Journal 13-1

English 11
SLACKER. I AM A SLACKER.

OK, not so much of a slacker, just burned out. I needed a break so that I could read things that weren't research-based articles or sketchy essays written by emerging writers.

I wasn't all play and no work, though. My students received their scores on the PSAT last week, so I snapped up the school report, photocopied it, and triangulated the data. Here are the results...

36 current students and 11 former students took the test this year.

47% of my current students scored between the 8th and 36th percentile in writing. Three students scored in the 8th percentile!! The 8th percentile!! That means that 92% of students who think they might go to college write better than these kids!

The other 33% of my students scored between the 40th and 66th percentile.

The rest (all 7 of them) scored between the 72nd and 79th percentile. The 79th percentile was the highest score reached by any of my current students who took this test.

In contrast, of the 11 former students, they scored (from lowest to highest) 55th, 59th, 79th, 72nd, 81st, 85th, 88th, 90th (2), 92nd and 96th.

I'm currently searching for last years' scores so I can see if I was spoiled or if I'm just cynical and jaded.

Journal 12-2

English 11
Not much on tap for class today...

Three students have requested writers' conferences...

I've been working on my transcript analysis of the tape I made last week (students peer editing sessions), and I've found something interesting. Students on the tapes don't say much - the peer editing seems to be a bust. However, I need to look at their reflective journal entries and their essay grades to see the big picture.

Observations
Students today were very quiet; most had their homework done. I returned essays to my 2nd period today and there were some people who had their feelings hurt by the grades. I gave a big speech about using the craft lessons in their writing and that their essays weren't THAT bad, just kind of meh. I'm hoping to see students after school about ways to make "meh" into "fantastic!"

reflections
I talked to a student today about his grades from a nearby school district - he reported that he struggled in English. Yet here, he's one of my best students! I'm guessing it's because he had good teachers (of course!) and also because he had a wide range of abilities in his classes. He's also one of the few students actually applying the writing lessons to his work! Because today was so blah, there's not much to report. I should have more to say tomorrow and Friday when students begin working on their Episodic Notes for The Crucible.

Journal 12-1

English 11
Welcome back!
Today's agenda: quotation paragraph, collect a project (and write in our reflective journals), begin The Crucible.

Note
I taped the students as they completed their peer reviews shortly before Thanksgiving break, and then during break I transcribed the tape for further analysis. What I found was disheartening. I was so completely unable to get past my frustration with their poor discussions that I couldn't turn in my own homework (analyze the transcription). I am seriously at my wit's end!

Observations
During the quotation paragraph portion of class, students were focused and working. There was little to no complaining about having to do a paragraph, and almost all students started working quickly and got something done. While they were working, I returned their essays from before Thanksgiving. The grades were not good. I had given the students a list of required elements - all of which we had studied in class. Most students did not include any of these elements in their essays; as a result, I had to give them low grades. I also changed class procedure regarding essays. From now on, any student who wants to resubmit an essay must have a writing conference with me AND submit a reflective journal entry along with their revised essay. I'm not doing this to punish students. I just want to give them the best possible feedback for writing their essays.

After I returned their essays, I gave a short speech about Dewey, Vygotsky, and educational theory. Students have not really been putting a lot of thought in to their reflective journals, so I shared a little educational theory with them before turning them loose on the journals. I hope that my little speech inspires deeper thoughts and more introspection that what I'm getting now.

Finally, we began reading from The Crucible. We didn't get very far - only about five pages. Students did complain about the length of the play, but I reassured them that we would be reading most of the play in class together. That didn't seem to help.

reflection
I am so frustrated by these students that I don't know what to do! They are not internalizing ANYTHING!! I grade essays using the 6+1 rubric, and students usually score in the 4-6 range for everything. I sometimes give a 3, and rarely a 2 in any category. This year, most students are scoring 2's and 3's in every category. Some students score 4's, very few score 5's or 6's. The frustrating part is that I give the students models and a list of elements that will help them raise their grades, but it doesn't show up in their essays. On that note, I'm not sure if the reflective journals aren't making things worse instead of better. Students are putting forth minimal effort for everything (including the journals), and are then ticked off when their grades are minimal as well.

Journal 11-2

English 11

So...the teacher down the hall has a Smartboard Airliner and he let me play with it today (and I get it tomorrow, too!!).  The Airliner is a small slate-like doo-hickey that is about the size of smallish laptop screen.  The Airliner is able to talk to my laptop via bluetooth technology, and the laptop is connected to an LCD projector.  I have complete control over my laptop via the Airliner slate from any point in the room.  Here's what we did today: 

Sentence of the Day: I wrote an incorrect sentence on the laptop and displayed it on my overhead screen.  Using the Airliner, a student was able to make corrections from their seat.  Every student (and I mean EVERY STUDENT) was engaged.  I was NOT tied to the white board or the computer as usual.  Instead I was roaming the room, offering suggestions and checking work.  Even my most surly and angry student volunteered to answer a question and then came after school to trade tutoring time for Airliner time.

Essay was due: Directions were displayed on the screen (just because I could...).  More about this later.

Discussion: We are working through a Jonathan Edwards sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."  It's nasty stuff.  We're looking at two paragraphs in particular.  Each paragraph has a particularly gruesome image contained in a metaphor or a simile.  I usually ask students to sketch what they see and then explain the metaphor.  Today, though, two students were able to sketch on the Airliner.  Again, EVERYONE was engaged.  Every student had sketches and explanations on their paragraphs and there was a lot of lively discussion about why Edwards had chosen the metaphors and what emotions they might have evoked in a Puritan audience from 1750 (or so).

Observation

Back to the essays.  Our main structure lesson for this essay was to add transitions between each paragraph.  Before submitting their essays, I asked students to highlight the transitions between each paragraph, and many students shook their heads.  They had forgotten to add transitions.  Even though I gave them a rubric on Monday that listed all the required elements.  Even though we had peer review that asked students to make specific suggestions to their peers about transitions.  Even though I reminded students again yesterday that I would be evaluating transitions (among other things).  Oh well, they have the option to rewrite if they choose.

After highlighting the transitions, students answered five journal prompts of their choice in their journals.  Students in 2nd and 5th periods were pleased to see comments in their journals.  Some students were surprised that I had read and graded them (I didn't tell the students that everyone gets a 100 on this assignment).  Students in all classes spent significantly more time today writing in their journals than on other days.  2nd period in particular - most students wrote and thought for at least 15 minutes.  The rest of the classes took less time, but all classes spent at least 7 to 10 minutes writing in their journals.  This is up a LOT from last time we wrote.  I've also noticed that students are finally giving me the "attentive hush."  I begin speaking and by the time I'm four words in, students have stopped talking and are paying close attention.  (Only when I drone on more than 10 minutes do students zone out and begin to put their heads down.)  I've decided to track a few things in the journal entries to see if things are really changing (or if it's just my imagination).  I want to check number of sentences, general length of entries, details, and so on.  This won't be something I'll be able to do for every student, so I'll have to choose a sampling.  Since I'm mostly focused on students who are in the 65-80 range, I'll start there and then narrow further if I need to.  I already have a few students in mind who I really want to monitor - they claim to love writing (and I believe them), yet they are poor and inconsistent writers (for school assignments).  

reflection

I'm at the data collection phase of my research.  I'm just tracking what the students are doing and keeping the data organized so that when it's time to write my big, giant paper, the hard work is done and all that's left is writing.  Students are coming around, but it seemed to take longer this year than ever before.  Is this a part of growing up?  As I grow older, do I lose touch more and more, until I'm always frustrated with the students, and they always hate my class?  I hope it's just something about this group that makes them hard to love instead of me getting older and losing touch.  Anyway, students seem to be getting what my class is about.  I talked to a former student yesterday and he told me that I gave too much work, but that he understands now why I did what I did.  He feels like he has an edge over students who didn't have me last year because he's already used to doing a lot of work and they're not.  I guess I'll keep on keeping on!  

