writing sounds like a long, boring, pointless endeavor. But that student may love baking, or science, or architecture or . . . The creation process is a process that not only improves writing but it also improves ANYTHING a student chooses to create in any subject or other area of their lives.
I begin the unit questioning students about what their parents do for a living: "A truck driver, pastor, teacher, lawyer, constuction worker, small business owner, astronaut (Ok, I've never heard astronaut, not with a teaching assignment in rural northern Alberta, but how cool would that be?) and I pick out one or two occupations that I know will easily prove my point (while stay at home mom can work, it's not easy getting the answers I want.) I then ask why she or he does this job--leading to he/she enjoys it--and what is involved in the job--looking for something that gets created. I'll ask if they know all that's involved in doing the job--planning, talking to others, redoing some of the work, etc.
Next, I ask if anyone has seen the television show, "House." There is usually a few and I'll have them give a brief description of the show, ensuring they understand that House is an expect specialist doctor who solves cases others can't, and that he saves lives. I'll ask if anyone knows what's similar about House and their parents. There are often some interesting answers here that I gloss over until I can tell they want me to tell them. But I don't. I placate their annoyance by offering to watch an episode of House instead: Season 1, Episode2, Paternity.
As we watch, students have a set of questions to focus on and write point form responses to. The focus involves why House takes the cases he does, what his first steps are, what he does when he thinks he has an answer, what he does after administering a treatment, who else he talks to about the case, and when he stops trying to cure a patient.
Each of these relates to 1 of 6 steps in the Creation Process.
1. Interest
2. Research
3. Creation
4. Evaluation
5. Consultation
6. Re-Creation
I'll spare you a full on explanation of each because I'm sure you can see the link to House, life, careers, school, and writing. I go over each step in detail, offering explanations and examples of "practical application" for both writing and life. I also stress the importance of repeating steps 4 through 6 as many times as necessary to achieve the desired level of perfection. I use House and their parents as examples of not just doing things once and saying "good enough."
Through the unit "I reserve the right to test them on these steps and applications without notice" and I do. It isn't long before they realize the importance of evaluating their answers, consulting to get it right, and recreating their answers the next time there is a quiz. Soon they have it all memorized. I also combine this learning with the 6 traits of good writing and the RAFTS model (or FARTS model if you ask the kids) and have them plan, write, evaluate, consult, and rewrite a piece of their choice for each trait. By the end, they get it. (Can you see why I despise standardized tests that allow very little time for steps 2 and 4, and eliminate steps 5 and 6 all together? It hardly seems fair to expect from students, who have had very little creation practice, so much more than we expect from Specialist Doctors!)
What are your thoughts? What am I missing? Am I completely off my rocker? Did I seriously just say, "off my rocker?"
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Bullying: How far is too far?
This post has been inspired by a featured video from A Current Affair entitled "Bullying Victim Speaks Out." If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to check it out before continuing to read.
I had mixed reactions while viewing this interview and the situation on which it is based. I'm still not certain what I really think, but perhaps that will be solidified through the act of writing this post. I came across this post on Twitter thanks to @SamGliksman, and thought I'd take a look. Preventing bullying is an issue that I've been interested in pursuing at my school ever since I sat with a student for a lunch period after he'd been harassed by others at his locker at the start of lunch. Unfortunately this student felt his course of action was to transfer schools. As dark a moment as that was, the depth of the issue was brought to light for me on "Wear a Pink Shirt Day" (for anti-bullying awareness) when I was told by two of my classes that bullying doesn't happen at our school. I couldn't believe it. It was further reinforced as I began to prep for leading a PD session at my school on building school community and I've further explored this through a session at our teacher's convention MPTCA.
When I looked at the title of the video, my first reaction was "Good for you Casey." It takes guts to stand up and speak out against bullying; there is always that fear that any form of resistance will result in swift and brutal retaliation. There is a lot of bullying that goes unreported for just this reason. That's a disheartening, though somewhat understandable truth. Self-preservation is instinctual, and if a victim feels the only outcome of "telling" will be, at best a "we'll look into it" response, it's not hard to figure out why they'd prefer to keep it to themselves.
