Seems I was the odd one out yesterday. Well, I guess, in some respects, I am that one most days. But yesterday’s oddity came in the form of my being about the only one of my kids’ teachers who did not give a test. Most of my kids had four to five major tests on the same day. On Wednesday, the day before, caught up in a moment of incredulity upon learning that there would be an honors bio test on top of the honors math and AP history tests, Dylan caught us all off-guard when he dropped an F-bomb. “And all on the same effin’ day.” I don’t know what surprised us more. The word. Or who said it. Either, it was said. Maybe it had to be. He didn’t say it gratuitously, recklessly, or unabashedly. He apologized. And he meant it. But he also meant the message behind what he had said earlier. And I listened. But I am one. Others need to listen, too.

Yesterday, I listened more as I heard kids speak of staying up all night, falling asleep at their computers, their haggard expressions revealing their inestimable stress. Stress. Stressed brains can’t learn. Stress stinks. My room stunk all day yesterday. I couldn’t ignore it, so I didn’t. I gave them a break. I didn’t give them the day off. I gave them a choice. They could do my work, or they could study for their tests. The work in my class is important. But it is not more important than my kids. Sid was obviously worried about her bio test as she was trying to sneak some studying in during Smiles and Frowns, something she ordinarily wouldn’t do. She wasn’t being disrespectful to or inconsiderate of her peers. She was stressed. And as I thought ahead to our day, looking out upon my stressed kiddos, I didn’t want to add to their stress by creating a situation where they were trying to sneak about, worrying about upsetting me as their stress compelled them to study for their upcoming tests. So, I gave them some grace. I acknowledged their situation and tried to help them achieve some regulation in their lives. My work will be there when they get there. And when they do, it may well be they will be in a less-stressed state so they can actually learn.

So what’s the answer? Not sure, but, as is, is madness. I don’t believe it’s about coordinating test days among teachers. That would become a proprietary, logistical nightmare. But maybe it is about re-imagining the use of assessment. Maybe instead of creating high-stakes, high-stress OF learning situations with assessment, we can create FOR or AS learning situations that give kids another shot AS they learn the material. Of course, in that re-imagining exists a lot of time, thought, and effort, but I believe it is worth the challenge if it creates a better way for our kids to learn. Our kids do not need this much stress in their lives. And I believe we can change it, so they don’t. But I cannot do it alone. I am not patting myself on the back, suggesting that I am the only teacher in my building who cares about kids. To be sure, I believe many practice compassion, and that’s great. Truly. But I am calling out those who adhere to what’s been done for seemingly no better reason than it’s what’s been done. No fan of the status quo. I become an adversary when it crushes kids, and I seek to smite it. We can do better. All of us.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…clear the clutter (we were supposed to have Community Circle today, but a lot of kids are out for a field trip, so we moved it to next Friday).

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Friday, all. Have a great weekend.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

Got myself a good tired going on. Been riding high all week with my kiddos, and today I have crashed a bit. It’s a good crash, no bumps, no bruises. But it’s a crash, and I love it. Even so, gonna ease off the pedal some today to give myself and the kids a chance to regroup. Learning is messy, and we have created some loose ends, some clutter this week, so we will clear the clutter today.

A highlight from yesterday was choosing our Classroom Community Champs. Proud of how my kids regard each other. We spend a lot of time building community, so when I see them honor each other in this and in other ways, it makes the time we spend worth it. Kids rock.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…clear the clutter.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Thursday, all. Sorry for the short post. Have a great day.

Do. Reflect. Do Better. 

“You are all fricking brilliant! I am so impressed by and have so enjoyed your discussion these past two days. You rock. Thank you.”

And I was. And I am. I am proud of my kids’ discussions on voice and listening the last few days. They truly are wiser than their ages. They inspire me and give me hope. And I want to help that hope. I want to help find them find their voices so they may be the generation who not only speaks but listens. We need a generation like that. Here is what I offered them yesterday at the end of their discussion, at the beginning of our work.

Change the world? Why not? Is that not the hope we should have for each class of kids as they make their way through the system? What else would I want for them? Is it only my job to help them pass the state assessment in April? Is that the measure? Is that the mark? Is that all? I find little hope and inspiration in that. And I imagine my kids would find even less. So, I choose not that mark, not that end. I see something bigger and better in my young charges. I see a heap of hope. And I will not let that be diminished by the insanity of standardization. I will see it rise up in the humanity of humanization. Humans. Hope.