Week 11-1

English 11
Today was a busy day...for the students. Their most recent rough draft of a persuasive essay was due today for peer review. I think my numbers are correct (I'll have actual numbers for my capstone), but I had only 7 students (0ut of 74) NOT bring some kind of rough draft! There were a few students absent, but on the whole almost everyone had their stuff! Hopefully this level of involvement will transfer to their final draft. I taped one group in each class going through each other's essays. Each student had a "Peer Analysis Sheet for Persuasive Essays" as a guide and had to first mark and then discuss their work. I haven't listened to the tapes yet... We also began going through the first part of a power point designed to introduce students to the Puritans (as pre-reading for The Crucible).

Observations
First, I am SO impressed with the number of students who had their work! I'm going to ask the kids if they did their essays because of the topic (I have space to teach only two pieces of persuasive lit. next year...what should I teach? Why?). I've read a lot of complaints about the lack of choice when it comes to essay topics, so I tried to loosen things up this time. I knew that I wanted students to write about the literature they've read (practice for literary analysis), but I tried to give them as much choice as I possibly could under the circumstances.

I tried something new today. Usually I have students sit in "pods" of four desks pushed together. I make sure that each "pod" has no more than one student more than essays (four students/three essays; three students/two essays) and I usually have to do a little rearranging to make that happen (but not today!!!). I let the students sit with their friends for the first part of the year because they haven't ever done peer revision, so sitting with a friend is not as scary as handing your writing over to someone you don't know well (or worse, have a crush on!). Today, though, I explained that like students were sitting together - the good with the good, the struggling with the struggling - and that it was time to shake things up a little! Then I reorganized. Some students were mad, but most were OK. The peer revision was very serious and quiet. I taped one group from each class for later analysis, but for the most part, everyone was eager to make a good impression on their peers. It was very nice - I did a little management and a little hand-holding - but for the most part, students were on their own (and fine there). This is good...soon I can have teacher-student conferences during the student-student conferences.

reflection
Every time we peer edit, students get a little more...verbose. They're writing comments ranging from OK to excellent on their peer's papers, and with the addition of the peer conference (directly after the peer editing), students are doing OK. When the final draft is due on Wednesday, I'm going to tape the same students I taped today, only this time I'm going to tape them completing their reflective journals as verbal entries (podcasts, but without the "cast" part). I'd like to compare their peer conferences with their reflective journals and see what bubbles up. I'd also like to see if the student's are putting their money where their mouths are - does their editing reflect what happened today in class, or are they still hoop-jumping?

Wednesday the final draft is due. On that day, students will fill out their reflective journals based on what they wrote in their essay. Before we do that, though, I'm going to share two quotations with the - and those quotations will be posted. The quotations are as follows:

"Reflective thought is 'active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge that in light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends." (Dewey, 1933, 118).

AND

"The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in a situation he finds uncertain or unique. He reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation (Schon, 1983, 68)."

I want students to at least be introduced to the basic underpinnings of WHY I'm making them write in their reflective journals. I know I work much better when I know why, so I'm hoping my students will be the same.

Things I'd like to measure in the data collection phase: length of reflective response, length of essay, length of response vs. grade on the essay, length of responses over time, length of essays over time. I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it right now.

Journal 10-2

English 11

1. Writing conferences (KL and AL): KL stopped to see me about an essay we're working on (persuasive). We had a great conversation - highlights: It's all about the writing, so as long as you say what you came to say, length is irrelevant; I value your opinion, so share it in your essay; I want you to be the best writer you can be, so just try because I can help you make it better. AL came to the ISS room while I was on duty 8th period and we fleshed out his outline and he felt like he was ready to begin writing the rough when he left. Memorable quotation: "You really want to know what pieces I liked, you're not just saying that for this assignment? What will you do?" (I'm going to see what surfaces as popular and unpopular. Popular will be kept; unpopular might be dropped - it depends on the level of virulent hatred vs. simple dislike.

2. Transitions mini-lesson: we covered six different techniques for transitioning between paragraphs (thank to Harry Noden's book Image Grammar!), then I modeled on a few student paragraphs (good news: you have transitions between paragraphs; bad news: everyone saw and critiqued your paper). Finally I allowed students to work on their own papers. Less-rough drafts are due Monday for peer review - we're looking for persuasive techniques in the persuasive essays.

3. Peer review: We discussed WHY I peer review and what I hope they take from the process...again (It's all about the writing!!!). Students this year are surprisingly resistant.

4. Big discussion about the Regents Exam - I went over the time frame, types of essays and surrounding tests for the juniors...again. I reminded them that everything we do in this class is geared towards making them better writers, which will help them pass the Regent's Exam (and get into college, have a career, marry a handsome husband/smart wife and eventually rule the world). I reminded them that I am NOT a sadistic witch but that the State Education Department sets the standards and I would not be a good teacher if I didn't adhere to those standards; I would only be setting them up for failure. I also mentioned that I LIKE them about 50 times (because at 16 it's about being liked).

5. Parent conferences last night. Not bad. I did need an entire weekend of sewing/reading/baking chocolate brownies with dark chocolate fudge frosting/a bottle of white wine to recover. But not bad...really. I think it was the 16-hour day that did me in and not the parent conferences. I only felt bad for one set of parents who opened with this: "Why did D. have an 80 at the 5-week mark and a 40 at the 10-week mark?" Wow...excellent question. Let me consult my records...Oh, here it is - he worked for five weeks and then did NOTHING for the next five weeks. I'm so sorry I didn't call you at week 7 or 8 to give you the head-up! "That's not your responsibility, it's D's. He's old enough to suffer the consequences if he chooses not to work. We were just curious if something else was happening...but apparently he's just lazy and disorganized." Would you like to know how to access his grades? "Yes, thanks! Wow, this will make it much harder for him to lie to us!" So yes, there are parents out there who believe in natural consequences, and D. reported the next day that all electronic equipment vanished from his room (save the alarm clock) and that he had to listen to them scream at him for three hours when they got home. "I don't blame you Mrs. V, it's my fault I'm not doing the work." Ummm....thanks, but I already knew that, D.

Journal 10-1

English 11
2.5 day week!

Monday and Tuesday: no school.
Wednesday and Friday: classes as usual.
Thursday: Teach all morning, then Parent-Teacher Conferences/Open House from 12-8 (off from 4-6)

Today we quizzed and then discussed "Stride Towards Freedom" by MLK and "Necessary to Protect Ourselves" by Malcolm X. I then assigned the essay - rough draft due Friday: "I have time to teach only two pieces for this unit next year. Which two pieces should I teach and why?" The ultimate goal is for students to use rhetorical devices in their essays as they convince me to include (or cut) specific essays from the curriculum.

Observations
I actually want to discuss the reflective journals that I read this weekend. Students began their entries short (2-5 words for each response), but once I added the 23 baseline prompts their entries improved dramatically. There are still a LOT of entries that are very short, and I wrote those kids some notes, but many entries did improve. I would like to see further improvement, though. Based on the quality of the entries, I don't think the students know why they're journaling. I think that next week, before their essays are due, I'll present Dewey and Vygotsky's theories to the class and then ask students what the think they'll get out of journaling. I know I'll have students who refuse to work or respond, but I think that for many students, the light will come on. It's very possible that the reason I'm getting such short answers is that students think the journals are for me and not them.

reflection
I know this entry is short, but this is a short week. Tomorrow, since I only have two of the five classes, I'm giving students time to work in class. Friday I'll teach a mini-lesson and allow for peer review, and then the essay is due Monday. Next week I'll have more to say about the writing and reflective journaling, but this week is pretty slow.

Journal 9-4

English 11

I've been working with trying to find the best way to manage the students' reflective writing.  First I tried asking students to write short paragraphs on the backs of their writing, but each entry was written and then never looked at again.  I moved to journals, and I'm not completely satisfied with them either.  Students keep their journals in the classroom, so that means that the journal entries aren't available to them for review when they go home to write.  On the other hand, journals keep all the entries together for review, and students have been going back to check previous entries.  I've also had a problem with students who don't do their work.  I have about five students who absolutely refuse to write anything, so when it's journal time, they have nothing to write.  I feel like I'm kicking these kids when they're down.  To solve this problem I went back to one of my journal articles and back-sourced it (I looked up and read the source articles).  What I found was a Rhode Island district that requires its seniors to submit a portfolio review for graduation.  As part of that portfolio review, students are asked to answer a certain number of reflective questions (there were 27 on the sheet).  I took 23 of them and modified the questions for my own use.  Now I have prompts for students who never did their homework!