My second reaction, I must admit, was quite different. As I viewed the footage of the incident, I couldn't help but cringe (every time) they showed the bully being slammed into the ground. I remember thinking that Casey was lucky the boy wasn't paralyzed (assuming that if he was there would be a different title on the interview). It was then that I realized this wasn't so much about "Speaking Out" as it was about "Standing Up" and I was a bit repulsed that ACA would run a piece about the glory of violent retaliation.
I do believe it is important for a victim to find the courage to stand up to her/his aggressor(s): It's good for their self-esteem, teaches them to try independence first, and speaks to the seriousness of the incidents (not that being bullied isn't serious--we must listen--but sometimes it's hard as an adult to determine the extent and act appropriately).
But . . .
How far is too far ?
When it comes to bullying, unpleasant situations, threats or acts of physical violence, I've always taught my own children, and I teach it to my students as well, to make a decision between trying to talk it out or walking (running) away. To turn to physical violence is a last resort ONLY when rendered unable to run. I hold this position for two reasons: my morals (which are beside the point today), and social laws about reasonable force. Self-defense, by my understanding, allows only for you to make yourself safe. It does not allow you to injure because you have been injured. Anything beyond this moves you into the realm of unreasonable force and there are legal ramifications then that you will bear.
How far is too far? Consider it this way. Casey did not feel the need to repeatedly kick his bully once he had the bully down, and on this point I applaud him, but what if he had thought it necessary to pull a knife or a gun to make the abuse stop permanently? What would our reactions be then? Is 15-year-old-Casey still a hero and role model for "speaking out"or is he a murderer? Would it be a sad crime of passion or another case of teen gunmen in public schools?
How far is too far? Personally, I agree with the school's zero tolerance policy on fighting and Casey's suspension (assuming he went beyond self-defense). Violence is very rarely the answer. Violence often leads to escalation of a situation and disastrous consequences.
All of that being said, I recognize these are my own beliefs, albeit based on law, and that others have very different values. Many of my students assert that they have been taught to return a blow with a blow, to finish the fight if someone else starts it, to stand up for themselves no matter the means. And I can respect that attitude in some ways; it can produce positive results. But students don't realize that they need to make this a conscious choice. They need to realize there will be consequences for these types of actions and they need to make the decision knowing that the law is NOT on their side most of the time. Individuals need to be able to analyze a situation and determine for themselves which issues to pursue, the necessary actions, and the consequences they are willing endure to get the results they desire.
This video does do a lot for awareness of bullying as an issue in our schools. Casey honestly admits to feeling helpless, lonely, having a lack of supporters, and to contemplating suicide. The effects of bullying are terrible and parents and teachers often see only a glimpse of what actually goes on. This can make it extremely difficult to address the bullying issue. Two keys to putting a stop to bullying are helping bullies become empathetic to the plights of others and to teach bystanders to take action. We need more peacemakers. We need more students to choose not to be silent. We need individuals to speak out.
Ultimately, we all have choices to make. I'm not about to judge Casey's choice today because I wasn't there and I wasn't in his situation. Casey made the choice he thought was best. Was it self-defense? Did it go beyond reasonable force? I'm not a lawyer :( so I don't know. But I didn't hear a single comment that suggests Casey believes his suspension is unjust, whereas he has implied he has no regrets.
My final reactions were of admiration (mixed with a touch of relief) when Casey offered his very mature advice to other victims: "school doesn't last forever--hang in there" rather than "beat up your bully."
I had mixed reactions while viewing this interview and the situation on which it is based. I'm still not certain what I really think, but perhaps that will be solidified through the act of writing this post. I came across this post on Twitter thanks to @SamGliksman, and thought I'd take a look. Preventing bullying is an issue that I've been interested in pursuing at my school ever since I sat with a student for a lunch period after he'd been harassed by others at his locker at the start of lunch. Unfortunately this student felt his course of action was to transfer schools. As dark a moment as that was, the depth of the issue was brought to light for me on "Wear a Pink Shirt Day" (for anti-bullying awareness) when I was told by two of my classes that bullying doesn't happen at our school. I couldn't believe it. It was further reinforced as I began to prep for leading a PD session at my school on building school community and I've further explored this through a session at our teacher's convention MPTCA.
