3D questions in a 2D world: LEARNER MOTIVATION, EDUCON 2.3

I know it is May, but I have to talk about my session 3 experience at January's Educon 2.3 at SLA. Chris Craft discussed motivation and a new model for framing it. I chose this conversation because I am frequently befuddled by the lack of motivation of even my highest level students. Chris posited the expectancy value theory: level of learner motivation is directly related to anticipated value of completion of a learning task.

So...students want to please you--but not enough to do whatever you ask, if it seems to run counter to what THEY see as value. They opt in when it fits their own agenda. The teacher must have a good relationship to start with, though. Do I think this will work? I must think about their actions differently, I must think about THEIR goals, not mine.

Chris also talked attribution--"are you going to do well?" Why or why not--if why not, then let's work on this attribution (Eccles & Wakefield). Since I teach mostly seniors, this is a critical question. Some of my most gifted students have been making this question part of their learning strategy for years. Some of them are just realizing that is is theirs to ask. I can help with this.

So in my Honors class, instead of asking "what do you contribute" (their only prompted blog post this year), I might have asked "what would this experience (year of World Lit) include that you make you feel like you had created a success for yourself?" OR what would you list as VALUE from this class? Chris commented that we must move beyond flat plane: internal and external consideration of our students, so where will I go next? These are 3D questions from Chris in my 2D world. My challenge: craft 3D world learning in my essential questions.

Is there a place for the unconscious in expectancy value? Of course--my experience and history play into the interactions I have with my students. Their experience and history play a huge role in what they offer to me--they tell me that every day. How do I use these two facts to inform my teaching?In one on one conversations with students, I will guide my comments to alter their self-judgment of value and expectancy. In whole class mode, it should change my essential questions:

1. why do you think what you think? I must ask them.

2. ask them to set goals on micro level--as my essay test reviews do

3. be vigilant with my young people--be care-ful. ALWAYS

PECHA KUCHA FOR TEENS Part 2

Today was our first day back after Spring Break, so I presented my mini-PechaKucha to my juniors. They will be presenting a book review of their favorite independent reading book this year, and I promised to show them how it is done.  I chose one of my favorite books,Things Fall Apart, since many of them will be reading it next year with me in World Lit.  I edited the traditional PechaKucha structure to fit their age and the time I could allot so close to the end of the year, so they are presenting with 10 slides, 15 seconds per slide.

It went well, and I learned what it takes to do a great timed preso. I practiced my delivery 9 times so that it flowed. With only 15 seconds per slide, I could not waste time flipping through notes.  I chose slides weeks ago, but it was not until my 5th time through that I could judge one of the slides boring. So I changed it last night. I am glad I elected not to include music. It would have distracted me and the audience. Editing, editing, editing: a good review convinces someone else to read the book. I could only include those factors that might convince a reader.

What will they learn from this project? It will provide great practice in decision making, develop editing skills that are sometimes difficult to practice when writing, and further cement the presentation skills we have been talking about all year. I can't wait.
ORIGINAL POST


ORIGINAL PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS

READICIDE: Review

Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do about It by Kelly Gallagher

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Well, this certainly confirmed my instincts about the Year of Reading I imposed on my junior classes. Instead of using the 26 minutes per cycle I have been allotted for SAT review this year(!?!), I decided that my honors students and I would be reading, all year, for no grade, whatever we chose(1 out of 6 days). Kelly Gallagher wrote a book that delineated all my reasons, and surprise, surprise, my results have been exactly as he predicted. Their reading skills in assigned readings have improved, their vocab and writing is smoother and more precise, and we have become a team because of the shared experience of reading every week. I plan on using this book as evidence when I am questioned about my unique take on SAT. Thank you, Mr. Gallagher.



View all my reviews

HEDDA GABLER & SENIORS: SOCIAL DRAMA

One of our essential questions as we began Hedda Gabler in World Lit a week ago involved Ibsen's purpose in staging the play: is it a play about ideas or a play about people? I always save Hedda until the end of the year to take advantage of  the seniors' maturity level and their volubility as they round the last turn in the race to graduation. The drama stands up well to the passage of time. Though the topic of infidelity is confusing in a high school setting, if offers opportunity to discuss betrayal, friendship, social responsibility, morality and ethics with a group of young adults who are about to have cause to refer to their own value system on a daily basis during the first year of college.

