Monday, March 18, 2024

Senior Speaker Materials

 

Guidelines for Writing a Commencement Address

The draft you write for consideration does not need to be a final version, but should give the panelists a clear idea of what you plan to say in your speech. The traditional commencement address has had content which reflects back on the class's experiences and also gives advice or guidance for the future. The tone should be one which inspires and motivates the listeners.

Although the Commencement Address is directed at the graduating class, the message needs to be meaningful and appropriate for the adult audience present as well. Content, language, or style which parents or grandparents might find offensive is not suitable for a Commencement Address.

Humor can be an effective minor element of a Commencement Address. The predominant message, and consequently the predominant writing style, should be serious, thoughtful and inspirational.

 

Format: This a general map of graduation speeches.  It is not required. Feel free to be creative. But as a starting point, you might want to observe the following steps.

 

Introduction--

* Attention getting anecdote

* Establish a theme -- Past speakers have used themes like the qualities of Eagles or the symbolic importance of bridges

* Set purpose or message

 

Body--

* Reflect on events of past 4 years

* Reflect on present status

* Reflect on where things are headed

 

Conclusion--

* Re-emphasize message

* Closing thoughts and anecdotes

 

A few helpful suggestions:

Though you may want to fill your speech with inspirational quotations, and heartfelt thoughts of hope, be careful of overusing clichés. Because they have been used so often, clichés do not always hold much power within a text and tend to be easily forgotten by an audience.

On the other hand, the most memorable speeches are those that tell some type of story. Typically, speakers will use either brief anecdotes or longer narratives to convey their message. As opposed to citing bland clichés that are easy to forget, stories tend to stay with people and carry a stronger emotional and intellectual impact.

 

Here are some samples of past commencement addresses.

2018

2017

2013

2012

Friday, March 01, 2024

AVReading Newsletter March: Changing the Tone

 

As teachers, one of our favorite “go-to” activities for a fun day in class is playing games.  These can be a lot of fun.  I am always a little taken aback how a usually reserved or quiet class can be whipped up into a frenzy when the element of competition is introduced.  It is fun to see these people engaged and even passionate about winning the prize, even when that prize might be something insignificant, like a Jolly Rancher.  

These games are great for review days, where actual test items can be converted into “trivia questions” that students try to answer for individual or team points.  It is an attractive choice for teachers, in part, because there are so many online resources and tools that make “gaming a lesson” quite easy—Kahoot and Gimkit to name a few.  These games are fun and dynamic and a good choice every once in a while.

However, they can also create a tension within a community, especially if those games are carried over long periods of time.  Now for content areas like physical education where students actually sign on for broom hockey or badminton, this is a voluntary choice made by students, or just simply an expectation they have of the class from the start.  However, when we center or design other content areas around the gaming model, it changes the feel of the class. 

So much of our educational system is already founded on a level of competition.  Whether it is the informal competition of students comparing grades and test scores with one another, teachers who curve their grades off the top performers, or the normative scales of most standardized tests.  Whether we knowingly do this or not, we design our classes a little like our free market economy, where we see points or high grades as a highly valued commodity.  This creates a type of competition for those points or high grades. 

This is not to say that we should not have grades or that we should not “curve” tests.  It is simply acknowledging the sometimes hyper competitive atmosphere that schools can foster.  In this atmosphere, there will always be winners and losers. That is the nature of any game.  Unfortunately, this is not always the best environment for students to learn.  

The message here is to simply be aware of the competitive elements we have added to our classrooms. Here are some thoughts about how to adapt our competitive atmospheres to ones that are a little more collaborative in nature.

Goals versus Victories.  Some games can be modified by changing the emphasis from defeating another team or individual to attaining an independent criteria.  For example, if it is a standard trivia question format, the goal can be set at answering seven of the ten questions correctly.  

Extra Credit.  I know that there are some deep philosophical struggles that educators have with extra credit, but I do not have those.  I see it as another tool in the toolbox, especially for some of my students who are regularly disengaged by other attempts.  For some inexplicable reason, some students get more excited by the two points of extra credit than the 100 points they might get if they actually completed their projects.  I like to use the extra credit to get them invested in activities they might not normally want to do.  For example, in a recent letter assignment I offered them a couple of extra credit points for using Shakespearean language.  Or the day before a speech assignment, I gave extra credit points for students who could stand and deliver a 20 second speech without moving their feet, leaning or swaying, and keeping their arms at their sides.  These activities are designed so that they are not out to beat anyone, but to attain a specific standard or target.  

