AVReading Newsletter December: Post-Op

We have this remarkable tendency to remember the things we like, and forget the things we don’t.  It’s a form of confirmation bias that, if it goes unchecked, ensures that we will likely make the same mistakes over-and-over again.  

            Though this cognitive bias did not have a name in his day, Charles Darwin was quite aware of this tendency.  In fact, to avoid the pitfalls of this mistake, he developed his own “golden rule” of reflection:  if there is contradictory or inconsistent data, immediately write it down.  In his own words, “I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the memory than favourable ones” (Darwin,1887).

            I think this problem is magnified in the classroom, where we make so many decisions each day.  Sometimes to just survive, we have to forget those things we don’t want to remember, and remember those things we don’t want to forget, as Zora Neale Hurtson writes in the opening lines of Their Eyes Are Watching God.  It isn’t that we should give each piece of bad or contradictory news equal footing.  Let’s face it, sometimes that information just isn’t helpful.  But, when we continually bump our heads against an obstacle and wonder why this keeps happening, then perhaps a more careful study of our mistakes is necessary.

            I have two types of “after-the-fact” reflection.  One is real quick.  At the end of a day, if I notice that something did not consistently work within a lesson plan or activity, I will go into my lesson plans and make a note and highlight it so that my next time through, I can make any necessary adjustments.  This is important!  There have been too many instances where I have been midway through a lesson when I am suddenly reminded of its flaw.  

            The second type of “after-the-fact” reflection happens at the end of units and courses.  If I have enough time, I will simply write out a paragraph or two of my observations for the trimester.  If not, I will at least make a few bulleted observations at the top of my course document, so that I am not starting again from the ground level on the next attempt.

Here are some tips for “after-the-fact” reflections:

Write It Down.  For as much as we would like to think that our memory can hold these thoughts for a few months or more, it just isn’t a very reliable system. 

Write It Down Somewhere that You Will Find It.  It is amazing how easy it is to lose documents-- even when they are digital.  

Topics to Consider.  If you need structure or guidance on how to reflectively look back on a lesson or course, here are some helpful suggestions.  Start with general observations and then move down to specific details that seem to support those general observations.  (Sometimes in the actual writing of your reflection, you discover that things might not have gone as dismally as you had initially thought.)  In the cases where I administer class surveys, I acknowledge some of the thoughts and criticisms of students.  If working with a co-teacher or a para, I will often have some type of “exit” interview with them where we discuss how the class can be improved.  Be sure to ground your observations in hard data when possible.  I had one case where my most ill-behaved class had the best homework completion rate, a data point that shocked me when I sat down to look at the numbers.  So sometimes, we have to be careful with our impression of things. And no matter how awful I might feel about a given lesson or class, I force myself to also acknowledge what had gone well.   In closing, I try to offer solutions to the struggles that I might have mentioned earlier in the reflection.  Even if they are simple or superficial, they offer your future-self a starting point for making adjustments.  

Darwin, Charles, and Francis Darwin. The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: Including an Autobiographical Chapter. Publisher Not Identified, 1887.

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper & Row, 1990.

 

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AVReading Newsletter November-- Preparing the Heart Along With the Head

 

I had one of those days a few years back that really tested my resolve as a teacher.  We were about three weeks into the year, and my 5th hour, had been a pretty difficult group.  In working with my co-teacher, we were hoping to create an environment of engagement and collaboration versus one of submission and control.  But our attempts were proving to be ineffective.  On one particular day, I walked into the room to find a young woman wrapping the cord of the window blinds around her neck, a fellow classmate who then went into some type of anxiety triggered seizure, and a third student who felt the need to pull down his pants and reveal his underwear to the class.  When both my co-teacher and I returned to our room after dealing with seizures and pantslessness, we discovered that. . . the young woman who had been wrapping the cord around her neck had now locked us out of the room!  It was a moment of absolute absurdity. And my long-time co-teacher and I, a bit stunned by everything that had happened, took a step back from the door, and had a good laugh!

            The entire sequence happened so fast, but the impact was far reaching.  There were certainly some technical things I knew I needed to fix and change, but more importantly, I needed to first unpack  some of the emotional and social pieces of this event.  

