Monthly Archives: September 2012

Sep 28 2012
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Education Policy

The SAT: Scrap it or Re-Write it?

This past year was the first time more high school seniors took the ACT rather than the SAT. There are two provocative articles out now about the SAT and its future. One is an opinion piece in the Washington Post by Jay Mathews titled “Outdated SAT Needs to be Retired” and the other is a profile of the new CEO of the College Board who is also one of the main authors of the Common Core standards, David Coleman. This article in The Atlantic lay’s out Coleman’s drive to make the SAT a knowledge-based exam that complements the skills built by the Common Core.

As an educator, I find the hoop-jumping and disconnected gibberish of the SAT infuriating – study after study (and college boyfriend after college boyfriend in my case) shows that performance on the SAT does not translate into performance in college courses or even eventual graduation. The ACT seems a slightly more democratic exam; however, even better would be a reliance on exams like those the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program puts out.

Take the history exam for example: instead of a one-shot multiple choice extravaganza, the IB exam is made up of four parts. An out of class research paper on a topic of the student’s choice, a series of timed document based questions, and two timed essays the topic of which the student is able to select from a short list. Similarly in science class the IB exam score is partly based on a student-designed lab. In English a large part of the exam consists of giving an oral commentary on a particular text. Yes, these exams are expensive to grade and require extensive training of teachers before hand. But how well has efficiency and expediency in standardized testing served our kids for the past few decades?

How do you feel about the SAT?

Sep 28 2012
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Education Policy, Writing

“Why American Students Can’t Write”

This week The Atlantic began a series looking at the question of why students in the US struggle to write coherent sentences. Contributors include experts such as writing guru Lucy Calkins, Erin Gruwell of Freedom Writers fame, and a number of classroom teachers and educators. At the heart of the debate is the question: does favoring personal narratives and creative pieces over expository essays result in students’ inability to write correctly and persuasively? In my experience, yes, yes, yes, yes and YES.

Since Texas adopted the TAKS exams in the early 2000s, students are only required to write one type of essay for state standardized tests – a personal narrative. As a senior high social studies teachers my students needed to be able to write persuasive essays based on textual evidence. Without exception every single child I’ve taught in the past seven years has struggled to do this because until my class (in 10th or 11th grade) they were never asked to write anything besides a personal narrative.  Give them the prompt “What was your best day ever?” and my students could go on for 3 or 4 pages. Ask them to write about the causes of the American Revolution and even though they might have the historical knowledge to answer that question they would struggle to articulate their argument on paper. Throw in 4 or 5 primary sources and things became even more tricky.

Here are my tips for getting students to write expository essays:

  • Use sentence starters and formulas: Instead of telling students to write a thesis, give them a formula. A thesis must 1) answer the question and 2) make 2 – 3 defendable points. If you’re asking them to argue about the legalization of marijuana give them the starter “Marijuana should/should not be legalized because 1)_____, 2)_____, and 3)_____.” For a compare and contrast essay use the formula “A and B have many similarities such as both ____ and both ___; however, there are also many differences such as A is ___ whereas B is ___ and A is __ whereas B is ___.”
  • KETEAL: see my post on this great way to write and structure paragraphs here
  • Bait with non-academic topics to teach the format and then switch to an academic subject: Show students an example of the format you want them to use and then have them write their first essay on a non-academic topic. For example, show a compare and contrast essay on Twilight’s Jacob vs. Edward and then have students write a compare/contrast essay on themselves compared to a partner. Have them focus on getting the structure correct – including supporting details, using transition words, writing an introduction, writing a clear thesis statement, successfully closing the argument, etc. – and compare finished essays among themselves or grade to a rubric. Then have the next essay be on symbiotic vs. parasitic relationships. Bait and switch . . .
  • Always provide an exemplar essay, show how it meets your criteria, and then have students write: If you provide very clear expectations to students they are more likely to produce work at the level you expect. Don’t simply assign the essay – show them an example of what you want. This way, students can craft their own essay with your exemplar beside them. This isn’t cheating or making it easier, this simply allows them to access the format you want and clearly translate it into their own argument. Over time, this support can be pulled away but exemplar models are critical. Piece of advice: don’t write the exemplars yourself! Have a top performing student type up an exemplar a day or so in advance of when you want to show it to your classes. Edit it and print off a class set. Done. The exemplar also allows you to more clearly give feedback to students and show them where their own essay feel short of the expectations.

