Pedagogy in Practice

Episode 6 - Grouping Students, (Not) Leveling Readers

2012-02-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

Today's podcast contains some thoughts I've been tossing around regarding grouping students for reading and responding to Romeo & Juliet. As I mention, I've got a longer post on how I'm teaching the play this year.

It's a Bud the Teacher style recording, done on my ride into work. You can hear the mighty roar of my 4-cylinder Corolla in the background. I'll have to play around with microphone placement for next time.

Also, I think I mentioned in the podcast that it's been two years since my last podcast. This is incorrect. It's actually been five years. And what I thought was episode seven is actually episode 6.

Welcome February 2012 EdCampPDX Participants

2012-02-03T21:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some links we can reference in our discussion - please leave more in the comments, at the edcampPDX wiki, or on Twitter @bleckley.

The books I used for my "What is Love?" unit:
How I Live Now
Son of the Mob
Upstate
My Heartbeat
Hard Love
Romiette & Julio
Street Love

Why?
Common Core Anchor Standards for Literacy in History, Science, and Technical Subjects

Where to Find the Books
Tagmash on LibraryThing.com
NoveList database at multcolib.org

For Example:
A science unit on genetics
A social studies unit on the Great Depression

Fostering Meaningful Discussions
"November"

Welcome edcampPDX participants - Classroom Community Building

2011-11-10T21:23:00.001-08:00

Here are some links to resources we may talk about today - hopefully you'll leave some more on the edcampPDX wiki or in the comments.

At the Beginning of the Year
Letter to Students - docx | doc | pdf
Information Sheet - docx | doc | pdf
Classroom Grid - docx | doc | pdf

Throughout the Year
Conversation Calendar - docx | doc | pdf
Letters to Students - docx | doc | pdf
Membership Grid - pdf
Twitter

The Brain Dance

2011-10-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of this year I attended a new teachers academy, as I was a new teacher in Beaverton School District. As expected, some information was a review, and some was valuable new ideas.

One of those ideas was the Brain Dance. This was developed by Ginger Habel, a mentor-teacher in Beaverton, for her Master's thesis. When students find out or enter the classroom to take a quiz or test, they are in a fight or flight mode, with most of the blood in their brain stem. This does not serve them in an academic environment as all the information and analytic prowess is centered in the now oxygen-starved cerebrum.

The purpose of the Brain Dance is to move blood from the brain stem to the cerebrum by getting them active and making them laugh. Which, as you can tell from the video of me leading the Brain Dance before a quiz earlier this week, is well accomplished by the dance routine.

I forgot some of the original moves when I first taught them the Brain Dance, and they have stuck. But here's the original list Ginger Habel was kind enough to send me:

After the Sunrise: 3 big yoga breaths. Start arms low and breath in while arms reach for the sky
Chariots of Fire: Slow mo run
Staying Alive: Disco move- point left cross body (2) point right cross body (2) both arms (2-3)
YMCA: You know this one!
Hand Jive: Hit legs twice, clap twice, shuffle twice, pound it twice then point right then left
Billie Jean: Moon walk
Thriller: Scary hands (right, left right) then walk, scary hands again, walk back finish with scary hands
Chicken Dance: You know this one
Ice Ice Baby: This is the running man or run backwards (The Jerk- some kids call it)
Mony Mony: Ride the pony! Lasso in air, reins in hands and gallop around in a circle
Jump Around: Just jump up and down
The Rose: Butterfly hands up left, Butterfly hands up right, then swirl from high to low and end with right arm reaching toward sky (like it's growing!)
What is Love: Head bobs- 4 to the right, 4 to the left then repeat both sets
Cotton-Eyed Joe: Cowboy kick right and left or a variation of jumping around
Hey Ya: Shopping cart, Lawn mower start, Sprinkler then end with Yoga breaths as music fades.

~~And I will link to the CD track in this post next week - the CD lives next to my school CD player right now.~~

Update: 12/21/2011 - Sorry this took so long, y'all. Here's the CD track. I'm not sure how much bandwidth I have, so if you have trouble downloading it, come back and try again the next day.

Three Ways to Show Students Respect

2011-08-19T21:44:00.000-07:00

My greatest strength as a teacher is my ability to build relationships with students¹. Collette pointed me towards this TED Talk; fresh ammo for the new year².

Update: I remember now that this video freezes periodically throughout the talk, but the sound continues and the video eventually catches up. Keep listening.

Update 8/20/11 7:03PM: Angela Maiers has a follow up post to this video here.

1. When I remember that it's my greatest strength and use those skills. Sometimes we forget what we're good at. [Go back.] 2. If someone gives me a job. If not, those who call me in to sub, you are on notice. I will be telling your students they are geniuses. [Go back.]

Welcome edcampPDX Participants

2011-08-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

Here are links to the different tools I'll reference today:

THIEVES Previewing
Article of the Week Example

Good News Sites

Scholastic News
Headlines Spot for Kids
Science News for Kids
CNN (video)

Lexile Analyzer

If you have further questions or ideas about prior knowledge, content area literacy, or anything education, continue the discussion in the comments or on Twitter @bleckley.

The Best of Pedagogy in Practice

2011-07-15T16:00:00.002-07:00

If you've come here because you're looking at my application to work in your school, I've put together this post with links to a few of my posts that I consider to contain my best thoughts on education. Being push-button publishing, blogging doesn't always produce fully developed thoughts; however, I strive to publish my best reflections using this medium. I hope you enjoy them, and thank you for your interest.

I hope my regular readers will enjoy this updated trip into the archives as well. And now that summer vacation has started, look out, because I've got at least five drafts just screaming to see the light of day.