But what really dazzled me this year was their approach to that question of whether or not we are to take the characters at face value. Each class approached the question differently. One group directed the class to complete surveys judging the motivation of each individual character. Another group created a Venn diagram on the whiteboard to classify the actions of major characters as realistic or emblematic, and the third group crafted mega-postits to create categories for each of  the emotionally charged situations in the play. They did not all word it the same way, but the most astute observations came as they realized how many of the male characters exhibited motivations that we understood (as fellow human beings) and acted in a "logical" manner.
Then everyone (at least during this part of the project) complained about Hedda's stilted, illogical, symbolic actions. Once we realized that Thea also felt two dimensional, that she was just a "typical" woman, it clicked. Maybe Ibsen needed the female characters to be flat in order to make his point about Hedda and the lack of options she had to BE three dimensional.  Did I agree that Hedda was just an idea and not a real woman? Not necessarily--but then again, I might have agreed when I was 17. You can only judge with the experience and time you've got. I am proud of them. This "gradual release of responsibility" plan feels right.

my questions inspired by:  http://www.shmoop.com/hedda-gabler/questions.html

DON'T DO WHAT I SAY, DO WHAT I DO

Yes, you read that right. I am making my own PechaKucha so I can track the difficulties and process my juniors might have in completing their own PechaKucha-mini projects. At the same time, I am blogging a parallel project that I have assigned my seniors.
This quarter, they are blogging on a topic of their choice, as always, but I have charged them to investigate ONE topic in depth for their 4 required postings. It seemed like a good idea, but I really did not think about what a good series of posts on the same topic might look like. What was the real challenge I was throwing them? Preliminary results have shown that some of them are not really considering the challenge critically, so I had better. I have already posted once on PechaKucha, so my area of interest for my 4 thematically linked blogs this quarter will be presentation.
I have always considered presentation skills as critical for my students: they marry critical thinking with critical expression as efficiently as writing about literature does. Students who do not always succeed at writing often succeed at speaking, so it serves my entire group. This year we did Poetry Out Loud 2nd quarter, a tableau vivant 3rd quarter (Macbeth) and now PechaKucha 4th quarter. Next year, I plan on adding a first quarter preso of some kind.

PECHA KUCHA for TEENS

   I saw a PECHA KUCHA variant at Educon 2.3 this winter and immediately thought of my SAT prep juniors. I am teaching all Honors sections this year, so we have set up SAT prep time a little differently than usual. Since most of them already possess some skill in strategic test-taking, I decided that SSR was a good adjunct to the writing practice that we are now doing. It has been a great year: their blogging is better, their vocabulary is more in tune with the ideas they want to discuss, and their reading of our assigned texts is more regular. They will rock the SAT essay in May. So what to do with all the books they have been reading? PECHA KUCHA!

   Our fourth quarter oral project will require readers to sell the book they liked the most over this year of reading with a 2.5 minute, 10 slide preso for everyone in the class. I will present the project with a PECHA KUCHA of my own, to be completed this weekend. The link to the project plan is below. Wish us luck.
http://bit.ly/e1JHjc

MY FAVORITE TEACHER: hope everyone had one

In response to Dana Huff's post of 3.12.11:
Oh, I still remember Mrs. Geuting's deep, scratchy voice and very large front teeth. She was imposing with wavy gray hair and no makeup, very practical shoes, and the same type of outfit every day. (this was a big deal, because in a parochial school, we expected our non-nuns to dress like normal ladies) Now I know that she had "strong" features, but at the time I remember thinking she did not look at all like any other lady I had ever met, but somehow it just made her more magical.
My 6th grade English teacher read aloud to us often and it was wonderful. I had started to consider myself a bookworm, so it added a real dimension to appreciate someone who could read aloud. It made me love stories. I remember she asked questions, instead of  telling us facts, and that also stuck with me. She also laughed, very loud and long, which made me realize that a teacher might also be a person. She did not really have anything to do with me becoming a teacher--but she tipped the scales in favor of book love. Once I got to college, it was a quick journey to "hey, I could talk about books all day long." Though she never touched or hugged me, I felt as if we shared something mystical and sacred. Even a 6th grader realizes when to go with it! Thanks, Mrs. Geuting.