Class Goals.  On occasion, I will set a class goal and then offer a treat or reward if they can meet that goal.  I might tell them that if at least 80% of the class completes a given activity or assignment by a certain date, I’ll bring in donuts!  These simple steps can shift the subtle emphasis away from trying to defeat others to forming collaboratives students can work towards a common goal. 

 

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Thursday, February 01, 2024

AVReading Newsletter February: Taking Risks

 

A good deal of teaching is about balancing.  We try to create a balance between a classroom that has too many rules and expectations and a classroom without enough of them.  We try to balance a classroom between having too much fun and not enough learning and too much content without much fun.  We try to balance between presenting ourselves as strong and confident figures who have everything perfectly planned and presenting ourselves as open and vulnerable beings willing to take risks.  It’s a lot easier to stick with the former.  If you are like me, you love control.  You cherish a lesson where you know exactly what is going to happen, where things move along exactly as you had orchestrated them, and where everybody does exactly what they had been instructed to do.  

            With that said, I must admit that some of my most transformative educational moments have come when I have been forced to drop the original plan and improvise. They are moments when I have acknowledged that things were not working out and that we would have to make adjustments.  It can be uncomfortable. It means that you have to publicly admit that you were wrong or that you had been “less-than-prepared” for the event and would need to make a change.  

Here are some thoughts on opening yourself up to being vulnerable. 

Building Trust.  Day One is not the right time to take the risk or to be vulnerable.  There is an ingredient that must be established first, and that ingredient is trust.  It is something that has to be established for both the teacher and the students.  They need to know that they can speak and participate and engage without being ridiculed or shamed, and you need to know that you can be playful and have fun without having the class go completely off the rails.  They need to know that you are competent, organized, thoughtful, and caring, which means that the early days of class are pretty important to setting that tone.  They also need to know that when things go poorly, that you care, that you are going to follow-up with them and that they are always welcome and safe in your classroom. 

Weekly Letters.  I will preface this suggestion by stating that it is not possible for every teacher to do this.  In intervention settings where class sizes are smaller, it makes total sense, but when there are upwards of thirty or forty students per section, it simply wouldn’t be possible, at least not on a weekly basis.  However, one way I am able to establish relationships with students is through our weekly letters.  Each week, they write me a letter / reflection around what we have been studying, but I also encourage them to include a little about their current joys and struggles if they feel comfortable doing so.  In most cases, students actually write more about what is on their hearts than on what we have been studying.  I figure that as long as we are exercising the writing muscle, building relationships, and discussing ways to improve academic performance, we have progress.  These letters have been amazing opportunities to communicate with students, to see past some of the bad choices, and to help them in a very personal way.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Forgiveness.  I make so many mistakes.  It is a huge downside to taking calculated risks.  You are bound to fail.  And it isn’t just pedagogical mistakes, it is the interpersonal mistakes as well.  I do not recall having a lot of teachers who were willing to admit when they were wrong, but I do recall the few times it happened and how much I appreciated their willingness to own their mistake and promise to do better.  It would not be wise to make a regular habit of it (since it would indicate that despite making mistakes, you are not really taking the steps to fixing them), but I think it does a lot to establish a sense of connection and community that can sometimes be so allusive in a class. 

 

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Tuesday, January 02, 2024

AVReading Newsletter January: Privileging Difference

 

The factory model of schooling has driven so many of our choices in education.  Unfortunately, this model does little to recognize the rich diversity of approaches that students may have in learning and in demonstrating their knowledge.  While schools could be much more efficient if we could simply apply a uniform system of education to everyone, we have learned that when we try that so many students are left behind. 

            As we strive to create a sense of community within our classrooms, it will be important that we do our best to pull in everyone.  And to do this, we will need to privilege some of the unique differences that exist within our classrooms.  The idea here is that most of our work and assessments within a classroom revolve around limited outcomes of academic tasks: essays, quizzes, tests, speeches.  These are important, and we must work hard to help our students become better at these academic literacies along with the content that we hope they are to learn.  