Why I Blog
It's About the Teaching

Reflections
Enthusiasm
A Conversation With My Wife
One Trick Pony

Reading
Explicit Reading Instruction
Teaching Reading: A Reflection and a Way Forward
Book Clubs
Multiple Intelligences of Teaching Poetry

Vocabulary
Rethinking Vocabulary Instruction
Semantic Mapping Website
Human Brain Cloud

Writing and Grammar
Giving Feedback
Correcting Writing Errors
Teaching Grammar

Classroom Management
Learning Students' Names
Disciplinary Interventions
Conversation Calendars

Assessment
Individual Formative Assessment with Graphs

Professional Development
Summer Reading 2011
Welcome OCTE Conference Colleagues
Readicide Book Review

General Pedagogy
Third Times a Charm: IEP Assignment
WebQuests Are So Cool!
IEPs for Every Student
Classroom Community Building

Summer Reading 2011 on Twitter

2011-06-28T16:48:00.000-07:00

My copy of Classroom Assessment & Grading that Work just arrived. This evening or tomorrow, I'll start the reading due Saturday, this year tweeting responses as I read with the hashtag #PIPreading. If you're reading or have read Classroom Assessment, hopefully you'll help make this more than a one sided conversation. I'll be searching Twitter for that hashtag, but if you'd like to leave your Twitter ID in the comments, I'll just follow you. Mine is bleckley.

Summer Reading Schedule

2011-06-25T05:30:00.001-07:00

So looking at the page counts we're dealing with, we've got 770 pages to cover in 10 weeks. That's about 77 pages per week. Hopefully I'm not the only one having second thoughts.

Classroom Assessment and Grading that Work

By Saturday, July 2, read through page 88.
By Saturday, July 9, finish the book.

Narrative Counseling in Schools

By Saturday, July 16, read through page 87
By Saturday, July 23, finish the book.

Comprehensive Classroom Management

By Saturday, July 30, read through page 76
By Saturday, August 6, read through page 155
By Saturday, August 13, read through page 254 (ouch)
By Saturday, August 20, read through page 330
By Saturday, August 27, read through page 428 (ouch again)
Saturday, September 3 - catch-up day if needed

I realize this isn't ideal for those not on the west coast. Should we knock out Marzano or Winslade in just a week to accomodate those who'll start school around August 20th? Your questions, comments, concerns, threats, and tomatoes are are welcomed in the comments.

Twitter for Students

2011-06-24T08:44:00.001-07:00

I've talked about it for sometime. Last year, I even had my students choose user names and everything. Next year, provided I find a place to work, despite what internet filters are in place, I will make this happen.

I don't think I'd use it in the same way Legaspi does here - it looks like all the discussion is happening on Twitter. Seems like it could be used in addition to classroom discussion, as a sort of background chatter that continues after class. And did you hear what Oscar Lorozia said about feeling valued and respected in the classroom.

Yeah, it's gotta happen.

Individualized Formative Assessment with Graphs Galore

2011-06-20T05:30:00.049-07:00

I've blogged about this before, but recently I made some essential tweaks and stumbled upon the scientific basis for it from . . . wait for it . . . Marzano. Bam! That's right! Oh yes, I most certainly did! Get ready, as Tom Fuller would say, to pick up what I'm about to throw down¹:

First, credit to Tonya for showing me this originally for use on OAKS, Oregon's state test.

Your students take a test. In this case, it's a multiple choice test on identifying figurative language in Romeo & Juliet. You spent a day or two going over the many different types of figurative language Shakespeare employs, using 2.2.1-30, where we first meet Friar Laurence (O'Brien, 1993, p. 156). Then, you give them a short test on identifying some examples of simile, metaphor, personification, classical allusion, and soliloquy from Romeo & Juliet.

Now, if you're like me, you give your answer key to your student TA and ask her to mark wrong ones and put the total out of 13 at the top. You just happen to check out Marzano's Classroom Assessment and Grading that Work from the professional development library on the same day. You get home and sit down with a cup of tea for some easy reading, and get this:

(2006, p. 5)

And you're like "woah, -3% gain in student achievement! That's not good!"

So the next day, you give your TA the tests again and ask her nicely to write the correct answer next to the ones she crossed off, explaining that it's not her fault, while she rolls her eyes. Then you pop open Excel, because you want that .70 effect size.

So yeah, a class wide graph of their results. That's cool. You know what's cooler? When every student gets a personalized copy of one of these²:

You know you need to hit simile through classical allusion on your reteach. This student knows they need to study up on personification first, with a little bit of simile and classical allusion2. You reteach, grade, graph. The student gets a new chart that looks like this:

You get a new graph that looks like this:

A 24% improvement on similes, 30% on classical allusion, and 13% on soliloquies. It feels awesome to know that your students can identify a simile or classical allusion written by the Bard over 80% of the time. Not bad, but for the third test you know to prepare them by hitting metaphors and personification over the head since you're grading by proficiency, and your student is just a couple points below your required 10 out of 13.

One could use this on more than just multiple choice tests. Rubrics that were used multiple times throughout the year, like 6-traits, could be charted to show student's growth in writing and areas to improve.

To give you a jump start, here's the blank Excel file - I've left the formulas in so you can see how they work. I'm also including all the materials I used for this lesson, just in case you want to use it for Romeo & Juliet.

Excel results graph
Figurative Language Study Guide
Figurative Language Test #1
Figurative Language Test #2
Figurative Language Test #3

Works Cited

Marzano, R. (2006). Classroom Assessment and Grading that Work. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

O'Brien, P., Roberts, J. A., Tolaydo, M., Goodwin, N. (1993). Shakespeare set free: Teaching Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Macbeth. New York: Washington Square Press.

1. My here intention is unbridled enthusiasm rather than any sort of pretentious arrogance. Hopefully that's what's coming across. Go back.

