Raising Risks

A couple years ago, a brilliant colleague named Kristin shared a culture-building exercise she does with her students.  In the first days of school, Kristin gives her students a blank seating chart and challenges her students to, in the first two weeks, know the first names of their classmates as well as something about each of them that can't be inferred based on appearance.

As one of my goals this year is effectively building classroom culture, I challenged my students to complete this assignment with some guided activities and, after these two weeks, I asked them to share what they found. I also asked them to flip these seating charts over and respond to these questions:

1. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, how comfortable do you feel raising your hand in class to ask a question?

2. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, how comfortable do you feel raising your hand in class to answer a question you aren't sure if you're answering correctly?

3. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, how comfortable do you feel engaging in cooperative learning exercises with you peers?

4.  To become more comfortable with these these skills, I could...

5.  To become more comfortable with these skills, my classmates could...

6.  To become more comfortable with these skills, my teacher could...

My first realization is that I need to conduct such a survey more often.  Not only do this assignment and survey align with two of my professional goals this year on soliciting student feedback and improving classroom culture, I also obtained insightful feedback.  Here were some of my most interesting findings:

• In my two English 9 classes and my English 10 class, the area of greatest discomfort was the first, asking questions.  Due to my lack of psychic powers, this response was concerning; how am I to know if my students are confused if they don't tell me?  I shared this concern with them; now I need to help them gain this comfort.  

• In my Honors class (some call this pre-A.P.), the area of greatest discomfort was responding to a question they aren't entirely confident about.  An interesting disparity between these two types of learners, but not entirely surprising; they are generally perfectionists who pride themselves on their academic prowess so I can see how appearing "wrong" may be a fear.

• In response to the fifth question, some students said their classmates could be more kind and approachable, get to know each other, invite students to join their group work, could ask good questions and could smile.

• To #6, some students said I could talk about me, provide feedback on their in-class responses, call on a variety of students, ask follow up questions, and help them get to know each other better.

I shared their responses, the above only being a small sampling, with their classmates and hope knowing what they need for each other will improve our learning environment.  I also certainly learned about some elements of classroom culture that I can work on.  I'll conduct a similar survey later in the semester, using this survey to monitor my improvement on these two professional goals. 

On Feedback

As I suggested in my last two posts, much of my summer learning centered around feedback, spawning learning goals focused on this concept.  I'm excited about how a couple of these ideas have manifested themselves.

Carol Dweck, whose lecture I had the fortune of attending, made me rethink the way I offer students feedback on their learning. Last weekend, I sat down to grade my first set of essays for the 2012-2013 school year--you know school is in session when you're sitting down with sophomore essays on a Saturday night.  In the past, here is what my feedback on one of these essays may have sounded like: 

"Great essay.  You are eloquent and your ideas are organized well.  Consider how providing at least three examples for each point you make can provide a more substantive body of evidence for your argument.  Excellent job with grammar and mechanics." 

Thanks to Dweck, here is how I gave feedback on an essay showing those same qualities this fall:

"You worked hard on this essay.  I can tell you put a lot of effort into your diction as well as into your structure.  (The constructive criticism would remain the same.)  You have challenged yourself to master grammar and mechanics, and it shows." 

Nuanced disparities, yes?  Here is the central difference, however.  In the first comment, I praise the student.  In the second, I praise the student's effort.  Though one may find the difference inconsequential, Dweck suggests that when we attritute a student's success to who he is instead of the effort he puts in, we cultivate a "fixed mindset" in our students, a term Dweck defines as an understanding that one's intelligence is finite as opposed to malleable.  A student comes to learn his successes are the result of who he is, not the effort he puts into his work. 

Conversely, when we suggest to a student his effort toward mastery has created his success, that student understands with increased effort comes increased success, a term Dweck calls a "growth mindset".  In actively cultivating this growth mindset, we teach them that one's success is not a tendency we're born with, but rather something he must work for, giving all students equal opportunity for success.  How powerful.

Thanks for putting in the effort to read this blog.  You challenge yourself as a learner.

Enacting My Vision

Yesterday I shared a Donahue poem called "For a New Beginning" that a mentor shared with me this summer.  As the title suggests, the poem speaks to that chasm I find myself in at the school year's beginning, the chasm where I try to find my way out of what has been to explore what might be.  He writes, "[You] Wondered would you always live like this./ Then the delight, when your courage kindled,/ And out you stepped onto new ground,/ Your eyes young again with energy and dream,/ A path of plenitude opening before you."  I asked my students to imagine to what they would dedicate their energy, toward what they would dream.  And I also told them I would share the new ground I'm attempting to tread on this year, so here goes:

1.  Classroom culture:  this doesn't come easily.  As I shared with my students, I switched schools every couple years and dreaded when teachers would ask me to meet someone new, or to stand up and tell the class about myself.  I'm trying to imagine different ways getting to know one another can look, but to also instill in my students the importance of knowing themselves and their classmates.  I often begin the year eager to create this environment, but get excited about the curriculum at the sacrifice of that culture.  I realize that's a mistake.  Further enforcing this realization was a session I attended at Learning Forward this summer with Kathleen Cushmann, whose new research identified the 13 factors that most strongly correlate with students' mastery of content.  #1?  "A sense of safety and well-being".  Additionally, Senate Bill 191's new teacher evaluation system measures a teacher's classroom culture, reminding us of the importance of the relationship among students and between teacher and student if one is to learn well.

