“I raise my flags, don my clothes
It’s a revolution, I suppose
We’ll paint it red to fit right in
Whoa…

…All systems go, the sun hasn’t died
Deep in my bones, straight from inside

I’m waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I’m radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I’m radioactive, radioactive”

–“Radioactive,” Imagine Dragons

Yesterday, three-hundred sophomores at Cheney High School selected and supported their mid-term ELA grades. The sky did not fall. The world did not stop spinning. And the sun did not die.

But. Three-hundred kids put a stamp on their learning. Their learning. They exercised their freedom and owned their responsibility, which we granted them forty-seven days earlier when they crossed the threshold of our classrooms. And in their first opportunity to exercise the agency we gave them, they made their first step forward into official ownership, discovering that we were true to our promise that they held the keys, that they were drivers. And though I can only speak directly to the one-hundred-twenty-eight drivers in room 211, they owned it responsibly, making solid, evidence-based cases for their self-selected grades. There was not once upon my entering the grades into the system that I felt a kid had made any gross inaccuracies or unfair assessments of his or her learning. I was both confident and comfortable with their choices. They did not take advantage of my trust. They took advantage of their opportunity to own it.

And next Monday, when the midterm report cards arrive home in the mail, there will be at least one mark on the sheet that they fully understand, that they can fully explain. But I am not sure that can be said with certainty for the five other marks on the page. For “my marks,” I want them to feel that it was something that was done with them. I fear for too many of the other marks that they will feel like it was something that was done to them. There’s a difference. I want my kids to feel we are engaged in a partnership with their learning, a shared experience, a shared responsibility. And I believe that feeling of engagement is achieved through ownership. Conversely, I think a lack of ownership, a feeling of “this is something that is being done to me,” a feeling of “I have no control over situation,” leads to disengaged, disenfranchised kids.

And I think we can change that. I “feel it in my bones, enough to make my systems blow.” But it takes courage. We have to believe that there are different ways, there are better ways. There were roughly seventy-eight-hundred grades entered into the system at CHS yesterday. Seventy-eight-hundred stories told. Stories. Stories about learning. And stories have power. But there is a tenuous line that divides the power to harm and the power to help. As the thirteen-hundred kids at CHS look ahead to the next nine weeks, I wonder how they read their stories; I wonder how they imagine their next chapters. Hard to know. But I have to imagine that there are three-hundred kids who feel like they may have some say in how those stories will end, for they hold the pen. And a day later, it seems that all is still well in the world. The sun hasn’t died.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…take a theme performance.

…reflect in Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Thursday, all. Have a great three-day weekend.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

“But will it work with ‘regular kids’?”

“I don’t know. I’d like to think so. Next year, I will found out.”

That was a common conversation among colleagues last year. They acknowledged that I was experiencing some success with my honors kids with my gradeless approach, but they always wondered if it would work with “regular kids.” Their “wonder” seemed to suggest that it wouldn’t. And though I had nothing to offer up as “proof” otherwise, in earnest, I believed it would. In fact, I believed it might even work better. My choice not to use it with my “regular” kids last year stemmed from the fact that I was one of four LA 12 teachers, and I thought it neither fair to my colleagues nor the other senior students to offer it only in my classes. So, I used the approach in my Honors LA 10 courses, for which I was the only teacher. This year that changed. I was no longer teaching LA 12. I was back to teaching one section of LA 10, and with my LA 10 peeps jumping into the gradeless arena with me this year, we would use the approach with all sophomore LA classes, regular and honors.

Of course, this year is markedly different, as I am not offering all kids an A for the year. But we are still staying true to our gradeless beliefs with our select-and-support approach. And so this year, with all kids–not just the honors–on a gradeless journey, we are making a lot of discoveries about the impact of de-emphasizing traditional grades and emphasizing feedback as the key ingredient to student motivation and success. Yesterday, as I made my way through the latest performance in my regular LA 10 class, I found myself fist-pumping the air as one 3 (meeting proficiency) after another materialized. For Kelly’s I even uttered, “Yes!” aloud with a giant smile, writing a “YAY!” and “I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!” in all caps on the top of her paper next to the 3. And it just kept going as Bing, Katie, Courtney, and others filled my heart with their successes on their performances. And though all my kids did not score a 3, many–most–improved, and that was worth celebrating, too. They’re just not there…yet, but they will be, and I believe that. And my believing that is as important as anything that I do.

Sadly, the “regular kids” are often unwittingly held to lower expectations, and I have certainly been guilty of this dangerous inequity over the course of my career. I suspect we all have. But I have discovered that with grades off the table and with the promise of feedback at each placemat, the distinction between regular and honors is obviated, and the singular title of learner fills the place card. In the strictest sense of the idea, my “regular” kids are not great students. But they are learners, and all learners regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, and ability, respond to feedback, learn from feedback. And it is that–feedback–which led to Kelly’s latest success. It was an intentional string of moments which led her to the 3. I am not patting myself on the back. I simply did my job. I responded to her efforts in a way that would help her take better aim and hit nearer the target with each attempt. In her latest, she hit the target. And I could not be more proud of her. I can hardly wait to share the news with her, today. So proud of you, Kelly.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…begin a new descriptive writing activity.