MY JUNIOR ROMANTICS ROCK

   Just finished reading my BritLit Romantic poetry tests. I hesitate to call it a test, because really they wrote about Romantic poetry. I am so delighted by what happened. For instance, one of the prompts asked them to choose a poem which exemplified the iconoclastic tendencies of the Romantics and explain their choice. So many chose poems I never would not have chosen, but they really convinced me. What makes me smile the biggest? Almost every single essay showed a strong point of view and followed through. Great unit, great kids: this bodes well for 4th quarter British folklore/myth/legend research essays.
   This year I focused on the link between the poetic devices and the feeling/idea the poet wanted to convey. If we could not connect the strategy to the ultimate purpose, we ignored it. The farther we got, the less they wanted to let a device go: so their poetry illuminations were great, the blog posts were authentic, and they had the tools to argue their personal choices. And they wrote concise, sharp essays. I hope they feel as good as I do about it.

IF YOU GIVE A TEACHER A COOKIE.......

   I am a good example of what happens when you give a mouse a cookie. The mouse, of course, wants a glass of milk. The teacher, however, wants more tech. Once the teacher sees that technology informs her teaching, and provides a new set of choices and strategies, she becomes greedy. English teachers sweat this stuff all the time: we hear how irrelevant we are from our students, from their parents, and yes, sometimes, even from teachers in other disciplines. I stopped arguing for Shakespeare long ago; he speaks for himself. So technology tools seem to offer this magic cookie & milk snack that will link literature with utility immediately. No one will ever doubt my subject again. Insert smirk here.
   What's actually happened to me in the four years since I started my first class blog? Lots of learning--both for me and my kids. Fun: I admit that my MacBook is my favorite toy. I write more now--there are three personal blogs, two class blogs, a messy but fabulous wiki, and 10 student blogs that inspire me every day. I have a rep now at school, too, which exposes a strange juxtaposition: I 'm the teacher who reads EVERYTHING she sees (old school?) as well as the teacher who always has a suggestion for those on the journey to tech nirvana.
   But what has really happened for me with that cookie & milk?
   If someone took my treat away tomorrow, I would still teach differently than I did when I walked into my school five years ago and they handed me a MacBook. That's right, people, I have reached the promised land, the magical Willy Wonka factory of teaching. It is not about the tools, it is about the shift in my thinking. Without my iTouches or tech lab, without the wikiwork or the blogs, I would still be asking the essential questions that my students need to be happy, successful people in 2011. They would be writing in groups. We would be still reading together, books WE chose. They would decide the questions that needed answering, not necessarily me. They would be making text visible, they would be networking throughout our building and our community. They would be building flat classrooms.  I can't teach to the 20th century anymore. I can't learn 20th century anymore. The killer app is a good teacher (with a cookie and a glass of milk).

HOW TO GET AN "A" FROM ME

We are hitting the home stretch on our research essays in my World Lit classes. It is a long haul for my seniors, writing that 4th research masterpiece in as many years. They drag their feet, hoping against hope that I will tell them what to do: and I do, really. We discuss the process, plan deadlines together and then even research for a couple of days in the Tech Lab. But it always seems that it comes down to at least half of the class attempting to write a significant essay overnight. So this is my first attempt at voicing what leads up to an A paper.

So how do you get an "A" from me?


THE BASICS:
Pass it in on time.
Do the easy stuff right--MLA, cite your sources appropriately, include the pieces I request    in your final submission, follow directions on the original assignment sheet.
Don't distract me with typos, mechanical errors, format inconsistencies.

