Learning VS Grading by: Sarah Lehner

Is measuring learning versus grading the wave of the future?  With student stress level at an all-time high due to tests, quizzes, and project grades, the aim for perfectionism and competition among students may be drowning out creativity, learning and collaboration among students.  Add after-school activities and competitive sports into the mix, and students can become completely overwhelmed.

What do the students have to say about the current grading system?  “I personally am not a fan of my schools A-F grading system. It makes it extremely easy to fail. I really like the 4-3-2-1 system better.” Says Zailee Truex, a 9th grade student. may benefit high achievers and kids who are already self-motivated, but there are many kids who may or may not have supportive and encouraging parents who will give up when the first couple of C’s, D’s and F’s occur.  It can be overwhelming to try to “come back” from rigid test grades, and some kids probably just give up. Kids need to have self-interest in making and maintaining good grades. Many kids simply memorize the subject matter for the test and then forget it once the test is over.  Is that really what we want from our students? Our society needs students to be prepared to be good, thoughtful citizens and employees. We need to place value on learning, not memorizing for the “A”.

Teachers should not have to teach to a test.  Most states have some kind of standardized test that is given at the end of the year, and teachers must prepare their students to do well on this test.
 Maybe a teacher would like to tell an interesting story or show an interesting movie to their students. They really cannot if this material will not be helpful in passing the standardized test.  This is what one teacher had to say about her teaching: “traditional” — teacher talks and then students are active for a while. Then I’d check in with them before leaving class. It’s hard when we have 8 forty-minute periods a day.” Says Jennifer Snaidecki, A librarian, “High stakes testing in Indiana makes school life a chore. Unless you’re in honors classes, there’s not much you can do. As a teacher of reading/writing, I read aloud and had independent reading alternating every other day. That worked out for our short periods of time.

Traditional testing will spark a larger debate about the future of education. The few schools that have tried it have found the transition more difficult than they expected. Changing from grades to assessments, or whatever route a school decides to take, is a huge commitment.  Students, parents,
and teachers have to be open to new ways of grading, and the students have to be on board by being open minded. Some of the higher achieving students may struggle at first, especially if students in other school districts are still working on a traditional grading system.  Kids who have found themselves not working hard anymore because they don’t feel that they can “come back” from poor grades may feel an extra push to work harder.

Students be able to write well, communicate effectively and work together. Samantha Duncan, who is currently enrolled in a university to receive her bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education and English sums it up well: students to take control of their own education, which is why I believe in student-centered education. I feel like this style is extremely effective. When
students feel in control of their education they are willing and ready to dive deeper into conversations. With student-centered learning they are in charge of the way the conversation unfolds, and the teacher becomes more of a participant rather than the main acting force.”    


In the end, I believe that assessing students’ learning versus rigid grading will lead to more empathy among students, more self discipline, higher academic achievement, and stronger
collaborative skills.  If the idea is that we want to produce students who are ready to live and work together in society, why wouldn’t we start early on? Schools want to produce students who will cure cancer, create world peace, etc.

Speak, Students! by: Leila Mohajer

Student advocacy is a major topic that all students should become familiar with. Without it, teachers can’t understand what their students are thinking or what they want. Student voices need to be heard and it is entirely in their hands to make it happen.

            In 8^th grade Civics class, we had a whole unit that covered student advocacy. Our teacher had us choose from a list of current conflicts in our school, come up with a solution for the conflict, and then present it to the class. Somewhere in the mix, we would be advocating for these issues. I’m going to share with you a real life example of student advocacy that should inspire students to do the same for themselves and others around them.

My cousin Victoria Sander, a 6^th grader from North Carolina, had a major conflict with the work she was given and the amount of time she had to do it. In her English class, she was given three writing assignments and only one week to complete them. She said, “I didn’t know what to do. I had no time to do all three because of dance and my homework from other classes.” She decided to take matters into her own hands and contacted her teacher.

            She explained to her teacher in a respectful manner that she, along with her other classmates, felt that they didn’t have enough time to complete their assignments. She asked, on behalf of the whole class, if the deadline for one the longer assignments could be pushed back. Her teacher was very interested in this request. She made a bargain. If all of the students received a passing grade on the first two assignments, then the third assignment’s deadline would be pushed back. If any of the students didn’t receive a passing grade, then the third assignment (which would take about three days to complete) would be due the next class as it was from the beginning. The students thought that this was fair and after a class vote, agreed to the incentive.

            The next class came and the two assignments were completed by the whole class. The teacher had announced that all of the students had received a passing grade so the longer assignment was not due until the end of the next week. Victoria mentioned that all of her friends were thankful for her actions and appreciated her desire to help out the class. Victoria used her voice to advocate not only for herself but her entire class and it was a great success for everyone.  

Students should never be afraid to advocate for themselves or speak up if they feel that something being done can be improved. It is a very important skill to have now, and will continue to be as you grow older.