On Friday, I asked students to cut out and tape the 23 journal prompts to the inside of their journals.  Then I asked students to choose five journal prompts that applied to THEM and THEIR WRITING.  (Wow, that threw them for a loop:  "We get to choose?  Why?"  "Why can't you just put the prompts on the board?"  "Which prompt do I choose?")  It took almost 20 minutes for students to cut, tape and respond to five prompts in their journals.  I brought home 2 classes worth of journals, and I'll have to do a little journaling on Monday or Tuesday to report my findings.  The rest of class (18 minutes) was spent peer editing (this weeks' lesson: adding sentence variety and adding varied end punctuation) and assigning weekend homework.  Students are reading the last two pieces in the persuasive unit: MLK and Malcolm X.  Next week we focus on their final essays, so they'll be writing in their reflective journals again.

reflection

I've found that this bunch of students, as with many groups, likes to have everything spoon-fed.  We had a similar problem when I relaxed the controls for peer editing - the students were paralyzed.  Once I relaxed control of the peer editing, it took about three more lessons for students to realize that they were on their own.  Now, after 10 sessions of peer editing (4 of which were under complete direction by me), students are finally able to peer edit on their own and have writing conferences with their peers. 

When I relaxed control of the reflective journals on Friday, the same thing happened.  Students were suddenly unable to do what they had been doing because I was suddenly offering them choice and control over their work.

I have a theory: students dislike choice and control because it puts the responsibility for learning on them.  Their entire education lives, students have been able to point the finger of blame at the teacher.  "I didn't understand."  "You didn't give me any directions."  "But you said I could...(insert excuse of your choice)."  When I give the students choices, they also have responsibility for their mistakes and missteps.

So, back to the journals... I'm curious to see how their entries have changed from the past few days to Friday.   Will they be better, or worse?  Based on the amount of complaining and questions, I betting they're either much better (for top students) AND worse (for middle/low students).  I'll have to report back.

Journal 9-3

English 11

Still grading...it never ends. On the up-side, grades are due today, so things should be better next week.

I MUST share this very funny story with my readers (you'll get a kick!): So last year, I had a run-in with our assistant principal, his daughter, and her VERY plagiarized essay. Long story short, she got a slap on the wrist. Fast-forward to this year...

A student "accidentally" (on purpose) hit a Canadian Goose while driving (aiming his truck directly at) a flock of geese crossing from the marsh to the football field (where they poop). Upon discovering that the goose had been killed by the sudden impact (F150 v. waterfowl), the student cleaned up his mess by placing the now-dead goose in a cooler full of ice conveniently located in the back of said student's truck. Another student witnessed this incident, and told the vice principal. The vice p. immediately called the vice squad, who revoked the student's hunting license (but allowed him to keep the goose, as it was already dead). The student has also had his driving privileges and off-campus privileges revoked for 5 weeks. The goose-killer noted, "Well, now we know that it's worse to kill a goose than it is to plagiarize an essay." Well said, goose-killer. Well said.

Observations

Yesterday students used their quotation paragraphs to analyze their writing for patterns. We looked at the first three words of each sentence. Based on that information, students analyzed whether or not their writing had a predictable pattern; after identifying a pattern, students had a little time to begin fixing some of their patterns. One student observed, "If you keep adding things to our list [of writing lessons], I'm going to have to write more." hmmm...yes, well, that's the basic idea kid. Today, we continued with the quotation paragraphs, but I focused on manipulating the reader's emotions by playing with end-marks. The students' assignment for tonight is to revise their quotation paragraph by making sure one sentence ends with a question mark or exclamation point instead of a period, and to revise two other sentences to add variety to their piece. Tomorrow I'll practice taping students as they peer review their paragraphs. The students had many questions today, including:
1. What if I can't fit all the craft lessons into my paragraph? (Answer: maybe you could explain a little more for your reader.)
2. Should I change my sentence to fit the end punctuation? (My inner thought: "Duh." I said: "Yes, you might find that your sentence doesn't really work with a new end-mark, so some revision may be in order.)
3. What if I already have good sentence variety? (Answer: I want you to get used to playing with sentences, so even if you have good variety, play around with your work and look for new ways to say things.)
4. Can I add things we've been talking about but haven't practiced? (Answer: Wonderful!!)

Tomorrow after peer review, I'm going to ask students to write in their reflective journals what they plan to revise in this quotation paragraph. I'm going to find a series of open-ended questions they can staple into the front of their journals and then turn them loose on the page.

We also continued talking about persuasive writing. Today we went over "Lecture to a Missionary" by Red Jacket. Students were asked to find examples of Ethos, Logos, Pathos, Repetition/Parallel Structure (often found together, so the category was one), Alliteration, Allusions, Figurative Language and Rhetorical Questions. Students worked hard all period and were very good about checking their answers with me or a neighbor for clarification. We're winding up, so we'll begin drafting their own persuasive essay next week. I'm thinking of giving them the prompt: "I can only teach TWO persuasive articles next year. Using what you've learned of persuasive writing in the past three weeks, present to me your choices for next year's juniors."

reflection
Students are starting to come around to how I do things. It took a long time this year, but they're getting it. I can see the students beginning to understand, and I'm beginning to relax a little. I was especially pleased with student interest in the craft lessons this week. I taught the same lessons last year, and students were very resistant. This year, though, they were much more enthusiastic. I've been using some very generic prompts, but I've found a better set so I'll start using them tomorrow with the peer review.

As for the persuasive unit, we should be done next week, and then it's on to The Crucible. I don't have time for the usual research project at the beginning of the unit, so I'll have to think of something else to do for pre-reading...

Journal 9-2

English 11

Still grading.

We worked on the quotation paragraphs, I returned some work, and then we discussed the tone, purpose, content and craft of the two women's rights pieces.

Observations

The most important thing I want students to understand is that the ideas of tone, purpose, content and craft are all interlaced like a spider web.  If one part of the web is weak, the entire thing will flap in the wind and eventually become a big mess.  We discussed the differences in tone, and how the tone was decided by the purpose of the two pieces.   Once students understood the connectivity, we were able to discuss ethos, logos and pathos and why the women had decided to frame their arguments as they did.  Finally, students began to understand why the writers chose to include different craft elements (like allusions, figurative language and so on) in their pieces.  

reflection

Students are starting to see that writing is all about choice, and that savvy writers choose EVERYTHING based to the effect they hope to achieve.  We haven't begun to practice yet, I'm extending the "finding" stage, but by  next week I hope students can begin crafting their own persuasive essays.  I'm in a holding pattern for now...  

Journal 9-1

English 11

I'm keeping things short this week because grades are due.

Today: collected polished paragraphs, wrote in reflective journals, began this week's quotation paragraph and discussed annotating "The Rights of Women" and "Ain't I a Woman."

Observations

Students were much happier to write in their reflective journals than in the random places I was having them write before.  I also caught students reading over their previous entry (made last week).  Finally, I saw several students looking over their writing assignment as they were writing their reflective paragraph.  I think the next step is to ask them to cite from their writing, but not until December when they're used to writing in their journals.  

Students have openly acknowledged hating quotation paragraph AND sentence of the day, but I pretty much don't care.  I need to teach them how to respond to a quotation for the Regent's Exam and most students have a lot of trouble with spelling/grammar/punctuation, so these two daily warm-ups are necessary medicine.  I suspect the reason students complain so much is they are no good at either exercise. 