2. The first time you make this in Excel, it does take some time - up to an hour depending on how savvy you are. But once you have that chart created, you can just adapt it for every test afterwards. Maybe 30 minutes for data entry, depending on how many sections you have. I know time is precious, but try it once and go over the results in class with the graphs, and I think you'll see that it's worth it. Go back.

Summer Reading 2011

2011-06-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

As I did last summer, I'll be doing some summer reading and blogging about three professional development books. This year, if you care to read along, I'll be posting a reading schedule here in one week's time, and tweeting reading responses as bleckley on Twitter with the tag #PIPreading - I'll probably be more reliable with 140 characters than with a full post per chapter.

Consider this your notice to track down the titles - links go to librarything.com, where you'll find a number of sources for finding these titles on the upper right side of the screen including Amazon, Abe's, and WorldCat.

Marzano, R. J. 2006. Classroom assessment and grading that work. Alexandra, VA: ASCD.

Another meta-analysis of best practice for the classroom. Marzano compiles hundreds of studies on assessment and calculates the effect size of various strategies, helping readers determine what will best help their students grow. I got a chance to peruse the first chapter this spring and have a great post scheduled to publish this coming Monday. This is the science of teaching at its best.

Winslade, J. M. & Monk, G. D. 2007. Narrative counseling in schools (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

A suggestion from my partner Jennie from the place where social work and education meet. Narrative counseling is talk therapy that places problems outside the individual - rather than the student has behavior problems, behavior problems affect the student. "If we are located in a school story line as dumb, mischievous, or a bad egg, there is a tendency to live our lives according to the contours of the problem story laid out before us by such a description" (p. 3). The objective of narrative therapy is to help the student rewrite that story line. I would argue that teachers are the ones most responsible for writing the original story line to begin with, so who better to help the students rewrite it (besides Jill Griffin or other incredibly amazing school counselors)?

Winslade and Monk describe how to do a narrative therapy step-by-step, and how to apply it to different situations. They also discuss bringing narrative therapy into schools and the resistance one might face.

I'm pretty gung-ho about this one, so if you find yourself skeptical, I'd appreciate having you read along and help keep me reading critically.

Jones, V. & Jones, L. Comprehensive classroom management: Creating communities of support and solving problems (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Publishers.

This is the book on classroom management I should have read in college. In January 2010, I read Marzano's Classroom Managment that Works, and while it gave me some quick, go-to strategies, it barely brushed the surface. Comprehensive Classroom Management is certainly comprehensive. It tackles the issue from a solutions-based, prevention viewpoint. I only got a chance to read one chapter this year, but that alone made a huge difference in the tone of my classroom.

This one is $90 new and the cheapest I found used was $50, so you may want to do an inter library loan on this one. I'll be reading it last, as I'll be waiting for a copy to come in from some distant college library as well.

Marzano, R. J. 2007. The art and science of teaching. Alexandra, VA: ASCD.

This is a bonus book if there's time before school starts back up. More Marzano for the coffers. Quite a title for such a thin book . . . we'll see if it lives up to it.

First Draft Excerpt

2011-05-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share this student's rough draft of his introductory paragraph. He takes the whole idea of topic choices to task:

Did Romeo and Juliet really kill themselves? I think three different groups may have killed them. In this school forced essay I will explain my reasoning. I first think the parents of them forced them to make the bad decision, the Friar Lawrence could have done it also, and the Apothecary.

I hope that third sentence makes it into the final draft.

Blast from the Past: In Pentameter

2011-04-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

I was digging thorugh some files in the basement today and came across a piece of paper with this sonnet on it, which I'd date from my student teaching days.

My students do not feel motivated:
She falls asleep, he stares and yawns and stares.
Sometimes I feel as if they are fated
To sit, quiet, apathetic in chairs.
I praise them, give them fun work to complete:
"Good job, Johnny!" "Keep working hard, Susan!"
But the enthusiasm fails. 'Tis feat
To win my students' hearts; I am losin'.
Yet just as a fair maiden requires
Specific commentary to be wooed,
Likewise learners will light their own fires
Of motivation and curious mood.
The difference 'tween Encouragement and praise
One is specific, one an empty phraise.

(Though, I'd say now, motivation is just a little more complex than that . . .)

Fun Fact: The other half of the paper this sonnet was found on contains ideas for a graphic novella about a mind reading super hero turned teacher who uses his powers to determine what would motivate his students until he's involved in a violent car crash and loses his abilities.

Research Paper Assignment

2011-01-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

This is what I'm introducing to my 8th grade reading workshop tomorrow. How you like them high-expectation-apples, foo?

Research Paper

Assignment: You will write a 3-5 page paper on a topic of your choice. Choose something you've always been interested in or have questions about. You need to have a total of 10 sources that you look at for the paper. Three need to be books, three need to be journal articles, and the remaining four can be from any source (books, journals, websites, newspapers, etc.)

You will practice previewing each of the 10 sources you choose. You must use all of THIEVES with two. You may choose parts of THIEVES with four others and use KWL with the remaining four. THIEVES works best with journal articles and websites – not so well with books – you wouldn't want to read every first sentence of every paragraph in a book, right?

Rationale: Completing this assignment will put you ahead of the game for high school, where you'll have to cite sources starting freshman year and write a research paper sophomore year. It will also give you an opportunity to try out different strategies for previewing and reading informational text and decide which ones work best for you.

Format: Your paper must be typed in Times New Roman font, 12 point, double spaced, with one inch margins. Your paper must have a title. It must also have an annotated works cited and works referenced page. This means with each source you use, you will need to write a brief summary (using the Keep/Delete/Substitute strategy we learned in class). The paper must also include at least five in-text citations from different sources. You must also create three text features (diagrams, pictures, graphs, etc.).