THE REAL DEAL:
Write me a real essay: so what did you really think about everything you have learned about your topic? Think before you write. Please.
You have a job to do: Use that thesis to guide your writing.
Aim for full paragraphs with authentic topic sentences, illustrate through example, use your resources in a logical fashion. Mostly I want to hear what YOU think, not what your sources told you.
Strategize your writing. Give me some variety in your paragraphing and sentence structure, try to interest me. Will I want to read what's next?
Don't worry about how many paragraphs it is. Worry about telling me the story of your topic.

ICING ON THE CAKE:
Consider me, the reader. In a better world,  I would not be the only reader, but for now, regard your essay as communication. The words are not flying aimlessly into the ozone, they are flying to me. Will I want to read it?
Catch my interest. Set me up in the intro. Vie for my attention.

I'm sorry that this is not a concrete list of  the steps to writing nirvana. It is not even close to my own best writing when I am inspired. But remember, you have never written a more informed, sophisticated piece of prose. You have been doing the school thing for 12 years: you are in charge.

What I Consume...

“Sometimes I sensed that the books I read in rapid succession had set up some sort of murmur among themselves, transforming my head in to an orchestra pit where different musical instruments sounded out, and I would realize that I could endure this life because of these musicales going on in my head. " Orhan Parmuk
 

The upside of yet another snow day: I get to think about what I do, about my particular brand of teaching. I also read for many different reasons: teaching strategy, reflection, new info, news, learning, modeling, background, context, fun, grading, escape (from grading), confidence, a little bit of beauty ever day (it’s a rule), nourishment of the spirit……….
All of these inform every move I make in my classroom, I am convinced of it. My love of my content (literature, reading) “crowdsources” my teaching. I need to work on the fly, have many paths available. You never know where kids are going to go with a poem, or a story about the history or a reaction to a particularly feisty comment by a classmate (or this teacher, for that matter). I DO know that my stream of consciousness—the one that students see, not the one that drives my personal machine—adds up over time, affects their stream of consciousness, kind of like all of the learning that a person does one day inspires an action, or series of actions, that becomes their trademark, that becomes the engine that drives every decision they make, every change they adapt to, every experience they have. That becomes who they are. I LOVE being part of it.  Every minute I am with them works on that feed, and my reading is a principal component. So on the last snow day I consumed:

Better Living Through            Beowulf Potential is a Muscle Bibliodyssey Snarkmarket Remote Access M Antoinette’s Gossip Guide BoingBoing PLANET  Myths Retold Koream	AP BBC NPR Guardian Twitter news: NickKristoff, acarvin, Sultan Al Qassemi, various other feeds Twitter: PLN check-ins
Goodreads Ozymandias Personal Diigo list on Romantics GILEAD (m. robinson) March 2011 Wired Spin 2.18.11 POEM FLOW (phone)	Student blogs: one about author John Green 47 posts  about "no man is an island"   !!! EC NING

(This did not include music, TV or my Kindle. It does include print media, phone apps, some Google Reader content and social bookmarking research)

STUDENT SELF ASSESSMENT: BLOGGING

 This quarter's blogging assignment for my Honors World Lit class was to increase readership.  We discussed a few strategies in class, but I left a lot unsaid because I wanted them to solve this one on their own. Some of them jumped in without looking and were swimming like fish in minutes. Others have had to ruminate on this task and work through their own databanks carefully, to decide what they were willing to do. My only directions were to post once a week and to comment at least once during the quarter on a post from every other person in the class.
 Already, some have adapted my directions to fit their personal styles. You might consider this a positive spin on who is posting on a regular basis and who is watching other people write. I only noted a schedule for posting to make sure they were thinking about this every week. It worked, even if some have posted 7 (!) times and some have posted twice.  Every single student is doing it their own way, regardless of my instructions. WIN.
 I agonized over the assessment: should I tell them what to judge, should I have them write up an assessment of their own? I went for the Middle Way. Below is the link to the questions I am providing them as they review their personal stats (thank you Blogger for adding stats to the Dashboard this year). Considering that I am a verbose writer and speaker, did I say too much? Will  a handout like this cramp their style? What do you think? Thanks.