As teachers, we are emotional and social beings trying to do the best we can to guide, nurture, and inspire other emotional and social beings.  And as emotional beings, we frequently feel the extreme highs and lows of working with students.  Reflection is an important part of processing these thoughts and feelings-- though, as I will address a little later, this differs from dwelling and ruminating.  Unpacking our emotions after a particularly difficult or even traumatic experience is important.  I find this to be especially true when I carry the weight of something big on my heart for hours at a time.  My head just can not quite stop racing around it. 

Reflective writing is an especially effective tool at this point.  This differs from a rant or a bombast that you intend to send to someone.  Hopefully, it’s a more honest inventory of your heart and how you can begin to make sense of the events.  In some cases, I appreciate writing about things on my heart because doing so brings something formless and inchoate into existence. Once it’s on the page, it has form.  It is bounded and can be more meaningfully addressed.  

Tips for processing emotions through reflection

Take a walk (or exercise). I know of at least one colleague who will often go for a run just before he goes home for the night.  He states that he will really push himself in those runs in order to allow his mind and body to reset for the remainder of the day.  On the more pragmatic side, you might consider taking a 15-20 minute walk.  In fact, a 2017 study showed that just fifteen minutes of walking in nature reduces anxiety and stimulates creative thought (Edwards, 2017).

Write What You Feel.  These writings are not meant to be read by anyone else.  Your feelings are valid.  Let them come out and express themselves. Acknowledge your pain, confusion, and frustration.  

Be honest.  After the initial emotional burst, take a moment to offer an honest evaluation of your own role.  What were potential missteps you took?  Or what might have been the larger context under which the other actors were working?  Resist the urge to label the choices of others as pathological (or simply evil).  Even though it might be what we feel, we have to develop frames of thinking that seek to address and improve the situation, not simply remove the student from the class-- which is typically the only solution available when we label them as simply evil.  

 

Edwards, Meghan K., et al. “Differential Experimental Effects of a Short Bout of Walking, Meditation, or Combination of Walking and Meditation on State Anxiety Among Young Adults.” American Journal of Health Promotion, vol. 32, no. 4, 2017, pp. 949–958., doi:10.1177/0890117117744913.

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AVReading Newsletter October: How to Be More Reflective

 

For me, the idea of a reflective teacher used to conjure up images of a wizened-- yet pretentious-- English teacher, sipping tea, alone in a classroom with some classical musical playing in the background.  In part, I think this is due to the fact that we consider reflection and contemplation as something elitist.  The truth is, we don’t really have a lot of good role models for reflection.  For most of us, we likely never saw behind the curtains of our favorite teachers.  In fact, chances are we made most of our judgments about what makes a good teacher through the process of “apprenticeship through observation” or the process of constructing mental models of good and bad teaching simply by what we observed as we sat through years of schooling (Lortie, 1975).  The logic is that since we have not seen teachers reflect and think, we do not think it is important.  And since we do not think it is important. . . we don’t do it.  And yet research typically shows that really skilled teachers spend time thinking about their practice and how they can change or improve it (Bieres & Fook, 2020).  

            But again, what exactly does this look like? There truly is no one path in this regard.  Some systems of reflection are a little more formal and concrete than others, but each can serve the personality and lifestyle of the individual differently.

            Here are some helpful elements to consider as you work to make reflection a better part of your day:

            Time. Listen to your body and brain on this.  As we learn more about our individual biological differences, it makes sense for some people to set aside time at the start of the day, some can appreciate a moment of calm at mid-day, while others prefer to do their processing just after school or in the evening.  As far as the amount of time, it will change depending on the circumstances.  Even on my busiest days, when I feel a sense of urgency, I set aside at least five minutes, but typically, I hold fast at about 15 minutes.  At the start, it will take some training.  If you are not accustomed to contemplation, (especially if you are trying to direct that contemplation) five minutes will feel like an eternity.  

            Place. For me, I like to do my reflection within my classroom.  I’ll even spend a little bit of time visualizing what that room will look like later in the day.  But, I know of one teacher who does his reflection on  a run.  He will finish his school day, spend about an hour or so working with students and prepping or correcting, and then just before he heads home for the night, he will go on a run, where he will mentally work through his day.  