Grading: This paper will be read and graded using the same five point system we've used all year. However, it will receive numerous grades, one on each of the following skills:

Summarizing
Previewing text
Citing sources in text
Creating a works cited page
Using and creating text features

These skills will make up most if not all of your grade for third quarter.

Tentative Schedule:

January 26 – Topic Proposal Due
January 27, 31, & February 1 – Research in the library
February 3, 21, 24, & 28 – Drafting in the computer lab, additional research as necessary
February 28 – First Draft Due
March 3 & 7 – Self revision in the computer lab using STAR, conferences with Mr. B
March 7 – Second Draft Due
March 8 & 9 – Peer Revisions
March 10, 14 & 17– Revising in the computer lab
March 17 – Final Draft Due
March 19 – Spring Break!

Ben 365/11

2011-01-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

For those interested, I'm doing a photo-a-day blog with the camera I got for Christmas.

December 5 Hike

2010-12-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

I often find when I need to work out what I'm going to teach in the next week¹, a hike in Portland's Forest Park typically puts some grease on the cogs and get my wheels turning.

Today's is going to be a doosey. I just posted the paper I wrote this week on teaching reading from a constructivist method for my Theory of Instruction class at PSU. I'm a pretty sick² individual to post a graduate paper on my blog, but you are sicker if you take the time to read it. Basically, here's the problem: at secondary schools, students are often forced into a one-size-fits-all remedial reading class if they don't meet benchmark. They lose an elective and are not happy about it. They take their anger out on the class and teacher by totally blowing both off. The teacher notices they have little control of the classroom and plan their lessons around a direct instruction model because it gives them more control over the class.

Constructivist lessons would be more fun for teacher and student and might do a better job of teaching the skills. Constructivist lessons increase motivation, but require a certain critical mass of motivation to get off the ground; otherwise, students take the time to "socially create meaning" about the top ten list on Z100 rather than the reading strategies the teacher is asking them to practice.

How do I get my students to that critical mass?

On top of that, I have a colleague who gets her students to work by making their lives uncomfortable and unpleasant if they deviate from the assigned activity. I used to be of the same mind until an administrator asked me to only punish students who disrupted class; student who choose not to learn have that right. But my colleagues students all have "As" and know their reading strategies. My students are receiving zeros.

Is my job to make them do the work³? In the long run, what will be the greater benefit to the student?

1. Read "day." [Go back.]
2. I mean sick in the conventional rather than the contemporary meaning. [Go back.]
3. Can I really make them do anything? It would seem my colleague does by making the alternative less desirable. [Go back.]

Teaching Reading with Constructivist Methods

2010-12-05T13:09:00.000-08:00

Instruction in current reading intervention classes at the secondary level lean significantly towards a direct instruction model. While direct instruction is well used and proven, there are other theories which are pedagogically sound and have virtues of their own. Constructivism is one such theory that is accepted widely in the educational community. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current high frequency of direct instruction in reading intervention programs and whether a constructivist model could be as successful or even more so.

To determine whether one proven method of instruction could replace another proven model may seem trivial. However, there are a number of reasons why this is not the case. First, differentiation not only encourages teaching students at different levels of ability, but also to teach them in different ways. Teaching reading both through direct instruction and constructivism would meet this requirement. Second, some researchers would place direct instruction and constructivist practice at different ends of the spectrum. In the culture of best practice, some educators and administrators may consider one theory better than another. Third, direct instruction may appear more appealing to districts and teachers for reasons completely separate from student learning or achievement. Surely, these are valid reasons to explore the possibility of teaching reading differently.

Differentiated instruction asks that teachers meet all students at their current level. Teaching the same lesson to all students in a class and asking all students to complete the same assignments will likely produce a bell curve of learning. For some students, the lesson will be at an independent level – they could complete the task without the lesson if asked. Other students will be at an instructional level – the lesson is meaningful and helpful and aids them in completing the assignment and learn new information. A final group of students will be at the frustration level – they will only be able to complete part of the assignment because they lack the prior foundational knowledge other students learned from different experiences to fully comprehend the lesson.

In differentiated instruction, students often complete similar tasks requiring differing levels of ability. Because all students learn different subjects at a different pace, in a differentiated classroom students will all learn at their own instructional level. Not only do all students learn at different rates, but in different ways. To teach an entire course using the same instructional theory will likely benefit some students while putting others at a severe disadvantage. Wormeli (2007) addresses this in his book Differentiation: “Many teacher's follow Madeline Hunter's direct instruction model. It's a logical and well loved approach that can be part of a differentiated classroom. It is ineffective, however, if it becomes the only model we use” (p. 72, author's italics). Balancing instructional methods across a curriculum will benefit all students equally. This is one reason the teaching of reading through a constructivist model is important.

While differentiating instruction is one reason for examining the issue of instructional theory in literacy education, the fact that some consider direct instruction and constructivism on opposing sides of the educational spectrum is another. Johnson (2004) attempts to find a happy medium between these two opposing views: “ideally and ultimately, the two sides create an array of instructional possibilities, a series of dynamic tensions, which result in balance, and order, and enhanced curricular alternatives” (p. 83).

Some teachers and administrators may favor direct instruction not because of a philosophical preference, but because of accessibility or control rather than student learning or achievement. The apparent abundance of packaged reading curriculum following a direct instruction model suggests this is either the best way to teach reading or the easiest way to produce and sell reading curriculum. There may also be a tendency for teachers to gravitate toward direct instruction due to the greater teacher control it offers in classrooms filled completely with at-risk students.

Language arts classes at the high school level consist primarily of literature analysis and composition. Literacy is generally seen as a skill that should have already been acquired. But in an attempt to meet increasing demands for adequate yearly progress on state test scores as required under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), many secondary schools are having to do what they have not in the past: teach reading. The general population of secondary educators are not prepared for this.

