tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84653719395411306052024-03-13T15:32:09.453-04:00HEALIGAN'S SECOND HOMEI AM YOUR BEST APP.
purple feet fdnHealiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.comBlogger178125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-29368571116510960522023-07-01T15:04:00.001-04:002023-07-01T15:04:09.129-04:00KMH<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilr0vVhiXWxrjk6LDoMJrcxYzczWs7QoB_5_8iq9H51wodsn-w58a7S5STvSUj9UVvHJxLSo3i_45aJ8X9h8YE9dK7X3ICTpcdEGIZ-iuMG83GzQx3UQLCz-Vr1FUgUrgW8TNkcUbiD2I_zl6TNAr_MixgJcBI6HwI00GPIqQTzeG07c3U8N_H-XWuAOSV/s4032/IMG_0577.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilr0vVhiXWxrjk6LDoMJrcxYzczWs7QoB_5_8iq9H51wodsn-w58a7S5STvSUj9UVvHJxLSo3i_45aJ8X9h8YE9dK7X3ICTpcdEGIZ-iuMG83GzQx3UQLCz-Vr1FUgUrgW8TNkcUbiD2I_zl6TNAr_MixgJcBI6HwI00GPIqQTzeG07c3U8N_H-XWuAOSV/s320/IMG_0577.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrelqRkAlI04M5FknWETIPqn2xRWlqb3kqM567IJewieXrGtXu09JfKungb9psKYSP5uaoSAz5UwRtKkuac6UbuvDiHjgpzg3v-4LXS7GQ_8fG_C3XGbbme-f2nSIVDsQNN8vbQTMmnZXwnfBZnTL2z4GOH6-k5jA7cizdJnkpHMgm12cbX1GPslDxyrAV/s4032/IMG_0592.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrelqRkAlI04M5FknWETIPqn2xRWlqb3kqM567IJewieXrGtXu09JfKungb9psKYSP5uaoSAz5UwRtKkuac6UbuvDiHjgpzg3v-4LXS7GQ_8fG_C3XGbbme-f2nSIVDsQNN8vbQTMmnZXwnfBZnTL2z4GOH6-k5jA7cizdJnkpHMgm12cbX1GPslDxyrAV/s320/IMG_0592.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfcV9QGnLdyXlH-0JrXEjJ73_aPvCeiS9zHc6_FzV2nCM0gS4XjCZcBPUH8gksJWXmfj_DFVSyHDnDMSFzG9lu2K9TTVKmuh96WP8ZhYfiQ5Mbepf6PmAH1qO3YDCdaKUoA6TGI2klv0iqgJN8FQJYUb0qNXHybsvnqeeCxLWykYFrS6ynOfTNJpjFlCj9/s4032/IMG_0635.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfcV9QGnLdyXlH-0JrXEjJ73_aPvCeiS9zHc6_FzV2nCM0gS4XjCZcBPUH8gksJWXmfj_DFVSyHDnDMSFzG9lu2K9TTVKmuh96WP8ZhYfiQ5Mbepf6PmAH1qO3YDCdaKUoA6TGI2klv0iqgJN8FQJYUb0qNXHybsvnqeeCxLWykYFrS6ynOfTNJpjFlCj9/s320/IMG_0635.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUgTQ0tto8D-8hbiZ3wUfMh2zC39o7YqhlrmGFy1SFF_R7zfZFo05syV5CaXV1VxHIRdkZFm1uru2v11cjfoEd6D7dz51AWMpP-18xrF9VHVBWSJFzv0t0FKF-0Y3P7hmL-wlDYbNiB2JlA-9tCJK2dXes7PgI7tSEDM6PqK_tdrl-mrTOzukShW6QSi9/s4032/IMG_0636.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUgTQ0tto8D-8hbiZ3wUfMh2zC39o7YqhlrmGFy1SFF_R7zfZFo05syV5CaXV1VxHIRdkZFm1uru2v11cjfoEd6D7dz51AWMpP-18xrF9VHVBWSJFzv0t0FKF-0Y3P7hmL-wlDYbNiB2JlA-9tCJK2dXes7PgI7tSEDM6PqK_tdrl-mrTOzukShW6QSi9/s320/IMG_0636.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br />dbdbHealiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-75063615166315773542023-03-08T11:12:00.000-05:002023-03-08T11:12:58.016-05:00READING WOES AT A CORE KNOWLEDGE SCHOOL<h3>
Much angst this last quarter: too much to do in an environment I am just beginning to understand. Lots of family stuff too, which is always more important. I am teaching in a Core Knowledge school, which at first and second glance seemed like a great match for my educational profile. But we are hitting the bumps in the road now, and I am not sure whether to just adapt or to try and shift the perspective of those in charge. I have a chance, since I teach in the high school, to do the latter. Core knowledge really only goes to 8th grade, so in our new high school, we are still paving a new road. But I am not sure that my instincts match the mission of the school, and I do not want to become a squeaky wheel.</h3>
<h3>
My problem is this: core knowledge in an overarching way, means "there are things we all ought to know." I am good with that--it helps us build community, when we have cultural touchstones. And I am (maybe) naive enough to believe that we can tweak the definition of core knowledge to include some changes to represent who we are NOW--less Ben Franklin in American Lit, more Zora Neale Hurston and Naomi Shihab Nye, for instance. So beyond that issue, I am troubled by the forced reading of texts throughout the lower grades to make sure that everyone has read the same stuff. It totally ignores the need to create lifelong readers--and ensures that many will not be. Reading Julius Caesar in the fifth grade? There is not a place in the world where that is ok or even contributing to a child's core cultural knowledge. Reading Harry Potter, on the other hand, or John Green in grade school, will prepare my high schoolers for Shakespearean investigation of leadership or the poetry that he wrote, still inspiring a young writer like John Green to title a book with a Shakespeare quote 400 years later. <i>I Am Malala </i>would provide inspiring content and perhaps open young minds to the value of our differences--I still believe that our differences will be our strength, if we just lean into it.</h3>
<h3>
<br />SO I can state the problem, but it does not end there. My colleague is teaching what she needs to teach by school standards, and always exceeds standards--even with reading and writing. Is she teaching the same kids? Is she just a better teacher? She has abandoned many of the practices that are MY core practice and is succeeding--how do I do that? Do I want to do that?</h3>
Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-16167164396420091042022-02-14T14:57:00.000-05:002022-02-14T14:57:03.105-05:00School has been going swimmingly for the past few years: always a challenge, sometimes overwhelming, but always glowing because of my students. But this quarantine.....<br />
<br />
I love my students, and I love my subject, in that order. Every day in class is a group performance for me, and them, I hope. So doing my work with them across the digital world is unsatisfying (Breakfast Club allusion). I have always loved tech--was was the go to teacher for anything new you wanted to try. Learned news apps every week, upgraded as they disappeared and new apps took their places. No problem. But they never usurped my presence, and I used them only when they supported my mission. Now I am getting emails every 4 hours about about new apps and platforms to use asap. It is too much, because I am thinking about teaching when I need to be a learner. It is tough to be both all the time.<br />
<br />
I am an English teacher: you know, readin' and writin'.That is all we have to do together.Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-31490671031259247212016-12-11T09:05:00.001-05:002016-12-11T09:05:04.367-05:00Sunday morning teacher heavenI love Sunday morning grading. I have had enough sleep, no one wants anything from me, and I can wear my slippers to read my students' writing. Let's not forget coffee.<br />