            Method. I use a combination of methods.  Most often, it happens at the start of each day for fifteen minutes at my desk in my classroom.  I start by thinking about the big pieces and move to the small.  Big pieces include the important review of my mission and how I hope to work toward that mission in my coming day.  It includes thoughts of gratitude, and acknowledgement of pain or grief that might be tugging at my heart.  Beyond this, I also try to do more formalized written reflections on lesson plans and trimesters. Typically, I will type out these thoughts and either place them within my lesson plans (where I can easily access them the next time I teach the course), or in an online journal where I can write out my reflections and tag them so that I can find them more easily at a later time.             

Béres, Laura, and Jan Fook. Learning Critical Reflection: Experiences of the Transformative Learning Process. Routledge, 2020.

Lortie, D. (1975).  Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study. London: University of Chicago Press.

 

 

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AVReading Newsletter Sept 2022 The Reflective Practitioner

 

A few years back, we had a thoughtful administrator who opened up our faculty meeting with an image of a street sign.  On the pole with the street sign, the city had posted six or seven other notices and ordinances which seemed almost absurd.  In some cases, the message on one sign seemed to contradict other messages on the same pole.  The administrator used this as a metaphor for districts, schools, and teachers that are not thoughtful about their choices.  

            Making thoughtful choices, however, is not as easy as one might think, especially under the circumstances that we are often expected to perform.  There are so many different duties and expectations placed upon teachers, and our schedules are so compressed, that the spaces in which we teach can sometimes feel more like emergency rooms than classrooms.  Just as we catch our breath from one prep, we must move on to another.  Extra duties, special schedules, and changing expectations of the school seem to create conditions that are not always conducive to making good pedagogical decisions.    And because we are working so hard to just get through the day, meaningful teacher practices like reflection simply don’t feel as immediate or important.  As Finlay (2008) points out, “Busy, over-stretched professionals are likely to find reflective practice taxing and difficult.”  

It takes quite a bit of discipline, and in some cases, a streak of rebelliousness (prioritizing reflection over answering emails for example), to carve out just a few minutes each day to breath, review, consider, and imagine.  

Yet, the practice of reflection has been established as critical to gaining mastery in a broad range of disciplines (Ericsson 1993).  The idea is that working towards mastery involves “deliberate effort”, which differs from just good old fashioned “effort”.  While we would like to believe that simply working hard as teachers will bear fruit, the more nuanced truth is that the effort must be strategic and focused.  And I believe this is important, especially for teachers.   

We will eventually get into more of the pragmatics of reflection, but to begin with, it is good to start with your “why”.  Your why may change over the course of your career, but it is important to continually consider and revisit your why.  It is a foundation upon which everything else can rest.  And if you have a good “why”, and you are aware of, and believe strongly in it, then many of the short term trials and struggles of your daily classroom lives become tolerable, and even informative.  

Here are three quick entry points for the reflective practitioner:

Elevator Pitch: You most likely have this already constructed, since it seems to typically come up in conversation with others, but formulate your elevator pitch for why you chose to do what you do.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, and you don’t have to worry about using a cliche, just contemplate in one concrete sentence what it is that has driven you to take up the classroom as your calling. 

Authenticity: How authentic is that “why” or mission statement? It might be the answer you give others when they ask why you chose to become an educator, but does it ring true?  Does it need to be adapted to become more genuinely suited to your current emotional, mental  or even developmental state?  

From the Outside: With that “why” (or mission statement) in mind, consider if the people around you (fellow teachers, students, and school staff) would be able to match your daily decisions to that “why”.  In what ways is your “why” clearly visible?  And in what ways might your choices sometimes work against that stated purpose?

 

Ericsson, K.A., Krampe, R.T., & Tesch-romer, C. (1993). The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363-4-6.  

Finlay, L. (2008) ‘Reflecting on Reflective Practice’, PBPL CETL, www.open.ac.uk/pbpl.

 

 

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AVReading Newsletter June 2022 Off the Beaten Track

 

    Back in March, a student came to me with the suggestion that we should do a unit related to Native American culture.  It was one of the few suggestions this student has made this year, so I jumped at the opportunity.  (It worked out well, since we typically change units every three weeks.  As long as I can find material for them to read and respond to, and as long as I pull in the standards to engage with those materials, we can study just about everything.)  