For this reason, many companies in the business of offering boxed curriculum packages are selling an array of reading programs. And according to Brooks and Brooks (1999), many districts are buying, even before NCLB was passed. “To increase the percentages of students passing state assessments – and to keep schools off the states' lists of failing schools – local district spending on student remediation, student test-taking skills, and faculty preparation for the new assessments increases” (Brooks & Brooks, 1999, p. 20). In the interests of making the transition from literature teacher to literacy teacher easy, the majority of these programs contain some scripting, lessons and units that encourage some degree of the transmission model, and formative and summative assessments that predict how the student will perform on the state test.

Yet there are questions whether packaged curricula and more spending on remediation really improve student learning. “Despite rising test scores in subsequent years, there is little or no evidence of increased student learning. A recent study by Kentucky's Office of Educational Accountability (Hambleton et al., 1995) suggests that test-score gains in that state are a function of students' increasing skills as test takers rather than evidence of increased learning” (Brooks & Brooks, 1999, p. 20). This raises the question: is direct instruction a better way to teach remediation, or is it just easier and more reproducible than constructivism or other theoretical instructional alternatives?

At the secondary level, response to intervention programs typically gravitate towards a standard protocol model where students requiring remediation outside the general education classroom are all placed in an additional course rather than receiving individualized additional instruction specific to their literacy strengths and weakness. This practice creates classrooms with generally two (stereo)types of students: those who lack the skills independent readers have because they did not learn the skills inherently and require explicit instruction; and students who either did not try on the screening exam or lack the skills because they lack motivation in traditional educational settings. This practice creates classrooms that can be much more challenging to manage behaviorally because a small handful of the students want to learn and improve their skills while the rest of the students are increasing each others' energy levels until they spiral out of control. While a constructivist model encourages more social interaction and almost equal control of the learning between the students and teacher, a direct instruction model grants the teacher greater control of the lesson. This greater control may be attractive from a classroom management standpoint, but does it create an increase in student learning?

A number of researchers argue for more teaching from a constructivist standpoint in reading intervention. One reason is social-constructivism can produce more reliable and actionable assessment results in the screening and diagnostic stages of reading intervention. Another is that educators who already lean towards constructivism of course encourage it in remediation. Even Johnson (2004), whose diplomatic close to her paper is quoted previously, seems to encourage more constructivism in the teaching of reading. Another researcher finds that social interaction promotes the construction of knowledge in her developmental readers. And finally, one researcher has found that students in a constructivist modeled classroom have greater motivation and “more fun” than the same students do in a direct instruction modeled class.

One criticism of the current institutionalized model for reading remediation is norm-based testing – that white, middle class students often outperform their peers from diverse backgrounds. Macrine and Sabbatino (2008) mitigate these concerns by proposing a dynamic assessment and remediation approach (DARA). “Dynamic assessment is a procedure that determines whether substantive changes occur in examinee behavior if feedback is provided across an array of increasingly complex or challenging tasks” (Macrine & Sabbatino, 2008, p. 61). Macrine and Sabbatino (2008) argue that this approach is fairer for minority students (and perhaps all students) because the teacher provides learner support as they build meaning from a piece of text. In this model of assessment, the teacher gets a clear view of the specific reading strategies a student possesses rather than just a black and white determination of whether they understand a text or not. Certainly the teacher has more information when a constructivist perspective is applied to the initial screening and diagnostic assessments.

Some educators believe broad-based institutional reform is required to bring about constructivist teaching. For Brooks and Brooks (1999), “serious educational reform targets cognitive changes in students' thinking. Perceived educational reform targets numerical changes in students' test scores” (p. 23). They argue that constructivist modeled classrooms increase student learning, though maybe not always test scores.

Johnson (2004), too, seems biased towards the constructivist approach. She goes so far to equate direct instruction with the transmission model of student learning where teachers are like pitchers of information, filling their cup-like students with knowledge. Few teachers today accept the transmission model. Yet Johnson (2004) finds it “ugly but effective” (Schug et al., 2001, as cited in Johnson, 2004, p. 77). Johnson (2004) attempts to find middle ground between direct instruction and constructivism. “Teachers, as well as students, are drawn to instructional approaches that focus on active student involvement and meaningful learning [like constructivism] . . . And yet, the evaluative outcome research clearly establishes the benefits of [direct instruction]” (Johnson, 2004, p. 77). Is this mix of the two the furthest a remedial teacher can get to the constructivist end of the spectrum?

Apparently not. Kaiden (1998) found that “the transformation of passive readers into active readers and learners is clearly enhanced through the dynamics of social interaction with peers” (p. 479). In her experience, students' reading was enhanced when they controlled the classroom and the direction of the discussion.

Likewise, Donalson (2008) found students' motivation was higher when taught from the constructivist theory. Yet students didn't see this as learning. “When they were constructing learning through inquiry and engagement, they viewed the activity as fun; however, they equated learning with a transmission model” (Donalson, 2008, p. 213). Hands-on activities were found to provide intrinsic motivation for reading (Guthrie et al., 2006, as cited in Donalson, 2008, p. 212) though students viewed the completion of worksheets and direct instruction as learning activities. Not only this, but Donalson (2008) found that the curriculum taught using constructivist theory “was much more aligned with the reading research in regards to the instructional recommendations for readers who struggle” (p. 206), while the purchased curriculum later used was less aligned.