But this morning, when I looked at my tools laid across the cocktail table, I realized what I love the most is my own student status when I read student writing. I have my highlighter, and two sizes of post it notes today, just like when they study. I spend this whole morning learning--about being a teacher, about their hopes and fears, about the topics they care about, and about myself. Best job in the world.Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-82198066242751432162016-10-20T18:05:00.002-04:002016-12-11T09:06:13.629-05:00English teacher, yoga master?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OibQRQz3PNc/WAk_p5LYOxI/AAAAAAAACAg/-M1roR6JEbAxKXUNeS9inSPOqAnaJm4DwCK4B/s1600/IMG_3301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OibQRQz3PNc/WAk_p5LYOxI/AAAAAAAACAg/-M1roR6JEbAxKXUNeS9inSPOqAnaJm4DwCK4B/s320/IMG_3301.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">not the horse, only pic I have of me!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">How do I reconcile myself as an experienced English teacher and beginner yoga student? I have been learning aerial yoga over the past 6 months and it is exhilarating. All our poses are practiced off the floor in hammocks and often upside down. Understand that at my age, expectations are LOW. It takes me longer to learn some of the poses without flipping out of the hammock in the most ungainly fashion. I am learning new levels of humility in order to progress. Sometimes class has to stop for me to succeed. But I won't stop. When I open the door of the light-filled studio, each time I wonder if I will succeed at the Horse pose or now, the Standing Butterfly. My head rang with "I can't, I can't" the first three times we tried the Horse. My instructor kept saying, "you'll get it."</span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">And then I did. Learned a big lesson about myself. But I can't help but wonder, as a teacher of teens often does, what are <i>they</i> thinking? Today we wrote an in class explication of a Shakespeare sonnet.Each person had their own sonnet and had spent a week "illuminating" it. So every student was as expert as any other person in the room, and still, I circled the class over and over again, cheering them on, telling them they could do it. Almost no one believed me: they all wanted to write a perfect paper, they wanted to know how many paragraphs, and what did I want them to say?! JUST TRUST ME. YOU'LL GET IT.<span id="goog_632761353"></span><span id="goog_632761354"></span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">And so, they did. Why does the human animal fear growth so much? Why is belief in yourself so much harder than a Shakespeare sonnet--because it is, be sure of it. Today my English teacher lesson is to remember that it is more important to teach young people they CAN, rather than Shakespeare. I love my kids (and my yoga instructor).</span></h3>
Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-62600133199224215762016-10-01T07:29:00.000-04:002016-10-18T21:22:54.914-04:00A LIGHT TOUCH, PLEASE<h3>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BAnI6uUyQNM/V--dclYuslI/AAAAAAAAB_s/Wp5sK0OoV2c3usQZLDOprWhzNZa7o3sTACK4B/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-10-01%2Bat%2B7.25.43%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BAnI6uUyQNM/V--dclYuslI/AAAAAAAAB_s/Wp5sK0OoV2c3usQZLDOprWhzNZa7o3sTACK4B/s200/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-10-01%2Bat%2B7.25.43%2BAM.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">I was reminded today that one of my most important tasks as a teacher of literature is to exert only a light touch. A<i> light </i>touch, even when I am 2/3 of the way through<i> A Tale of Two Cities</i> in my AP Lit classes and it is so tempting to show them every single stroke of genius on one page of Dickens' masterpiece. How do I forget my own rule that every time a reader picks up a book and begins to read, a new conversation has begun between reader and writer and IT IS SACRED? My opinion does not matter then, only the reader's.</span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">So thank you , </span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://ncte.connectedcommunity.org/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=757&MID=30254&tab=digestViewer&UserKey=8d3fac60-3eea-4eff-8144-b798503c4b99&sKey=604E94E662D94064A2DD" target="_blank">R. Joseph Rodriguez, </a> for this poem as I plan next week's conversation about Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay. <span id="goog_1410333283"></span><span id="goog_1410333284"></span></span></h3>
<b>“After English Class” </b><b> </b><br />
by Jean Little (born 1932)<br />
I used to like “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”<br />
I liked the coming darkness,<br />
The jingle of harness bells, breaking—and adding to—the stillness,<br />
The gentle drift of snow . . .<br />
But today, the teacher told us what everything stood for.<br />
The woods, the horse the miles to go, the sleep—<br />
They all have “hidden meanings.”<br />
It’s grown so complicated now that,<br />
Next time I drive by,<br />
I don’t think I’ll bother to stop. <span style="word-break: break-all;"> </span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-75555877509073952382016-05-30T10:48:00.001-04:002016-05-30T10:54:34.765-04:00PANDORA'S BOX<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RgNIT3F99W4/UqEPHYr4tCI/AAAAAAAABuo/vUcVR4LG9Ak/s1600/pandora+http-::farm4.staticflickr.com:3317:3664900435_c13bda005a.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RgNIT3F99W4/UqEPHYr4tCI/AAAAAAAABuo/vUcVR4LG9Ak/s200/pandora+http-::farm4.staticflickr.com:3317:3664900435_c13bda005a.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">I have wanted to talk about this for a
while, but have been afraid to open the Pandora's Box. Cheating is one of those
things that teachers don't want to talk about--you must be a bad teacher if
someone cheats in your class. And if you do talk about it, a monstrous
administrative machine rolls into action full of consequences (mostly for the
teacher), extra work and infamy. I am never sure that a young person has gained
anything from that experience. These days, you are likely to have the parents
question your content knowledge and teaching skills if you mention the word
about their child--it is a slur on their character that cannot be erased. And
the embedding of the internet into every school activity has increased the possibility
that someone plagiarizes unwittingly a hundredfold. It's
complicated. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";"> I know many who ignore it.
I have heard myself saying, "I pay attention to the kids who
are doing what they are supposed to. I will not waste my time on
those who cheat." It is a way to get through the day, honestly. You know
that certain types of students will always take the short cut. I know I do not
"catch" a great percentage of them. If I kept track of
every phone in a pocket or iPad screen just to make sure everyone was honest, I
would have lost my mind years ago. And no one (including me) would ever learn
anything. I would be a prison guard if that was what I did with my time. But
what teacher has not spent 30 minutes at least once finding the webpage that
the kid plagiarized? You KNOW he cheated because he is not good enough at it to
leave no trace, but honestly, some of them do not care that I could prove it.
This is just the way the game is played, in their minds. Maybe they are right.
But I still believe that part of my job is to help my students find their path
to integrity, and I am old enough to be proud I never cheated. So I can be a
model, at least.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";"> So what to do? I used an
honor code* at my last school that students wrote and signed at the end of every major piece of
work we did in class. I told them that if they could not in good conscience
sign it, then they needed to come and talk about that with me. I do not
believe that the honor code stopped cheaters, but it puts everyone on notice that
I care what they do. And if I witnessed an incident that is clear cut enough
to mention, then I started by reviewing my own actions—did I set them up for bad
decision making? The answer is pretty much always NO. So we have to talk. And
the conversation starts like this:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 32.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">"You are practicing at being a solid
human being. You make mistakes, I make mistakes. So what do we do now?