            However, there are also ways that we can privilege differences in our classrooms, so that on any given day, the student that is designated as the “expert” will be different.  There are many ways that we can privilege these differences. I would avoid doing any one of these more than once or twice a trimester, but I would certainly add them to a toolbox of choices so that I can draw upon the unique skill sets and interests of students to both demonstrate their learnings and to engage them more deeply in the critical thinking skills I am trying to foster.

            Inquiry Units. For my intervention classes, I have created the curriculum around student chosen inquiry units.  In other words, once a trimester the class will brainstorm, discuss, and vote on a topic / question that we then study.  Once the topic  / question is chosen, we spend about three weeks reading articles, viewing videos, writing responses, and discussing related topics, and then finish the unit with some type of product / project.  As a teacher, it’s a totally intimidating process because it means that I am usually one day ahead of the students in my planning and organizing.  It’s also intimidating because they typically choose topics / questions for which I have little knowledge.  However, in doing this, I am privileging their interests.  And since these topics / questions are decided collectively, there is a shared sense of community and ownership in that topic / question.  As I write this, my students have chosen a unit on hip hop.  In the first week we are studying the history, in the second week we are  studying important figures, and in the third week we are studying the social issues around rap.  The final project is a literary analysis of rap lyrics. 

            Finding Expertise.  Along with building community by privileging their different interests, it is good to privilege their expertise as well.  I am constantly looking for that one talent that allows the student to become the teacher.  I have discovered students who have a passion for weather, and then found ways to incorporate  an article related to that expertise.  I discovered an entire group of students who were serious gamers, and created an entire class that allows them to more deeply study (and question) some of the important elements of their passion.  I have discovered that some students enjoy acting and will create an option where they can take a piece of text and bring it to life, or better yet, give them a chance to direct a small group.  The idea is that more people can feel a part of the community when we allow for more voice. 

            Drawing: More than just content, I like to privilege different modes of understanding.  At least once a trimester, I include an assessment that requires students to draw.  They are usually pretty simple.  I might ask them to identify an important moment from a scene or chapter, to create a visual depiction of that moment, and to include textual evidence.  In my “Life of Shakespeare” unit, I have about twenty “facts” of daily life from Shakespeare’s day.   Students are given one of them, and then asked to do a drawing of it.  Again, we create more inviting, open environments when we privilege the different talents and skills of students.

 

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Friday, December 01, 2023

AVReading Newsletter December: Faster Alone; Farther Together

 

I am sometimes profoundly moved by the wisdom of my students.  I recall one student who once told me she was taught growing up that, “We can run faster alone, but we can run farther together.”  With that simple exchange, my thinking around community and collaboration totally changed.  

            Under the idea of constructivism, this all makes sense.  Students can try to learn the concepts and skills we give them on their own.  A teacher can assign readings and papers and projects, and expect students to process these lessons and learn in their own little silos of thinking, and they can move pretty quickly. They do not have to wait up for slower moving, less motivated or distracted peers.  They just get the work and move on to the next lesson. 

            Yet, there are so many limitations to this way of learning.  For starters, collaborative learning spaces have built in support groups.  If an individual gets stuck, there are others available to help problem solve.  Additionally, things that might normally take an individual a long time can be done much more quickly as a group.  It’s the “many hands make light work” theory.  Finally, the product of a group has the possibility of being richer than the product of the individual.  Groups that work well are those where the members can freely offer constructive feedback to one another, an advantage that is even greater when there is diversity within the thinking of the members. 

            Here are a few class community activities that I have found especially meaningful.

            Jigsaws.  Jigsaws are a great way to cover a lot of territory in a short time.  I like to use this activity when I assign longer articles.  I break students into about five groups.  Each group is assigned a different segment of the article and must read and document specific parts of the text:  a general summary, important details, and significance of each section.  Each student in the group must record each of those pieces. Then, I re-arrange the groups so that there is a representative from each of the original groups in each of the new groups.  Once in the new groups, each individual must share out the summary, important details and significance of their section. 

            Open Space Technology.  I’ve written about this activity in the past, but it is such a fantastically, engaging way to crowd source information.  The gist of the assignment is that the class will research a given topic.  Then, within a shared document, they will complete a data dump after a given amount of time.  Finally, the students review the data and share out one piece of evidence they find particularly interesting or useful.  I like to do Open Space activities at the onset of a unit.  And I am often able to pull articles and videos from their data dump later in the unit. 