This overview of a few studies is certainly not meta-analytical; in fact, it is superficial. However, some implications can be drawn. Foremost, it would appear reading intervention can be taught from a constructivist perspective. However, the hesitation of some teachers to implement this practices in intervention classrooms may be warranted. In a significant number of these studies, the participants “were motivated, strategic, knowledgeable, and social interactive” (Kaiden, 1998, p. 477). Brooks and Brooks (1999) admit that “organizing a constructivist classroom is difficult work for the teacher and requires the rigorous intellectual commitment and perseverance of students” (p. 22). Teachers who shy away from constructivist models because of lack of student motivation and increasing behavioral problems in intervention classes may need to mix transmission and constructivist models merely to maintain order, or even do away with constructivism completely. Yet some research suggests there is a critical mass in motivation; if students view the learning as fun as Donalson (2008) found, a constructivist classroom may both improve learning and manage itself.

References

Brooks, M. G. & Brooks, J. G. (1999). "The courage to be constructivist." Educational Leadership, 57(3), 18-24.

Donaldson, K. (2008). “Opportunities gained and lost: Perceptions and experiences of sixth grade students enrolled in a title I reading class.” (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ERIC. (ED502310).

Johnson, G. (2004). “Constructivist remediation: Correction in context.” International Journal of Special Education, 19(1), 72-88.

Kaiden, E. (1998). “Engaging developmental readers in the social construction of meaning.” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 41, 477-49.

Macrine, S. L. & Sabbatino, E. D. (2008) “Dynamic assessment and remediation approach: Using the DARA approach to assist struggling readers.” Reading and Writing Quarterly, 24(1), 52-76.

Wormeli, R. (2007). Differentiation. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

New Blogger

2010-10-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

Take the time to check out my colleague Danielle Speiser's new blog at http://daniellespeiser.blogspot.com. Her bite sized posts are a quick read, yet full of wisdom.

Welcome OCTE Conference Colleagues . . .

2010-10-08T07:00:00.052-07:00

. . . and future edubloggers!

Here are a few of the links I spoke about briefly:
Dan's Concept Checklist
How Dan Assesses

My Reading Skills Sheet

I also referenced a couple posts about why I blog and an example post for when I had a question rather than a great idea to share. Feel free to read these if it is helpful.

Below are links from the handout. Feel free to continue the conversation we started today in the comments, and please let me know when you start blogging - I want to steal your ideas!

Great Edubloggers to Follow

Kylene Beers, Language Arts
Dina, Language Arts
Dana Huff, Language Arts
Bud Hunt, Language Arts / Technology
Clay Burell, General Education
Dan Meyer, Math
Kate Novak, Math
Karl Fisch, Math / General Education / Technology

An added bonus for blog visitors: to the left of this post you can find my aggregator and recent posts I've read and enjoyed.

Put Together a Reading List

Step 1. Choose a reader.

Google Reader is a popular web based reader that also has some social functions built in.

FeedReader I haven't used; I actually just found it with a Google search. You download it to the computer, connect to the internet, download your feeds and then can read offline.

Firefox, the web browser, also has a feed reader built in if you're not ready to dive into a separate account or program.

Step 2. Find a blog.

Some good ones are up top. You can also go to those blogs and see who they follow (look for a sidebar titled “Aggregator” or “Who I Read”).

Step 3. Find the rss feed.

Usually marked by an orange icon that looks like the one at the top left hand corner of this page labeled "Posts."
Right click on this icon and select “Copy link address.”
Paste this into your feed reader.

RSS feeds can be a pain sometimes. With many feed readers, if you can't find the rss feed, you can just enter the blog address. If you're using Google Reader, you can also look for an "Add to Google" button.

Step 4. Read regularly and repeat.

You don't have to read everything a blogger posts. You won't be able to once you build up your reading list. Just browse for the titles and authors that catch your attention.

Starting Your Own Blog

Step 1. Choose a blogging service.

Blogger is a completely free blogging service also run by Google.

Edublogs has a free account option, or you can pay for more features.

Word Press is a free blogging platform, but you have to find hosting for it. This offers more features, but the average individual will have to pay for a web hosting service.

Live Journal hosts your blog but puts ads on your site.

Step 2. Sign-up for a blog.

Step 3. Write your first post. You could just polish up the one you wrote today.

Step 4. Post a comment about it here so others from the conference can read your posts.

Setting the Tone Recap

2010-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Before school started, I was a little apprehensive about how to set the tone for the year.

After writing that post, I thought Marzano (2003) might have something in Classroom Management that Works. Turns out there's a whole chapter on "getting off to a good start."

While there hasn't been enough research on setting the tone for Marzano to do a meta analysis, the chapter did confirm the direction I was already leaning towards: thaw slowly. Hit them hard at the beginning of class and lighten up towards the end as warranted.

Turns out that's totally the way to go, at least compared to what I've done in the past¹. Overall, I've had the best week of my career, including classroom management. I think it's partially this slowly thawing attitude I've adopted and partially the techniques I've taken from my summer reading of Teach Like a Champion².

The rules I outlined in my previous post are posted prominently, but the procedures are posted in this PBIS matrix suggested at an in-service last spring.

Calendars are still a big part of classroom management, building report, and utilizing exit slips. My students are now getting 10 points a day and it's 50% of their grade.

I've been most surprised by the willingness students have to adopt some more ~~prescriptive~~, ~~acronymic~~, ~~draconian~~, measures³. I have a poster that shows students how their desk should look (Lemov, 2010, p 159). I frequently use SLAT, which stands for sit up straight, listen, ask and answer questions, and track the speaker (Lemov, 2010, p 158). I'm am surprised by how quickly 7th graders are willing to sit up straight when I ask them to; I was expecting a lot more push back. My 8th graders make fun of it, but do it all the same. My students seem more alert and, with tracking the speaker, more attentive of each other. If I call on a student to answer a question, they can't refuse to try, because the expectation is established that they ask and answer questions.