What do you think our path forward should be?"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 32.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">I
do not excuse them—everyone needs to
reminded that right and wrong are always playing in the backchannel of
life.
But how to recover? Official handling of cheating often leaves that out.
It is usually about punishment. So the conversation continues:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 32.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">"Come tell me. We will work out a
path together." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 40.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">And we do. Sometimes it costs them a
grade or call to a parent, but then we role play how to manage a 0 or
survive the talk with a parent. Sometimes the solution is just between us.
Sometimes I end up involving official channels. It depends on the student, what
they need to get past it. This might be the most important interaction I ever
have with that young person. I want to help them, but I also need to protect
our class family life. They need to see how to build personal integrity. It is
uphill all the way in this culture--high school, the 21st century,
America--whichever culture you wish to consider. I know that this lesson is the one that needs to stick. It is more
important than <i>The Aeneid </i>or <i>Shakespeare</i>, for sure. And I still want to find hope in the bottom of this Pandora's Box...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 32.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 40.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">*I promise on my honor as a XXXXX
student that I have neither given nor received help on this work.
</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 40.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Signature, Date</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 32.0pt;">
<br /></div>
Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-56808257864052858192016-05-30T10:42:00.000-04:002016-05-30T10:42:10.211-04:00PD -scoring for AP SeminarI have spent ~15 hours over the past two weeks practicing the scoring portion of my new AP Seminar class. It has been one of the most frustrating, anxiety producing experiences of my teaching life. Certainly I have gained a new appreciation of the test performance anxiety of my writing students. Even with a rubric attached, I know now how some of them must feel when they try techniques and strategies in their essays that we have practiced in class, and receive less than stellar grades. Practice and revision are paramount to the process, I tell them, and there are some who never rise above their first effort's grades. How frustrated they must feel!<br />
<br />
No matter how I many times I review the rubric provided and the scoring evidence provided by the collegeboard, my scoring never gets better. What is most upsetting is that my gut reaction, my holistic judgment, is accurate. I am absolutely sure of it. The rubric gets in the way. When I began scoring (I have read or viewed 28 documents to date), I worked my instincts, and I was wrong, though close, most of the time. Now I am working the rubric instead of my gut, and my scores are approximately as bad as they were initially. Next stage is to analyze how this is happening.<br />
<br />
1. Skills not clearly differentiated between points on rubric--especially the "engaging audience" rows for the TMP and IMP<br />
rows 3 & 4 especially repetitive<br />
<br />
2. Difficult to avoid focus on writing when it is bad (anecdotal)<br />
<br />
3. Can find an example to contradict their example every single time! So evidence provided is unhelpful, not definitive<br />
<br />
4. "low" scoring preso in IWA--was almost all 4s. That is a medium score! <br />
<br />
5. no place to grade lack of explicit question (as vs. inexpertly created question), lack of address of major areas--the ADHD example mostly addresses anecdotal things, does not even research some important topics within the subject.<br />
If the student is not even asking a question, then the quality of the entire project is compromised--and should be. <br />
<br />
6. Row 8 in individual preso- imprecise aspects to judge. Many of the kids don't solve a problem, so I don't know how to score this one.Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-64059724159649629622016-02-04T14:20:00.000-05:002016-05-30T10:39:53.728-04:00I guess this is a shared inquiry!So many new classes, courses and routines this year--it has been difficult to find time to reflect when I am having so much fun. I am teaching a writing & composition class to both sophomore and junior level college prep classes. It is NOT one prep, as I have found out. But it is endlessly engaging my teacher brain. I strategize each writing task and the different ways to approach them, depending on the needs of 15 year olds and then 16-17 year olds. Most of my problem solving brain has been focused on them. Yesterday a colleague asked if I had issued a demerit for a uniform infraction (that I should have noticed) and I was dumbfounded. I had seen that child three times during the day trying to salvage what I could from an attitude outburst (hers, not mine this time) and had never noticed. She and I were working on different problems. I am fine with that.<br />
<br />
But today my AP Seminar is on my mind, because we are experiencing this new AP animal as inexperienced first timers together. I don't like operating from a place of vulnerability, but every single teacher in the US who teaches the new Capstone courses is in the same position. The class requires a level of critical thinking and acceptance of responsibility that my first time AP students embraced slowly with some reluctance. As their questions get better, my need to own the content is more urgent. And now that we have hit the performance tasks to be scored by the College Board, I feel muzzled, unable to offer suggestions or glorify their small victories. They are doing fine without me, but it is still hard to step this far back.<br />
<br />
I just finished writing them their second letter addressing my own reflections on a recent shared inquiry activity. This one step--writing them letters reviewing my own thinking on our experience has helped to model the questioning and team work so integral to the class. It addresses our success and "opportunities for improvement" without the specter of the score. They see me struggle with how to improve a project to become my best self teaching, and modelling the process is priceless at this point in the class. Here are two examples of my letters below.<br />
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<!--more--><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N_4JwlU2y384YCB6alPPcDJe86s6-Ymj27vNE4rXltA/edit?usp=sharing">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N_4JwlU2y384YCB6alPPcDJe86s6-Ymj27vNE4rXltA/edit?usp=sharing</a><br />
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<br />Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-48519375823174610952016-01-23T10:57:00.001-05:002016-01-23T10:57:18.789-05:00GRADING, quarter 2. MOOD=ANGRY, SAD<br />
<br />
It turns out that grades DO mean
something...not what we originally thought, that we now understood a
student's command of the materials, his/her critical thinking skills,
creativity, whatever. No, grades can make or break a student's self
image, to the point where the anticipation of a particular grade is a
self fulfilling prophecy by the student <i>or</i> the teacher.<br />
<br />
This
is not good. I am teaching a strangely divided schedule this year. All
AP on A day, all CP on B day. Good for planning and pacing, but even
better for getting the view from both ends of the spectrum. Some of my B
day students have given up on grades and school, anticipating, as they
have been taught, that their grade will be subpar. Given up! At the age
of 15 or 16, how can we let that be? They are precious, wise, making
their own way on the world. I learn from them every day.<br />
<br />
Many
of my A day students display a confidence that belies their preparation
or responsibility. They advocate for themselves, as school teaches
them, but they do not always recognize their lack of power in a
situation where they are unschooled--such as an AP, college level class.