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Tuesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

“At each ‘C’ you must check in with me before you move on to the next.”

To help kids move away from simple summary and step deeper into analysis, I use a Claim-Cite-Clarify approach. Additionally, it helps them learn to integrate text evidence into their thinking, rather than just including text evidence. Our work with theme thus far has required kids to present and defend their themes with our “Life is Lit” selections, our weekly literary passages or selections. Life is Lit, or Life is Literature, is my attempt to sell the notion that literature is a rehearsal for the human experience, and that is why we read literature in my class, to learn from and live in the human experience, even if only vicariously, though many of the themes we discover and explore are more real than vicarious to my young humans. What’s more with this approach, in an age where it is ever more difficult to get kids to read–actually read–I have found that shorter passages/selections better ensure that all have read the material, and, too, we can get to more and varied texts with shorter chunks. In short, I have had better success with this approach to literature than I have had with novel units.

To this point, we have practiced identifying, presenting, and defending theme with six selections, and we have had one performance opportunity, where the kids have had a chance to formally demonstrate proficiency with our first two Focus Standards.

Focus Standards

1. *I can integrate cited text evidence into my writing to support my thinking.
2. *I can determine and analyze the theme of a text.

From the first performance I learned that we still had much to do, that we weren’t quite there…yet. The kids needed more practice, and they needed more feedback. So, I designed an activity where the kids would work in teams to not only complete a CCC for each of the two selections but also hold each other accountable by sticking to the learning-target criteria, and then as an added checkpoint, they would have to check in with me before moving on the next “C.”

I wish I would have videoed or at least recorded their conversations. Waiting my turn, I was scoring other work, listening in on their conversations, and I was rather pleased with their genuine dialogue and authentic collaborative efforts where they found not only agreement but also–more importantly–disagreement, working through the latter until they reached consensus. And once they reached consensus, they would call me over, and I would give them feedback on their attempt, which would sometimes be a hit, and other times a miss. In truth, I found greater value in their misses for they presented better learning opportunities. Many had to go back to the drawing board after their initial attempts, but each time I believe they dug deeper and understood better. For most of them, there were a lot of aha moments. Many exclaiming, “Oh that’s what you want.”

Learning takes time. And it registers, it “clicks” at different moments and from various means for each. Some kids “got it” right away from the first CCC. Others have picked it up gradually from the practice and performance feedback. But most needed this activity to find their clicks. And that is what matters to me: the click. Of course not all are there, and some will require even more time and yet other means, but I am committed to their learning. I can’t teach them everything, but I can focus on a few things (Focus Standards) and help them turn their cogs until they find their clicks.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…finalize activity mentioned above.

…reflect in Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Monday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

There’s always one. There’s always that one class that stands out among the others. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what makes it stand out, but it does nonetheless. It’s as if the mix is just right, and the kids create a culture of their own, give life to their own identity. For me, this year, that is my 5th period class. But in the beginning, I would not have thought it so. No, for they were my biggest bunch of “passers” during Smiles and Frowns, and I even recall finding them a bit lame, much without character. But my first impressions were wrong, and as we have gotten on, they have become…well, that class.

Earlier this week, they were unusually chatty, and I let them go on, but at the end, I composed a special Sappy Sy Rhyme in response, which I regrettably did not save. In the short rhyme, I mildly–jokingly–admonished them for their “talkiness.” The next day, I walked in a minute late to discover in my tardiness that they had conspired, and they had all taken a vow of silence, not uttering a peep during roll, just nodding their heads. And then they attempted to do the same during Smiles and Frowns, but for some it became too much, and by the time it got around to Moses their vow was broken. But the score was settled. They had gotten even.

Then yesterday, after posting here about my absence the day before and my simply being a tag along in their journeys ( Tag Along ), I discovered the note from my 5th period kiddos in the picture below.

It was my first smile of the day. And it became an even bigger smile, when I read the notes from my sub, who corroborated their story.

Yes, they went off the path that I had set before them, but they ended where I needed them to be. And, even more, they owned it. And I love that. And I told them so. It was perhaps my favorite moment of the year. My big smile, a smile that grew even more upon learning that all my classes had demanded to begin with Smiles and Frowns, even though I had not made mention of it to the sub. I even discovered that they had added it to the list of to-do’s on the whiteboard. In addition, I also learned from my colleague across the hall that 5th period had ended with our Mindset Mantra, saying it loudly and proudly enough that she could hear it across the hall.

We are valued members of this community.

We are readers.

We are writers.

We are learners.

We are awesome!

Yes. Yes, you are. You are awesome. And…you owe me a stool.