2.  Reflection:  After each class I teach, I ask myself what went well and how I'll strive to improve in the days to come.  I repeat this process at a unit's conclusion.  I feel I improve all the time because of it.  So why don't I consistently ask my students to do the same?  Both the Common Core Standards and the new teacher evaluation system ask students to consistently engage in the evaluation of self, others, the importance of the material they learn, and ways they learn best.  I incorporate this in my classroom sporadically, at best, and hope to do this better this year.  One way I'll do this is using a score sheet that asks students to rate their level of understanding of our learning objectives before and after class as well as to evaluate their in-class effort each day.  More to come on how this practice works...

3.  Soliciting student feedback:  Another part of the new evaluation system, I hope to encourage my students to give me feedback on my practice.  I've also engaged in this practice perfunctorily in the past, but gave it up largely because I anticipated the compliments and criticisms to come.  Because I reflect so consistently, often this feedback was just another painful reminder of where I fell short, but I realize its importance as I certainly don't always see what's happening in class from a student's point of view.

Here's to your new beginning, to the delight when your courage kindles you forward to the path of plenitude which opens before you.

What I Learned This Summer

As with most summers, I spent a good deal of my vacation learning. I focus on improving my understanding of effective teaching as well as my understanding of the students I instruct.  Though I read avidly throughout the year, summer also provides opportunity to immerse myself more deeply in the world of literature.  Here are some highlights from my summer learning, in no particular order.  Bear with me, I love to learn and certainly learned a lot in a few short months:

Highlight 1:  My first professional development was at my Alma Mater, Trinity University in San Antonio. As I have the last several years, I spent a week reconnecting with the Department of Education faculty and its alumni, developing curriculum with recent Masters graduates.  I can't say enough about the wonderful faculty of this department and the wealth of knowledge, support, rejuvenation, and inspiration they provide me.

Highlight 2:  Upon the recommendation of Becca, a brilliant scholar and wonderful young lady in my Honors American Literature class last year, I read Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, a beautiful collection of short stories about Indians acclimating to American culture while hoping to maintain their cultural heritage.  I will surely recommend this collection to both friends and students as a masterfully crafted piece to study and simply a work to read and enjoy. Lahiri's work is certainly the best book I've read in over a year.

Highlight 3:  I attended the Learning Forward conference.  My favorite sessions included a keynote by Carol Dweck, who, in addition to a long list of accolades, is a professor of psychology at Stanford University.  I learned I can change the way my students think about intelligence and can challenge their understanding of their capacity for learning.  I will certainly share her research with my students to help them understand no potential is limited and will keep her research-based advice in mind as I give my students feedback.  Another highlight from Learning Forward was a session by Jane E. Pollock and several faculty from local high schools about giving effective feedback.  I walked away with two great strategies for monitoring students comprehension and for giving them feedback on that comprehension, both of which I will implement this fall.

Highlight 3:  I rarely read non-fiction, but challenge myself to read a few works each summer.  The Learning Forward sessions I mentioned above inspired 2 of my 3 selections including Drive by Daniel Pink and Classroom Instruction that Works (2nd. edition).  The former complimented Dweck's research about motivation, and though Pink primarily contextualizes his work in business, he challenged my thinking about students' motivation.  The latter publication, co-authored by Jane E. Pollock among others, discusses the 9 strategies most strongly linked to students' success according to researchers at McRel, certainly a great text for all teachers to read and keep in mind at the school year's beginning.  The last non-fiction text I read, a recommendation from Dr. Shari Albright, one of the brilliant professors of Trinity University I previously mentioned, was Teaching 2030 by Barnett Barry,  a book that challenges educators' notion of what's best for kids given the world's trajectory.  Barry's text is more philosophical than one that easily translates into the classroom, but I found his vision for education's future inspiring as I enter the school year.

Happy 2012-2013 school year to all teachers and learners.  Please share your favorite summer learnings.  I know that's one of the first things I'll ask my students to do.