Okay, off my soapbox. But I believe this stuff. And I believe my kids believe I believe this stuff. It is the why in our work. So we will go on believing.

Gonna listen today. Gonna see if we can find a voice in three texts. Gonna see if we can separate noise from voice. Yesterday, Juliane synthesized our work comparing it to the famous, “If a tree falls in the forest…” He suggested, “If a person speaks in a roomful of people, and no one listens, has he said anything?” Whoa. Still thinking about that one. Well, in truth, I have been thinking about it all along, for it has really been my goal from the outset, which I tried to communicate in my message above. We don’t have a voice until people listen to us. I feel like the world is one large roomful of people with too many people talking, too many people saying nothing, because no one is listening. And so the world is full of noise. So much noise. I think I can change that. I truly think I can help my kids learn to speak so that when they do, people will listen. I believe that.

So, when I put the three texts in front of my kids today. I will first ask them to hear the words, asking them where and if there were places where they listened and why. The first is a poem I met yesterday in a meeting. The latter two are quick little arguments I wrote up about our Access Time here at CHS. We have not talked about argument or rhetoric yet. I want to see what the kids pick up with their ears before I formally introduce those elements.

From here, I will begin the process of formally introducing argumentation and rhetoric. And from here, it is my hope that my kids build the skills to become the voices in the room.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…listen for voices.

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Wednesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better. 

“I am limited to asking probing or clarifying questions and keeping track of time. You will discuss the first six questions. Please do not raise your hands. Instead, find polite entry points into the conversation. Please try to contribute at least once. Please monitor your mic time. Go.”

After discussing the first six questions in smaller groups, we came together to discuss them as a class. Above were the parameters of our discussion. Intentionally, I “stayed out of it.” I want the kids talking, and though I want some structure to the conversation, I also want there to be some room for them to explore and address the organic elements of discussion, so I give them some freedom. As such, there were some messy moments, but overall the kids pulled it together, and they engaged in a respectful, thoughtful conversation about voice and listening, using the questions as their guide. Admittedly, it was hard for me to “stay out of it,” but, as always, I am glad I did. I learn so much from my little rock stars when I give them the stage. I am learning to listen as they are learning to speak. No coincidence, that. It’s part of the plan with this unit. I want them to find their voices. Can’t happen if I am doing the talking. So, I listen. I am finding my ears.

And as I listen, I try to find teachable moments that I can use after the conversation to direct our learning. One such moment came from question one.

What is the difference between being heard and being listened to?

I tuned in a bit during their small group discussions–can’t help it, and I was a little surprised by the two differing views here. So, when we got to the full-class discussion, I was not surprised that the two views surfaced again, in all five of my classes. The kids were split in about half on their interpretations of the difference between listening and hearing. Both sides made their cases, I asked probing and clarifying questions, and yet there still remained some disagreement between the two camps. The kids kept looking to me to set it straight, but I stayed out of it. Today I will step into it, and we will clarify for the sake of our work with this project what the differences are.

And while I thought the distinction would be obvious, there was a large number of kids who found “being heard” as heeding what someone says, flipflopping what many of us consider a conventional difference between the two. At first, I was like, “really?” But as I listened, I learned, and I think I know why a good many kids hold to this notion. In popular culture, they hear the expressions, “I want to be heard,” I don’t feel heard,” “We will be heard,” etc. Of course, this can be translated into, “I want to be understood.” Thus, I came to understand how they were confusing the two. Today, using information from an Article I found, we will clarify the differences, but in that clarification, I will honor the kids who pushed “being heard,” letting them I know I understand where their thinking came from.

Of course in my probing, a few of my favorite questions were, “Do kids get in trouble for not listening or not hearing?” or “Do you want your future significant other to hear you or listen to you?” Ah, kids. Today, we will clear things up a bit. I want them to find their voices, but they have to find their ears, too. I want them to discover that if we want to be understood, we have to learn to understand, so that when we speak, we say something worth listening to. Anyone can open their mouth and be heard. I want them to speak their voices and change the world.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…do a “Credibility through Convention” entry task (I’ll explain tomorrow).