Such a happy moment for me yesterday. I am both proud and pleased that the culture that we have been working to build over the past forty-five days has begun to come together. Each class its own puzzle of mixed and varied pieces fitting together in ways both imagined and unforeseen. And I am but a piece. I am one fit, one part of their marvelous mosaic, and I value beyond words the small space they have granted me as I continue to tag along.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…engage in Community Circle (always first Friday of the month).

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Friday, all. Have a great weekend. Finally got some sleep last night.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

Not much of a post this morning, all. Still sick. Not sleeping. Yada, yada, yada. And not feeling terribly inspired. Sorry.

But, despite my current state, we have reached the 1/4 mark of the year. And as I pause and look back, I am pleased with how far we have come, and I am eager to get even farther down the trail with my band of young traveling companions. I left them on their own yesterday, as I went home sick. And I am sure they got along just fine without me, which admittedly is thrilling and depressing all the same, for I like to think that they need me, and they do, but I’d like to cling to them a bit longer before letting go. And, to be sure, letting go is the plan. With each passing day, I push them farther away, seeking to give them greater ownership, seeking to make myself unnecessary in what is really their journey, not mine. I am simply, or rather strive to become, a tag along. And in that striving, I find a small measure of nobility in my purpose. Opportunity.

I have the opportunity not to lead them to the end of a journey. No, I have the opportunity to give them a chance to find their own ways, to find their own selves as they advance into their own unexplored territories, discovering the wonder of the world without and their own powerful person within. In the end, I matter little, but in that end, I find all that matters: an opportunity to have experienced life and learning with the young spirits with whom I was lucky enough to walk with for a stretch. And in that end, I am fulfilled. I am complete. I am honored.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with a Smiles and Frowns.

…wrap up a theme activity (didn’t get to it yesterday since I was gone).

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Thursday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

“It’s a ‘D’!”

“No, it’s a ‘near miss.'”

I use a 3-point scale in the grade book to report completion of practice and proficiency on performance. I adhere to the language of a target. 3=hit. 2=Near Miss. 1=Far Miss. 0=Missing. It’s a new language for the kids who are accustomed to percentage-based grades. And so, when they see 66% in Skyward, they think “D” instead of Near Miss.

“Kaitlin, you have to quit thinking in terms of percentages. You have to start thinking in terms of, ‘There is a target. I am asking you to take aim at that target and ‘shoot.’ After you have done so, we will evaluate how closely you came to hitting the target. You scored a 2 on the performance which means you missed the target, but importantly, it was a ‘near miss.’ You were close. And then we can discuss how you can adjust your aim next time, so you can hit the target.'”

And the next time is the key. I put the standards in front of my kids multiple times so they have ample opportunity to take aim, adjusting their aim in response to my feedback. For some, next time also becomes “retakes,” which I encourage, trying to instill the notion that assessment is for learning, that each time we do and adjust and do again, we learn. That is the goal.

“But what about all the practice?” Kaitlin pressed.

“Practice is just that, kiddo. Practice. I report completion of practice as a record to your parents of what you are doing in my class. I work hard to ensure that the practice prepares for performance. But in the end, it’s the performance that matters, for that is where you demonstrate growth and proficiency.”

“So, I don’t have to do the practice?”

“Right. It’s a choice. I want you to do it because you find value in it. I want you to see that it leads to better performances.”

“So, it doesn’t help my grade?”

“Well, technically, no. But it doesn’t hurt it either. If Kyle doesn’t do any of the practice but scores 3 on all the performances, he is in a strong position to make a case for an A at the end of the semester. Of course, this will likely be an exceptional case, but I am not going to punish him for not doing the practice if it was not necessary for his success. I want you to do ALL of the practice. Of course, I do, but again, I want you to do it because you have discovered it is a path to proficiency.”

“So it’s all about the tests?”

“Well, performances, yes. But you have multiple opportunities to retake until you have demonstrated proficiency. And that’s by design, kiddo. I want you to redo and retake. I think it’s a necessary part of the learning process.”

“Okay,” she nodded.

Midterm is Friday, so grades have become a part of the discussion in room 211. Kids have an opportunity to select and support a grade (see self-evaluation below). There is not enough time to confer with each kid, so the self-evaluation is what I will use to report grades at midterm. I will post whatever they select. At term, in a grading conference, they will have to convince me with evidence of growth and proficiency with the standards, and we will then come to consensus on a grade that we can both live with. I did give the kids a little direction. As they considered their midterm mark, I told them that if they are scoring 3’s on the performances then an A is fair representation of their achievement at this point, etc.

Of course, I would just as soon that we not have to shove learning into a letter, but I have not the power to escape that reality. So, in the meantime, I will continue to try and make learning more meaningful for my learners, even if it’s not a neat and tidy fit within the system. By no means have I discovered the way, but I believe I am moving towards a way, a way that will no doubt require more conversations with Ms. Kaitlin, a way that will eventually result in my kids rethinking their learning. Their learning.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…wrap up our theme work with “By Any Other Name.”

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Wednesday, all. Still feeling crappy. Hope I can kick this cold.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.