Google Slides.  I really like using this tool for crowd sourcing a lesson.  For example, in my Narratives and Video Gaming class, I used to set up a Google Slide Show and created a slide for each group in the class.  For that slide, they would have to review an independently produced video game.  In the Google Slide show, each group needs to populate various regions: title of the independent video game, image, summary of the game’s story, bulleted list of the “game play” and a bulleted general review of the game.  Eventually, we project the slide show and each group shares out their findings.  This same activity can be repeated with large pieces of paper or big white boards, which I will do from time to time just to mix it up.  However, at least once a term, I like to make use of the Google Slides.  I find that the quality of their work is a little bit better than with the other mediums. Regardless, students  are constructing knowledge collectively. 

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Wednesday, November 01, 2023

AVReading Newsletter November: Engagement versus Submission

As a young teacher, I remember visiting the classrooms of my mentors and being awed by their ability to lead the group rather effortlessly through a learning experience.  On a superficial level, I was impressed by the attentiveness and orderliness of the group.  Students did not talk out of turn, they had their materials ready, they had thoughtful things to say. It felt just like a scene from Dead Poets Society or even Harry Potter where nearly all of the classroom scenes reflected a very eager or (at the very least) a very compliant collection of students. 

            Unfortunately, my observations were entirely misguided.  For starters, my data set was limited to fictional classrooms or-- in the event of my mentors-- Honors and AP classes where the level of participation  is different from the average on-level or intervention class, which I was much more likely to teach.  Furthermore, I misinterpreted how the students were working.  On the surface, it seemed to be about control and submission.  In other words, it looked from my perspective as though the teacher had exerted control over the class and they willingly submitted.  Therefore, I felt that to be a good teacher I too would need to exert control and demand a type of submission. 

But a more nuanced understanding of those model classrooms suggests that I was seeing engagement and buy-in not submission.  In the chapters to come, we will unpack this idea of engagement a little bit more deeply, but at this point, I would like to specifically address the idea of engaging students as a collective group.

In many of my struggles with classes, my first reaction is to complain about the superficial behaviors: they talk out of turn, they are getting out of their seats, they are not listening, they are not using their work time, they are not completing tasks.  Defining the problem in this way puts all of the responsibility on the students.  It suggests that all of this would be better if they simply behave more maturely.  But when interpreted from another lens, these behaviors could be seen as an indicator of disengagement, meaning that students do not feel connected to their teacher, their fellow classmates, or the content of the course. So then, the question changes from “why won’t they listen / respect / respond to me?”  and becomes “How can I get them better engaged or invested as a community?”  

Here are a few thoughts about how to encourage collective engagement.

Find joy.  Creating an atmosphere of community begins with the joyfulness and playfulness of the teacher.  As often as possible, I begin class with something fun.  They are just bits of silliness to engage students.  “Turn and say ‘Hello’ to the person sitting next to you, and tell them about the weirdest (legal) thing in your backpack right now.”  “Turn and talk to your neighbor, explain to them why they might enjoy a one way trip to Mars!”  “Okay, today, I have a deep philosophical question I want you to ponder.  Why is it you can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish?”  The best openers are those where you can call on students and engage them a little.  “Right now, point to the best singer in the room.”  When TikToks were big, we discussed the hottest trends.  When the spinners were popular, we had “spinner tricks” where students stood up and displayed their skills.  Just have fun with them.  

Listen.  Having meaningful conversations with students in those moments just before class starts, or even just moments before they leave, are extremely valuable.  They are also extremely difficult since there is usually a lot going on and since I am usually exhausted by everything that an average day in front of students can bring.  But, in these candid moments of conversations, I discover so much about the music, shows, apps, games, hobbies, and trends that interest students by just being willing to engage them in conversation.  

