Excited.

Lost.

Pumped.

Flustered.

Inspired.

Intrigued.

Confused.

A waterfall of words. A cascade of possibility. A pool of potential. On Monday, I introduced the Passion Paper, a semester-long writing project, to my students. For the last two days, they have worked, wondered, and worried over their plans, trying to find their own paths for the weeks ahead. At the end of the day yesterday, I asked kids to select a word that reflected their current states of mind with the project and discuss it in their Journey Journal entries. I then asked them to share aloud their words with the class. Above, is some of the stream that poured from their brains, sending resonant ripples dancing across our pond. All music. All beauty.

Yes, beauty, even the lost, the flustered, and the confused–especially the lost, flustered, and confused. Music that, for it reverberates; it speaks of kids out of comfort; it suggests fish out of water; it sings of opportunity to learn, to grow. In truth, this is new, it is different; it is uncomfortable. And that’s not in conflict with my goal. It is in line with my desire to push kids back to a state of wonder and curiosity, to a time before we “schooled” those things out of them. I want them to discover that again. But for many, they will have to first get lost, before they are found. And that’s not gonna be easy. So, I’ll help. Here are some words that I lent them yesterday as they wandered around.

“Step outside the educational box. Quit thinking this is an assignment to be turned in. Think rather of it as something to pursue.”

“I am not ‘grading’ this.”

“Quit asking me, ‘Can I write about…’ Instead, tell me what you are writing about. Anything, means anything. It is your choice, not mine.”

“Love, love, love that idea!”

“I can help.”

“By gum, have fun. Above all, let this be something that you wanna do.”

“I have no idea how long it has to be. I don’t care. It’ll be what is; you will get where you get come January.”

“Those who are lost can be found. Come see me.”

The list goes on. And so will the work. Some are indeed lost, and they may remain so for some time, and I will do what I can to help, but they have to find their way. Others are “found” and they are already cruising down their paths chasing passions, ranging from epic poems to “The Idiot’s Guide to Living with High School Drama” (not the theater). So many great ideas. So many paths. So excited for their discoveries. Honored that they are letting me tag along.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns

…explore complex sentences.

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Wednesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

I try to avoid the “T” word in the 180 classroom. One, it creates anxiety. Two, it suggests finality. The former is not necessary. The latter is contrived. Well, at least in the 180 classroom. So, I avoid it, and I offer in its stead: performance.

The 180 experience is a cycle of practice, feedback, and performance. The kids practice. I give them feedback. They perform. I assess their performances. Together, we adjust their aims and trajectories, and we enter the next cycle. When learning is a circle and not a line it obviates the constructs of anxiety and finality. When kids know they have practiced the performance (practice looks identical to performance), anxiety is greatly reduced, for they know what to expect. This is not always the case with “tests,” many of which are often the embodiment of the “gotcha game” that some teachers play under the guise of “rigor.” It is no wonder, then, that kids experience anxiety, especially in high school, where they arrive with their deeply conditioned responses and continue their “conditioning” throughout most of their educational experience, up to and including college. Further, when kids know they have another shot (multiple if necessary) to demonstrate proficiency, they come to learn that assessment can and should be “for” learning. And, too, they learn that the notion of finality is really more a teacher’s choice than a dictum of the system, but it has been their reality for so long they may never fully grasp the “untruth” of the nefarious notion of a test being an end rather than a bridge. And that is what I want performances to be: bridges, crossings to the next stage. I don’t want them to create anxiety. I don’t want them to connote finality. I want them to be natural steps along the learning journey. But that takes time, and that takes trust. I speak it. The kids hear it. But they do not yet believe it. After all, I am up against years of conditioning, so I will be patient and diligent. We will get there.

Last week, we had our first performance. And despite my communicating its purpose, the kids approached it like a test, and they responded to it like a test. Tommy was crestfallen upon learning his score: a 1 (far miss). In his mind, he failed. In my mind, he helped create an opportunity for learning. But he did not see that upon sitting down with me to discuss his performance, but after seeing his mistakes and learning that he would not only have the opportunity for “corrections” but also a retake (retakes, if necessary), his anxious fears of being trapped in the land of no return diminished as he began to imagine the possibility of building a bridge and continuing his journey.

Our next performance is on Thursday. Yesterday, I reiterated the purpose of performances, and while I believe some kids are coming around to this approach, many are still hesitant to settle into this new reality. And that’s okay. They’ll get there. Trust takes time. In many ways, I am asking them to cross a great divide, and if I were they, I, too, would want to be sure of the bridge before me.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…continue determining direction and developing plans for Passion Papers.