…continue and complete our discussion on voice/

…email learning reports home to parents.

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Tuesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

Lots a noise where we livin’.

Lots a bitterness. Lots a division.

Lots a shoutin’. And not enough listenin’.

Not gonna wade into it. But I am on a mission.

I will not use this platform for politics, but I will use it as an opportunity to share what I am trying to do in my classroom to help kids find their voices, so they may be more than noise through my Project Be a Voice.

To kick things off, here is a list of questions that I will ask my kids today. They will first write their own responses on a Think Sheet, then share their thinking within their groups, and finally we will discuss as a class.

• What’s the difference between being heard and being listened to?
• Why do we listen to some people and not others?
• Why are opinions important to society? How do they help? How do they hurt?
• What’s an argument?
• Based on your definition of argument, who wins the argument?
• What do you consider good evidence?
• What is truth?
• Where do opinions come from?
• What are the traits of a good listener? Are you a good listener?
• When are our own voices put to the test? Whom do we need to listen to us? How do we know if others are listening?
• Do people listen to you? How do you know? Why do they or don’t they listen to you?
• Do you feel like you have a voice? Why?

From here, we will then journey forth into learning about using rhetoric and argumentation, identifying what matters to us, and finding and developing our voices so that we may be listened to. And that is what I want for my kids. I want them to be voices. We don’t need more noise. Already got plenty of that.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

...begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…respond to and discuss questions about voice.

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Monday, all. Let’s have a great week.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

Morning, all. Slept late for me. 5:00 AM. Never really did get my brain in gear this morning, so this won’t be much of a post. Well, I guess, it won’t be a post at all. Sorry. Thought I’d share a comment card that I got from one of my kiddos yesterday. Not a terrible thing to have someone share that she feels cared for. Not a terrible thing at all. Made my day.

Sorry for dropping the ball on my post this morning. Kept guzzling coffee but my muse never found me. Tomorrow, I will do better.

Happy Thursday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

They aren’t ready. And, that’s the plan. Today, my kids will take a Sentence Performance that asks them to identify and fix fragments, run-ons, and comma splices. In addition, and in continuation of our work with sentences, they will have to write simple, compound, and complex sentences with specified phrases. They are ready for the latter–we have been doing this all year, but they are not ready for the former…well, at least not in the traditional sense.

A traditional approach relies upon sufficient front loading with teaching and practice before assessments, a test-when-it-is-time approach. As such, the assessments that correspond with this approach generally emphasize an assessment of learning, an I-taught-it-did-the-kids-learn-it way of conducting business. Such learning is then generally recorded as a grade, where it remains static, and the teacher moves on to the next unit of study, and the process is repeated in a linear, there-is-only-forward progression.

A less-traditional approach, like the traditional,  relies upon a degree of front loading, but it breaks away from the traditional in its reliance on the retest/retake. This assessment-for-learning approach emphasizes a where-are-the-kids-not-proficient and how-will-I-respond way of conducting business. Such learning as this is also recorded as a score, but it generally anticipates that kids will need more and other similar opportunities to achieve proficiency, and so the scores in the grade book are not static, for they may change as the process invites a circular, keep-at-it progression.

A non-traditional approach has revealed itself to me this year, and while it is not, to my knowledge, tried-and-tested or data-driven, it is learner-driven. I believe that learning stems from the learner. And so, I have sought ways to capture and advance that learning. My recent methodology has been a shift to “learning by performing,” which I introduced in a post about using Performances at the end of last month. Essentially, the goal here is to use assessment as learning. It relies upon minimal front loading, getting the kids to the assessment, the performance as soon as possible, so I can give them feedback in preparation for the next performance, where they will have an opportunity to apply their new learning to a similar situation. This approach requires a retest. Scores are dynamic forms of communication. Like less-traditional, it is a circular progression but it gets kids in the game sooner, and there is more back loading as it seeks to be responsive to each learner.