They expect As, which they equate with being smart, successful,
winners, elite etc. I am not sure that most of them are making their way
in the world yet, as my B day students are. I remember reveling in my
own ability to do anything as a child-I was a read/write learner in a
read/write world in the mid 20th century. Of course I did well. But I
also lived in a family where my parents expected all of us, regardless
of potential, to do our best. And they also demanded that we understand
our place in the world--if given a big brain, you appreciated the gift
and used it. It did not make you better than someone else. Others had
gifts you might not see.<br />
<br />
I want all of my students to see their own gifts. <br />
<br />Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-65726997276968332492015-09-27T09:38:00.001-04:002015-09-27T09:38:37.369-04:00Home by Toni Morrison<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Two remarkable reading experiences this week: in the first one, my students and I read Frederick Douglass's speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" and then followed it with Audre Lorde's "Graduation," a memoir about a sadly important July 4th in Lorde's young life. Because this is an AP Seminar class, the focus of class discussion was form and function, rather than content. But we needed to talk about the purpose, for sure, and it was rough going. No one wanted to approach the topic as a personal one, so we wended our way through the minefield of race. The silence of the rest of the students when two of my African American students admitted that they had thought about the 4th of July this way was a great reward. Two historical essays about a past many of us do not want to own had brought us to this truth, that the past is not gone. It is not even past!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Examining the dark spots on our national personality is hard work, and seems to happen often in school. What do the children make of it? School is often not their context of choice. When they read tragedies one after another, hear about our failings in history class, then must register the emotional impact of those failings in Lit class, how do they absorb these messages into their hearts? Not easily or well, I think. And what must it sound like, once more hearing your middle aged white teacher provide the reading, then wait for you to react honestly OUT LOUD and correctly (at least in her eyes)? Once again, the teacher provides the context for a part of history she does not share. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nlQBABpy0T0/VgfxUkDG1mI/AAAAAAAAB6Y/WLQhS64sJMU/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-09-27%2Bat%2B9.37.50%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nlQBABpy0T0/VgfxUkDG1mI/AAAAAAAAB6Y/WLQhS64sJMU/s200/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-09-27%2Bat%2B9.37.50%2BAM.png" width="198" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So imagine my relief to be reading Toni Morrison's 2012 novel, <i>Home, </i>as I was teaching the two short texts: her voice, her history, her craft in a story that examines the pain and the joy in our deeply flawed history--and our present. Our greatest living writer tells a story so personal that it must apply to all of us. Frank Money loses himself during the Korean War and cannot bear to return home to Lotus, Georgia, after. He wanders through his life in an alcoholic daze, telling an unseen person of painful episodes from his childhood. He is belligerent, dangerous and in such pain that it almost raises the words off the page. As she often does, Morrison eschews a chronological, single narrator to tell a story that uses the heart of the protagonist to lead the plot. All the women in his life suffer the loss of him, just as he lives with the loss of them. His epic journey to save his dying sister and himself was fraught with uncertainty, temptation and danger. The truth of the bond between Frank and Cee drives this story to its heroic conclusion. And there I see the narrative that I can share with students--that our ugly past need not be our present-or our future. <i>Home</i> is on the reading list now.</span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thank you, Ms. Morrison. Again.</span>Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-70194020397289941462015-09-12T10:49:00.002-04:002016-10-01T07:35:22.401-04:00"WE REVERE TEACHERS"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SC2aAOnjJuc/VfQ7Y9THmuI/AAAAAAAAB5Q/gvZXmLxKvcI/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-09-12%2Bat%2B10.48.50%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SC2aAOnjJuc/VfQ7Y9THmuI/AAAAAAAAB5Q/gvZXmLxKvcI/s200/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-09-12%2Bat%2B10.48.50%2BAM.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Watched the inaugural episode of Stephen Colbert's new Late Night show this week. Best part of the show? He gave me my hook for this post: he spent the monologue crowing about his new home at CBS, the big money network, gleefully pumping the air because Superbowl 50 was going to be on HIS channel. Yes, that's it! That is how I feel at the close of my second week at my new school: I am working on the Superbowl School channel now, and it feels good. I am in the right place at the right time. On our first day, the director even reminded us "this is a school that reveres teachers." I (mentally) swooned.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nEFttukVOKQ/VfQ63jqldfI/AAAAAAAAB5I/RKu2oHzjZsc/s1600/strong%2Bfemale%2Bprotagonist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nEFttukVOKQ/VfQ63jqldfI/AAAAAAAAB5I/RKu2oHzjZsc/s200/strong%2Bfemale%2Bprotagonist.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">how i see myself right now</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> I don't really spend much time thinking about the Superbowl, but I imagine myself at the center of the kind of fanfare that accompanies it as I arrive every day. I have been visited (not observed) twice by the school director already and had a drop in during class by the principal. We can take care of business in the hall, no need for email exchanges that go on for days. I have a department chair who always has the big picture in her head so I can deal with the nitty gritty of teaching. Another teacher in my department wants to talk about books every day and a third is calm and ignores the small stuff, a good model for me. My co-teacher is patient and unafraid to advise, thank heavens. I am the newbie, so the desks in my room are 70s puke green plastic, and teachers I don't even know are stopping by to sympathize. (I <i>lived</i> through the 70s: these desks are not a problem for me). I feel a bubbly laugh coming on.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> OK, I am still in panic mode-I am teaching NOTHING I have ever taught before and spent the summer in AP workshops. So no summer reflection for me, and now I am implementing on the fly. But everyone trusts me and the kids are great. Still no printer or copier code. But, the path is revealing itself and I belong here. Do I miss my old school? Every single day--but change has always been my inspiration, so get ready. Healigan is on a roll.</span> <br />
<br />Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-86321160959047243242015-08-19T07:41:00.001-04:002015-08-19T07:43:07.078-04:00IT IS MY OWN FAULT<b> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A post from last winter.... still thinking about how learning happens, and who is in charge of it?</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here goes part 2 of my reflections on learning on the internet--and in this post, I think it is me that needs the lesson. Maybe "lesson" is the wrong word. What seems so clear to me is not so clear to all my students. Sometimes I need to address intent, other times the result is the issue. Certainly this particular conundrum arose because I created a new approach to my unit. It takes years to get them perfect! Here is the problem...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Last week, all three sections of my Brit Lit classes were performing and then addressing thematic and structural ideas in various acts of King Lear. So I had three groups, for instance, choosing one scene from a certain act, performing it, and then presenting to the class their reasons for choosing that scene as representative of the act. So most of the presos (2-3 minutes) mentioned thematic ideas and then also discussed in greater depth an aspect of drama that was a major focus for that act. I had some expectations that groups for Act 3, for instance, would mention the drama created by the seesawing set changes, but if they chose another element and defended it well, I could blurb on about those setting changes myself in the discussion afterwards. But what happened totally surprised me, though it should not have. Two groups (in different sections) gave the same presentation, though they did not dramatize the same scene. These are junior AP-level students, so they did their research. That's a good thing. But what bothered their teacher was that the order of sentences and the wording the students used was identical. Not a problem for the other students--it made them focus their attention on critical issues in our study of Lear, which is what I wanted. They were good presos.