Salutary School Subjects by: Madison Whitbeck

Recently, I did some research, used my own opinions, and talked to some relatives about what classes the deemed useful in their everyday life. Most agreed that English was a key factor on their success. The most useful skill, I concluded from answers and research, was writing. Being able to write a good memoir, business letter, professional email, and so on is a very useful skill to have in every job. I also focused on some things that former students wished they learned in school. A lot of the answers included public speaking, interview skills, paying taxes and bills, managing money, and applying for a job. Many of my relatives said they wished classes were created a class to teach them basic life skills and how to get by.

My older cousin is currently majoring in at JMU in hopes of becoming a national security or counter terrorism intelligence analyst. He concluded that his knowledge in history and civics would obviously aid him in his success, but that is one out of millions of jobs out there. My other cousin, who is currently a student at Mary Washington, majoring in psychology and early education, told me that English and literature was her most useful class because she wants to be an early education teacher, but also in the sense that it taught her many useful writing skills to use in the examples I have listed above.

In conclusion, we should all show English teachers more respect. They are teaching a very useful skill that many of us students don’t realize we will need later in life. But maybe schools should be teaching more life skills than teaching subjects that will only apply to students who choose a job or major that uses that subject. Save that for college.

Sports and Student Success by: Chrysa Krivak

The education of a student relies on much more than what happens during school hours. Many kids and teens are participating in multiple extracurricular activities that often make an impact on their academics. For this specific blog, I reached out to three different athletes and asked about their experiences playing sports in high school.

My first interviewee, who would like to remain undisclosed, lives in upstate New York. She has played lacrosse since 6^th grade, and is now playing for Siena College. When I asked about her team’s relationship, she said that both the teammates and coaches were very close. My final question for her was the impact that she thinks playing this sport had on her academics, and she said that playing a sport helped her distress, allowing her to gain more focus on education.

I then interviewed my cousin, a former New York resident, who played hockey since she was 3 years old. She stopped competing at 18, but says that she hopes to be a part the club team at Ohio Northern University this year. The relationships she had with her coaches and teammates, she said, were based off their experiences as a team, some of her favorites entailed traveling for tournaments and staying in a hotel with her teammates. When I asked about what impact this had on her education, she told me that planning time for schoolwork around practices and games taught her how to better manage her time.

Third, I interviewed an anonymous friend of mine, who has always played many sports. She has played softball, volleyball, and has run cross-country. This friend has played softball since 3^rd grade, volleyball since 5^th grade, and just started running the summer of 2018. She describes the relationship between her teammates as very close, and her coaches as friendly. She told me that playing sports gave her confidence, which is crucial to success in the American education system.

Speaking to these three students helped me understand what they value in their education and their lives. All three of them gave a positive response on the rapport formed with their coaches and teammates, and believed playing a sport as an extracurricular to be beneficial to education. Though sports may not be for everyone, I think encouraging students to do more physical activity, or become part of some type of team would greatly improve their academic success.

Dear Substitutes, Every Moment Counts by: Gabi David

A lot of times students walk into a class with a substitute teacher and see an opportunity to play on their phones and chat with their friends. Students take advantage of this free period and tell their temporary teachers they “haven’t learned this yet”, or “It’ll just take five minutes”. Teachers have the whole year to get to know their students and create bonds with them, while substitutes see them for such a short period of time. Substitute teachers can take five to ten minutes at the beginning of the class to get to know their students and introduce themselves. Even keeping a smile the whole class can help students have the motivation to complete their objective for the day!

                Diane Van Dyke, a substitute teacher in Loudoun County likes spending her classes having individual, and graded assignments due at the end of the class. “With a sub, group projects and open-ended activities with no grade or due date can be very hard for less motivated students to complete. This also leads to more disruption by those less motivated students.” She also finds that smiling and finding something positive to say about the student’s work is very effective in helping students to be respectful and productive. A positive attitude at the beginning of class can create a full block of cooperativeness.

                This year, I had the sweetest substitute teacher and she was able to help each individual student with their assignment. She spent the full class answering questions and constantly checking in on their students to make sure they had all the resources they needed in order to receive full credit on their work. During the last twenty minutes or so of the block, she went over to each individual student and asked them how they felt about their work and asked if they were satisfied or if they needed to meet with the teacher for full understanding. If a student was hesitant about the content, she wrote a note to our teacher telling them who needed extra help. Substitutes like these, make it easier for us to ask for help, and be satisfied with material even if our teacher isn’t up teaching the lesson.

                Substitutes with a smile on their faces and willingness to help their students succeed are the ones that leave their students with the satisfaction of feeling sure of themselves at the end of the day. Every minute counts!Dear Substitutes, every minute counts!

Teacher Traits by: Sophia Coulopolous

A lot of the time, student’s aren't very motivated to learn. It generally feels like we come to school get our classes done, and leave. We count down the minutes until the bell rings. Then we go to our sports or clubs, or go home. With all the work, the clubs, the activities, life can become overwhelming. The teachers who realize we feel this way try to make the hour and a half with them fun and enjoyable. Students love these teachers. Those wonderful teachers don’t only teach for their job, but they teach for their kids. They try to make class fun, give their students a break from their probably hectic day.