I more energetic and more dedicated to selling my content (Lemov, 2010, p 51), and it rubs off on the students. My calendars have a daily rating for whether students felt they learned something new and if they were bored. I haven't put the data together in a spreadsheet⁴, but by eyeballing it students feel they're learning more and are less bored than last year. This is partially my energy and confidence, but I think also the amount of content we hit on in a day. To paraphrase Lemov, just like it seems you're moving faster when flying in a plane close to the ground, in class there are numerous reference points students see in a day and it creates the illusion that we are moving faster (Lemov, 2010, p 226).

Works Cited

Lemov, D. (2010). Teach Like a Champion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Marzano. (2003). Classroom Management that Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

1. Oooh, big surprise. Go back
2. Great New York Times magazine article on this book. Some might complain that it boils teaching down to 49 techniques, but I do think great teachers are made not born. There is some value here. Go back
3. I'm not sure what word describes SLAT and the desk poster. It feels weird to me. Go back
4. I tried this for one week last year. It takes long enough to grade the calendars each day alone - when am I going to analyze data? If I ever figure it out, it's a post in it's own with some awesome citations of K. Anders Ericsson. Go back

Revisiting the Pirate Lesson

2010-09-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

So the majority of voters in the poll went for doing this lesson on Talk Like a Pirate Day. I was not planning on going in that direction. I was going to hit it when I teach character.

I would love to hear some explanations in the comments.

Setting the Tone

2010-09-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

The first day of school is tomorrow here in the Pacific Northwest. This will be my third year of teaching, albeit half-time. I'm excited to get the year started.

By the end of last year, I feel like I really had a reliable method for classroom management. Teachers implemented PBIS school-wide, I had immediately tangible consequences for good and bad behavior, and clear rules and procedures posted in the classroom. My administrator described the difference as night and day. More importantly, my students were more attentive, more productive and learning more.

To start with these tools all in place at the beginning of the year is a nice change. Every year before, I've negotiated rules and expectations with students a week or two into the year. While this hands ownership to the students, I currently lack either the presence or the experience to maintain decorum for those first weeks. Consequently, students aren't mindful of what their rules should make the classroom look like. Maybe in a few years I can move back in that direction.

I have four rules this year. Directly from my syllabus:

Treat others as you would like to be treated. Enough said.
Do your best. It is impossible to succeed without trying.
Accept that you will not be treated the same as everyone else¹. The teacher cannot watch everyone at the same time, and sometimes will catch one person breaking the rules and not another person. When a student is given a consequence, “so and so did it too” is not an acceptable response. Likewise, students are at all different levels and therefore some students will need harder or easier work. Students should come to class ready to learn more for themselves, not in comparison to their peers.
Bring and use the right tool for the right job. Students can't complete class work without the proper materials. Likewise, using certain materials at the wrong time (like listening to an iPod during a discussion) impedes learning. There may be a time when students can use cell phones and iPods in class, but they should be turned off and out of sight until the teacher asks for them.

In addition, I have five sets of procedures. Again, from the syllabus:

When reading:

Reading is thinking. It is easier to think when it is silent and there are few distractions. Do not talk when reading.
When you do need to talk to the teacher or a partner, whisper.
Fully focus on reading during silent reading time.

When writing:

Writing is thinking. It is easier to think when it is silent and there are few distractions. Do not talk when writing.
When you do need to talk to the teacher or a partner, whisper.
Use the entire writing time working on writing.

When entering the classroom:

Get your materials from the filing cabinet in the room.
Be seated in your desk before the bell rings.
When the bell rings, immediately begin the warm-up exercise.

When leaving the classroom:

Mr. B will dismiss you, not the bell.
Leave your workspace cleaner than you found it and return all materials to the right place.
When your workspace is clean, sit in your chair and wait to be dismissed.
When dismissed, push your chair in.
Turn in calendars and any other assignments on your way out the door.

During class:

Follow SLAT – Sit up straight, Listen, Ask and answer questions, and Track the speaker.
If you need to use the bathroom, quietly get out one of your bathroom passes and hold it up. I will either sign it or ask you to wait until a better time.
If you need to sharpen a pencil, hold your pencil up in the air and I will trade you for a fresh one.

Rather than have students sit listening to me drone on about all the expectations, I've taken a page from Dan's post on his first day of class and give students this:

Throw in some role play, some enthusiasm, and the first day jitters and I hope to have their attention for the period. The first week at least will be consumed by setting up and practicing these and other classroom processes.

All this still leaves me with one nagging question. Do I have enough faith in my already established [overly-bureaucratic?] classroom management that it alone can get me through the first day of school?

On the first day, apparently I've always presented myself as too nice, because every year thus far I end up backpedaling, coming down harder on students the next day or the next week because I didn't get a good enough handle on them in the first hour we met.

I know teachers who intentionally throw a student out of class on the first day just to show they mean business. That doesn't seem like the answer to me, especially since even with a beard I'm not intimidating to anyone over the age of 10. I don't want students to fear me; I want them to fear my justice. I don't want them walking into class on tiptoe, but I do want my expectations clear, my consequences just, quick, and utterly devastating.

Tomorrow, how do I set the tone?

1. All credit for this rule goes to Tom Fuller, who should probably be blogging. Go back

Talk Like a Pirate Day

2010-09-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Note to readers: this post involves me thinking aloud. This has been proven in the state of California to cause dizziness and fainting. Consider yourselves warned.

So I have this great idea. On International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I'm going to dress up like a pirate and do a lesson on how dialogue can give us information about characters; we can make inferences about the character by the way they speak. Splendid idea, yes?

Problem is, my first unit isn't on character. No sir. It's on fix-up strategies. Inferences are fix-up strategies. But they are very complex fix-up strategies that should probably be taught after a student has mastered questioning, clarifying (of which inferences are a pseudo-subset), and predicting. And teaching a random lesson that has nothing to do with your unit assessment is poor backwards planning (you know, when you plan the assessment first, then the lessons - whatever that's called).