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> But what concerns me is that I don't know whether any critical thinking happened--unless you count choosing a good answer from your look at Shmoop or Shakespeare-Online as critical thinking. Since the wording was identical, I am assuming that they copied it word for word--no thinking involved.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then they shared it, probably, which one of the students had told me anyway--"oh, yeah, Healigan, we talked about it." Did anyone think about whether or not they agreed with the website? I do not think so. And I am pretty sure I am right, because any good teacher can tell the difference between student syntax and scholarly website diction. (They never believe me when I tell them this.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So while this is not cheating, it is not learning either. They are good kids, working hard to learn and achieve at the same time. Why do I have to mention learning AND achievement as if they are different things? Because perhaps school is set up as if these two things are mutually exclusive. My kids know it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I am absolutely sure that these two groups deserve good grades for their work. But I still don't know if either group is ready to move with me to the next step. How am I supposed to know? A high grade doesn't tell me. I do not have the time to reteach or recast the unit--it is taking too long already. I think that lesson design is a significant portion of the problem, but I am not sure if all this collaborative work we are creating will be manageable for this teacher. To be honest, I had a perfectly good approach to this that the students were engaged in, except that it was entirely teacher-centered. It is my third year doing Shakespeare at the AP level, so it was time to tip the scales. Now the scales are tipped and I think I fell off the scale and hurt myself!</span>Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-45430149556561636322015-08-19T07:30:00.000-04:002015-09-12T17:58:27.518-04:00So RustyI have to start writing again: the kids arrive next week!!!!! I am so rusty at self-expression, so today's post will be a list of what has changed over the past three months AND what I did on my summer vacation. No wonder I feel "in over my head."<br />
<br />
Costa Rica for 9 days: 4 teachers, 25 kids, 3 sloths, countless coffees.<br />
<br />
AP Language workshop AT THE BEACH<br />
<br />
AP Seminar workshop in Chicago with 2 new colleagues<br />
<br />
NEW SCHOOL!! 3 new classes<br />
<br />
daughter w concussion<br />
<br />
12 books (2 more on the way)<br />
<br />
Lost weight<br />
<br />
Gained weight<br />
<br />
Deep dish Chicago-style pizza for the first time. life will never be the same<br />
<br />
36 college recommendations written, more to come<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-53055238612348701292015-07-02T12:07:00.002-04:002015-09-29T15:01:34.194-04:00BLACK SWAN GREEN, David Mitchell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0zwHkhiJIM8/VZVhehF1ffI/AAAAAAAAB34/7LFBE7iciyo/s1600/BlackSwanGreen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0zwHkhiJIM8/VZVhehF1ffI/AAAAAAAAB34/7LFBE7iciyo/s200/BlackSwanGreen.jpg" width="124" /></a></div>
One of my most memorable reads of the year, and my first David Mitchell, is still dazzling me months later. (Black Swan Green is actually the name of Jason Taylor's suburb. ) He is disturbed, eloquent, sweet, bawdy in a 13-year-old kind of way, unintuitive and unable to be anyone but himself. That last part is the trouble: no one accepts a 13-year-old who is true to himself, so Jason gets beat up on a regular basis. He has a rough time of it--an unrelenting stammer, a highly developed intellect which does not usually work in his favor, and a vicious internal life--he names his alter egos the Unborn Twin, Hangman and Maggot. But his talent for language (I know, ironic) and the picaresque episodes with unexpected allies put him in the driver's seat for the bildungsroman which is 8th grade. He emerges victorious, to take the challenges of 9th grade on--whether he wants to or not.<br />
This is a YA adult book that treats the YA reader as intelligent, thoughtful and curious. Just like most of the 8th graders I know. *****Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-75212089017527757102015-03-15T17:24:00.002-04:002015-03-15T17:24:46.842-04:00FLIPPED LEARNING AND ME
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<i>N.B. I wrote this as a reflection after a learning day at school. </i> </div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkRETF44vYg/TUsetDLEnNI/AAAAAAAAA7A/OC_hvcD36S4/s1600/Photo%2B15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkRETF44vYg/TUsetDLEnNI/AAAAAAAAA7A/OC_hvcD36S4/s1600/Photo%2B15.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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Friday was a
professional development day at my school, and to my delight, we got some
choice. I began the day with iBook Author, since I am planning to create my own
British Literature textbook to take advantage of the 1-1 iPad initiative. I
enjoyed my hour of screencasting, since the earlier tools I had used were
outdated and limited in features. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Screencast-o-matic</i>
is going to be great. So next I chose a webinar discussing student engagement
and flipped learning. The presenters are well-known practitioners, having
penned several “how tos” over the past 10 years, so it seemed like a good
follow up to my screencasting workshop. I like the idea of flipped learning,
because it gives students control by definition, but could never see how it
would be much different than my traditional English classroom. Kids read at
home, and then come to school and we discuss or make projects or write. What
could be different about flipped learning for me? I knew that Khan Academy was
not flipped learning, though videos were involved. So my plan was to listen to
the webinar to discover more about flipping.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jonathan Bergmann
and Aaron Sams began by noting that flipped learning depended on relationships,
and relationships meant engagement. The discussion was organized around the
principles of engagement, the techniques to implement, the hurdles to success
and training the teacher AND the children. They noted that fewer children
arrive at school from “educationally privileged” households in 2015, so schools
must work differently to capture those students and “meet them where they are.”
This is not true at St. Mark’s, but even at our school, I have noticed less
support of the academic mission at home over the past 5-6 years—no time?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kx6xwDItfBk/UhpMw7Af2UI/AAAAAAAABqs/uJi0wUgUp3s/s1600/avatar%2B2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kx6xwDItfBk/UhpMw7Af2UI/AAAAAAAABqs/uJi0wUgUp3s/s1600/avatar%2B2013.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My most important
takeaway might have been their point about the Bloom’s taxonomy and how teachers
approach it: if a teacher sends a child home to do the hard stuff alone
(analyze, evaluate, create) then the teacher has relinquished her strongest
learning tool. We should be doing the hard stuff together, in school. That is
why students need me! I am feeling good about reading “A Modest Proposal” aloud
in class together last week and then having students work on questions
independently. What I modeled as we read was how to pick out particular
strategies and how they complemented purpose. My independent practice questions
required the rehearsal of that skill. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second point
that rang true came when they discussed curated versus created content. This is
where the screencasting will come in: the learning that happens at home must be
tailored by the teacher for her particular students. This is not a tough point
for me. Once I decided to eschew textbooks for anthologies a few years ago, I
was forced to create my own ancillary materials. Even now, my students are
always more successful when I tweak the curriculum and projects to fit the
students I have, instead of the students I have had. If I am going to flip a
class, the videos for independent learning must be mine. I am always surprised
when teachers use boilerplate lessons or materials and then are irritated that
students do not succeed. The only downside to created content? It takes time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Overall, this was a
good introduction to flipped learning delivered by two experts. It was an
overview of the purpose and process. Both speakers noted at the conclusion that
they were planning more subject and grade level specific books in the future. I
will check in on their website. To date, no one has done anything really good
for secondary reading and writing in a flipped manner. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Flipped Learning:
Gateway to Student Engagement<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>with Jonathan
Bergmann and Aaron Sams<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.ascd.org/professional-development/webinars/flipped-learning-gateway-to-student-engagement-webinar.aspx">http://www.ascd.org/professional-development/webinars/flipped-learning-gateway-to-student-engagement-webinar.aspx</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-60553684553761181672015-02-13T10:46:00.000-05:002016-05-02T07:42:52.007-04:00Cheating: Academic or behavioral issue?Another chapter is my personal investigation of cheating...<br />