            Fortunately, we have an amazing wealth of resources in our building-- especially when it comes to incorporating Native American lessons and activities.  For starters, Lisa Turgeon’s monthly newsletters are filled with excellent lessons, units, and resources.  I have been able to lean heavily on her newsletters for videos, readings, and activities.  Equally as amazing has been our cultural liaison for Native American students, Jorja Valandra.  Before I started planning the unit, I sat down with Jorja to get some ideas for what I should-- and should not-- do as I created the lessons.  

            In talking with Jorja, she mentioned that there were two key elements to keep in mind:  keep it positive and keep it present.  She discussed a number of thoughts and ideas for a unit, and as she began to come up with ideas, we decided that a unit on Native American Art would be a great vehicle for exploring all sorts of relevant themes and issues.  She helped me generate a list of topics that we could explore.  

            From there, I used the general structure I would normally use for an inquiry unit.  Here was the list of the outline. 

13 Days

Materials / Activities

*3 non-fiction articles

* 1-2 poems

* 2-3 videos (documentary series-- Pow Wow Trail,  As Long as We Dance)

*Visual Art Activity (Visit online museum)

*Art Activity (Responding to an art piece in writing)

*Short story or passage from book-- There, There

* Guest Speaker 

* Google Slideshow Project

            Then once I had that, I began to outline the days.   They looked like this. 

Day One: Overview of Unit & Overview of Minnesota Native American Communities / Tribes

Day Two:  Article I Activity

Day Three:  Video

Day Four: Poem Activity

Day Five: Introduce Project, Begin Working, 

Day Six: Visual Art (Online art museum) 

Day Seven: Article II Activity

Day Eight: Guest Speaker  

Day Nine: Work Day on Project

Day Ten: Short story

Day Eleven: Article III and Work Day

Day Twelve:  Work Day

Day Thirteen:  Project share-out or presentations

            In the end, Jorja was able to secure two guest speakers for class.   So we made arrangements for Mr. Emil Her Many Horses to zoom in from Washington D.C. where he serves as the curator of Native American art at the Smithsonian!  And then on another day, we zoomed in Dr. Eric Tippeconnic of California State University San Marcus.  Dr. Eric is both a highly respected visual artist and a professor of history.  These two visits were some of the most memorable experiences of the year!  

            As I made my way through the unit, each day was a bit of a scramble.  Some lessons and activities were certainly better than others, but on the whole, I believe that students were engaged in the material.  They were reading, writing, discussing and thinking.  And as an additional benefit, I was excited about the classes.  It felt new and meaningful and fun.  It felt like a positive experience for everyone involved.  

            If you are interested in learning more about how to structure student chosen inquiry units or about the Native American Art unit we created for class, please feel free to let me know.

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AVReading Newsletter April Helping Students Read Online Texts

 

When I set out to do my doctoral study in 2009, I was convinced that the affordances of these new digital texts was going to level the playing field in our schools.  My theory was that much of our inequity in education had to do with access.  Students who could readily access the textbooks and information of schools would succeed, while those who did not would struggle.  Therefore, we just needed to make these texts more accessible to more students, and all students would have the means to do well. 

            I now realize that my thinking was, at best, a little incomplete.  The beauty of completing the dissertation was that I began to realize the complexity of the situation.  Not only did I come to the conclusion that our educational problems reached much farther than access to text, but that even the wonderful affordances of digital texts were not really all that wonderful for a striving reader.  

Making use of websites and other online readings can create some barriers for students.  An affordance of online reading is that they are much more visual and much more interesting.  In some cases, they might even be  dynamic (think of all those dancing ads we now see on newspaper sites or social media pages).  Images might bounce, move or change.  Additionally, any given page will have multiple hot links.  Even a news story, or a wikipedia entry, will have multiple hot links within the paragraphs so that readers can more easily access the definitions and supplemental material.  But affordances like these can cause serious breakdowns in comprehension for the reader who is not tracking the main idea of the text.  We could call it drift, as in the reader starts the article on one topic, but then within one or two clicks has drifted onto other pages, other topics, leaving behind the original text. 