I was out Friday, so I left students two persuasive pieces and instructions to find examples of writing craft in each piece.  We've been discussing how writers frame their arguments using two techniques: content and craft.  The content is what a writer has to say about a subject.  Craft is how they say it.  Because there was a sub, the work was basically seat-work.  Today I taught the lesson and then allowed students to keep their papers and fix their errors.   All annotations are due tomorrow.

reflection

I haven't actually read any of the reflective journals yet, but students seem to be taking them semi-seriously.  So far, the student reaction matches what I've read in my research articles: students who are failing regard the journals as yet another nuisance, students in the middle view the journals as something they have to do (but they don't yet see the journals as meaningful) and students at the top see the journals as a way to reflect on their work for possible improvement.  Once the novelty of the reflective journals wears off, the students' attitudes will change.  Top students will also begin to see the journals as a nuisance (as will the bottom group), and the middle group will regard the journals as a good way to reflect on their learning for possible improvement.  The middle group is the group I hope to see the most improvement.  The top kids will be top without me (and most of those are missing anyway) and the bottom kids refuse to turn their work in (and have issues other than what I am addressing in this study...maybe they will do their journals next year).

I'm sad (but not that sad) that students are so vocal about their dislike of the quotation paragraphs and sentence of the day.  I like both assignments because they kill two birds with one stone: I can prepare students for the Regent's Exam and teach writing craft lessons at the same time.  I may have to change how I do things, though.  I'm not sure...I'll give it some time.  I think the biggest problem is that the students don't relate to the quotations I've chosen.  I've tried to pick things that are difficult (because the quotation is difficult on the Regents) yet connect easily to the things they're reading and doing.  For example, this week's quotations are from Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter) and Eleanor Roosevelt.  I'm not sure...  I'll keep thinking.   I'm toying with the idea of student-submitted quotations, but I'm wary of quality and participation.  Basically, I'm afraid that I'll get quotations that are wildly inappropriate, or no one will submit.

Questions:

• How can I get students to invest in the quotation paragraphs?
• At what point will students' attitudes about the reflective journals change?
• Will MORE writing conferences help students, or will they become a crutch as students over-rely on each other to interpret these quotations?
• Should I just pull quotations from the Regent's Exam, or is that too close to test-prep (and therefore meaningless, out-0f-context learning)?
• Why is the sky blue?
• Should I do more overt test prep with this group of kids, or just continue on my merry way and pray that something clicks?
• I've been wondering about giving students more in-class time to write: will the loss of class-time pay off in writing dividends later, or is my classroom economy in the toilet too?
• Readers, who will you be voting for tomorrow?

Journal 8-3

English 11

So you think I spent my day off sipping hot cocoa and watching soap operas? Not so! I used the day to compile the results from the writing survey I gave last week, and now I have some thoughtful analysis...

(Then I played 30 minutes of Lego Star Wars, washed four loads of laundry, canned some applesauce, cleaned the bathrooms and graded about 30 essays. A day well spent!)

The results:

52% of my students read novels for fun.

52% read emails, texts or instant messages.

50% read magazines.

37% read web sites and 35% read poetry or song lyrics.

11% find autobiographies or biographies difficult to read

18% dislike textbooks

16% dislike reference books

I asked students to rate themselves on a scale of 1-10. 60% rated themselves as a 7, 8 or 9. No one rated themselves as a 10, but one student did rate him/herself as a 1, and another rated him/herself as a 3. Everyone else rated themselves as a 4, 5, or 6.

53% of my students have a myspace or facebook page (0r something similar) even though I teach 16 and 17 year-olds and the minimum sign-up age is 18. hmmm....

39% of my students email, text or instant message each other.

21% and 22.5% of my students write poetry or song lyrics (respectively).

21% also write stories.

16% of my students keep to-do lists.

31% of my students have extreme difficulty with research papers. (Many wrote notes in the margin next to this question detailing exactly why they dislike research papers.)

14.5% have difficulty writing essays. I will have to count up the percentage of missing essays for my class...

Students were asked to list their all-time favorite books and only two students listed books that are taught as part of our district's English curriculum. The books chosen ran the gamut from popular teen lit (Twilight) to thoughtful adult lit (The Kite Runner, The Lovely Bones).

I asked the following question: "Writing is something you either can or cannot do well," and then asked students to either agree or disagree with the statement. The results were evenly split with exactly half agreeing and half disagreeing.

I asked students to indicate any strategies they used when stuck. 73% said they proofread and 73% said they procrastinated.

82% said they crossed things out and rearranged things.

53% doodle, cluster, map or do some type of pre-writing

48% ask someone for help.

43.5% review their audience and purpose.

24% decorate their papers with little hearts and flowers.

19% skim the internet to see what other people are writing.

52% of students chose English 11 as the class that has the most difficult writing with 31% choosing U.S. History. The rest of the students chose Spanish, Wellness, French, computer or English 12 as the most difficult class to write for.

100% of students chose English 11 as the course requiring the most writing.

I asked students to check any of the boxes that described the kind of writer they seem themselves to be:

48% of students rated themselves as "having difficulty with writing."

42% of students rated themselves as "confident in their abilities as a writer."

10% rated themselves as "not doing as well as expected."

35% of students indicated that they write when they're bored.

26% choose to write as a form of escapism.

26% also say "I do not ever choose to write."

13% describe themselves as incapable of NOT writing. They must constantly write.

I asked students to check any box that matched their opinion of the importance of writing:

3% indicated that "Writing is not that important. By the time you reach high school, you know everything you need to about writing."

63% marked, "Writing is crucial to your success in the adult world."
31% marked, "Writing is more important now than ever before."

31% marked, "Writing is less important than it used to be."

I asked students to check any box that matched their opinion of reading materials:

50% indicated that, "I like it when a book or essay challenges my beliefs, ideas or assumptions."
22.5% indicated that, "I prefer to read books that do not make me think about unfamiliar things."
37% indicated that, "I like to read in order to do things; this makes reading seem useful and valuable to me."

52% of students expected the reading they do for school to be "interesting," while 37% expected the reading to be "boring." 27% of students indicated that they found the reading done for school to be "difficult." 35% of students marked "useful."

By contrast, 50% of students expect the writing done for school to be "useful" and 39% expected it to be "boring." 35% of students expected the writing to be "interesting" and 31% of students expected it to be "difficult."

I saved the best for last!!

77% of students indicated "distractions" as the reason why they don't write as well as they could.

74% of students indicated that they had the T.V., radio or computer (or all three) on while they wrote.

73% of students blame their poor writing on "lack of time."

52% blame "lack of interest."

22.5% blame "lack of knowledge."

Observations
The goal of my study is to see how reflective writing changes students' self-perceptions about writing and this survey gives me a good baseline for where students are now. I'll give the survey again at the end of March (right before I write my capstone paper) to measure any changes. Hopefully, students will have changed how they feel about writing and feel more confident in their abilities. I have to say, though, they seem pretty confident right now. Most students rate themselves as a 7 or 8, with a 10 being the best possible writer. So, by that criteria, Hemmingway and Shakespeare are 10s and they're 7s? Are you kidding me? I rate my students somewhat lower...like around 2.

Here's another possibility: the students understood the question to be asking about students in their grade or at their ability. In that case, a rating of 7 or 8 (with the 10 being the best student writer they knew) is more plausible. Using that rating scale, I'd rate most students only slightly lower - at a 6 or a 7. My goal is to move students into the 8 or 9 range by June.

Another interesting response was that 77% of my students don't write as well as they like because of "distractions," yet 74% have the TV, radio or a computer on at their desk as they're working. I pointed that fun little statistic out to the students and light bulbs came on all over the room. I think the next essay I assign, I'll ask students to try turning their distractors off for 15 minutes while they write and then ask them how it went.

reflections
I thought this was a good survey, but in retrospect, it had too many questions. I asked students about their writing habits, their writing weaknesses and their perceptions about the writing they do for school. All of these are valid questions, but I asked a lot more questions that I didn't have to ask. In the spring, I'll ask the same questions (to be fair), but if I ever do this again, I'm taking some questions off.

Journal 8-2

English 11

Three day week!!!

I have a snow day!!!

We got a foot last night with another 6 inches today. By Friday, though, temps will be in the high 50s...

Journal 8-1

English 11

Four Day Week!!!

Today: sentence of the day (rant to follow), reflective journals, collected Patrick Henry Biography, assigned homework.