For more insight into the difficulties around writing, check out The Atlantic’s series on writing here.

Sep 27 2012
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Education Policy

The Civil Rights Movement of Our Time

Me on the set of NBC’s Education Nation; I’d probably have a similar expression if I had my picture taken in Buckingham Palace.

To say “education is the civil rights issue of our time” is to say what many, many others have said before and it’s stating the painfully obvious. Thirty years ago the US was rife with major racial inequities but led the world in terms of education; specifically, in the percentage of secondary and post-secondary degrees. Today the US is 14th in post-secondary degrees and 22nd in percentage of high school degrees. In the 1970s, 1 out of every 4 jobs required a college degree and today 2 out of every 3 jobs require some college. As Jon Shnur, the founder of America Achieves, said “Today the minimal ticket to a middle class life is some kind of post-secondary degree.” Our education situation is disconcerting for all Americans; however, for minorities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds the achievement gap is formidable.

At Education Nation this week I heard from some of the most powerful figures in education like Secretary Arnie Duncan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone Geoffrey Canada. Everyone agrees we in a special moment of American history now – we are standing at a crossroads. This is the third time I’ve been to NBC’s education conference but what was different this year, is how everyone kept talking about the significance of teachers – not new curriculum, buildings, supplies or even social services – in solving our eduction crisis. Within the spectrum of “union bashing” to “let’s give teachers more Best-Teacher-Ever mugs!!” I experienced a real shift in my thinking about the achievement gap: when we elevate the teaching profession, we will see student achievement soar.

I’m not the only one who thinks the key is increased respect for teachers. The Gates Foundation has also identified this shift as the main mover in education reform as well. I attended a fascinating presentation by the Gates Foundation on a McKinsey & Co. report they just funded (and is not yet released!) about how to potentially elevate the teaching profession. They studied high-performing countries like Singapore and Finland who recently made big changes in their education systems and looked at how teaching moved from a less to highly respected profession. Additionally, Gates looked at other professions in the US – like engineering and, interestingly, nursing – and studied how these professions rose to prominence. They found that in some cases, like Singapore, changes were implemented from the top down. Officials increased the salary of teachers as well as raised the requirements for becoming a teacher (Singapore only accepts 8% of those who apply to become teachers) and low and behold, a decade later their country is a world leader on almost all measures of student achievement. However most examples of successful professionalization begin within the profession: nurses form an association, lawyers create the LSAT as a gateway to law school, doctors outraged with snake-oil sellers write a code of ethics for their profession. Then, often over the course of 100 years, the professions move from a collection of underpaid, under-educated, and under-respected workers to widely admired experts. Along with this advance comes major leaps in quality as well; higher respect for nurses results in better healthcare.

One exciting development aimed at increasing the respect afforded to teachers is the Department of Education’s RESPECT Project which will (depending on what goes down in November) be tied to a Race To The Top style competitive grant. This money would be used by districts and states to fund new career tracks, master teacher programs, reorganized school days, and other initiatives centered around increasing respect for teachers. All of this interest in teacher effectiveness is really exciting (and potentially damaging, as it was in Chicago) but I believe change will come not from the Department of Ed or the Gates Foundation but from teachers. If education is the civil rights issue of our time then the agents of change will likely look like the Civil Rights movement – a grass roots endeavor comprised of ordinary people who were fed up with an unjust system. For every Martin Luther King, Jr. there were thousands of maids who walked to work everyday for two years in Birmingham, students who sat with quiet dignity at lunch counters, and voter registration workers who set up tables in small towns all across the south.

So colleagues, I ask you: what does it look like for us to remain in our seat at the front of the bus? What does it look like for us to boycott an unjust system? What does it look like for us to carefully prepare to be non-violent when we are attacked by police and dogs so that the rest of the country will be appalled at the resulting images they see on the nightly news?

