I’m doing a bit for Larry Ferlazzo’s Ed Week column on the final weeks of school, and this post will expand on some of the ideas there.

My first rule is to avoid countdowns, and to really avoid doing them with the kids. There’s a countdown on the staff restroom whiteboard that’s been going since April, but I really do not like thinking about the “end of school” and summer until about 5-6 weeks from the end. Doing a countdown with the kids seems to give them license to act as though it’s all over already, so I avoid that.

The kids at this point know the end is nigh, they don’t need me reinforcing the idea.  The behavior documented in my Windy Week Edition hasn’t improved much, even as the skies have settled down. My gambits to deal with this include periods of silent contemplation/meditation. I have no idea if this is therapeutic for them, but it’s stopped a lot of migraines from happening to me, as their volume level is truly excruciating at times. I’ve also added dodgeball with the teacher to let everyone get there ya-yas out. We play with carpet balls, which make injury pretty impossible, but what kid doesn’t want to have a shot at me at this point?

We’ve stopped doing our math exchange, and I now just have all my kids with me. I’m doing exploration activities. Last week was looking at probability and patterns in games, like cards, Yahtzee, etc. Next week will be fraction concepts with pattern-blocks and Legos. I may do some more work on a lesson I did earlier on distributive property and expand it to fractions. All of this is very hands on, with lots of independent-work time, but some writing, etc. I start it out structured (some fact worksheets, silent time, and a short demo from me), as they are coming in from recess and pretty wound-up.

In ELA, and social studies  I’ve been emphasizing a lot of writing in the assessment. This week, I gave them only one short-response question to answer, instead of the usual two. I want to just see if they can still write after a three week break during testing season. Everyone did about as good as before, and some did better, so I’m going to offer them their choice of assessment forms (look at the bottom of this post for examples of what happened last time I did this) next Friday. Last time I “offered” this (I asked them how they preferred to be assessed), they did not read the options carefully, assumed they only had the choice of multiple-choice or writing, and picked multiple-choice. They saw what the few peers who paid attention got to do last time, so they are primed to make some interesting choices. I’m looking forward to this.

Science is all about Science Fair projects (which will be displayed at Open House on 5/29).  I’m very pleased with how well the kids have done with formulating questions about their subject and not just wanting to start building. I have one kid (very good with hands-on stuff, and handy to have in class) who did this, but I’m using this as a chance to work with him on planning and writing first, and he’s paired with a kid who excels at “thinking” about things really deeply. I’m looking forward to that pair, and all the projects.

32 by dpika, on Flickr

I’ve also been trying to work out how to discuss the choices I’ve made for schooling my own child since last summer, but I hadn’t figured out the proper tone, or approach. Complicating matters, I have tried to include less and less about my son in my blog as time has gone, and he has gotten older, since its his privacy. Most of it has been in posts about being a special education parent, because I feel I have useful information to impart in my dual role as both a parent and an educator.

I haven’t talked about the school my son goes to, which is a local independent charter. I’m going to talk about my experience, not just to get it out there (or worse, “expiate my sins”), but because there is a lesson in this experience. How did my kid end up there? Through a combination of the economic downturn (leading to a financial implosion at the district we live in), the shelving of plans to expand his elementary (a Title-1 school that was racially/ethnically pretty much equal) to a K-8, murmurings about trouble at the feeder middle-school that he would be sent to, and all of us settling into what my sons diagnosis was going to mean for his education, we were living in “interesting times”.

The district had long been “charter” friendly, having a number of campus, and seemed to be adding more at the time. I took a tour of his prospective district middle-school, which was not at-all scary, but had some pretty huge classes (33-1, the state max), and the campus was large (~1,000 students). They had a self-contained autism class, but when I asked the special education program specialist about other mainstreamed kids with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) in the district, she said (at that time) they didn’t have many. I felt we were taking a shot in the dark, but I preferred having him in a smaller school with smaller classes, and the charter we chose had that. The public middle school I toured was shutdown the following year which made my choice seem wise, but it has not been without its own set of troubles.

The school he goes to is an academically-oriented charter, that emphasizes preparing students for college by working on study skills. Since ASD comes with poor “executive function” skills, this was a plus. It’s not a “no-excuses” school. Since my son started, they have gained a number of ASD students. I suspect this is not because they are being inclusive, but because of all the SpEd students you can get, the high-functioning ASD ones are the best test-scorers (another ASD parent at a local support group shared the liking her son’s charter had for ASD students, and how mad they were that she wanted to opt him out of testing).