http://bit.ly/iecruz

High School juniors 1, Coleridge 0

photo © 2010 Stephanie | more info (via: Wylio)
Some days, you just have to go where they lead you, and you cross your fingers that it is a road that leads them to identify your purpose with theirs. As part of the British Romantics unit, I'm teaching "Kubla Khan" this year, trying to make up lost snow time by skipping the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." One of the pitfalls of "Kubla Khan" is that they don't always get how exotic the poem is, that eating honeydew and listening to an Ethiopian play a dulcimer would not have been in the realm of Coleridge's experience when he wrote the poem. They, of course, don't think it is all that big a deal. And then there is the inevitable fixation on Coleridge's opium habit. If you are not careful, the discussion can wind its way to heroin production in Afghanistan--and they tried it today.
But then magic time started when one student protested that she did not know what was going on in the poem, that yeah the imagery was great, but nothing happened in the poem fragment. And suddenly there was a poll on the whiteboard to judge whether it was a bad, good or great poem.  "Good" won. The discussion moved to each person's criteria for judging the poem, and most of those who voted "good" decided the vivid imagery made it good, but it could not be great because it was only a fragment. They felt the poet's purpose was missing, and therefore, the reader's satisfaction would be limited. The person who hated it said it made no sense. We all had to agree to that one too. And finally, I asked, should this poem even be in the book at all? And they answered pragmatically, as only teens can: only if it means we get to skip the longer poem. They crack me up! Have a great weekend.

So Was Blogging to the World Her Only Option?

The controversy over the Pennsylvania teacher blogging about her students this week has unfortunately highlighted a weak minority in the teaching profession. I am not sure this should even be a controversy--this teacher represents a group of people who will probably quit teaching because the stresses soon outweigh the rewards. Teaching is not a job for the faint of heart: it is never easy if done well. It is exhilarating when it works.  And I feel almost as strongly for my students some days as I do about my own children. I belong to them; I serve them. I wish that teaching programs made this clear, that it is is not a 9-month year, that if you do it right, your reflection is daily and the new creative approaches happen in the summer when you have had time to digest the wins and losses. The missteps always become clear right away, but it is sometimes the middle of July before I see what worked and the seeds of the best year ever in those little victories.

So this teacher who felt the frustrations of teaching so keenly and exhibited such poor judgment handling that stress wrote of her emotional defeat instead of the myriad of other choices she could have made. She could have made her blog private. She could have looked for another school. She could have changed careers. For the perception that she and I are the same, I am angry. She did not speak for me. I am a professional teacher, but more important, I have a vocation to teach.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/02/16/technology-us-teacher-suspended-blog_8310984.html
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7961932

GREAT SAT REVIEW, DIGITAL STYLE

 OVERALL REVIEW BY HEALIGAN'S CLASSES: 4 of 5 stars
Today I got the chance to get some input from students on an iTouch app for SAT grammar review.My classes were small today as a result of a  Junior PE trip. So it was my first chance to do a small, informal sample of their reactions to a different way to review. After trying out several apps,  I chose ALLEN SAT Grammar. The app contains three sections of questions: Identifying Sentence Errors, Correcting Sentence Errors and Improving Paragraphs. The free version contained a limited number of questions and lots of ads, so school chipped in 9.99 to buy the app. We loaded the app on all 10 iTouches for the single purchase.The paid version has more questions in each section than any student could ever want to finish. They are formatted like actual test questions.
   The settings enabled the player to decide on difficult questions or least used questions. We were also able to customize how long (30, 60, 90 seconds) you got to complete each question. You may return to a question to review it after reading the rationale (especially if you got it wrong). Since I am using this with multiple classes, I appreciated the ability to reset the stats after each student. You can also have the students share their results with you by email.