The Power of Positive Thinking

Last summer, I read a book by Darren Hardy called The Compund Effect which I believe has truly positively affected my typically-cynical thinking.  The best piece of advice I gleaned from Hardy's text was the idea of beginning each day by counting one's blessings; particularly, he suggests doing so after you press the snooze button and until your alarm next sounds.  I've found this practice to be a great way to begin each day, and thought I'd practice the power of positive thinking in my professional life as well this semester.  Based on this book and the inspiration of a very cheerful colleague, I've made it a professional goal to, each day, give at least one student and/ or one class a sincere compliment.  Doesn't sound tricky, does it?  For me, it initially was a switch, not because I don't love my classes or my students, but rather because I am very very critical of myself and often this spills over into my teaching.  Like many of us, I constantly strive for better and can sometimes, in the process, forget to compliment and reward what's working well outside of offering a nice compliment on a written work or giving the "reward" of a grade a student rightfully earned.  I have found the experience to be a great one, one that, so far, seems to have changed the tone of my classes and also my own attitude during work each day.  Here are a few examples.
I have a brilliant junior-senior class this year.  I've been graced with insightful readers, thoughtful contributors, and, by and large, hard workers.  I knew this last semester.  I just sometimes forgot to say it out loud.  I engage in the instructional practice of Socratics often and, yesterday, we had the best Socratic we've had all year about Joyce's "Eveline', a very challenging text.  This might be attributable to many factors:  a short text, some time to think about the story before beginning discussion.  But I also think it has a lot to do with the fact that I've actually taken the time to affirm what bright young students they are.
Another example has occurred in my fourth hour class.  Because this is the midway point through the day, right before lunch, many students stop for drinks, bathroom, etc. causing them to be late.  I got frustrated and chastised before, this semester I've tried expressing my appreciation at their punctuality.  It seems a successful experiment so far.
Clearly, my evidence isn't yet prolific, yet this has so far proven a change that's required minimal effort and no time, but rather simply a mental reminder to express my sentiments.  I'm excited to see how it continues.

Coming together, the Irish Way

After the terrific success I experienced working with Maggi Smith-Dalton at the Salem Historical Society in Massachusetts, I'm hoping to begin another collaborative adventure as I start James Joyce's The Dubliners with my junior-senior college preparatory course.  In a perfect world, I would love to collaborate with a class in Ireland who is also engaged in the same text but, realizing that might be an unachievable aspiration, my hope is to connect with someone who is from Dublin and is familiar with the text.  The city of Dublin is such a prominent character in Joyce's works and I would love the students to get the perpsective of someone who knows both the city and the text and might be willing to Skype into my class.  Any takers?

Reflecting on my learning goals

Today I'm going to ask some of my students to, as their first task of the second semester, reflect on their learnings and goals from first semester.  I figured today, my only day without grading of the semester, might present a good opportunity for me to do the same.  Heck, maybe some of my students will even read it and help me stay on track. :)

Here's what I came up with:


1. Find audiences and experts beyond our classroom walls. I contacted several people and successfully connected with one enthusiastic participant named Maggi Smith-Dalton at the Salem Historical Society; I was ignored by the other handful.  This semester, I hope to connect with someone in Ireland as my English Literature class begins with Joyce's Dubliners.
2. Choose one class to try scribe posting. Yikes.  I totally blew it with this one.  The only days my Honor class has scribe posts are those when one of my lovely students inquired if she could post because she liked always knowing where her notes were; thanks Kylie! :)  I need to work harder on this.
3. Focus on building classroom culture to create a better learning and working environment. I feel like I did a much better job with this than I usually do, though my most successful efforts transpired in English 9 and I struggled more with this in my other 2 classes where I consistently run short of class time.  I began by asking students to write 3 questions they wanted to know about each other on sticky notes and posted these, then each day we had group or partner work, they would begin by talking about 1 or 2 questions.  I will continue to do this and be sure to ask my students at the semester's end how it made them feel about the classroom and doing group work.
4. Share my reading life. I have done many more book talks with my students this semester and have shared my Goodreads account with at least 1 class. I think this goal is going fairly well.
5. Read out loud more in class rather than assigning so much reading homework.  I did better with this than I have in the past but still not as well as I would like to.  I'm an overzealous planner and need to realize that I never has as much time as I think.

6. Blog once a week. I did better with this than in years past, but still need to work on doing better. 
7. Differentiate based on readiness, interest, and learning profile.  I did well with the "interest" part, but need to consider how to better my focus on the other 2, maybe even reviewing my notes from last summer as my memory of this has since faded.

8. Engage in metacognition and help my students do the same.  My honors class reflected often as did I, but I need to help my other classes do this more.  Particularly, I feel this will benefit my ninth graders, so I feel our start today will be a good one.
9. Explore other ways of giving feedback.  This is the only one I feel I have basically neglected entirely.  Oops.

I'm also adding a couple based on the inspiration of a couple collegues this morning and my own reflections from last semester...
1.  Be a better cheerleader.

2.  Don't forget when I'm good at, particularly my Understanding by Design unit structure that I accidentally moved away from.