Sentence of the Day is a great exercise where I post sentences that contain a number of errors on the board, ask students to make corrections on their own, and then we correct. I've used three different companies, and I've come to like one company in particular- Houghton Mifflin. The sentences from H-M are compound/complex and hit a number of skills each day. Students learn how to separate run-ons, use semi-colons, write addresses, eliminate passive voice, punctuate titles and so on. The other companies that I've tried have been too easy or too silly for students to take seriously. I may have to change that. The students this year are having a difficult time with these sentences...to the point where they're so frustrated that they've given up. I'm thinking that if I use the sentences that came with the in-class textbook, they'll do better and with a little confidence under their belts I can revert to the more difficult sentences. We'll see.

Observations

Students returned their surveys today, and an interesting question popped up: at least one student in every class asked, "I couldn't answer question #6 because I don't know who the best writer in our class is." Now we've spent hours (literally) reading each other's work and offering comments and suggestions, so I was a little taken aback. So I broadened the spectrum a little and asked students who they thought the best writer in their grade would be. They were still stumped, so finally I asked them just to write down the name of a student whose writing they admired and not to worry so much about the best/worst aspect of the question. It was a very odd situation, though.

Sentence of the day you've read. We spent a little time decorating the covers of our reflective journals today before writing in them. I had five questions:

1.) What organizational structure did you choose for this essay (chunks, chronological, reverse chronological)?

2.) What major changes did you make in content, organization and craft from the rough draft to the final draft?

3.) What did you like about this assignment?

4.) What did you dislike about this assignment?

5.) What did you learn about this assignment?

Some students wrote around 15 words. Several students, though, filled up a (comp book) page! I had more than a few students answer questions 2-5 as follows: none, nothing, everything, nothing.

I will be changing question format as a result. Students will now be asked: What would you change about this assignment? Hopefully I'll be able to get some valid feedback from students about their writing instead of useless complaining. (There is useful complaining...but not today.)

Tick, tock...time has passed.

I'm writing the remainder of this blog entry from home, but I wanted to report about how I changed the questions. Students in 9th period were NOT thrilled about the journals, but when it came time to write, I got (by far) the longest and most detailed answers of the day. I changed question #4 to read "What did you dislike about this assignment, and what would you change to make it more effective?" The only directions I gave were to title and date the entry and to respond in complete sentences (but not to write in sentences that simply rephrased the question). A few students put forth minimal effort, but most students had quite a bit to write.

reflection
On Friday I went to a staff development that was...useful!! YES!!! We had a regional development day where teachers of different disciplines offered their knowledge to the rest of us - which is why it was so useful. Teachers chose their workshop according to their interests. But I digress. Here's the reflection part - the workshop I went to showed me how to set up discussion boards for my own students much like the discussion boards used at Blackboard. I could make the groups private and hold the responses for a certain amount of time (until everyone was done). I like the idea of discussion boards better than blogs (for students) because blogs seem a little casual while discussion boards have a more serious look. I wish I had taken thought of discussion boards sooner because I would have had students post their reflective paragraphs there instead of having them use journals. I would certainly make less paper for me to carry!!

On to classroom reflection. Things went well. I'm not going to deceive myself - the only reason students were even remotely interested in the reflective journals is because I let them play with markers and stickers first. I did receive most students' work, but some students refused to look at me. A few brave souls did ask what they should write in the journal if they didn't do the assignment, and I answered "Nothing - you have nothing to respond to. You will write your entry whenever you turn in your essay." They were a little shocked. Ditto for the moment when I asked students to highlight the parts of their essay they felt were good. As usual, students asked if they could highlight the entire thing - ummm...no. Then it's not special, it's yellow. Again, shocked. "What? You don't think my essay's special?" No, I haven't read it, so I can't make a determination, just highlight the stuff YOU think is great.

I did remind students to tell their parents that all we did in class today was hand in an essay! Tomorrow we begin looking at the fight for justice by examining "The Rights of Women," "Letter to Samson Occom," and "Letter to John Adams." We'll see how that goes...

Journal 7-3

So I've decided to have my students write reflective paragraphs about their writing choices after every assignment - am I a genius or what?

In one fell swoop, I have doubled my intake of writing assignments.  (Or what.)

So I wrote in a previous entry that I was bogged down in student essays and my professor suggested that the students keep reflective journals that can be dated and collected periodically - thus spreading the reading out over time.  Today I finagled 85 composition books out of the purchasing department (I don't know how...) and on Monday we begin The Great Reflective Writing Experiment (aka: My Ticket to Graduation).  I plan to combine the reflective journals with an idea from Penny Kittle's book (Write Beside Them) and ask students to not only reflect, but also to quick-write in the journals.  They will stay in class (for now...) and our first entry will be Monday when students discuss the choices they made writing their Patrick Henry Biographies.

Which leads me to a new topic - Patrick Henry.  The writing assignment was to create a biography suitable for use in a British textbook - short, succinct, and purely negative.  I gave students access to two Patrick Henry biographies, one from their textbook and one from the Patrick Henry Memorial website, and a copy of an article "Buried History of the American Revolution" that paints the Heroes of the Revolution as nothing more than Greedy Backwoods Hicks out to Make a Buck off the Benevolent British Motherland.  Students who on Monday were whining and dragging their feet were totally in to the assignment today.  Here's why: I wrote "AMAZING SENTENCES" at the top of the whiteboard and asked students to write the amazing sentences they found while peer editing other people's work.  The original writers would never have volunteered their own work, and seeing your peer write your words for all to see really makes them feel good about their work.  I got some great sentences, too.

"The Colonial Rebels, when cornered by Britain's greatest Generals, fought like mongrels."

"Patrick Henry was born with a bad attitude." (How's that for a hook?)

"Henry's "gift of oration" did no more than arouse the backwards colonials with false promises of hope for the future."  (Straight from the McCain campaign?)

"Henry was an opportunistic businessman who used the argument "taxation without representation" as an excuse to smuggle."

"What kind of people would listen to a man who speaks like a pirate?"

Fantastic!

Finally, I handed out the writing survey today - students could hardly wait to answer the questions!  Most students started immediately and seemed enthusiastic.  It will be interesting to compile the results next week.

Observation

Students were much more engaged with peer editing today.  I had short conversations with several students as they were working, and most seemed eager to do right by their peers.  For the first time, students were less concerned with marking their five things and more concerned with helping their friends do a better job.  Most students made more than five suggestions on their partner's paper (hooray!).  I have decided to change my teaching vocabulary from "mini-lesson" to "craft lesson" because it's more like what I want students to be doing with their writing.  During today's craft lesson, we discussed the difference between a rough draft (I equated it with vomiting on the page...complete with sound effects) and a second draft (where you sort through the chunks and see what's useful and what should be flushed...disgusting, but I held their attention.).  Students were more invested with their drafts and were much more involved with this peer review that the previous.  They were also happy to share other students' work.  I was encouraged to see so many sentences on the board - about 10 per class (except 5th, which had only 12 students today).  Students really liked seeing what other kids had done and I encouraged them to use their peers for inspiration.

reflection

It was very gratifying to see students finally taking the peer reviewing seriously and not as a hurdle to be cleared.  I also had a short conversation with a colleague who had these same students last year, and he confirmed what I suspected - these kids have been at a disadvantage because their high-performing peers have been removed from the classroom.  After that I became much more zen about their work ethic and ability level - it is what it is and I have to teach what arrives at my door.  So, no more griping.  These kids are operating at a disadvantage, but it doesn't matter; I still have to do right by them.  I'm very curious to see the results from the writing survey - and they are too.  I'll have to figure out some way to compile all that information (I'm sure my husband will help...I'll ask him) in to something manageable.  It's my baseline for my study.  Then, on Monday we'll begin the real reflection with journals and prompts and writing time and everything.  It's going to cut in to my teaching time in a huge way...maybe I can cut Macbeth later in the year...

Sacrilege!!

OK, I won't cut Shakespeare.  But something's got to go if my students are going to be writing reflections with every essay - that's 1/2 to 2/3 of a period lost every 10 days (or so)!  The hardest part about teaching is choosing what to teach.  There's so much great stuff out there that I always feel like students are missing out.  I wish we taught on modified block so I could see them every other day for 80 or 90 minutes a period instead of every day for 38 minutes.  It's just not enough!  I really just need another 15 minutes, but barring that I'd go back to block schedule.