When I looked at the title of the video, my first reaction was "Good for you Casey." It takes guts to stand up and speak out against bullying; there is always that fear that any form of resistance will result in swift and brutal retaliation. There is a lot of bullying that goes unreported for just this reason. That's a disheartening, though somewhat understandable truth. Self-preservation is instinctual, and if a victim feels the only outcome of "telling" will be, at best a "we'll look into it" response, it's not hard to figure out why they'd prefer to keep it to themselves.
My second reaction, I must admit, was quite different. As I viewed the footage of the incident, I couldn't help but cringe (every time) they showed the bully being slammed into the ground. I remember thinking that Casey was lucky the boy wasn't paralyzed (assuming that if he was there would be a different title on the interview). It was then that I realized this wasn't so much about "Speaking Out" as it was about "Standing Up" and I was a bit repulsed that ACA would run a piece about the glory of violent retaliation.
I do believe it is important for a victim to find the courage to stand up to her/his aggressor(s): It's good for their self-esteem, teaches them to try independence first, and speaks to the seriousness of the incidents (not that being bullied isn't serious--we must listen--but sometimes it's hard as an adult to determine the extent and act appropriately).
But . . .
How far is too far ?
When it comes to bullying, unpleasant situations, threats or acts of physical violence, I've always taught my own children, and I teach it to my students as well, to make a decision between trying to talk it out or walking (running) away. To turn to physical violence is a last resort ONLY when rendered unable to run. I hold this position for two reasons: my morals (which are beside the point today), and social laws about reasonable force. Self-defense, by my understanding, allows only for you to make yourself safe. It does not allow you to injure because you have been injured. Anything beyond this moves you into the realm of unreasonable force and there are legal ramifications then that you will bear.
How far is too far? Consider it this way. Casey did not feel the need to repeatedly kick his bully once he had the bully down, and on this point I applaud him, but what if he had thought it necessary to pull a knife or a gun to make the abuse stop permanently? What would our reactions be then? Is 15-year-old-Casey still a hero and role model for "speaking out"or is he a murderer? Would it be a sad crime of passion or another case of teen gunmen in public schools?
How far is too far? Personally, I agree with the school's zero tolerance policy on fighting and Casey's suspension (assuming he went beyond self-defense). Violence is very rarely the answer. Violence often leads to escalation of a situation and disastrous consequences.
All of that being said, I recognize these are my own beliefs, albeit based on law, and that others have very different values. Many of my students assert that they have been taught to return a blow with a blow, to finish the fight if someone else starts it, to stand up for themselves no matter the means. And I can respect that attitude in some ways; it can produce positive results. But students don't realize that they need to make this a conscious choice. They need to realize there will be consequences for these types of actions and they need to make the decision knowing that the law is NOT on their side most of the time. Individuals need to be able to analyze a situation and determine for themselves which issues to pursue, the necessary actions, and the consequences they are willing endure to get the results they desire.
This video does do a lot for awareness of bullying as an issue in our schools. Casey honestly admits to feeling helpless, lonely, having a lack of supporters, and to contemplating suicide. The effects of bullying are terrible and parents and teachers often see only a glimpse of what actually goes on. This can make it extremely difficult to address the bullying issue. Two keys to putting a stop to bullying are helping bullies become empathetic to the plights of others and to teach bystanders to take action. We need more peacemakers. We need more students to choose not to be silent. We need individuals to speak out.
Ultimately, we all have choices to make. I'm not about to judge Casey's choice today because I wasn't there and I wasn't in his situation. Casey made the choice he thought was best. Was it self-defense? Did it go beyond reasonable force? I'm not a lawyer :( so I don't know. But I didn't hear a single comment that suggests Casey believes his suspension is unjust, whereas he has implied he has no regrets.