One of my biggest aha’s, as my ideas about learning have evolved in the gradeless realm, is that I need to teach less. That is, I need to talk less. I need to prepare kids less in the front of things and respond more on the back of things. So, yesterday, putting that new knowledge to the test, I offered kids a resource and an organizer for notes on sentence errors. I encouraged, but did not require, them to create their own resources for today’s performance. I am staunch believer in letting kid use resources–a real world consideration–on assessments. So I either provide resources (I call them Sy Sources) or I give kids the opportunity to create their own (I call them My Sources). Yesterday, the kids had a My-Source opportunity. They had very little time, for they were registering for next year with the counselor, so they approached it in various ways. Some copied the notes word for word. Some wrote the notes in their own words. Some took pictures of the book’s pages with their phones, so they could do it later. Some read the pages but did not take notes. Some did nothing. What’s best? Who knows? I want the kids to make that determination, so they can find what works best for them. And with this approach they have some freedom to do that. Today they will perform, which I am pushing as a crucial first step in learning. First step. Many steps to follow. And while the kids are taking those steps through their learning, some will stumble, some will walk, some will run, but all will learn. At least, that’s the plan.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…have a Performance opportunity.

…reflect in our Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Wednesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

Once upon a classroom, I would have taken points away for such an egregious error. The directions were clear. I wrote them. I spoke them. But she did not read them. And she did not listen to them. There would have been no other conclusion to make. For, if she had read and listened, she would not have been so far off target with her response. And so, I could not have let go such a mistake.

Directions matter. In some instances, they could mean the difference between life and death. If the plane lands in water, one may well need to use her seat cushion as a floating device. And in many instances, they could mean the difference between getting the job or getting into college or not. If the application calls for three letters of recommendation, then one will not succeed with only one. Real situations. Real consequences. And it is such considerations of reality that led me to punish such errors in the past. If I did not, then she would never learn to follow directions. In the real world, there is no room for such errors.

I am in a different classroom now. I no longer take points away when kids make such mistakes, and trust me they do; that has not changed, probably never will. On a recent Performance, I had two young ladies misunderstand the directions. I wrote them clearly. I believe I spoke them clearly, for one-hundred-ten other students followed them, but for some reason these two did not. Instead of summarizing a selected scene, they summarized the entire movie, which then impacted their scene analyses, and so I could not assess their work, and consequently, they will have to redo the Performance. That simple. No need for additional punishment. I am not assessing their ability to follow directions. I am assessing their ability to summarize and analyze a selected scene from a movie.

They made a mistake. It was an understandable mistake that could have been avoided by carefully following directions. They completed the Performance as did all the other kids; they just did it incorrectly. In truth, they did more than their peers, for it takes more time and thought to summarize an entire movie than just a scene. Unfortunately, their additional work was for naught, and they will have to redo, so I can assess them on the specified targets. And I think that’s a reasonable consequence for their mistakes. I do not need to attach an additional punishment for their error. I wrote both a quick note at the top of their performances pointing out their mistakes, telling them they would have to do a retake.

Yes, it will take more time for them and me. Mistakes often exact a cost of time, and in that I think there is a lesson. My time? Well, if mistakes are necessary to learning, then my time will be well spent, for the girls are learning. But what about the inconvenience? What about it? If a kid’s learning necessitates a little inconvenience, then I will endure it. My responses to kids’ mistakes should not be governed by my inconvenience. I cannot talk the talk about valuing mistakes as part of learning, and then complain about or punish the kids because their learning inconveniences me.

She made a mistake. I am glad she did. Hope it’s not her last.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…well, I am not sure. The kids are registering for next year in my class today. I think it will take all period, so we will see. I just hope we have time for Smiles and Frowns at the end. All the other stuff can wait till tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

Heavy heart this morning. Hard to process another school shooting. Harder to process how my kids are processing yesterday’s tragedy. We ended up having a snow day (happened after my post), so I have not been among them; I have not had a chance to check in with them. But I will check in. I always do. It’s the most important thing I do. We always check in with Smiles and Frowns. And while I hope my kids can find and share some Smiles today, I suspect the Frowns will weigh more heavily. We generally devote 5 minutes to this activity, but today, the kids will determine the time. If they want to talk, we’ll talk. If they want to distract themselves in our work, then we will work. It’s up to them. It’s about them. So I do for them. Whatever they need. 

Sorry for the short post this morning, all. Heart’s not in it. We are out on a four-day weekend after today, so no posts till next Tuesday. To all my teacher peeps:

Thank you for being there for your kids today. Thank you for being there for them everyday. I am so sorry that you have to carry a heavy heart today. You are in my thoughts.

Today’s Trail

Whatever they need.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.