Finally, questions:

• I need to think more closely about the reflective journal prompts - I have this weekend to really figure it out (procrastinate?  me?  just this once).
• How will students respond to the journal?
• I love what I'm reading, but I still feel unfocused.  I just want the students to be better writers, and I think the reflective journaling will help, but there are so many other things I want to try.  How can I stay focused?  (discipline, discipline, discipline)

Journal 7-2

English 11

I started grading 2nd period essays today, and 2/3 of the essays were unchanged from 1st to 2nd draft. Great. I've already started combating the problem, though. After quotation paragraph, I checked their homework (highlight positive and negative bias in two articles) and then asked students to write one example from each column (pos/neg) on the whiteboard. We discussed the findings and how students had posted biased language of the same incident on the board. Then I handed out the assignment (200-300 word biography of Patrick Henry for use in a British textbook) and asked students to begin making notes on their page about what information should be included in this biography. I allowed them to collaborate on the note-taking phase, but I asked that they write their own drafts. Tomorrow I plan to teach three mini-lessons: organization, parallel structure and embedded quotations (this one for the second time). Then we'll turn to the biographies and I'll help students see the difference between editing and revision. The finalized biography will be due on Monday.



Observations

I've noticed something interesting: students think this class is simultaneously the easiest and the most difficult. For example, a common complaint I heard this morning was that "it's easy to write a normal biography, but you want us to change things." Well, yes. Shouldn't every essay be written with the audience and purpose in mind? Students worked hard, but were often stuck when it came to changing the "spin" of their biography. I referred them again and again to the work we had done over the past two days, but some students were resistant. "Can't I just give you a homework pass?" "Can't I just skip this?" "This is too hard. Why can't we just write a normal biography?" Umm...no. I will have lots of questions for them tomorrow, though.



How did you decide what to include in your biography?

What changes will you be making this weekend (final draft due Monday)?

Do you understand the difference between content and construction?



I have more questions, but these are the ones I plan to ask first. I'm thinking that the discussion will be oral.

reflection
I'm not sure what to make of students' refusal to revise their essays - it's been my obsession today. I've even had top students who did not revise. I mean they didn't change even ONE WORD from their rough draft to their final...yet they indicated by their answers on the revision survey that they know what revision is and how to do it. I'm awaiting angry phone calls...

I also had a discussion with a student today who had designed a T-shirt as part of his extension project for the independent reading. The T-shirt was not great. I think it had a black and white drawing of Boo Radley's house on the back and that was it. I gave him an 80, which I felt was generous, and he was upset. "It's fine?" he complained. "If it's fine, why didn't you give it a 100?" I answered, "Because it needs to be amazing to get a 100. You were fine. An 80 is an acceptable grade. If you want a 100, you have to be amazing, not fine." He sputtered a bit, and then said, "But I'm not good at art." "Well, then you shouldn't have picked that project. You had 21 choices plus anything else you could think of. You should have gone with your strength." He was pretty mad after that. His neighbor, who had drawn Jem, Dill and Scout from the back and written "Best Friends Forever" on the front also got an 80, and she was mad too.

I have questions for myself:

• Am I holding these kids to too high a standard? (It's a rhetorical question.)
• Who taught them that simply showing up was enough for a 100? Why are they mad that I grade for quality?
• Why are they mad when I tell them that some kids are better than others? OK, I don't TELL them, but I do ask, "Do you think your work is as good as the exemplar work?" The exemplar work is exceptional, and I keep it because it's the best example for what they're doing...but do they think their crappy, minimal effort product deserves the same grade as the best example I can find? Really?
• Really?

I will not cave to their incessant whining. They've earned the grades they're getting, and if they want higher grades, then they need to do better work. Bottom line.

I have to clarify, though. A majority of my students are great kids - I just have a larger portion than usual of whiny-babies this year.

I'm very curious to see what comes out tomorrow for the Patrick Henry biography, and I'm very curious to see how they react to my lesson on revision.

Journal 7-1

English 11
Another four-day week!

As I was reading essays over the weekend, I noticed a disturbing trend. Many students (about 25) had not revised their essays. Students had fixed the few errors indicated by peer editing, but they had not fixed errors that were not indcated, and they had changed the introduction to their essay minimally (by adding one or two sentences). Essentially, some of the essay had been edited but no revision had been done.

So today, I gave a short survey: #1) Define "revision." #2) Describe or explain your process of revision.

So far the answers are enlightening. By and large, students know the "correct" answers (i.e.>they know what I want to hear); they're just not putting their money where their mouths are.


Mini-lessons will follow.


In addition to the revision smack-down, we looked at bias and "spin" in our textbooks. In preparation for the next writing assignment, we read the Patrick Henry biography in our textbook and then wrote down words that were biased towards readers in an American Literature class. Students came up with such gems as "American Patriot," "gifted orator," "founded a new nation," "self-taught lawyer," and "passionate defender of freedom." All these phrases are verbatim from the textbook! As a class, we then converted the words from positive spin to negative spin. "American Patriot" became "Colonial Terrorist." "Gifted orator" became "wordy and obtuse." "Self-taught lawyer" became "uneducated hack." You get the picture (it was fun!). Homework tonight is to read another Patrick Henry biography from the Patrick Henry Museum and "The Buried History of the American Revolution" from a Canadian website. Then, students are to use colored pencil to mark instances of positive and negative bias in the articles. We'll be using these "spin" words as fodder for our next writing assignment. I should give credit to my son's 1st grade teacher (Thanks Mrs. Smith!) for giving me this idea - she writes story vocabulary words on the whiteboard for her students to use when they write their stories too!



Observations

Students were genuinely bothered by the survey today. One girl almost started crying! I emphasized that the problem was a dichotomy between my expectations and their modus operandi (but I used smaller words). I also reminded students that they could come and see me at any time for a writer's conference and help with their revisions. Finally, I reminded students that they can rewrite problem essays as many times as needed until the problem is fixed. I'm a little bothered also. Student responses on the survey indicated that they know what it means to revise: "I re-read and fix things." "I change things around to make it sound better." "I find places that don't make sense and rewrite them." "I change words and make the paper more interesting." They're just not putting their money where their mouth is.

I also have students who don't have a clue: "I fix my mistakes." "I fix what my peer editor marked." "I find what's wrong and I fix it."

As for the revision process, students are a little more vague. Generally, they look for problem areas, or parts that don't sound "good" and try to "fix" things. What I need to show them is that "fixing" is more of an editing skill, while revising is more holistic. I also want students to begin applying the writing skills more systematically instead of just hit-and-miss. I hate this time of year! I have so many quick lessons that would help student writing so much, but because of time constraints, we've only done eight mini-lessons.
Must.
Be.
Patient.

To combat the problem of poor revision skills, I'm going to do a couple of things. First, using Penny Kittle's idea, I'm going to have students do two things with every 2nd/final draft: they will highlight the change that they feel was the most effective; they will write about what specific changes were made. Additionally, students will highlight the mini-lessons they've applied to the essay ON PURPOSE (some good writers do things naturally, and that's great. But it's no good for teaching revision!). This is going to take time - I'm looking at taking up an entire period just turning in papers for a while, but I've come to realize that this is what the students need. They're just don't have the ability level that previous years have had.

reflection
I should have seen this coming. I know that the students aren't nearly as skilled as in previous years, and I know that I'm the only teacher who teaches writing specifically as a skill. In defense of my department, they're AWESOME at teaching literature - I don't have to worry about students not knowing things like symbolism, theme, figurative language, character development and so on. I know it's covered and I can focus on teaching other things...like writing.

So, it's no surprise that students don't know how to revise. We have a quotation paragraph this week, so it will be my first opportunity to put into practice my big ideas about how to teach revision. I KNOW I have to model more, but I have only 38 minutes (38 minutes!!!) to fit everything in. Some days, I cover the bell-ringer (quotation paragraph or daily sentences), return work, and then assign more homework. It's killing me to have so little time for students to write!