    We spent some time working through questions in each section. Overall, the vote was unanimous: the students liked the digital review mode, and appreciated the explanations after each question--whether you got it right or wrong. You could check your stats whenever you wanted.  It did take some time to get used to the touch mode in test taking, but everyone did better as we went along. The questions did pop up randomly on each device, so we were not always able to discuss questions as a group. The only criticism of the app was that the Improving Paragraph  section was more difficult because the reading selections were sometimes long and time was lost scrolling back and forth through them.  Also, all questions for one reading were not necessarily sequential. Not sure why.  Of course, after one passage, they had all figured out to go directly to the questions and just skim the passage for answers...smarter than me.
   This is definitely going to become a permanent part of my review course.

SITA SINGS THE BLUES, BUT RAMA DOES NOT

   I have not written before about my "experimental" lesson in World Lit, pairing the Ramayana and 2008's  Sita Sings the Blues. This is my third year teaching the unit, and each year I  have tried to add more Ramayana to the mix. It is a hard read for my classes, so often we read a detailed  summary and discuss themes, symbols, archetypes, etc. Then we watch Sita, which is NY artist Nina Paley's re-imagination of the Ramayana from Sita's perspective. I devised the lesson because when I first saw Sita Sings the Blues, I was dazzled by its artistry, and compelled by the  juxtaposition of Paley's love of the Ramayana and her arrogance in claiming it for her own, using American values and music.  I admit it, I just wanted them to see it.

   What great discussions we would have! I could use two cultures to discuss one epic and  the contrasting values! And what exposure to an unfamiliar art form! (The movie is entirely animated, using four different styles of animation and a mix of 1920's jazz and modern Indian techno pop). But...Paley's version showcases her own values, and changes the end of the original epic,and in doing so, changes the message and sacred power of the epic. Would I be able to play this properly? And would they lose respect for the Ramayana, the last thing I wanted? For two years, I agonized over it. I always spoke privately with my Indian students before I decided to include it. One year, we blogged about the two works, and another year we reviewed the movie. We also wrote a comparison/contrast.  It met my standards.

   But I could not get out of my mind that though Paley made the movie partly as a homage to the epic, she also wanted to work through personal issues, as well as revel in one of her favorite musical artists, Annette Hanshaw. And after the movie hit the internet, it became a cause celebre for Free Culture. That's a lot of intent for 17-year-olds to wade through.
This year, my Indian student was enthusiastic until she saw the movie. She felt it was disrespectful to her culture, and as a result, she wrote a GREAT review of the movie. And the best part was that everyone wanted to hear what she had to say, so it was a learning experience that both she and they needed.

   So what to do next year? I had decided to skip the movie...but then the student evaluation of the unit was overwhelmingly positive about the experience, even from the Indian student. So was it worth it to see the Ramayana critiqued negatively by an artist from another culture just so we could sample some music, animation and story telling? Do I need Sita to introduce my Free Culture discussion later in the year? What would you do?

CONFUSED TEACHER BEGS FOR ROUTINE

   I found myself today telling a colleague that the poor kids needed a routine again. With all the days off, late starts and early dismissals over the past three weeks, I have have racked up maybe three full days of teaching. Three.  I also counted how many iterations of our schedule we have used over this period of time, and was horrified to find that we have used the regular 26-period, 6 day cycle; the  one-hour late start; the two-hour late start; the early dismissal; the morning assembly schedule (first class 60 minutes, all others 26); and the noon dismissal schedules. This means that I do not see ANY student on a regular basis, and the length of class varies with each new schedule (41 minutes, 31 minutes, 60 minutes and 26 minutes. Maybe).
   Also, this week, for those not in the know about parochial school life, is Catholic Schools Week. We celebrate our particular focus on educating the minds and nurturing the souls of our children, which is pretty cool. At the high school level, the activities change every day. The bishop visits, we pray together (which always gets to me). The dress code changes every day, the number of children out to visit other catholic schools varies every day, and of course, the athletic schedule keeps rolling. Today we had a really nice teacher appreciation luncheon which included "Win It in A Minute" games, new to me. Thank God I did not have to run across the cafeteria with a cotton ball on my nose. My hold on my dignity is vicarious, at best. That might have destroyed me forever.  By the time we reach Friday, we are delirious from the bonding and the confusion. I think there is an assembly tomorrow;  I will need ear plugs to survive it.I don't know how long it will be or how that will affect my class times. I must remember to take the ear plugs out when I teach.
   So back to my thesis: my poor kids need a routine again. No they don't.  I need my routine again. Wish me luck.