I suspect a large part of this shift will look like dramatic restructuring of our school day/calendar as well as the power structures within our schools. Principals are a historical hold-over from a time when teachers where groups of women and minorities who needed a white man in an office to keep them in check. Why couldn’t teachers run schools in the same way senior lawyers run law firms? Certainly more people would become teachers and stay in the classroom if there were pathways to authentic power within their schools.

So what do you think? I am deeply interested in other teacher’s thoughts on elevating this profession . . . please leave comment. A great first step in our movement is to begin talking among ourselves.

Sep 24 2012
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Student Motivation

NBC’s Education Nation: Quick Update

Colleagues, I am bursting at the seems with all of the opinions, studies, and ideas I have heard in the past three days here at NBC’s Education Nation and the America Achieves gathering. I cannot wait to write about what I’ve heard and get your thoughts. I’ve been taking notes in my special edition Education Nation Moleskine (holla! hitting my sweet spot . . .) and meeting some incredible leaders as well as fellow educators who are making real gains for our students.

Later this week, look for a review of the movie Won’t Back Down, new projects around elevating the teaching profession, and some really grainy pictures I tried to take of education luminaries!

Sep 21 2012
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Education Policy

“Should teachers be allowed to sell their lesson plans?”

A kindergarten teacher in George has made a million bucks selling her lesson plans online. Holy. Cow. Read about it in Andrew Rotherham’s article here.

Sep 21 2012
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Reading, Student Motivation, Writing

The Most Important 10 Minutes of Your Class Time

In my first years of teaching, I often felt unsure at the end of each lesson. Did the students learn? Was my lesson good? But I remember one lesson where I thought I had totally and completely dominated. I mean I just taught the heck out of apartheid in South Africa. We looked at maps, I gave a engaging (even moving!) 10 minute lecture, we did an awesome role play I stole from History Alive!, the kids were digging it, I played mood music during group work – I was basically Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. I’d planned to have students write a brief essay at the end of class as a daily assessment but we ran out of time. “Oh well,” I thought, “it’s OK because we got through the lesson.” Imagine my total shock when well-over half my class failed to clearly describe the impact of apartheid on our unit exam. “This is not my fault,” I said, “I taught a beautiful lesson – these kids never study!”

The exact situation above played out so many times in my classroom that it became a patter I could not ignore. WTF??! Upon reflection I realized the only thing I wasn’t doing was closing out the lesson. Here is what I now know: how I close my lesson will likely have the greatest impact on whether or not my students learn the objective.

Effectively closing a lesson is critical for two big reasons: 1) it allows students to synthesis or summarize their learning and 2) it allows teachers to know if the lesson was successful and identify misunderstandings and trends in individual as well as overall learning. Below are my top five end-of-lesson strategies:

  1. Written Reflection: This is super easy but such an important skill to develop. I simply take the objective and re-phrase it as a question (ex. SWBAT describe the impact of apartheid. What was the impact of apartheid on South Africa?) and have students spend 5 minutes writing a response. I usually have them attempt to do it from memory and then use their notes or handouts if they need to. I check each of these at the door as they leave and jot down on my all-in-one seating chart (click here to see it) who I need to come back to or what trends I notice.
  2. Draw a picture: Students take the information we studied and draw either one picture or a series of picture illustrating the concept.
  3. Interpret the source given what you now know: I put up a source of some kind – map, political cartoon, graph, written source, etc. – and have students explain it given what we just learned. Why is this cartoon funny? Why is the author of this source angry? What event is this passage referencing?
  4. Three-Two-One: Write down 3 things that really interested you, 2 questions you still have, and 1 idea you are going to write a page on tonight for homework
  5. Give one, get one, move on: Students divide a sheet of paper into nine boxes (three rows and three columns). Have them fill three of the boxes up with three ideas or pieces of information they remember from the lesson. Then have all students stand up and exchange what they wrote with their classmates. For every person they talk to they have to give that individual a new idea or fact, get a new idea or fact in exchange and then find another partner. If they find a classmate that has the exact same facts or ideas as they do then they should move on and find someone else.

Fine, but how the heck do you fit this in when class time is already so stinking short!?! I know, I know. Here’s what worked for me: I had a kid tell me when it was the last 10 minutes of class. I’ve also set a timer to go off at 12 minutes before the end. I also made a big sign that I posted at the back of my room that said “Close Out!” And when the time came, I stopped what we were doing if we weren’t finished and closed the lesson.