OK, back to the topic: what did I learn today. Today I learned that I can take nothing for granted. Once again, I have been shown that I should assume students know nothing when they enter my classroom, and if I want them to do something, I should TEACH IT instead of EXPECT IT.

Questions:

• Will asking students to show me how they've revised actually prompt revision outside of class, or will it prompt desperate b.s.-ing just to get a grade?
• Is it worth sacrificing Macbeth for the sake of modeling, because that's what it's looking like...
• What can I do to get students to engage in their writing? I know they don't like it, where am I going wrong?
• Or, should I treat it like medicine: I know it's good for them, and after they've taken it, they'll know it's good too.

I need to read more...

Journal 6-3

English 11

I've been doing a lot of reading lately, and it's given me some really good ideas. Specifically, Penny Kittle's book Write Beside Them offered me some ideas about how to structure reflective paragraphs for my students. I've had them write short reflections at the end of units or when essays are handed in, but this book offered me another suggestion. What Kittle does is require students to write a paragraph explaining how they've changed their essays from the previous draft to this one. I like that. I've had a few students who don't really "get it" when I discuss revision and still cling to fixing their mistakes. I want students to learn revision, but I don't want to ram it down their throats (as much). Bu asking students to write a reflection detailing the changes they've made to an essay, hopefully they'll make more changes. It's hard to write a paragraph about how you've changed if you haven't changed...

I've also been thinking about when to give my surveys. I've had a lot of interruptions in this unit, so I don't want to drag things down any further. On the other hand, I need to give this survey before we get too far in to the unit. I'm thinking Monday - it's a natural breaking spot between pieces, and it's right before I assign another major essay.

I have noticed a BIG problem with the student's writing - they don't have enough evidence in their essays. Essays are either pure summary or pure topic sentence (unless the essay is fine, because I do have some kids who are fine). We'll be working on commentary v. evidence for our next essay, but I'm wondering a few things:

1. What do students consider "evidence" when writing?

2. How do they decided they have "enough evidence" in their essays?

3. When I ask for "more details," do they know what I mean?

4. When I say "specific," do they know what I mean?

The last two questions may seem superficial or sarcastic, but they're not. I think I have some students who genuinely do NOT understand what I'm asking for.

Journal 6-2

English 11
I may have another lost week. Monday: no school; Tuesday: normal day; Wednesday: PSAT, so four of my five classes didn't even meet; Thursday: normal day; Friday: Pep Rally - afternoon classes shortened and no 9th period (another class I lose). I may not get much done, but I have at least surrendered to the schedule gods...may they have mercy.

Observation
This is interesting, though. Most students were taking the PSAT, but there were four or five in each class who chose not to. For those students, we talked about the ongoing independent reading project. The first book wrapped up today and students had to turn in their reading logs and extension projects. We talked a little and some students shared what they had created. Then discussion moved on to the next book - students wanted to know, "What are the restrictions," and "Are there any books we can't read?"

Yes, there are restrictions. #1 - Within your group, no more than one person can already have read the book. This way, if there's a book that one group member knows is good, that person can talk the rest of the group in to reading the book! Restriction #2 - if you don't want to read a book on my shelf, that's fine, but you are responsible for finding books for your group (I will help...). If by a certain date, not everyone has a book, we may have to move on. Restriction #3 - watch the movie...read SparkNotes...I don't care - but you HAVE to read the book!

There are books you can't read, but use your head. If you have a question about a book, the answer is probably "no." Check anyway...you never know.

Well, the students mobbed the bookcases that had been standing dormant for six weeks. They were little crack-addicts (sorry to any crack addicts reading this blog)! "I read this over the summer - we should read this!" "Can I really read this book?" (Holding James Patterson's Maximum Ride.) "Don't you have more of this book?" "Isn't there a sequel to this book? Can we read both the first and the second book?" "Can I have a pass to the library to see if they have more of this book?" Read this! Read that! Can I read it! In my heart, I did a little dance of joy...

reflection
You'd think these kids were never allowed to choose their outside reading before, but I know they were. One sophomore teacher allowed them to read pretty much any book they wanted (provided it hadn't been made into a movie). The other sophomore teacher had books that he rotated through the sections, but they were good books and the kids really liked them But it's like I unleashed a monster! They were fighting for books to read! On a sadder note, many students did not have their homework done.

Happy day! I ordered some books a few weeks ago, and most of them came right away. One though, took its own sweet time and I had forgotten all about it. The book is Strange Bedfellows: Surprising Text Pairs and Lessons for Reading and Writing Across Genres by Carol Rawlings Miller. I LOVE IT! I happen to be mid-persuasive essay unit now, and in this book are tons of great persuasive speeches: St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V, Sorjourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman," Barak Obama v. Ahhnold: Duelling Convention Speeches from 2004, W's speech on Sept. 12, 2001 contrasted with Susan Sontag's rebuttal in the New Yorker contrasted with Melissa Byle's rebuttal to Sontag's rebuttal. They're all great pieces and fit very nicely in with other stuff that we're studying in this unit.

I've also been reading Penny Kittle's book Write Beside Them about working with students in the pure workshop form. I WISH I could have that classroom! I had a philosophy shift about four years ago, and instead of writing because we read something in class, I now plan what I'm going to write and then search for texts to help support students in that endeavor. Unfortunately, my curriculum is a list of titles that I MUST teach during the year. And I really do understand why it's important to read the things on the curriculum list - they're great books/stories/poems/plays! Sometimes, though, I just want to run my class differently. Why don't I? Because this epiphany happened when I read Kittle's book earlier this week. I won't be changing much this year...but watch out next year!

Journal 6-1

English 11

Four-day week!!!

Today's plan: sentence of the day (grammar), summary/quiz (student's choice based on the weekend reading assignment), return work, discuss "Speech in the Virginia Convention" by Patrick Henry.

Today's accomplishment: sentence of the day, summary/quiz, return work.

I am NOT a fan of 38-minute class periods!!

Observation
There's not much to observe. I returned a bunch of random work, and students reviewed their scores and filed their writing. I was surprised to see how many students decided to keep and revise their writing - it's something I will have to ask about in a survey/reflection. Students didn't question me at all about their writing scores...but I've seen how they were graded in previous years (sorry!). I didn't even know what they were scored on or why they got the scores they did! +5 Extra Credit for me (I use rubrics!).

reflection
I'm going to reflect on my reflection from last week: the student who indicated he was willing to tape and post a video of himself on youtube did not materialize. Too bad. I checked the quotation paragraphs from Friday, and while many students had great editing, there were still a bunch of students who made inane comments. A sample:
"Original Intro" written next to the formula that all students use at the beginning of this assignment.
"LAV" (short for "Literary Analysis Verb," which is a verb that is NOT "says" or "means") written next to the word "says."
The word "quotation" highlighted (good), and then the word "quote" NOT highlighted the 3 other times it appears in the paragraph. **
"Good job" written next to an embedded quotation that is neither embedded nor punctuated correctly (a lesson now taught three times...I see a fourth on the horizon).
Various words randomly highlighted with no indication WHY they are highlighted.

I will reteach. Fourth time's a charm...

**"Quote" is a verb and should be used accordingly: Jimmy quoted Dr. King in his essay. OR I often quote my mother when speaking to my children. "Quotation" is a noun and should be used like this: In the quotation by Dr. King, he advocates non-violence. OR Some students quote famous people in their essays, other use quotations from their friends.

Journal 5-3

English 11
So, my goal today (this ENTIRE week) was to get through one power point presentation. Then, if I were lucky, I could discuss the homework assignment that the students handed in on Tuesday. I was not lucky. We managed to complete peer review of their quotation paragraphs, I assigned the homework, and I kind of got through the power point. 2nd period was fine, 3rd too, 5th period had a lot of questions and 9th period had a fire drill.