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Is cheating an academic or a behavioral problem? That question was posed to me by my principal last week, and I was not prepared for the myriad of questions and emotions it aroused in me. I do not think I can answer with either word. Here is what I do know:<br />
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1. Most students cheat or know and witness cheaters every day. They also know that teachers do not catch cheating 90% of the time.<br />
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2. Most teachers punish cheating with a call to the parent, a visit to the Dean or a point penalty, or a mixture of these consequences.<br />
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3. Students who do not cheat resent the lack of punishment for those who do. They doubt their motivation to be honest.<br />
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4. Honor codes are just window dressing, because they are not really enforceable.<br />
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5. When kids cheat, the teacher does not know if they learned what they need to learn to move to the next step. The teacher may not know that they are not ready, since cheating is so hard to document.<br />
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6. A 0 on an assignment signals to a student that they have not achieved mastery. In my class, you only receive a 0 if you did not do the assignment or you cheated.<br />
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7. In my experience, it is the more adept students who cheat more regularly. More expectations for achievement--personal, familial, and school based, I suppose. Students with learning differences, on the other hand, often spend years being supervised as they practice study skills, sit in classes that are small and therefore more controlled. The result? They often possess stronger study skills, and more willingness to try on tests and essays. The routine of work is comfortable and something they can rely upon. <br />
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<br />Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-1867703576512082022015-02-01T10:05:00.001-05:002015-02-01T10:09:49.925-05:00GIRL WITH SNAKE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F7ziT3o24nA/VM5AoLWe1tI/AAAAAAAAB08/19VctoE3UIg/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-02-01%2Bat%2B9.54.13%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F7ziT3o24nA/VM5AoLWe1tI/AAAAAAAAB08/19VctoE3UIg/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-02-01%2Bat%2B9.54.13%2BAM.png" height="113" width="200" /></a></div>
Just finished <i>Boy, Snow, Bird</i> by Helen Oyeyemi. Boy Novak is gifted with a snaky bracelet when she becomes engaged to Arturo Whitman. (Yes, that is right—no diamond.) She spends the months before her marriage worrying that Arturo believes she is evil and a witch because of this gift. Marries him anyway, and discovers HE is the one with secrets soon enough.<br />
She wonders over her stepdaughter, suspiciously named Snow (as in Snow White?) and sends her away when her own daughter, Bird, is born. An original contemplation on mothers and daughters fills this book, as I became more and more entranced by Bird and confused about who Boy Novak is and where she came from. Can't say more or I will spoil it. Already have two students earmarked for this one.<br />
Can’t get this book out of my head. <a href="http://mywildandpreciouslife13.tumblr.com/post/109773709735/minoan-goddess-priestess-just-finished-boy-snow">http://mywildandpreciouslife13.tumblr.com/post/109773709735/minoan-goddess-priestess-just-finished-boy-snow</a><br />
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Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-39953489446318788132015-01-25T11:02:00.001-05:002015-07-02T12:02:12.687-04:00Goodbye to Shakespeare<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UeOvn9OPtG4/SRXa0-3xOoI/AAAAAAAABtk/N0YsT-tihyY/s1600/Marco_polo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UeOvn9OPtG4/SRXa0-3xOoI/AAAAAAAABtk/N0YsT-tihyY/s1600/Marco_polo.gif" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div>
I have had just about enough Elizabethan life for this year: our new schedule did not jive with my personal schedule, so I feel as if it has gone on forever. I am betting the students do too. This year was<i> Macbeth</i>, <i>Lear</i> and <i>Othello</i>. I am not sure how it went: I totally changed my approach to all three. For <i>Macbeth</i>, I focused on performance skills, but we have not been able to perform much because of schedule constraints. The best parts of <i>Lear</i> got swallowed up by Christmas break and midterms, so I am having trouble picking up the pieces. And in my first time with <i>Othello</i>, I decided to let the students be in charge. I think they enjoyed and learned, but of course this old read-write learner did not get her time in the sun as an expert. So I am recalibrating how I judge the unit.<br />
What is sticking with me this winter? I am chafing at the chains that come when I hold the control. My <i>Macbeth</i> classes do not happen to be filled with readers, so practicing the skills has been frustrating. Much of the end of the quarter was taken up by the kids who elected to "spark" Macbeth (and their personal reading too), and ending up cheating as a result. So I am sad that they did not give themselves a chance to level up their reading, and irritated that I spent my time on them instead of the students who came with me on the Shakespeare journey. But--sometimes those failures are the ones that provoke learning. Only time will tell.<br />
<i> Lear</i> was more satisfying, but we have not acted, and I don't want to let it go! At the same time, I can't wait for them to read Donne. This group will LOVE him. So I must navigate a quick ending and a new beginning for this week--during Catholic Schools Week. Argh. <i>Othello </i>was good with AP Lit; they appreciated and thought and analyzed. But I will have to get used to feeling good about their success instead of directing them. Old teacher, new methods. Growing pains.Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-58461023620002093582014-12-29T21:46:00.001-05:002015-01-25T10:47:46.132-05:00MY CORE PLN=MY STUDENTS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ghGBFMyg1Zg/VKIR5gKtrQI/AAAAAAAAB0k/_zMZ9o_FtJQ/s1600/smash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ghGBFMyg1Zg/VKIR5gKtrQI/AAAAAAAAB0k/_zMZ9o_FtJQ/s1600/smash.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
I have been in a self imposed Twitter embargo this fall: somehow discussing theory and strategy with other teachers was not what I needed. Information overload is real for me-my temperament demands that I be open, so I am always reading, talking, trying new things, in all parts of my life. But sometimes, I have to stop. Since all my preps are familiar this year, I decided to concentrate on my lesson frames. I figured that I would focus on the business of teaching every day, doing the work every day. Seeing where it led for my skills-and theirs.<br />
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So it has been a relief to turn to my first, my core PLN, my students, as I travel this road. And last week, I was reminded in a big way of how delightful and fulfilling it can be to play the role of learner in the classroom. A bit of setup: I am moderator of the Graphic Arts & Animation Club at my school, a hardy group of ~25 aficionados of anime, manga, Japanese culture, high school subculture, and gaming. It is the most diverse club in school ( and that is a big job in a parochial high school) and the guys and girls respect each other just as a matter of course. They are cool kids, and they try not to laugh at my anime inexperience most of the time. They even retweet my lame attempts at humor.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ntGFyUd-6eU/VKIRiVPF8tI/AAAAAAAAB0c/-T3UxO5U3Xg/s1600/IMG_2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ntGFyUd-6eU/VKIRiVPF8tI/AAAAAAAAB0c/-T3UxO5U3Xg/s1600/IMG_2018.jpg" height="138" width="200" /></a>We held a Mario SMASH tournament to celebrate the day-before-Thanksgiving break and almost 50 kids showed up. I was the newbie in the room--and no one laughed at my questions, everyone shared their expertise, and it was my best teacher moment of the year, when they taught me about bracket strategy, the many decisions that go into choosing your avatar to complement your personal skills, and why SMASH is the perfect game. The games moved too fast for me to do anything other than marvel. Different kids laid out different strategies for me, because I asked the same questions over and over. Isn't that what a learner does?<br />
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Some of these kids have never spoken up in my class. Some of them had never spoken to each other in school. And here they were laying out the intricacies of game strategy for me, screaming at the top of their lungs during each match, waiting for their turns with no complaints, just loving what they knew and how it brought them together.<br />