Colleagues, this single action was what brought me from interesting teacher to effective teacher. What closing activities do you all use?

Sep 20 2012
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Student Motivation

“You’re a teacher. Now what?”

Often times a commitment to being a classroom teacher can feel like a vow of insignificance. It’s like promising never to accept a promotion or take on any formal organizational leadership. My buddy Erin Dukeshire (smiling beautifully in the picture above) has written a really thoughtful piece over at the Hechinger Report called “You’re a teacher. Now what?” If this is a question you’ve ever asked yourself, you may be interested to read about the opportunities and choices that have kept Erin in the profession. Click here to access the article.

 

Sep 19 2012
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Student Motivation Link

Link Between Student Achievement and Poverty an “Inconvenient Truth”

“Standing up for Teachers” by Eugene Robinson

This week in the Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson defended the Chicago teacher’s strike in a thoughtful and compelling opinion article.

My only beef with the piece is the continued use of “hero” language to talk about teaching and teachers. Teachers do critical, even sacred, work but we are not heroes. Being a hero in my mind must involve some kind of personal sacrifice for the greater good beyond what might be considered normal. The bottom line is teachers are paid for what we do. Yes, we all occasionally must work on evenings and weekends but we typically do not have school in the summer months. Unfortunately, most of us work beyond what is required by our contracts – again, not for the money, but because we love what we do. While some may call this heroic because it stems from the noble motivations of teachers I would argue again (click here for my other anti-hero post) that it is actually a tragic misappropriation of resources has lead to teachers working beyond the school day for pay that is often below what might be necessary.

Sep 19 2012
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Student Motivation

The Key to Smarter Students: Effective Effort

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who point out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust & sweat & blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again & again; because there is not effort with out error & shortcomings but he who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows great enthusiasm, great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement & who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold & timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt

In 2007 I read a really gripping article from Scientific American Mind called “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” by Carol Dweck (click here to download the article). Dweck argues the secret is that children learn to believe their effort will determine their outcome. In other words, if they succeed or fail they attribute that result to either hard work or not enough or ineffective effort. This prevents children from becoming defeated when they fail or fatalistic when they don’t reach their goals (ex. “I’m not good at anything! I’m so stupid”).

I like to teach students what effective effort actually involves. The Skillful Teacher (a book that I love and wrote a post about here) identifies the following aspects as qualities of effective effort:

  1. Time
    •Take enough time
    •Too little time = bad job
    •Too much time = wasted effort
  2. Focus
    •Work efficiently (don’t waste time with too much detail or on aspects that don’t matter much)
    •Work without distractions (quiet, no TV, no multitasking, no cell phone)
  3. Resourcefulness
    •Know when to get help
    •Know who to ask for help (or where to go to find help on your own)
  4. Strategies
    •Use smart tactics
    •Know what to do when a strategy isn’t working
    •Keep in mind tips you have learned
  5. Use of Feedback
    •Get feedback (from friend, teacher, etc.)
    •Apply or use the feedback in order to improve your performance
  6. Commitment
    •Don’t give up
    •Find ways to get around problems
    •Try your hardest

I have student evaluate their effort based around these qualities (ex. How well did you use your time?) after we finish a project/paper or in regards to studying for our exams. Although it may seem obvious to you that Bobby failed that test because he didn’t study, Bobby may walk away from the experience believing he failed because he is stupid and just isn’t good at whatever subject you teach. If you’re interested in teaching effective effort to your students I recommend making a poster with the qualities on it and guiding students to reflect on the effectiveness of their effort at least on a weekly basis. I have also uploaded a power point I’ve used to introduce effective effort here – feel free to give it a shot or adapt it so it works for your students.

Sep 19 2012
1 Comment
Education Policy

How does your school district’s performance stack up?

The George W. Bush presidential library has an interesting (although, really over simplified) tool that enables you to compare average math and reading exam results for any public school district (both charter and traditional) with state, national and international figures (see above for an example of my hometown compared internationally). This tool is called “The Global Report Card” and is fun to play around with; but keep in mind that in addition to being a cool little application, the site is definitely promoting a pro-reform agenda.

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