So I am left with the following options:

Dress up like a pirate on the day I teach dialogue as a way to analyze a character.
Dress up like a pirate on the day I teach inferences.
Dress up like a pirate on International Talk Like a Pirate Day and do it anyway; this is going to be one memorable lesson and I can refer back to it when we touch on inferences and character.
~~Give a boring lecture on character/inferences.~~

Please vote using the poll at the top right hand corner of the blog¹. If you're reading this on Facebook, you'll have to go to the blog: http://pedagogypractice.blogspot.com. The poll closes in one week.

1. Yeah, I probably already know the answer. Humor me. Go back

Readicide Book Review

2010-08-24T07:23:00.001-07:00

In addition to Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning and Teach Like a Champion, the third book on my summer reading list was Readicide by Kelly Gallagher. Gallagher teaches high school English in Anaheim, California, has written a few professional development books and stars in a professional development DVD I viewed last year.

Gallagher (2009) defines readicide as "the systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools" (p 2). Gallagher's premise argues that readicide is currently running rampant and offers methods for stopping it.

Ever since I started my college courses in education, I've been concerned that I am too easily convinced by pedagogy books. Many of my classmates would find flaws with the books we were assigned while I saw them predominately as a invaluable resources. I've been worried I haven't been critically reading anything that has to do with teaching. Readicide quelled those concerns.

Readicide is a good book. It has good ideas that I will touch on later in this post. But it also has a number of either/or and slippery slope logical fallacies. Gallagher's chapters address four causes of readicide:

No Child Left Behind
Not providing students with good books and time to read them in school
Over-teaching or under-teaching novels
Using too many reading tools (sticky notes, double entry diaries)

In his first chapter, Gallagher suggests that because of NCLB, teachers must choose to either teach meaningful curriculum, or teach to the test. In a bulleted list of the cycle started by NCLB, Gallagher (2009) states:

Because the 'worth' of teachers and administrators is largely perceived by how well students do on these shallow exams, educators narrow the curriculum in an all-out attempt to raise reading scores.

Workbooks replace novels. Reading becomes another worksheet activity. Students are taught that the reason they should become readers is to pass a test.

Reluctant readers drown in test preparation, ensuring any chance they may have had of developing a lifelong reading habit is lost. (p 17).

To be fair, my school's test scores are alright. I don't teach is a major suburb district, but in a rural area from which many workers commute to the city; still, over 80% of my students are White. Gallagher teaches in the Unified Los Angeles School District and the majority of his students are Black and Latino. Placed in context, these bullet points are used to also point out that minority schools are often the ones preforming poorly on state tests, are poorly funded to begin with, and are threatened with budget cuts if they don't improve their scores¹.

But Gallagher seems to suggest that these are the necessary results of NCLB when my school has not dropped novels from the curriculum. In fact, for our classes aimed at under-performing readers, we've drastically increased the number of books they have access to and the amount of freedom they have in choosing their books. My colleagues and I don't teach to the test; we teach to standards that the test assesses, and we do it with good books, not with worksheets.

After his first chapter, however, I found areas of agreement, or statements that make more sense to me. His second chapter suggests improvements to the books schools offer students and the amount of time they have to read them in school. Sustained silent reading (SSR) deserves a spot in the daily schedule. So many students don't have access to books or the time to read them at home. Gallagher's third chapter rightly warns against over or under teaching books. Many novels can be taught to the point of complete boredom when the teacher searches for thematic meaning on each page. Likewise, teachers can't just hand students a book and expect them to figure it out themselves.

Gallagher's fourth chapter was the most interesting to me. He proposes the concept of a "reading flow," citing Csikszentmihalyi (1990): "the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it" (p 4 as cited in Gallagher, 2009 p 61). Gallagher argues that asking students to make sticky notes or do a double entry diary while reading interrupts the reading flow.

I'm not sure where to stand on this. On one hand, I chose to use sticky notes while reading this book - in part to help me when writing this post and in part to help me think deeper about what I was reading. The amount of rereading and searching for quotations was greatly reduced because of it. On the other hand, I had a number of students last semester who were so engrossed in their books - in the reading flow - that no amount of cajoling² from me could get them to do a reading response journal, earning them a D in the class. But I know they actually read, understood, and enjoyed the book. One student told me it was the first book he'd read since fifth grade. Isn't that more important than the number of sticky notes one writes over the course of 20 pages? But if it's an intervention reading class, isn't part of it learning and demonstrating the skills of thinking (writing) aloud (on a sticky note)?

Gallagher (2009) instead asks students to do a close reading of one page of text from their books, annotating it (p 101-2). They read the assigned text and the next day have a copy of the page waiting for them. I think I may drop the number of sticky notes I require, telling students "in this book I want you to have a sticky note with one good question, one good prediction, and one good inference, the qualities of which they'll know from a rubric. If they're meeting in a book club, they'll need to fill out a separate role sheet. Then I'll give them a page to annotate so I can get a sense of their skills over a whole book (where you're not necessarily going to make a prediction every single page) and a snapshot (you can interact with one page of text with more than one or two talkbacks).

Overall, though I think he was a little melodramatic in regards to NCLB and I don't feel that my colleagues and I drastically overteach or underteach our material, I'm glad I read Readicide. It challenged enough of my current ideas to send me in new directions, and that's what summer reading is for.

Works Cited

Gallagher, Kelly. 2009. Readicide: How schools are killing reading and what you can do about it. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

1. Which is probably, in my opinion, the worst part of NCLB: let's take underfunded schools that are struggling to begin with and threaten to take away more money. That's not counterintuitive, is it? If only sarcasm translated more easily in writing . . . Go back

2. It took me at least five minutes to figure out how to spell that word right. Dictionary required. 18 points, though. Go back