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So what did I learn? I stink at these games. I dominate at building bridges. I am a good learner--games are as great a way to learn as a 1-year-old learns with peekaboo, a 4-year-old learns with T-ball or a middle school kid learns with a Nintendo DS (which I learned is only useful to get you through the day until you can get home to the system), and after that, every single team you practice with or game you play on your Xbox. So, yes, I am going to recalibrate my units to take advantage of the mastery my kids showed last week, the learning pathways that are embedded in their brains already. So much more useful than thinking about the Common Core testing.Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-12083469571563436312014-10-25T08:33:00.000-04:002014-10-28T20:13:51.782-04:00"New Criticism, Close Reading, and Failing Critical Literacy Again"Every time I read a post from Paul Thomas, my teaching self stands up a little straighter. I read this take down of close reading, CC-style, at the end of my critical methods unit in AP Lit. Ouch.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">" Like the mechanistic and reductive ways in which New Criticism has been implemented in formal schooling in order to control and measure objectively how students respond to text, CC and the focus on close reading are poised to serve efficiency models of high-stakes testing while also failing students who need and deserve the complex and challenging tools afforded with critical literacy."</span></div>
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Of course, doing a "Lit Crit Legends" mini-unit in an AP course is mostly about offering strategies to students for attacking the unfamiliar texts that always show up on the test. And part of our discussion centers on the artificial nature of criticism, and the parallel enjoyment someone can get from the intellectual exercise anyway. This year, as we worked on one passage together in<i> Tale of Two Cities</i>, I felt the Dickens appreciation quotient double in the room that day. But I recognize that Thomas has a valid point regarding the futility of setting up a particular structure for analysis and then expecting the result to be a creative thinker. It shows me that 1) I should be pleased that I address AP goals and skills so directly, and 2) I should feel just as disappointed as I do in stretching the reading process of my students into this convoluted and disrespectful form.<br />
http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2014/02/02/new-criticism-close-reading-and-failing-critical-literacy-again/Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-68819990685598942962014-09-11T11:45:00.000-04:002014-09-11T21:13:57.380-04:00WHY I INCLUDE THE "CANON" <span id="docs-internal-guid-19993e62-655f-5523-db06-6c4370d774d5"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UloBTGQYjNY/VBHDQZBJAhI/AAAAAAAABzE/5291oJMsKiI/s1600/beowulf%2B%2Bsiebert.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UloBTGQYjNY/VBHDQZBJAhI/AAAAAAAABzE/5291oJMsKiI/s1600/beowulf%2B%2Bsiebert.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Siebert</td></tr>
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Today I found myself telling a class that it did not matter what we read together, but that we practiced thinking critically about it all..they were flabbergasted. One girl said, "But, healigan, you LOVE<i> Beowulf</i>!" And I do, but mostly because it hardwired me to recognize a hero when I saw one walking down the hall--they liked that. The conversation happens every year, and the answer is taken differently every year. Critical thinking and writing is the skill to be practiced to create successful people. Why not read the stories that nudge the best of us out into the open?</b></span></span>Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-81626556236137376782014-09-04T20:54:00.002-04:002015-08-19T07:40:28.975-04:00A LAST REFLECTION ON A TEACHER'S SUMMER <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkRETF44vYg/TUsetDLEnNI/AAAAAAAAA7A/OC_hvcD36S4/s1600/Photo%2B15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkRETF44vYg/TUsetDLEnNI/AAAAAAAAA7A/OC_hvcD36S4/s1600/Photo%2B15.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I realized a while ago that my <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1829385">goodreads.com</a> feed does not usually read like most of my friends' reads. And I cannot fathom the #bookaday crowd (yes, I know if you teach younger kids than I do, that it is all about modeling and recommendations. But I would miss my personal choices so much. I could not do it.) I don't write long reviews, though I could. Most of my reviews are aimed at the possible reader, usually a teen. I try to distill the book into a few sentences that reveal topic iced with my emotional response. Then I am done. And the books at best take meandering paths that may never meet at a common destination. Who am I as a reader? It is changing. I feel this foreshadows another shift in my teacher profile, as usual.<br />
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Two very different books have captured the deepest part of my reader soul this summer: <i>The Goldfinch </i>by Donna Tartt and <i>Cryptonomicon</i> by Neal Stephenson. <i>The Goldfinch,</i> an obvious choice: I am an English teacher who loves Dickens. For the first time, those who airily told me it was Dickensian were right. What I love about Dickens is his panoramic love of the almighty Word, his placement of his characters always into the larger context of the world, the intersection of intellect, emotion and spirit than he calls out of you as you read, his utter confidence that good is absolute in the world. No one is just a villain, a lover, a father, a demon in his works. There is a greater system at work in the world and Dickens is charging it as I read. And Donna Tartt's book also seems to be a compendium of all her experience, feeling and thought about the world. To my delight, a central theme in protagonist Theo Decker's life is one that even my least engaged student would recognize as a theme in each of my courses:<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;"> "</span><b style="color: #181818;">And isn't the whole point of things-beautiful things- that they connect you to some larger beauty?" </b><span style="color: #181818;">Yup, this is a book about a boy whose entire life is about protecting his possession of the most beautiful thing in the world-which may turn out to be his very existence. He loses his family, finds a new one, becomes a drug addict and an antiques expert simultaneously, and finds himself on the wrong end of a dangerous drug deal stranded in Amsterdam without a friend. But he always has his goldfinch-or at least he <i>thinks</i> he does. It turns out to be more important than having it, by the way. The book is panoramic, </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">profound and full of allusions that I would never have seen 20 years ago. Yet another reason to be perfectly fine with getting older, and loving Dickens/Tartt too. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kx6xwDItfBk/UhpMw7Af2UI/AAAAAAAABqs/uJi0wUgUp3s/s1600/avatar%2B2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kx6xwDItfBk/UhpMw7Af2UI/AAAAAAAABqs/uJi0wUgUp3s/s1600/avatar%2B2013.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But then we have <i>Cryptonomicon, </i>a 1000-page origin story of the Enigma code, the digital computer and invention of RAM, the NSA, and all the people necessary to tell the story. Alan Turing is really in the book!!! There is a 4-page description of the proper way to eat Cap'n Crunch cereal in the Philippines, very close to the illustrated iteration of the first generation of RAM and the extremely scientific connection between masturbation and effective code breaking. One of the characters invents the digital computer, calling it the compute-er. It is a wild ride requiring commitment, a comfort with the dizzying speed at which Mr. Stephenson invents words and worlds and then plops you down into an easy chair to enjoy the thorny but hilarious path to true love. Everything about this book SCREAMS epic. And yet, just like Tartt's book, there might be a writerly preoccupation with creating something beautiful, and just, and important. </span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Is this why I loved both books? Probably not--it's too symmetrical. But they each seem to feed some part of me that needs to be fed. I feel as though I am a puzzle piece in the transition from a book world to a digital world. I do know that I will be referring to each of them this year as I design a track for each class I teach. Sometimes the books I don't teach are the ones that control the ones I do. </span><br />
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<b>*Read This Summer</b></div>
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Gun Machine-Warren Ellis</div>
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Cryptonomicon-Neal Stephenson</div>
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We Were Liars-E Lockhart</div>
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Deep Blue-Jennifer Donnelly</div>
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Identical-Ellen Hopkins</div>
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The Coldest Girl in Coldtown-Holly Black</div>
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The Tea Rose-Jennifer Donnelly</div>
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Snowpiercer-Vol 2</div>
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Mr Mercedes-Stephen King</div>
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The Goldfinch-Donna Tartt</div>
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How the Light Gets In-Louise Penny </div>
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The Book of Life-Deborah Harkness</div>