My final reactions were of admiration (mixed with a touch of relief) when Casey offered his very mature advice to other victims: "school doesn't last forever--hang in there" rather than "beat up your bully."
Not Just Authentic Assessment But Authentic Learning As Well
How can I engage my students and have them learn what I'm trying to teach them?
Setting aside the ideas of formative assessment and assessment for learning, which are important, my authentic assessments are summative and happen at the end of the unit. But what about the beginning of a unit?
This is a question I've been most keen on answering since the end of January this year, and the start of a new term and new courses. I knew I had a tough high school class starting up and was hoping to really reach them this term. It's a class I've taught through junior high and have struggled to engage. None of my "tricks" have worked with this class: humour, fun, technology, authentic assessment . . . I very much wanted to make ELA meaningful for these students, but didn't know how.
I decided to try "authentic learning"(a term I naively thought I'd coined until looking into it for this post). Authentic learning is defined here as experience "which best enable learners to be engaged with their learning. Because the teacher attempts to make the learning situation meaningful to the life of the student and connected to real life events, students are better able to construct knowledge and to make meaning from school-based learning."
My thought was to try and show this class how what they were about to learn could be applicable to their own lives: authentic. This is something that I typically do throughout a unit through examples or explanation. However, as I said before, this hasn't been convincing for this class in the past. This term I decided a more drastic approach to authentic learning was required.
To lead into our first unit (with the authentic assessment being a team debate), I decided to invite my principal into class to explain that our school's cafeteria would be closing as per staff decision at the previous day's staff meeting. Students were horrified at the thought, but (surprisingly) accepted the news politely and without argument. This was not the reaction I had counted on, or needed to lead into a unit on debate. As our principal headed toward the door, I told students this was their chance to have their voices heard; they needed to speak the looks on their faces if they wanted a chance to change this decision. So they did. They asked questions, made statement, share perspectives, offered suggestions, and debated reasons and solutions. They debated! And it was great.
After explaining to them that the cafeteria was not in fact closing, and after listening to their groans at being tricked, and after explaining that the purpose of lying to them was to show them how important it is to be able to state and defend an opinion, they were all enthusiastic to learn more about how to convince others of their ideas. They carried this enthusiasm right through the unit, not wanting to wait until the end to debate their topics (which they chose).
This worked so well that I decided to use the same approach, authentic learning, for unit two. This time I knew it would be vital to engage students' interest as we were about to begin The Crucible, a 1953 Arthur Miller play, set in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts about hanging witches. That's about as far away from 2011 Ridgevalley AB as you can get, at least as far as students are concerned. What's a teacher to do?
I took a risk. A risk that ended with 3 students in the hallway, one sobbing; a class full of incredulous and angry, though surrealistically silent students, and a principal ready to call parents. Sounds like a disaster, doesn't it? The next day, the one student who was absent came complaining that she always misses the "fun stuff." A week later teachers are still commenting to me that kids are talking about that class, and students are asking some pretty good questions of the characters via todaysmeet.com. How can that be? Because I showed them what it would be like to live in a society like Salem's where you were expected to follow the rules despite how ridiculous they may seem. I showed them what happens if you don't follow the rules. I showed them how little evidence it took to be named a witch. I showed them what would happen if you tried to defend an accused witch.
Students came to class expecting a test. They got an unfair test with unfair rules. When a rule was broken I tore up that student's test and when they complained I sent them to the hallway. After the first student was sent out, the rules were followed. I then switched to unfair accusations based on little to no evidence. And sent another student out for complaining. A third tried to defend him and she got sent out as well (sobbing). The rest were above reproach. I had the principal come in and enforce how important following the rules is and what would happen if students refuse.
When all was revealed as an act (my drama teacher qualifications have gotten a bit of a boost with all this acting), students were able to relate the themes of the play: hysteria (one student testified to being so frightened of messing up that his hands were shaking so badly he couldn't write his test), intolerance (mine for their disrespect and their's toward the "bad" kids sent to the hall), and reputation (one falsely accused student had been offered amnesty for an admittance of guilt but refused and later explained he didn't want his classmates, who knew he was innocent, to think worse of him).