Studies on eye movements show that readers definitely approach digital texts differently from traditional texts, which is good.  They are definitely different.  However, the struggle is that the tendency of online reading is to bounce or skip versus to read deeply.  Online readers are much more likely to zoom up and down long passages of text, looking for subtitles and sipping here and there from the reading. They grow much more impatient, much sooner, since they are accustomed to moving much more quickly in their online reading than they would otherwise read. 

With all of this said, it is a good idea to help our students become more familiar with the features of online reading, so that they can develop their skills in this capacity. 

Page and Feature Tours.  The format and organization of websites have become much more standardized over time.  Teaching students how to read a website in the early 2000s was more difficult because as a community we were still experimenting with the medium.  But over time, certain features and layouts have become standardized.  Helping students to find and notice the following features is a good start:  home page, publisher / creator / author of website, date of publication, “About” button / about the author, and “search” button.

Guided Reading Prompts. Give students something to be thinking of as they read the texts.  Sometimes, I will have them look for something specific like “According to the website, what are some of the primary reasons for increased vaping among teenagers in the last two years?”  However, I might also use the 5 Ws.  “In your notebooks, write out the five Ws: who, what, why, where, when.  Develop and answer a question for each based on the information provided in the website.”  

Discussing Style and Structure. Common Core really pushed Language Arts teachers to think beyond the text.  We were forced to move past the “what does the text mean” and “what was the author trying to say” to “how is the author trying to say it?”  We should be asking our students to make observations about these online texts.  How are they organized?  Are there noticeable differences between them and the versions we might find in books and newspapers?  What are advantages and disadvantages the author has when they publish it online versus in a book or a newspaper?  Has the author or publisher made full use of the digital tools given the topic they are discussing?

 

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AVReading Newsletter March Mindfulness in the Classroom

 

            Even in the years before quarantine, we have seen a dramatic uptick in students who suffer from anxiety.  Researchers are unsure as to whether therapists have started diagnosing more people with it or whether other environmental or social conditions within our society have factored into the increase.  Additionally, we are diagnosing more students with trauma than ever before.  A 2007 study by Copeland et al. estimated that 2/3^rds of youth will experience at least one traumatic event by the age of 16.  The rate of change in our lives has also significantly complicated the problem as students today experience significant social and technological shifts in their lives.  

            Schools have never been an absolute safe harbor for every student.  And today, even those who had traditionally been able to find respite there, may not be able to do so anymore.  This has made me rethink the way I respond to students.  I find myself questioning assumptions I make about why they might be acting out or disengaging.  It is not as though I need to diagnose them or to know their stories.  It is just that I am a little more willing to make adjustments and find unique solutions for students knowing that they might be dealing with a lot more than what is visible from my perspective.  

            With this said, schools are doing more to address the mental and emotional lives of students.  What was initially the work of one or two educators throughout the building has become more commonly used throughout entire departments or even schools.  Here are some potential areas to explore. 

            Mindfulness.  In terms of low-risk / low commitment activities, mindfulness is a great place to start.  Whether it is an exercise in mindful breathing, mindful walking, or even mindful eating, these activities take little set-up or time, and if done regularly can help change the culture of a classroom.  A number of teachers are now using brief mindful breathing activities before administering tests in order to reduce the anxiety of students who are typically stressed by them.  At the core of mindfulness is the focus on being absolutely present in the moment.  Exercises always begin with intentional breathing, directing the attention to our bodies, recognizing the feel of our physical presence, and releasing the tension, pain, and even grief with each exhalation of breath.  Talking students through the experience, helping them to become more present in the moment, allowing them permission to let their minds wander but encouraging them to return to the here-and-now.  Starting with just a few breaths and making mindfulness a regular start to the day can afford students the chance to catch their breath and settle some of their more powerful fears and anxieties.  

            Yoga.  This is not my area of expertise, but some may be well acquainted with it. I had the opportunity to visit a middle school language arts class where the teacher began the last period of the day with a five minute session of yoga.  He was able to do some simple exercises with the class as they stood at their desks.  I was more than a little impressed to watch students get involved.  Even with an observer in the room, nearly every student was making some attempt at the exercises.  

