Creation with Technology

This upcoming week will end with the official start of Spring Break. The students can feel it and so can I. These types of weeks are always exciting, because the countdown to a break is in the single digits. These weeks also have the potential to be the longest weeks for the same reason. The students are antsy and so is the faculty. Behavior can be rough these weeks and that is to be expected. As a result, instruction has to be top-notch. There can be no slacking, otherwise students will shut-down early. I also want to end our instruction on a high before the break because I know that students will not be studying consistently over the break. With all of this in mind, I want to focus on having student create. If students are creating, they are working at the highest level of thinking. However, they can't "create" just anything. The assignment needs to be aligned with the content we are working with. It needs to push their thinking.

For my 9th graders, this week includes their mid-term. I am anxious to see their progress, because their 4.5 week assessment was awful. They completed that assessment on the day I returned from maternity leave. I knew that the scores would be shaky, but I wasn't expecting it to be that bad. It was evident that we needed to work on pulling information from the text, grammar skills and general comprehension. The first major text that we worked with was The Odyssey. I have a vision of students re-telling the story with a modern update. I think this would be really fun for the students, and really help them understand the idea of an "epic" and a text that is really the fundamental text for the classic "journey story." In my last blog, I spoke about them creating a video. I'm thinking of giving students option to make a radio show or a video. I think there is a lot of potential for this project, I will just need to keep them on track.

My AP juniors have been working hard on As I Lay Dying. It is a complex text and they already have a project due after Spring Break using Multi-genre, however I also want to do a class project. I have recently found a source that explores how to make a "Story Corps." For those unfamiliar, Story Corps is made up of interviews between individuals. I'm thinking of having students explore narration by creating their own interviews between he different characters. I think they would really enjoy this process and it would show their understanding of the characters and the relationships. Today I am going to create the assignments, so we'll see how it goes!

Seeming to Fall Behind

I felt that at one point in my teaching career I was in the 'groove.' I felt that I had everything under control and that I was producing great lessons and staying on track with data and grading. That seems to have long since passed though. This semester, as I have returned from maternity leave, I know I have a plan in place but I still feel so overwhelmed. As I have been planning out lessons, I feel that I'm not using technology as effectively as I once was. This week, I used google documents to have my AP classes write a collaborative essay. In many ways it seemed to work, but I didn't feel as if the students were as invested in the process. It could be that lull right before spring break, but I'm not sure how to finish strong for this third quarter.

For my 9th grades, we have finished The Odyssey text and have been reviewing for their mid-term, but I'm not seeing the results I want. On Tuesday, I can review the data and I will have a better feel, I suppose. While they may be learning grammar rules and some basics in reading texts and pulling evidence, I don't feel that we're making progress quickly enough.

I really want to push their critical thinking skills, so next week I want to bring in excerpts from O'Brother Where Art Thou. I know from past experience, they'll like the excerpts. My goal is for them to recognize the story of The Odyssey. For a final project, I want them to create their own scene, a modern interpretation of one piece of the Odyssey. This is a daunting task, especially since some of them are struggling to do the paper "Body Biography" assignment that they are currently working on. The thinking that is required for a revision of a classic epic is something that prominent authors struggle with.

I don't expect the students not to struggle, and I certainly don't expect for them to create their own O'Brother Where Art Thou, BUT I do expect them to grapple with the text and to demonstrate some creativity as they try and show me that they have the capability for creative and innovative thought. I am also hopefully that they will enjoy the project because I want them to be excited about critical thinking and creativity. I want them to feel some pride in their work and really push themselves. Hopefully seeing what the Cohen brothers did will invigorate them!

A common face when I am trying to explain key course components

Back in the Saddle

This week was my first week back. I'm not sure what I expected for my first day, but I was very nervous. In many ways it was like the first day of school--especially since I had not met with the 9th graders. I think that this was a good day to come back and that I am good to have high expectations. I can see that I will have to constantly reinforce my high expectations in order to get students to grow. My first day back also coincided with the 4.5 week assessments. I had the freshmen complete the assessment. It was my hope that I could convince them to take it seriously. Reflecting on their scores, I'm not sure if they did or not. Mind you, I've only known them a couple of days. The proficiency rating currently sits at 28%. This is obviously not where we want to be, but I have to recognize this is where they are. Because we are essentially 4.5 weeks behind, I have to be deliberate with our lessons and course goals. The students obviously need structure. They can not be left to work on big projects like my AP students. For my 9th grades, I need to be very explicit in my instruction. I also need to show them technology that they may be unfamiliar with, in part because they are new to the high school. This week we've used the following technology:

1. Blogger
2. Google Documents (including copying a document and sharing documents)
3. Research tool in Google Documents
4. Easybib Add-On

Tomorrow students will use google presentation. I'm pleased with how quickly they have taken to using some of these tools, but I can definitely see a huge gap in the classroom. In my AP classes, I show all of the students a tool and for the most part they are good to go. In my 9th grade class, I have students who are still confused about finding the URL to copy and paste. This means that it will be important for me to be constantly monitoring and reinforcing what tools we've used and how to use them for whatever our specific purpose is.