Students got a firsthand dose of life in Salem at the time of the play and have reserved judgement on the characters for their actions. We also discussed how these same themes were apparent in the events of 9/11 and other situations that affect them. Students had an authentic learning experience that has engaged them and been related to their own lives. I plan on trying to provide more of these types of experiences for students at the beginning of units (though I promised not to lie to this class again for a couple months).
What have you done to offer authentic learning? What do you think about "lying" to students? What suggestions can you offer?
My thought was to try and show this class how what they were about to learn could be applicable to their own lives: authentic. This is something that I typically do throughout a unit through examples or explanation. However, as I said before, this hasn't been convincing for this class in the past. This term I decided a more drastic approach to authentic learning was required.
To lead into our first unit (with the authentic assessment being a team debate), I decided to invite my principal into class to explain that our school's cafeteria would be closing as per staff decision at the previous day's staff meeting. Students were horrified at the thought, but (surprisingly) accepted the news politely and without argument. This was not the reaction I had counted on, or needed to lead into a unit on debate. As our principal headed toward the door, I told students this was their chance to have their voices heard; they needed to speak the looks on their faces if they wanted a chance to change this decision. So they did. They asked questions, made statement, share perspectives, offered suggestions, and debated reasons and solutions. They debated! And it was great.
After explaining to them that the cafeteria was not in fact closing, and after listening to their groans at being tricked, and after explaining that the purpose of lying to them was to show them how important it is to be able to state and defend an opinion, they were all enthusiastic to learn more about how to convince others of their ideas. They carried this enthusiasm right through the unit, not wanting to wait until the end to debate their topics (which they chose).
This worked so well that I decided to use the same approach, authentic learning, for unit two. This time I knew it would be vital to engage students' interest as we were about to begin The Crucible, a 1953 Arthur Miller play, set in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts about hanging witches. That's about as far away from 2011 Ridgevalley AB as you can get, at least as far as students are concerned. What's a teacher to do?
I took a risk. A risk that ended with 3 students in the hallway, one sobbing; a class full of incredulous and angry, though surrealistically silent students, and a principal ready to call parents. Sounds like a disaster, doesn't it? The next day, the one student who was absent came complaining that she always misses the "fun stuff." A week later teachers are still commenting to me that kids are talking about that class, and students are asking some pretty good questions of the characters via todaysmeet.com. How can that be? Because I showed them what it would be like to live in a society like Salem's where you were expected to follow the rules despite how ridiculous they may seem. I showed them what happens if you don't follow the rules. I showed them how little evidence it took to be named a witch. I showed them what would happen if you tried to defend an accused witch.
Students came to class expecting a test. They got an unfair test with unfair rules. When a rule was broken I tore up that student's test and when they complained I sent them to the hallway. After the first student was sent out, the rules were followed. I then switched to unfair accusations based on little to no evidence. And sent another student out for complaining. A third tried to defend him and she got sent out as well (sobbing). The rest were above reproach. I had the principal come in and enforce how important following the rules is and what would happen if students refuse.
When all was revealed as an act (my drama teacher qualifications have gotten a bit of a boost with all this acting), students were able to relate the themes of the play: hysteria (one student testified to being so frightened of messing up that his hands were shaking so badly he couldn't write his test), intolerance (mine for their disrespect and their's toward the "bad" kids sent to the hall), and reputation (one falsely accused student had been offered amnesty for an admittance of guilt but refused and later explained he didn't want his classmates, who knew he was innocent, to think worse of him).
Students got a firsthand dose of life in Salem at the time of the play and have reserved judgement on the characters for their actions. We also discussed how these same themes were apparent in the events of 9/11 and other situations that affect them. Students had an authentic learning experience that has engaged them and been related to their own lives. I plan on trying to provide more of these types of experiences for students at the beginning of units (though I promised not to lie to this class again for a couple months).
What have you done to offer authentic learning? What do you think about "lying" to students? What suggestions can you offer?
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