            Environmental Designs.  Sometimes, creating an atmosphere can ultimately have an impact.  Before our school’s latest remodel, I actually got a grant to install an artificial skylight in the room where I taught.  Using research developed around dentist and doctor’s offices, I justified the grant by explaining that for some students there is considerable anxiety that comes with an intervention class like reading.  Studies showed that having that ambient, faux natural light allowed students to better regulate their anxieties.  Beyond light, we can also use aromas and scents to bring a calm to our space.  Additionally, music / sounds are also effective tools. 

            To learn more about how we can make our classroom spaces more conducive to settling the mind and calming the spirit, I suggest Thich Nhat Hanh’s Happy Teachers Change the World  and The Mindful School’s.    

 

 

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AVReading Newsletter February Using More Tools

 

I take comfort in the knowledge that there is not a “cure-all” to approaching reluctant or resisting students.  It allows me a measure of grace when that one tool I use doesn’t work all the time.  Some students respond to threats that you will call home, or to being removed from the classroom or written up.  However, that tool is largely ineffective if teachers rely solely on it or other similar punitive measures.  In some cases, they seem extreme in light of the relatively small offense that the student has committed, like talking out of turn, using foul language,  leaving a mess in the back of the classroom, showing up late, being “disrespectful”, refusing to put away the phone, or simply not doing their work. Without nuance to your approach, students begin to feel as though every offense is punishable by removal or detention.  

                  Some tools can be used outside the classroom, like calling families, consulting mentors, and talking with administrators and case managers.  But there are a broad array of in-class steps that can be taken as well.  For example, establishing the culture of a classroom is important.  It involves a lot of little things like being organized or having a clean, well-decorated room.  Meet and greet students at the door.  Allow for time at the beginning of the period to play and build relationships.  Give students some agency and voice in what they do within the classroom. Create a sense of community. And make learning relevant to students.  For the most part, choices like these will create a culture within your classroom where the vast majority of your students will choose to engage instead of disrupt. 

Still, there are those who will resist or who feel as though they are outsiders.  For them, you will need even more tools within the classroom.  Here are a few that you might consider.    

Seating Charts.  I wish that I could simply allow students to sit where they wanted, but (at least at the start of the term) this is not a good choice.  Not only do seating charts allow for some social engineering, but they help me to break up toxic combinations of students.  I like that the big “mix-up” enables students to meet people they might not normally meet-- or learn to deal with students slightly different from them.  I typically mix things up every three or four weeks, and coincide the switch with a turn-over in inquiry units / projects.  I like to use the randomizer to assign the seat, and then I look over the arrangement to adjust for combinations of students that look like trouble.  To expedite a seating chart change, I post them on paper at the front of the room and direct students towards the chart as they enter the room.  Then I follow up at the start of class to help those who struggle with the chart and to be sure everyone has made it to the right spot.  

What Will It Take.   This is a technique that I got from Brian Mendler’s Discipline with Dignity.  I like to use this as a phase two intervention.  In other words, I have had a number of conversations with students about a given choice they are making, and yet I am not getting the desired change.  “What will it take,” is a conversation I have with students when things are about to reach some type of breaking point.  It is important to know that this is a conversation you have with a student individually.  This should not be something that happens in front of other students. It goes like this.  Tell the student what you have observed.  Tell them that you would like to see them make better choices.  Then ask them what it will take to bring about that change.  There will be times when they will actually have a good response.  However,  they usually will begin with “I don’t know.”  So I give them options:  will it take a quick stroll up and down the hall for five minutes, will it take a call home, or a change in the seating arrangement?  Then restate the question, “What will it take?  I need you to tell me because if you continue to make this choice, we will have to find other ways to help you do so. So what will it take?”    Of course, the student usually chooses the least painful option, but it does give them some sense of agency and it does let them know that the situation is becoming more serious.  