The special education services are done by the school district, and his RSP (resource pull-out) teachers are in the teacher union bargaining unit. His other teachers are not. Middle school was a revolving door of teachers (surprise) even among his Special Education teachers. He had long periods (months) of not having a proper RSP teacher, which did not make me happy. That was when I began to regret having a “choice”. Last year, my son finished middle school. With a child of that age (14 years old), it’s not really possible to dictate a change in schooling (like moving him out to a comprehensive high school — which I would have preferred). This was complicated by my son’s statement, that he wanted to go onto the high school that is located on the same campus as his middle school because, “he wanted to stay with his friends.”  For an ASD parent, this is not a statement to be taken lightly. I will not even go into the difficulties we’d had on the issue of “socializing” services, etc. While it would have been “politically” more desirable to have him in a public school, I couldn’t argue with his desire to maintain these friendships.

What can be learned from this? I think it makes the point for Leonie Hamison’s support of small class-size. I would like all kids to have it, and we need to pony up the bucks to make it happen in all schools. Most parents making the charter choice are doing so when their public school options start to feel like musical chairs. When you’re raising a “special needs” child, your choices take on an additional layer of complication. I’ve always said that “choice” is not an answer to all problems, and this certainly illustrates that. This post on not opting out outlines how we are falling into the trap of becoming consumers, rather than citizens.

What I was looking for was either a small school, or smaller classes. I would have been happy with one OR the other. Unfortunately I couldn’t have either. While I chose a charter for my child, I would have been much happier if either class sizes had stayed smaller in district schools, or his elementary had converted to a K-8 in time for him to attend (he missed it by two years). I wanted this not just for my son, but for my neighbors kids, my own students, etc. That’s a lot different than sending your kid to Chicago Lab school, and championing a “no-excuses”, racially segregated charter at the other end of town for poor kids (FYI, son’s charter has a very diverse student body).

The district I work in is trying to do “full-inclusion” on the cheap. While class-sizes have gone up to the state max-level (30+ in K-3), they are pushing special education students (like my son) into these industrial-size classes, and dropping an aide or teacher in for one-hour a day of assistance and instruction. This inclusion would look a lot more reasonable with a 20-1 (or 25-1 in upper elementary) class-size. These are students (ASD, ED – Emotionally Disturbed, etc.) who were lost or overwhelmed in classrooms this large. If you really want to do inclusion to help the kids (and not just save money), and you want them to learn you need to make the “regular” classroom a more humane environment for all the kids. Otherwise, they are just bundles of “ADA” dollars, and an IEP is just a piece of tissue paper to use and throw out.

Choice Quotes on the NYS ELA Exam

Sitting on the sidelines in recent years has allowed so-called education reformers to set the agenda on the discussion about our profession in a way that demeans us  by focusing on the made-up figures of “sub-standard” teachers, and takes away any of our professional judgement and autonomy. Waiting for sense to return is like Moshe asking God why he doesn’t win the lottery, when he’s not buying a ticket. You’re kids don’t learn by spontaneous generation, neither will law-makers, they need to learn both the facts, and that you mean what you say and can back it up with political influence. It might be nice to live in a world where you could just write a letter explaining the facts (tests are for assessing students –rather crudely– not teachers, poverty matters, etc.) and your local elected would smack their forehead and exclaim, “What was I thinking of!” Until that day, you need to speak up early and often, and work to get folks elected that are likely to give a hoo-ha about you and your students.

Why get involved in party politics? Because that where policy starts. This was not a “partisan” issue, since the implementation of  NCLB happened with the help of Democratic leadership in Congress, and at the state level California’s “model” Parent Trigger law was pushed and is still proudly claimed by former State Senator Gloria Romero (and failed candidate for State Superintendent of Instruction). When I was trying to turn the tide on Ed Tech funding not so long ago, the entire legislative staff was “infected” with a desire to do ANYTHING (and I mean anything) to get their hands on RttT funding. There were similar “corporatists” dynamics at play in the GOP when this rolled out, but I’m going to focus on the Democrats since that’s where I’ve hung my hat.

We’ve changed governors, and the State Superintendent, and it’s become clear to the rank-and-file members of CTA that all this “reform” is a bad idea. This is a true “blue” state with ALL state-level positions held by Democrats and Democratic super-majorities in both houses of the legislature. Still this is the home of Michelle Rhee (and headquarters of Students First), and Gloria Romero (who now heads DfER California, that’s Democrats for Education Reform). Not to mention a number of big reform contributors (Reed Hastings, Eli Broad), and Mayors (Kevin Johnson in Sacramento) who are Democrats but espouse a reform agenda that is hostile to unions, teachers, parents, students, and the communities they live in.