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Hild-Nicola Griffith</div>
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Sharpe's Eagle-Bernard Cornwell</div>
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Waterloo-Bernard Cornwell</div>
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The Maze Runner-Dashner</div>
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Ancillary Justice-Ann Leckie</div>
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Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-22535570680925382372014-08-22T17:17:00.000-04:002015-03-23T22:08:50.028-04:00TEACHING TEACHERS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JBTTfv5Wjjs/U_eyEycGXsI/AAAAAAAAByg/DppuFK8FRhs/s1600/%23spartanfamily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JBTTfv5Wjjs/U_eyEycGXsI/AAAAAAAAByg/DppuFK8FRhs/s1600/%23spartanfamily.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
Just catching my breath after our prep week--new website, new books, new classes, new schedule. Last year, there was no time to reflect with 6 classes, so I have to remember how to do that for this year. Here we go.<br />
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Our new school website, including a new course management tool, went live this week. I was among the presenters who introduced our "Academic Groups" pages to all the other teachers. Three meetings and many hours of play over the last three weeks set me up for Wednesday's 60 min preso to ~25 teachers plus the principal (gulp). I was on learner overload during the prep sessions! The process was a typical tech learning curve-nothing worked, the functionality went in and out, and the vendor kept turning the site on and off as we tried out all the features. But we had fun, and learned together, and even strategized how other teachers could be soothed when this stuff happened to them. Hardest class in the world to teach? TEACHERS.<br />
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So here is what I learned sitting in a tech lab with 5 other tech-y teachers. We are all alike in our curiosity, our willingness to screw up and laugh at it, and our desire to work together. At no other time during the year will I probably spend extended time with these folks--we all had different temperaments and areas of expertise. Didn't matter this summer. What mattered was the topic at hand and how many ways we could un-code the website. How this looked and sounded reminded me of exactly how my room looks when I throw out a challenge to a class and they have to solve the problem without me. It was loud, and we were all talking at once, and at least two people were rocking more than one device at a time. Everyone announced their superior approach the group at large, whether anyone asked or not. People jumped up to run across to check someone else's screen out whenever they needed to. All of this was happening while the Tech Director had a preso up on the Smartboard and was trying to present to us. We even laughed that we were 21st century learners-which was actually a snarky comment, since most of us at one time or another has made fun of people who still call it that--14 years into the 21st century.<br />
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But as I worked the room this week at the actual session, I noted at least three levels of comfort in the room with my colleagues. At the same time, I noticed some of my colleagues were unhappy with others yelling out questions or calling out successes. And there are always adults who are consternated by my room set up--not rows, more like mini centers. So if you are 50 years old and you are used to finding a seat near the front so you can be near the teacher, what do you do when there are 12 "front row" seats and the teacher does not stand still? I needed folks to help each other, since the class was so large. I sensed that most of the class was on target, but not everyone was happy. It is a vulnerable feeling to know that you are laying your teaching soul bare to other teachers who may not get your approach. And no teacher spends time in class describing why she teaches the way she does--the whole collaborative thing is CRITICAL for our kids, so my adult learners needed to test drive collaboration themselves. I hope that they got enough to work on their own. I won't be giving a test so they know how well they learned!<br />
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<br />Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465371939541130605.post-28345212190342425112014-08-14T14:36:00.001-04:002014-08-14T14:36:56.222-04:00GRAPHIC NOVELS in the ELA CLASSROOM, High School Edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Somehow, without planning it, I have begun a graphic novel shelf in my classroom library. My Anime Club kids pushed me to read some manga, which is cool, but I found myself wanting more solid stories, so graphic novels started jumping out at me whenever I was at the bookstore. They are intense reading experiences! Most of the ones I have grown to love have required second reading just because my "print" mind cannot always decipher the sophisticated layers of story added by the art. And then so many series use different artists for each issue, so I am learning two new authors with each new episode. Kids don't seem to mind, though. They eat them alive. I have decided not to add my favorite manga to the mix though--I have so little space, and they are like cotton candy. I could not have only one volume of Death Note or Scott Pilgrim--it would spark a mutiny.<br />
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So how do I choose the right graphic novels? I started with authors whose names I knew--mostly because of movies made of their books, I guess--and so my early choices were the "classics" as far as I could decipher: Harvey Pekar, Lynda Barry, Art Speigelman, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Alison Bechdel, etc etc. I am reading As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gilman as she draws it right now online, and some of my favorite purchases this summer have been Boxers and Saints by Gene Yang, both volumes of Snowpiercer and Templar. I have also dabbled in Warren Ellis (Crecy, Gun Machine), and a student gave me Polarity-about an musician/artist whose superpower is his bipolar-ity. And I would not be an English teacher if I did not have Kill Shakespeare in my room and Grant Morrison's Supergods. A few of the novels into comic books are OK-but that brings back memories of those Classic Comics that all the boys in my neighborhood read when I was a kid. The paper was flimsy, the ink smeared, and the best parts of the story were always left out in my 12-year-old female opinion.<br />
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When I review this list though, it is heavy, really heavy on literary-type storytelling, which can be a tough sell for most kids. And some of these are incredibly dark, cynical, violent and even misogynistic (that is for another post). I don't want them in my room if I am not going to be able to accompany their reading of them with discussion of difficult themes, images and styles. I have avoided the superhero stuff, cause the kids already read those. I did get 3 new converts to Gaiman's <i>Sandman</i> this year, and am thinking of adding a few issues of <i>Lock & Keye</i> by Joe Hill. And shouldn't I have Matt Fraction in there somewhere? And I NEED to read Tank Girl asap. So here is my list to date. What am I missing? What should I remove?<br />
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Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth</div>
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Persepolis</div>
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American Splendor</div>
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V for Vendetta</div>
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Locke and Key</div>
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Sandman (3 vol)</div>
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Polarity</div>
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Boxers and Saints</div>
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Templars</div>
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Snowpiercer, vol 1 & 2</div>
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The Griff</div>
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Kill Shakespeare, vol 1 & 2</div>
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The Modern Mariner-Nick Hayes rocks!</div>
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Graphic Canon, vol 1 & 2</div>
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My Goodreads list, still under construction:<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1829385-leslie?page=1&shelf=graphic-novels&view=covers&visible_control=batchEdit">https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1829385-leslie?page=1&shelf=graphic-novels&view=covers&visible_control=batchEdit</a><br />
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My beginning list of places to go for recs:<br />
<a href="https://forbiddenplanet.com/picks/50-best-graphic-novels/">https://forbiddenplanet.com/picks/50-best-graphic-novels/</a><br />
<a href="http://flavorwire.com/451552/25-essential-graphic-novels">http://flavorwire.com/451552/25-essential-graphic-novels</a><br />
<a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/books">https://www.humblebundle.com/books</a>Healiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11198319344895178005noreply@blogger.com0