Observations
I had noticed during past peer review sessions that students were not really peer reviewing. There were marks on the page, but students weren't connecting with the intended purpose of the activity. I would read paragraphs where student writers had mis-analyzed a quotation and their peer reviewer had written "good job, nice analysis" in the margin. I'd check the reviewer's paper (maybe they had misunderstood the quotation also?), and they would be spot on. I've asked students to make sure that the quotations were correctly embedded in a larger sentence and see reviewers give the thumbs-up to students who had written mis-punctuated sentence fragments. I read paragraphs that were four (simple) sentences long and the peer reviewer had asked no leading questions. All these peer editing lessons had been previously taught, and the problems weren't glaring; it was just obvious that students were aiming for their grade instead of trying to help the student whose work they were reading. So I gave a speech. I reminded students that the purpose of this assignment was NOT to get a grade - the grade was a by-product of the exercise. When students read a peer's work and miss simple fixes (like periods at the end of sentences, or using the word "means" five times when the word is expressly forbidden), they are doing their peers a disservice.

Huh. Wow. During peer review (after I gave them the lecture), students were serious. They asked me questions (clarifying punctuation, asking about editing choices, discussing possible places to put an appositive) and when I wasn't available, they asked the writer. Peer editing took nearly 20 minutes, which is almost half my class time! Most students had MORE than the five comments/questions that I require during peer review. Students also wanted to share their appositives - but they had to be recommended by their reviewer. After finishing a paper, the reviewer would write the sentence containing a great appositive on the board; the writer would write the original sentence below. We took a few minutes to admire the work...and to talk about how the sentence had changed from the original version to the new version. More lightbulbs came on and a few students didn't want to turn in their papers. They wanted to keep their work and add or fix their appositive. At the end of this, I asked students to write a short paragraph reflecting on their work this week. I asked: "Why did you choose this quotation (there are two from which to choose each week)?" "What did you do well?" "With what did you struggle?" What part of this week's writing lesson helped you improve your paragraph the most?" "What lesson do you need next?" "Are you proud of the work you completed on the paragraph this week? Why or why not?"

After finishing the peer editing, we moved on to assigning homework. Students have to read "Speech in the Virginia Convention" and then either write a summary as homework, or take a quiz on Tuesday (no school Monday). Then I showed students the youtube site that has all kinds of people delivering the speech. They were shocked. Then I got the best question all day: "Mrs. V. If I tape myself and post me saying this speech on youtube, will you count that as my summary?"

Yes, kid, yes I will. (The purpose of the summary/quiz is for me to have evidence of reading. Certainly a tape of you reading the speech out loud is evidence that you've done the reading...)

We'll see what materializes...

FINALLY, that stinkin' power point presentation. I absolutely flew through it and promised the kids we'd revisit specific slides when I taught that skill.

reflection
It's been a difficult week. I should stop being surprised by the students when they take me seriously, but I forget that I'm the voice of authority for them sometimes. I'm certainly happy that they're apparently thinking more about the real reason for peer editing instead of their grade. I am keeping track of participation, and here's my happy moment: every student in periods 2, 3, and 5 had their paragraph done. Only four(?) students in period 9 came without their work done, and one student spoke to me before class even started. He made arrangements to come in Tuesday and peer edit the essay of an absent student in exchange for that student editing his paper. That way they can both get full credit... So, participation is up, but for how long? I haven't looked at the reflections students wrote today, so I have nothing to add there. I think it's just been a weird week and I'll have more to reflect upon next week when I actually get to teach a bigger variety of lessons. Today, though, my questions revolve around the change in attitude: was it me, or was it the reflective paragraph they had to write?

Journal 5-2

English 11
This has been a terrible week! I'm still on Monday's lesson plan! Arrrrggggh!

Today's plan WAS to quickly unscramble some sentences w/ appositives and then create a few sentences of our own; then we were going to finish the power point about persuasion I've been trying to show since Monday, then I wanted to discuss the homework assignment everyone turned in on Tuesday. If there was time, I was going to assign the students to read "Speech in the Virginia Convention" given by Patrick Henry ("Give me liberty or give me death!").

Yeah, we got through the appositives and it was time to go. 38 minutes spent unscrambling and re-scrambling three sentences.

Observation
Here's what happened... Yesterday I introduced appositives using sentences from actual books by actual writers like Ernest Hemingway, Jessamyn West, Sherwood Anderson and Michael Crichton. These sentences are long, often consisting of several clauses, and they are not in the usual noun-verb-object order. They're usually preposition-noun-appositive-appositive-verb-participial-object-preposition. All we're looking at are the appositives, but these hefty sentences sent the kids into a fog. "Too many big words." "Aren't these run-ons?" "Why do these sentences have so many words?" and my personal favorite: "Who writes like this?"

So today, after we reviewed appositives ("Students, pretend I'm a freshman and explain what an appositive is so that I, a freshman, can find one in a sentence. Remember, I'm a freshman!") I released the students to unscramble and write three sentences taken from Don Kilgallon's book Sentence Composing for High School. Chaos.

Redirect and clarify: Yes, there's more than one way to write these sentences. Try to find the topic (subject) of the sentence and then what it's doing - what's left over is probably the appositive. If you're unclear, collaborate with your neighbor.

Desperation: Any student who puts unscrambles a sentence can write it on the board with my new markers (purple/aqua/teal/lime/brown/hot pink/yellow/orange!).

Suddenly, they all had answers. Then they had more questions: "Why is there more than one way to write these sentences?" "Why aren't they run-on sentences?" (they're fixated!) "Can we start our sentences like this?" (YES!!) "Do our sentences have to be this long?" (Not really, but it'd be nice...) "Why don't we see sentences like this in our books?" (You do, you 're just not used to looking for them...) "If we already have an appositive in our paragraph, do we need to add another? Never mind, it's too short."

Finally, at the end of the lesson, I had to opportunity to discuss choices writers make. We looked at the sentences again, only this time I asked why the writers had chosen to add appositives to describe the nouns/pronouns that they had. We looked at other nouns and pronouns that did not have appositives attached and I questioned "why not here?" Students didn't have ready answers: "Because they didn't want to." or "Because that's what they decided." After I modeled an answer, though, they were more ready to answer: "Because that's the most important noun/pronoun in the sentence." or "Because it doesn't make sense to add an appositive anywhere else." At the very end of the period, I was able to connect this decision-making process that professional writers use to their own writing. I reminded students that their quotation paragraphs were due tomorrow, and I asked them to choose where they wanted to put their appositive, taking care to place it with maximum effect. I warned students that they would have a short reflection tomorrow, and I would be asking them about the choices they made as writers...

reflection
I HATE it when things don't go as planned...not because I'm mad at the students (we had a great conversation today), but because I'm a planner. Now I'm a full week behind!

I was surprised at how many REAL questions students had. This is a huge change from even a week ago when they were asking me questions that were designed to waste time. Now they really want to know every aspect of how to use appositives. Not every student is fully engaged, but almost all students - even the ones who haven't written anything yet - were participating and asking questions. They were serious. At first (during 2nd period), I was inwardly resistant. I wanted them just to "get it." The period flew by, though, and before I knew it the period was over. 3rd period I was still hopeful, but when I saw students having the same struggle/engagement cycle that 2nd period had, I gave in and chucked my plans for the day. If they wanted to do appositives, then we would do appositives. 5th period was great - there are only 12 students, but this class contains the most questioners. We almost went over and I nearly ran out of time to discuss how to add an appositive to their own writing. 9th period, though, was the biggest surprise.

I was reading essays from 9th period during hall duty 8th period, and I was concerned. There are serious issues in their writing that I haven't encountered since I taught 9th graders, and I was worried that the students were so far behind that I wouldn't get them caught up for the Regents. However, this was the class that connected with today's lesson the most. They asked great questions, even the reluctant students reluctantly engaged (they attempted the sentences before they appeared on the board instead of after). They asked great questions ("Can our sentences look like these?") and they were super-enthusiastic about the markers. (Small victories...) I know that I'll have to take time to teach basic paragraph structure and evidence gathering with these kids, but they are ripe for these voice lessons as well.

Questions:
What will their reflections look like tomorrow?
Will they choose, or will they just stick an appositive anywhere and hope for the best?
How many students will do their paragraphs tomorrow?

Finally: I've developed a writing survey to give students early next week. I will give this survey again after midterms and again at the end of the year. It will give me feedback about students' attitudes towards their own writing and how much they think about what they do. I'll post results early the following week.