Many of us who have been watching this roll-out have been concerned about having folks like DfER claim to be Democrats while pushing policies to hand over public schools to private charter operators, or like Michelle Rhee/Students First claiming to be “bi-partisan” while largely bank-rolling GOP candidates. We felt it was time to make clear what the party stands for (and what it doesn’t) and the time was ripe. When Students First opened it’s doors in town, there was a fear that folks would be seduced by the enormous war chest that Michelle Rhee had, but elected officials seemed to have noticed that most of her money was going to GOP candidates, and that getting her money was going to cause more problems than it would solve. The strong showing by unions, including some strong work by CTA, in getting much needed revenue in the last election cycle bought credibility with politicians as well.  Superintendent Torlakson has not been shy about supporting teachers (he put in an appearance at last year’s visit by Diane Ravitch), but today at the State Democratic Party Convention, he didn’t mince words. Telling DfER that undermining public education wasn’t a Democratic policy and they were doing the job of the Republican Congress with their policies.

Then came the resolution to take a stand on this issue. California Teachers Association has a caucus that is it’s PAC called ABC. They submitted a resolution titled, Supporting California’s Public Schools and Dispelling the Corporate “Reform” Agenda. I’ll admit, it’s a bit wordy, but it specifically calls out Students First and Democrats for Education Reform. This makes it party policy that you can’t take Republican money (and give money to Republican candidates) and call yourself a “Democrat”. Most importantly, you can’t give away public education, and you can’t undermine unions and collective bargaining rights and claim it’s for civil rights or the children. When you do that you can’t even claim to be democratic with a small “d”.

Will this change everything? No, but it’s a needed first step to call-out folks who are wolves wearing the mantle of sheep. It also sends a signal to folks running for office that taking money from these folks aligns you with them, and tells everyone whose side you are on. It’s not the beginning of the end, but is more likely the beginning of the end in this fight. I’m proud to have participated, and I urge others to do the same.

I took the picture above before the start of the day at my school a few weeks back. The fog was lifting off the field, and the air was still. It seemed to capture the moment, and the time of year well. Since then spring, and all the “hell” that goes with it, has broken out. There is no stillness. This week was capped by two-days of extreme wind that had everyone on the edge of madness. If you’re a teacher, I don’t have to explain why a windy day makes everyone crazy. I also don’t have to explain that the sixth graders are doing things that leave all of us thinking (and occasionally uttering), “Have you completely taken leave of your senses?” — which they have, because their brains are slowly being bathed in a hormonal mix that favors action over thought. As the oldest grade in our elementary, they are going through a process of “separation” which involves loving me and their classmates madly one moment, and loathing us the next. Some manage to do both at once. My favorite adjective to describe my class is “fractious”, because they are. And, as badly as they are getting along with the adults, it’s like a rose garden compared to how they are getting along with each other.

In spite of all that, they are doing some great work. I myself am bewildered by their ability to spend 15-20 fussing and fighting before settling into doing work, and then, within 30 minutes, producing something worthwhile.  I love their minds even as they make me want to pull my hair out. Last Friday, I gave students who were wise enough to NOT pick multiple-choice as their assessment of choice, the opportunity to do mixed media, comics, and even one film to show what they learned that week. The rest of the kids, at their request, got a multiple-choice test on the last chapter. I think they’ll be more honest about what they like next time (or think about it a bit more at least). Here are two of the “alternative” assessments on Heat Energy (which included Waves):

Be careful of what you ask…

Writing is not going on as strongly as it had been. I think the kids may be getting a bit too comfortable with the routine. Some are rushing and making careless mistakes. I’m going to look at taking a break from the writing routine or change what I’m asking for. I do a weekly writing prompt to check in with students. I’ll often ask them questions about their learning and my teaching. This week, I asked how they preferred to get assessed. The majority preferred multiple choice tests, because they were “easier” to do. Words like, faster, easy to figure out if I have the right answer, easy to guess if I don’t know the answer, came up a lot. I gave them a variety of choices (multiple choice, writing short answer, writing essays, reports, trifold projects, comics/graphics, or something else). The students that indicated “other” non-writing/multiple-choice were some of my lowest students who felt that they just failed on those type of tests. Many are great artists and liked the idea of drawing. I think next week I’ll give them a writing/drawing option on the weekly assessment.

Is my math program is adding up?

We do an exchange for mathematics. It’s not a pure “ability” leveling. The differences are the different levels of support. I’m in the mid-range group, which has the largest range of abilities. We ran into a wall with some of the computation around fractions and percentages. Instead of continuing to bang my head, and having my kids bang theirs, against a wall, I’ve moved onto geometry, and I’m doing a review at the start of each day of fractions or percentages, then giving them a weekly quiz on what we reviewed. I’m seeing some progress, so I’m going to keep this in mind next year when we will have only two classes, and the levelling will not be feasible.