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Tuesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

Here’s the thing about giving kids the keys to their learning. You have to give them the keys. Today, I will seek to do just that by introducing the Passion Paper. The Passion Paper is a semester-long writing assignment designed to give kids ownership of their learning. I have set some guidelines, but beyond those, the kids have a lot of freedom to pursue their own passions. I am asking them to lead, so I can follow. As the new leaders, they will brave some new territory in which they will come up against some new challenges, challenges which will lead to some frustration as they navigate this new realm. And that’s my goal. I want them to struggle a bit. I want them to find solutions. I want them to find themselves. I will be with them, and I will help them along their way, but I am not going to take the lead. In the driver’s seat they will sit, and I will fill the passenger’s, where I can enjoy the ride and the view as they learn to drive. They have the keys.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

...begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…recite Mindset Mantras.

…get started on Passion Papers.

…Reflect in Journey Journals.

…end with Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Monday, all. Have a great week.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

Dear Kiddo,

I have thought about you all weekend. I thought about you when I was riding my bike early Saturday morning. I thought about you when I was moving horse manure on my tractor Saturday afternoon. And I am thinking about you now as I sit here in the early Sunday morning hours trying to capture this past week, so I  may do better this coming week. And as I do so, all thoughts turn to you.

First, I am sorry. I am sorry that my recent addition of weekly homework in the form of personal reading for 30 minutes, 5 days a week overwhelmed you. I am sorry that my attempt at empathy and my offer of an alternative approach seemed to have little effect on your near-tears, stressed-out state that you quietly revealed to me late Friday afternoon. I am sorry.

And as I sit here, and again try to settle into your shoes, I have achieved some clarity on how you must feel. One, I am taking you along a path down which you have never been by giving you the keys to your learning, a path that has landed you in a vast landscape of unfamiliar territory. I tend to think that this must be a thrill to you and your peers, but I also need to consider that it’s probably frightening, too. I will do better to remember this. Two, I know you were not happy the with the outcome of your first performance despite my assurances that it was one opportunity of many to come for you to demonstrate proficiency, despite my assurances that it was not a test, that it wasn’t your grade, that it was just an indicator. Easy for me to say. As I am the one who charted the course, I can see the landscape, know its nuances, but you cannot and that must be scary. I will do better to remember this, too.

Last, thank you. Thank you for opening my eyes. Thank you for reminding me that there is more to guiding than walking ahead. Thank you for reminding me that leading necessitates looking back on those we lead, that leading seeks to bridge the distance between those in front and those behind. And so, here is my looking back, here is my seeking to bridge the inevitable gaps that will occur along our journey. Meet me where you can. In the end I do not care about the work I give you. I offer it as only a challenge, as simply an opportunity. And for both, I will offer support. I will meet you where I can if you promise the same. With that, then, we will meet, and that is all that really matters.

Sincerely,

Sy

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

“Hey, Sy, is there a way I can check to see what assignments I am missing? I know that you don’t use Skyward, so..”

“Wait. What? I use Skyward, kiddo.”

“Well, nothing shows up.”

OH. MY. GOSH. For the last four weeks I have been entering practice assignments to communicate completion to parents and students, only to discover yesterday that they have been unable to see what I have been entering. Great communication, Sy.

Here’s the problem. Apparently, Skyward, our online grade book that we are required to use, will not show up on the family or student end until there is a “scored” entry. All of my entries have been entered as “no counts” because they are not used to calculate a final, percentage grade. I only use Skyward to communicate completion of practice and proficiency on performances. For both, I use a 3-point scale. I communicated all of this to parents in my grading policy letter I sent home and at open house, promising that I would still use Skyward to communicate. And, up till yesterday, I thought I was, and so did my grade-level partners who were just as dismayed as I upon learning about our blunder. So we met after school last night to come up with a solution, acknowledging that there was no good solution, just the least-bad solution. Here is what we decided.

We are going to keep our 3-point scale. But now we will enter it as a “count” score, which will generate a percentage grade. And though this is not what we wanted, for it runs counter to our approach, at the moment it is our best plan. The challenge is going to be making sure that both students and parents know that what they see on Skyward in terms of a letter and percentage is not the student’s grade. To be sure, students will still select and support a grade at the end of term.

Really, the “Skyward grade” is just a progress indicator, mostly communicating completion of practice to parents. It does also include performance scores, but those scores are more clearly articulated in our biweekly learning logs that the kids take home to their parents. It is not perfect, but we think we can make it work, beginning with our sending out a letter and email to parents, explaining the situation. Today, I will also apologize and explain my mistake to my kids. Ugh. Bummed by this oversight, but I am thankful that Hannah brought it to my attention yesterday. Good thing I have my Do-Reflect-Do-Better tool with me.