Educon 2.3, My Tribe

   photo © 2011 Kevin Jarrett | more info (via: Wylio)
Thank God for snow days when you are trying to reflect on action-packed weekends with your "tribe."  And that's what Educon 2.3 felt like for me. It was my first educon, and I came away with some big ideas, but just as many new relationships. I am the outlier at my school. Spending two days sitting with 10 windows open on my laptop with my phone  next to me while I tweeted, reflected, listened, and participated felt so natural. I belonged. I was powering through those days like the LEARNER that I love to be. At school, letting my learner hang out sometimes just marks me as different. So thanks to everyone for that.
   There are few things that I don't want to forget before I get  a chance to use them. Here they are:
 1. Kathleen Cushman money quote Sunday AM: "If you want to know what it takes to get good at something, ask one of your students." I'm doing just that today with my senior seminar students who are far behind on their projects. Maybe I need to hear what they need, instead of telling them what they need TO DO.
2. Every conversation seemed to get around to relationships--every one. The one that stuck with me was during Chris Craft's conversation on motivation. The demand that every task should contain value that motivates a student to complete it-golden. The observations from my teammates that so often their own spark was started in a relationship with a family member, a teacher, a friend=PRICELESS. Gotta start multiplying those moments with my kids.
A close second was watching the chemistry between Jen Laufenberg, Zac Chase and Rosalind Echols as they described the collaborative Building History project. Good design, for sure, but the experience and ability to appreciate each other's strengths in those relationships was what drove that project and enabled the students to excel.
3. The discussion on Why Johnny Can't Read? with David Jakes  and Laura Deisley  was as analytical and focused  discussion I have ever had on the topic. I worry about what is lost as our children substitute other activities for deep reading. So to work  a huge room of teachers around to understanding that we are still needed to drive students towards making the  decisions and choices that are critical for their success as literate people was a better way for me to view the changes that I can see with my own eyes every day. And it gave me a chance to laugh at myself: I spend every day as a metacognitive reader and learner, and I sure do point to my "GOOD READERS" poster often. But I need to go further and apprise THEM of their goal: to be metacognitive about all the information they take in. The poster will be redone as the front page on our wiki  and our blogs by the weekend.

And lastly,  who could not be dazzled by those kids at SLA? Hard working, smart, funny, self-confident and creative. Chris Lehmann: It's all working. Bravo.

P.S. But what's with the logo??????

Educon 2.3, your post is coming

I am still on info overload after two days of authentic, fun, intense conversations about the things that matter to me every single hour in school, so for now, all I can do is post David Warlick's Educon Wordle:

EVERY CHILD NEEDS...

The teaching went great today.  What's not to like about Shakespeare's sonnets (juniors) and T'ao Chien (seniors)? But it was a tough day all the same. One of those days that reminds you how desperately fragile teenager-hood is. A day that reminds me that every one of them deserves my full attention, deserves to be looked at with wonder. Somebody needs to consider that child to be the most important, beautiful thing they have ever seen for at least a minute. I looked around my classroom today and saw too many faces sad, overwhelmed, distracted, hopeless. I can see that they do not know how seriously cool they are. No one has told them how cool they are. It was too much.
Each of them is one of kind, so perfect: but they label themselves, and we label them too (I've done it, I know). I heard too many comments from other adults in the building judging kids instead of celebrating them. I don't care if he talks too loud in social situations  or she does not wear the right makeup or he doesn't do "enough activities" or the uniform is a bit shabby. Most of my kids are just trying to get through the day. Shouldn't our job be to help? For my students: I am honored to witness  your grit, your beauty, your  imagination, your self-reliance, your sweetness, your brains, your laugh, your humility, your love for your friends, your heart and your soul. Even if I don't say it.