Ignoring the Next Thing.  Calling out a student’s bad choice is very tricky.  Through the years, I’ve learned a few important lessons about the dos and don’ts of doing so.  For starters, avoid calling out a student in a public manner.  Way too often, we use sarcasm and shame (usually out of understandable frustration) to curb bad behavior in the classroom.  But more often than not, these choices do much more harm than good.  While there are some cases where you may need to publicly call out a student to get them to stop (usually because the situation calls for immediate action), by-and-large it is necessary to have quiet or private conversations with students off to the side.  I do it quickly, and I move on.  If the behavior doesn’t change, I give it another two or three minutes and then return again and hope for a better response.  In some cases, the student will respond with something you really do not want to hear.  They might say it out of their own hurt or frustration.  In that moment, it feels as though you have to respond.  It feels as though we have to exert control over the situation and send a clear message to students that this is not acceptable.  However, I believe that you simply have to let that comment go.  If you have good relationship with the class, they know that this response of the student is not okay.  They know that you will likely circle back to that in a later  conversation.  They know that the class is in capable hands and that total anarchy will not break out.  You just have to be the bigger person in that moment.  Because if you do not, things escalate really quickly, and before you know it the situation (which probably began with a smart phone) ends with the student’s removal or a detention-- which is not what you really wanted.  Ignore that comment they make as you walk away-- at least until the end of the period.  Many times, you will meet with better long term gains.

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AVReading Newsletter January Checking Student Meaning

 

            Throughout grad school, I was a little surprised to learn that  assessing comprehension was actually much more difficult than I had ever known.  Prior to that, I thought we could ascertain a student’s level of understanding by simply asking them a few questions and having them respond in oral responses, written responses, or even in reading quizzes.  I discovered that each of these come with limitations, since we can not truly get into someone’s brain to see what it is they are thinking or understanding.  Each type of comprehension check requires a rather indirect expression of what the brain is experiencing.  In meaning making assessments that require writing, the assessment assumes that the student is capable of writing skills strong enough to confidently put words to the page expressing what it is they know or think.  This format favors those who have a gift for written expression. In those that require an oral response, the assessment assumes that the student has the vocabulary to express their thinking or even the comfort level with the assessor to speak freely.  In multiple choice questions, the assessment assumes that the questions have construct validity (they measure what they say they are going to measure) and that students actually understand the item or do not struggle with other factors like negative stereotype threat or even test anxiety.  For some students, they are just good at taking tests; they might not even be particularly knowledgeable about the content, but they can sniff out the correct answer on instinct.  

            Even with the limitations of these various forms of evaluation, we need to assess our students for understanding.  And we need to do so frequently, so that we can keep students in that “just right” place of learning known as the zone of proximal development.  Understanding the limitations of each assessment simply means that it is best to avoid overusing any one of them on a regular basis.   

            Here are a few types of engagement checks that focus on assessing a student’s understanding. 

Concept Checks.  I like to use a concept check about two or three weeks into a term.  They take about five minutes and they are a good way to both check for understanding and to refresh student memory.  I choose five key ideas from the previous weeks and list them in the first column of a sheet.  Then I have four more columns: I Don’t Know It, I Think I Know It, I Know It, and I Know It So Well I Can Teach It.  I ask each student to assess themselves for each concept and put a check mark into the box that best represents their level of understanding for each row.  After a minute or so, I tell them to take one idea they checked as “I Know It” or “I Know It So Well I Could Teach It” and talk about or teach it to the person sitting next to them.  I then call on three random students to share out an idea they know best.  

Thought Boxes.  This activity works really well for articles.  For this, I will print off an article and draw four to six boxes in the margins of the article (spaced evenly throughout).  I then tell students to read the article and to put their thinking into the boxes as they do so.  I tell them that I am looking for their understanding of the text, their ability to analyze or evaluate the text, and their ability to identify at least one author move or writer’s choice.  I typically do one thought box article activity per term, but for the first one, I usually model the process for them.  Reading through their thought boxes offers a great deal of data.  It helps me to gauge their general level of understanding, their level of investment in the activity, and their ability to look more deeply into a given text. 

Most Important.  I frequently employ the “Most Important” protocol for rich discussions.  For example, on the day I do the “Elements of Fiction” lesson / review, I will end class by having students do a whip around.  In it they give their name, the title of their book and what they feel is the most important element of fiction in their particular book and why they think that.  I also use it for whole class readings.  For example, as we read the opening chapter of Just Mercy, I told them ahead of time that I would be asking them to identify the most important detail of the chapter and that they would be expected to defend that choice.  In one history class, I saw a teacher have students come to the board to write out the most important idea of a chapter they had been assigned.  The board was filled with a variety of ideas and the ensuing discussion was an awesome way for students to “roll around in” and better understand some of the critical ideas of the text.  

 

 

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