Today’s Trail

Today is going to be a cluster. The entire school is doing a college/career day called T-2-4, which will be a good opportunity for the kids, but it’s going to be wacky schedule, so we’ll just roll with the punches.

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…discuss the Skyward issue.

…discuss this week’s Life is Lit passages.

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Thursday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

Performance time. In the 180 classroom, our work takes on two forms: practice and performance. Guided by our ten focus standards and corresponding learning targets, I provide practice opportunities that lead to performance opportunities. Practice presents kids with opportunities to work and grow from feedback. Performances present kids with opportunities to demonstrate proficiency in the selected standard(s). In the end, I am looking for kids to “consistently” demonstrate proficiency; therefore, they will have multiple opportunities to prove proficiency. Today is their first opportunity to demonstrate proficiency with simple and compound sentences.

It is neither an overly complex nor difficult performance, and that is by design. It is the kids’ first go, and I am simply trying to take “formal” measure of where they are with simple and compound sentences, primarily focusing on subjects and predicates. As with all performances, it is open-resource, which means they can use their own self-generated “My Sources” or their teacher-generated “Sy Sources.” In the real world, people use resources. In my class, we use resources.

I will provide an overall performance score (3, 2, 1) and a sentence-level performance indicator (+, √, -). For both, the general approach is either they hit the target or they miss the target. For misses, I indicate a “near miss” or a “far miss.” On performances, I provide no comments. One, it’s about time. Two, it’s about kids having to take some responsibility for next steps. We will do a general follow-up as a class, where I will share some general feedback regarding “misses.” From there, I will ask kids to come to me for the things that are still not clear to them, then giving specific, individual feedback. All performances go in their portfolios as evidence for supporting self-selected grades at end of term.

I am eager to cheer my kids on today. I am eager to see if the practice and feedback are moving them along the path to proficiency. I am eager to learn, so I can do better.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns. Every day. Even on performance days. This is priority number one. Always.

…take the performance.

…reflect in Journey Journals.

…end on a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Wednesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

She didn’t say it, but her eyes couldn’t hide it. Again. You want me to do it again?

I do. I thought back.

Moments earlier. “Sy, will you take a look at my theme?”

“Of course. Let’s take a look,” I replied, positioning her paper on my desk so that she and I could both see it as I scanned her work.

“Okay, Bec,” you waded out into the pool and discovered an important theme. Thank you. But in your clarify, you are still leaning toward summary, not analysis,” underlining the the two key ideas in her claim (theme). “You have to address, explain, and defend your discovery, not the cite.”

“Yeah, it is kinda summary still isn’t it?”

“Yep, but you are moving in the right direction. In the end, I don’t really care about the cite. I care about your thinking. That’s what I am looking for. I want you to try something. Take this home this weekend and clarify your claim without referencing the cite. I think it will force you to focus on explaining, defending your thinking. Then, I want you to compare it with what you shared with me right now. Finally, I want you to do it again (third time), finding a happy medium between the two. Okay?”

Though I believe that Bec (she’s that kid) likely did as I asked over the weekend,  the challenge of “again” is real, for kids have not been conditioned to work to learn; they have been conditioned to work to get done. And that’s the reality I face–have faced for years: one and done. So I am trying to change that, and de-emphasizing grades has been a big step in the right direction. There is no “grade” attached to the practice that Bec and the rest of my kids are doing. It is simply what I name it: practice. And in my class practice pays for no grade, but it does purchase feedback, the food of learning. In the past, grades served as empty calories, spoiling the appetites of my kids. Grades given, they quickly asked to be excused from the table. But now, after getting a taste of feedback, I have them asking for seconds, even thirds. Of course, not all my kids are where Bec is, but I believe I can get them there. I believe I can get them to, if not embrace, then expect “again” as a necessary step in learning, but it’s not going to happen overnight.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns. Love starting each period with this. Feel like we are really coming together as a community. Proud that each day our work begins with sharing a bit of our lives with each other. Laughter, applause, and empathetic gestures make my heart sing. Had the kids publish a sentence from their Seedfolks entry in their Journey Journals. Appreciated Evette’s statement. Yes, Evette. It takes work to build community. Glad that we work on it every day.

…begin the next phase of Mindset Mantras. For the past two weeks I have been saying the mantras. “You are valued members of this learning community. You are readers. You are writers. You are learners. You are awesome.” Today, and for the next two weeks, we will replace “you” with “I.” After this, we will move to “we” for the remainder of the year.

…distribute our third Life is Lit passage. This week we are looking at two passages. I am seeking to give the the kids some additional practice and feedback opportunities before our first performance next week.

…continue drafting narrative essays. The next two days are “We are writers” days. Plan is to just let the kids get their first drafts done. Will begin scheduled conferences next week.

…reflect in Journey Journals.