Warm Demander.  Getting a “community” feel within a classroom is not about discipline and respect. However, it does not mean that the classroom is a free-for-all where “anything goes”.  Ed Moore in his book Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys, he describes the happy medium between tough love and unhealthy permissiveness.  He calls teachers who hit this balance “warm demanders”.  It is the ability to have expectations, to voice those expectations, and model those expectations without having to create an atmosphere of law and order, where the message becomes “do it my way, or you are going to have to leave”.  Warm demanders are capable of setting standards within a classroom but know who to be flexible when classes struggle.  They know how to address individual behaviors versus punishing entire classes. They work relentlessly to build and foster relationships, and let students know that even after times of frustration and disagreement they will always be welcomed back.  This is important to establishing the feel of community within a classroom. Everyone is welcome! And that means absolutely everyone!  When I signed up for this life, I did so knowing that I would have to teach everyone, not just the ones I found pleasant and agreeable and submissive.  What can I do today to make my students feel connected, not simply compliant?


Moore, Eddie. The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys. Corwin, 2018.

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Monday, October 02, 2023

AVReading Newsletter October: Obstacles to Community

 

As a society, collaboration and community does not come very easily for us.  So much of our cultural narrative is built upon the idea that people just have to tough it out on their own.  If you want to make it in this world, you have got to take matters into your own hands and power through.  You can’t depend on others, and anyone who does not do their share is simply a freeloader.  Additionally, we are not very trusting.  We are more likely to be suspicious of our peers than we are to engage them in conversation, or get to know them.  In fact in the classroom, “creating community” which too often is lumped in with “collaboration” is more often than not dreaded by students.  Inevitably, students complain about the ugly side of group work where one or two participants end up doing a disproportionate amount of the work. 

            Students also come to class with histories that might get in the way. They come to class with perhaps bad experiences with other class members, making them less interested in making themselves more vulnerable or willing to work in groups.  Or maybe they have history with other teachers, who had poorly planned attempts to create community which only ended in humiliation or frustration.  

            Even as a teacher, I have struggled with creating community.  Growing up, I was one of those students who just wanted to get my work done without everyone getting all up in my business.  And whenever I design activities where students do have to work together, I have this sinking fear that they won’t do it. 

With that said, I am often surprised by these magical moments when those groups really do come together.  Not too long ago, I had an activity where students were randomly assigned a partner with whom they would read an article.  After describing the process and assigning partners, there was this moment when I remember thinking, “Oh, I don’t know if this is going to work.”  But eventually, students moved to their respective spaces, and for the next 25 minutes they would sit across from each other reading and interacting with the text and one another.  It was one of those beautiful moments where they simply bought into the activity and went with it.

I use this as an example to show that generally our fears as teachers keep us from trying these community building activities.  And I will not lie, there have been times when my activities were weak or student involvement was quite minimal.  It isn’t entirely unusual that at least one individual will simply “opt out” of the activity, no matter how much I encourage them to join the group.  And that’s okay.  The resistance of a few should not deter us from prioritizing community building activities.  Pushing our students to make connections with others and to finding ways to solve problems together helps them to use muscles and skills that many of them never knew they had.  

            Here are a few things I’ve learned about building community.

            Have a seating chart.  I know this seems like a weird tip for “building community” but I found that when I do not have a seating chart, students seem to settle into their social cliques more.  Forcing them to interact with people they might not normally interact with, I hope, forces them into some new circles.  

            Tone.  Establishing tone is a bit more abstract, but throughout my career, I have had to make some adjustments to improve my sense of community, and one of them was to check my humor and sarcasm.  While I still enjoy being playful throughout my lessons, I am so much more careful of the little jokes and asides that I make.  Beyond that, I have worked really hard to virtually eliminate all expressions of sarcasm.  It has made a noticeable difference.  When I do tease or use sarcasm, it creates an atmosphere for others to do so as well, which inhibits or frustrates community building.  And whatever benefits one might gain by making the class laugh are greatly outweighed by the damage of laughing at someone’s expense. 

            Notebook Trick.  This is such a petty trick that I almost hesitate to include it.  However, I subscribe to using as many tools as possible, and in some cases the notebook trick inspires a little more effort.  During group time, as students are working on things, I’ll just circulate throughout the room with my small notebook, periodically writing some things down.  In honesty, I am making lists for what I need to do during my prep or some writing ideas that I have had, but students generally assume that I am taking notes on them.  On the rare occasion where a student actually asks what I am writing down, I tell them, but I suspect that most believe that they are being assessed on their small group skills or general engagement. 

 

 

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