Weeks like this make me really miss teaching math.
Reading is hard. Writing is hard. Teaching reading is hard; teaching writing is hard.
And while there was definitely challenge in teaching math, I loved the order and structure of it. There were always different ways of approaching a problem, but there were definite pathways that always worked. Once you decipher the patterns, you could figure out how to approach it.
Reading comprehension is something that depends so much on so many different factors: phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, context/background on the topic, text patterns...not to mention the vagaries of adolescence. Writing well depends on idea generation, as well as knowledge of the patterns of sentence structure, grammar, syntax, etc.
That's hard to teach, ya'll. It's pushing a boulder uphill most days.
In the last week, my students wrote five claim paragraphs. Their ability to write a claim wasn't consistent across those five paragraphs - some wrote beautiful claims in one paragraph, then didn't have one in the next one, and had a mediocre one in the next. Does that mean they didn't understand that text as well? Does it mean the first was a fluke? Does it mean they had a bad day? Did they struggle with the archetype more in one than another?
Yes.
This is also a lot more marking than I did as a math teacher. I think I've done more in the first two weeks than in the entire semester of teaching math. It's less prep and I don't have to work as hard to feel prepared (19 years of experience vs. 1), so swings and roundabouts.
***
In order to balance the need for practice and repetition and my own sanity, I haven't given individualised feedback on every one of the 700+ paragraphs, but I have scored them on a simple rubric. More importantly, they were formative assessment to help me figure out what they needed to work on.
I took sentences from their writing and anonymised them, then gave them to students to revise on their boards. Some of them we used for practice writing complete sentences. Some we looked at for ideas and how they supported claims with evidence. With those activities, we always end with consolidation about what makes those sentences work, or what makes those claims work.
They will now move into revising one of their own claim paragraphs and making sure their claim is supported by solid evidence. I will also be asking them to polish them so that they have complete sentences and errors have been minimised.
The next text set is Greek Myths, including the Jim Henson Storyteller series; we are examining plot patterns, such as the Hero's Journey. They have looked at character patterns (archetypes) and now will look at how those character types tend to move the plot forward. My plan is to give them claims and ask them to choose evidence to support those claims (they'll do this at the boards) to give them a break from writing their own claim paragraphs. We'll consolidate about what makes good evidence and how to choose the right details without moving too much into plot summary.
An essential part of this process is working on the boards. There has already been more discussion and dialogue about writing than I had in the entire year the last time I taught ELA. I heard them say things like, "But that doesn't sound right," or "When you read that out loud, I noticed..." The level of focus and engagement is high and has happened faster than it did last year when I taught math. Maybe that's comfort with me or knowledge of my procedures; maybe that's comfort and knowledge of the subject. Either way, the time we spend at the boards is the best part of the class period.
If there's interest in seeing the actual assignments, I am happy to share them here.
**
This was the hardest blog post to write so far. It's a good thing though - it reminds me that writing is hard, and some days you just don't have it. But the only way to improve is to keep going and keep trying. So here's to pushing the boulder uphill for one more day, and teaching our students to keep pushing that boulder too.
Reading is hard. Writing is hard. Teaching reading is hard; teaching writing is hard.
And while there was definitely challenge in teaching math, I loved the order and structure of it. There were always different ways of approaching a problem, but there were definite pathways that always worked. Once you decipher the patterns, you could figure out how to approach it.
Reading comprehension is something that depends so much on so many different factors: phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, context/background on the topic, text patterns...not to mention the vagaries of adolescence. Writing well depends on idea generation, as well as knowledge of the patterns of sentence structure, grammar, syntax, etc.
That's hard to teach, ya'll. It's pushing a boulder uphill most days.
In the last week, my students wrote five claim paragraphs. Their ability to write a claim wasn't consistent across those five paragraphs - some wrote beautiful claims in one paragraph, then didn't have one in the next one, and had a mediocre one in the next. Does that mean they didn't understand that text as well? Does it mean the first was a fluke? Does it mean they had a bad day? Did they struggle with the archetype more in one than another?
Yes.
This is also a lot more marking than I did as a math teacher. I think I've done more in the first two weeks than in the entire semester of teaching math. It's less prep and I don't have to work as hard to feel prepared (19 years of experience vs. 1), so swings and roundabouts.
***
In order to balance the need for practice and repetition and my own sanity, I haven't given individualised feedback on every one of the 700+ paragraphs, but I have scored them on a simple rubric. More importantly, they were formative assessment to help me figure out what they needed to work on.
I took sentences from their writing and anonymised them, then gave them to students to revise on their boards. Some of them we used for practice writing complete sentences. Some we looked at for ideas and how they supported claims with evidence. With those activities, we always end with consolidation about what makes those sentences work, or what makes those claims work.
They will now move into revising one of their own claim paragraphs and making sure their claim is supported by solid evidence. I will also be asking them to polish them so that they have complete sentences and errors have been minimised.
The next text set is Greek Myths, including the Jim Henson Storyteller series; we are examining plot patterns, such as the Hero's Journey. They have looked at character patterns (archetypes) and now will look at how those character types tend to move the plot forward. My plan is to give them claims and ask them to choose evidence to support those claims (they'll do this at the boards) to give them a break from writing their own claim paragraphs. We'll consolidate about what makes good evidence and how to choose the right details without moving too much into plot summary.
An essential part of this process is working on the boards. There has already been more discussion and dialogue about writing than I had in the entire year the last time I taught ELA. I heard them say things like, "But that doesn't sound right," or "When you read that out loud, I noticed..." The level of focus and engagement is high and has happened faster than it did last year when I taught math. Maybe that's comfort with me or knowledge of my procedures; maybe that's comfort and knowledge of the subject. Either way, the time we spend at the boards is the best part of the class period.
If there's interest in seeing the actual assignments, I am happy to share them here.
**
This was the hardest blog post to write so far. It's a good thing though - it reminds me that writing is hard, and some days you just don't have it. But the only way to improve is to keep going and keep trying. So here's to pushing the boulder uphill for one more day, and teaching our students to keep pushing that boulder too.
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