Daisies by niallkennedy, on Flickr

I’ve been perfecting my weekly assessment rubric. I’m coming to the opinion that there is no perfect rubric, but when you’re starting out, there is the temptation to find “the” rubric. I’ve got a workable 5 pointer. I think what makes it work is that I know what I’m looking for (which was helped by the rubric), and probably more importantly, the kids are beginning to understand what I’m looking for.

In other news, students delivered their persuasive speeches. Some were outstanding, some needed more work. I chalk this up to not giving them great preparation. Next year, I’m thinking I’ll have a more structured approach to public speaking.

Photo Credit: No273 13 Oct 2009 Sneeze by mcfarlandmo, on Flickr

I’ll be writing a post soon on the results of this exploration of writing I’ve been doing (two thumbs up, IMHO) for those who prefer action in the classroom to my gassing on about policy, etc. which I’ll continue to do in here in the remainder of this post.

Why am I doing this? Frankly, Common Core is a convenient excuse, and not my main reason. I love having students write. To make it manageable level of grading, I prefer the short answer for formative assessment (weekly – or thereabouts). The following are NOT reasons why I’m doing this. I’m not doing this to prepare them for the “next generation” assessments coming to us in 2015, as I do not believe that the assessments or systems will be ready. I fully expect the assessment end of Common Core will implode under its own weight. My own proposal is that we move to teacher-based assessments, that (get ready for a shocking idea folks) teachers grade themselves. That would of course involve trusting us and treating educators as professionals, but I’m kind of radical that way. If SBAC does not oblige me by dying an untimely death, I’ll be happy to take action, and suggest it to others to help it on its way. Until then, I’m having my kids write…for me…for themselves…for their peers…and for their parents.

Whether the standards survive is anyone’s guess, but I’m sure as the Sun is coming up over the Sierra Mountains to the east of me, that we will have new standards some time between now and the next 15 years. This is because that’s the life-cycle of these things, and to pretend that Common Core is immune, or has the educational equivalent of papal infallibility is just ridiculous., But not all who write comedy do with intention, and as I’ve pointed out before, and Americans are master of irony of the unintentional variety (No child left behind, Michelle Rhee naming her organization Children First, etc.) I’m picking and choosing what to use from Common Core in my classroom, and so far they’re letting me do this. Until that changes, I’m going to enjoy it. When it changes (as I’m sure it will), I’m prepared to raise holy heck. As my sister once advised, I’m keeping my expectations tiny, so I won’t be so whiny, and my options open.

First, I must thank Andrew Dlugan at the Six Minutes site. This site is a great resource on public speaking and presentations for adults, but much of the material is accessible enough to use with older children (10+ years) with some modification. I wanted to prepare students to create and deliver persuasive speeches. To do this, I looked for resources on the three elements of persuasion; ethos, pathos, and logos. The article at Six Minutes seemed the best for my purposes. I asked some questions , and Mr. Dlugan contacted me via email when he heard about what I was planning to do. I found him to be quite helpful, and generous in his materials. I did end up re-writing a bit to make the language more accessible to my students, and to give them time for a response so I could check their understanding.

Here was what I came up with for a slide-deck:

Some other parts that I added were, between the Ethos and Pathos slides, I showed students video of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords testimony on gun violence before the U.S. Senate, and asked them some questions about her delivery and ethos without telling them her story (one student knew it already). I wanted them to think that while good delivery is important, her experience as a victim of gun violence gives her a very strong ethos in her speaking, however difficult her delivery.

What did the kids learn? I asked them three questions: What is your strength in terms of ethos? What is a story that Martin Luther King, Jr. includes in his “I Have a Dream”  speech? What is most important, ethos, pathos, or logos? Looking at their quick-writes, the biggest issue some of the kids have is identifying what strengths, in terms of ethos, they bring to public speaking. I will have to work on that over the next few weeks. They could all pretty much cite some story from “I Have a Dream” about what MLK dreamed of happening. I was really impressed with what they wrote about which element was most important. There were a variety of answers (a sign of independent thinking, rather than regurgitation), with all three being picked for a variety of reasons. Ethos, was often cited in terms of delivery. Students focus on that because it is the one quality that they feel they are most likely to have in speaking, not being old enough to have a professional reputation. Logos, appealed to those who wanted facts, and Pathos to those who favored emotional appeals.

Going forward, I will be working with them on picking out topics, and coming up with arguments using each of the three persuasive appeals. I’ll also be working with tone, and volume with short sentences, for a few of them to build up their confidence in speaking. Many of them are already strong, and opinionated speakers, and will not need help on this, but for those who do, I think short form will work best. This will all culminate in about 3-4 weeks from now. I’ll try to share it goes.

I could not have done this with the assistance of Mr. Dlugan. He would like to hear how materials on his site are being used, so if you do please share.

Photo Credit: 19signs by adonis hunter / ahptical, on Flickr