That’s the day in 211. Gonna be a long day for me. I start teaching an education class at Eastern Washington University on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Happy Monday, all.

Sometimes I think my mantra, Do. Reflect. Do Better., is more a convenient rationalization to my wandering than a beacon of inspiration on my horizon. In part, it’s due to the allure and blur of my ideals, a mirage of confidence in my dreamt-up, drawn-up plans as I head down the trail with my not-yet-tested “better do” in hand. In other part, it’s due to my Superman-shirt-wearing-induced ego, which compels me to believe I can achieve superhuman feats. Put together, the parts create a crazy whole, a madman pushed to his limits, forced to confront the confounding reality that he is human after all.

This has been a hard week. My ideals and realities have collided, and the aftermath has placed me in a state of super stress, affecting both my professional and personal lives. And that’s not okay. So I had to get better. It’s all I know, and after a week of reflecting, yesterday, I found better. Yesterday, I got better.

The Problem

I bit off more than I could chew. Suffering from “Supermanshirtis,” I thought I could somehow get a feedback form filled out for each of my 120 kids, indicating hits, misses, and next steps on four learning targets. FOUR. Hmmm. Well, turns out there are only so many hours in a day, and only so much energy in the human body, even for those humans who wear Superman shirts. And even an extra helping of grit did little to help the situation. So, after days of delay and spontaneous surges of “feedbacking,” I found my better. Had to. The edge was near.

The Solution

It was in front of me the whole time. The kids. I was trying to do all the lifting. So, I came up with a plan to share the load.

• I created a model with an example and non-example. Ideally, I would have used a student model, but this is our first go; I have not yet a bank of models.
• I made the criteria for the targets as student and first-time friendly as I possibly could, reducing them down to yes/no responses.
• I then shared my model, matching it against the criteria, and I asked the kids to do the same. If the answer was “yes,” they wrote it on the “hit” side of the form, “no” on the miss.
• I then had the kids determine their own next steps based on their own feedback.
• Finally, I told the kids that if they wanted more feedback, they could submit it to the feedback folder, and I would take a look and respond. As of yet, no one has exercised this option; I hope that’s a sign that our shared approach was effective.

Importantly, the kids will have an opportunity today to apply their learning to an identical practice opportunity with this week’s Life is Lit text, which should reveal if growth is occurring. We’ll see. If not…well, there’s always my mantra.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…apply new learning to our Claim, Cite, Clarify task.

…clear the clutter from the trail.

…read in our personal reading books.

...reflect in our Journey Journals.

Hard week. But a hard week full of lessons. Felt so much better yesterday after I gave myself a break. Glad I leaned on the kids. Glad, too, they leaned back. We make a pretty good team. Have a great weekend, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better. (for realsies this week).

“What about Smiles and Frowns?” Twice yesterday I launched into our day, forgetting about Smiles and Frowns. The kids immediately caught my mistake. And that pleased me, for only two weeks in, it’s become a part of our culture. Our first five minutes always begins with the people in the room first, and then we get to the work. Sixth period, I had to run down to the office, and so, trying to save time, I asked the kids to conduct S&F on their own, which they reported went very well–guess I am already unnecessary. Anyway, it’s such an important start to our day. Some kids are still passing, but the majority are sharing, eliciting empathy, laughter, and even applause from the class as they share brief bits of their lives.

For our work, we did an activity for compound sentences that got the kids to consider, construct, and visualize how compound sentences are formed. I wanted them to have a “visual anchor” to draw from as we head further down the trail with complex sentences and phrases. My room now has a few hundred visual examples of compound sentences.

Task

Using Seedfolks as your content, with your partner, create compound-sentences. Follow the guidelines below.

1. Write 6 compound sentences.
2. Use one ½ sheet of printer paper for each simple sentence (independent clause). Write in marker.
3. For each simple sentence, draw a vertical line that separates the complete subject and predicate. Circle the simple subject. Underline the simple predicate.
4. Connect the simple sentences using one of the 3 types of “glue” (see sentence handout and examples on the board). Literally glue the pieces together with colored connectors.
5. 2 of your sentences must use a comma and FANBOYS. (pink)
6. 2 of your sentences must use a semicolon. (blue)
7. 2 of your sentences must use a conjunctive adverb. (yellow)
8. Check your work.
9. Tape your sentences up on any open wall space around the room.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns. Unless I forget. The kids won’t let me.

…determine, discuss, and defend themes from “The Pedestrian,” using our Claim, Cite, Clarify approach. Here, based on what I discovered from last week’s efforts, I will seek to steer the kids away from summary in their clarify.

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

And that’s the day in 211. Sorry for the late, short post this morning. I had to get some feedback done for the kids. Have a great day, all.