I talked one trait that students love in teachers in my first blog. I want to go more into depth, because it needs to become clear what kinds of teachers students love, so school can become a more enjoyable place for teachers and students. Everyone knows the feeling of happiness and satisfaction when someone appreciates them. Students generally get that feeling from teachers, and now it’s about time for teachers to get that feeling from students. There are a couple types of teachers I’ve noticed and loved over the years.


The first is the loving teacher. She takes the time to get to know each student. She knows that her student is busy and has a life, and is understanding when they don’t always get work done. She makes sure all her students understand the material, and helps each one individually. Because of all that, every single one of her students adores her.


The second is the comedic teacher. They always crack jokes and make the class feel like a calm and stress free environment. They feel more like a friend than a teacher. They connect with every student. They create nicknames and inside jokes in each class. Among all that, their students still learn everything in efficient and fun ways. Students learn to respect this teacher. They know when to and not to talk. They know the teachers expectations.


The third is the natural teacher. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He knows how to demand respect in a kind way, he knows how to teach in effective techniques all students will like, and he earns respect from his students for being good at what he does. Students learn efficiently in his class, but it’s not overwhelming. He makes sure all students can handle what he’s assigning. He knows all the tips and tricks in being a teacher. Teaching comes naturally to him.


Of course, each teacher is unique, and has their own combination of traits. Those three types of teacher I listed are based of teachers I’ve had and loved, and other kids loved them too. No teacher has to become those teachers. Each teacher bring their own experiences and styles to the table, but what I’ve noticed is that students are ready to learn with those general traits.


I’ve recently had survey with responses kids from other school districts/counties and states. The common responses of appreciated traits in teachers were being interested in a student’s life, being kind and accepting, being a natural teacher, and having a sense of humor. Those together make a fun and stress free class environment, help students to feel comfortable and inspired, and makes students feel loved and appreciated. When students feel like that, we are then ready to learn.

Help with Homework by: Sabrina Rice

What is homework to begin with?  The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “an assignment given to a student to be completed outside the regular class period.”  This is a very generic definition however, and homework means different things to different people.  To some it’s “really too keep it fresh in your mind and let you practice at home and it just gives you a little extra practice to help you get this subject or a concept down” or  “the purpose of homework is  to practice and retain information that you learned during class that day.”  This shows that homework means different things to different people, which is why there should be more homework options that work better for different people.

The most common types of homework for most people are worksheets, which are very good but they can be repetitive.  I interviewed many different people in different grade levels in different states, and almost every person said that they got worksheet the most.  This doesn’t have to be the case though, because there are hundreds of different ways to deliver content. Some positive examples are reading a passage, watching a video, making a podcast, writing an essay, or maybe working with a study group outside of class.  I recently had to work on a project for science class, and my teacher gave us many different options to deliver our content. I made a video, while other students made a poster. Some made PowerPoints. This was very effective as it gave us the choice to present in the way that best showed our data.

Many students also felt like there was a greater amount of homework in class, especially in advanced classes.  This makes sense, as students who have more strength in a certain subject should have to work harder for a better grade.  This also brings in the question of are the students really learning. As one student said, “I would say less quantity more quality so don't like do, for example do one problem in that topic and discuss it rather than each 10 questions in each topic.  You can better understand the project instead of just doing a lot of work and not understanding it.” This would definitely help students learn, because isn’t the whole point of learning something to understand it, rather than do a lot of work, assume the answer and not gather the reasoning behind it?  

There is also the point of “fun homework”, which is homework that is more like a game.  This will make students want to work harder and understand it more, because they will think of it as a fun activity.  A good example of fun studying is Kahoot or Quizziz, as this makes kids work hard and pay attention. One student said about his view on homework “My teachers could make it more like a game so I get joy of it.”  This shows how students actually care about the work they are doing.  They want to find the game of it all, and teachers can help them achieve that by making schoolwork and homework like a game.

In conclusion,  most students do not actually hate homework, they just want exciting ways of doing it.  There should also be a way to go over the work in class, because then the students can know how to solve a problem they had a question on at home, rather than just using a key.  Homework should also have many different formats. Each student is different, and that should be shown in the options of work given. Students should be given some of homework, but they should be able to decide on what kind of work they do, so each student can cater to their individual needs.

Bullying in the Classroom by: Elizabeth Grace

Bullying in the classroom is an ever growing problem in classrooms around the world, many cases going untouched and unnoticed. It is an issue that many students see every day, and an issue that many think you can not get rid of. Bullying in a classroom is a form of bullying that is unlike any other form, because it is more concealed and is harder to spot. For this reason, many victims think they can not get it to stop. But I believe you can.

Bullying starts very simply: one kid picks on another kid. But it grows into something more complex. Over time, students can start to feel worthless and that alone affects schoolwork.

But bullying in the classroom is more concealed and harder to find. Because it can only take place in one class, it may not have as extreme effects as other forms of bullying. But it can still make a mark on students.Some ways to spot bullying in the classroom are-

- reduced effort in one class. Maybe an all A student has a B in this class, or a very good student does not turn in homework as soon as they do in other classes.

- a hate of the class. If a student that normally likes science says “oh i hate science this year” that can be an indication of in classroom bullying.

-loss of friends in that class. If on the first day of school a student walks in with another, laughing, then in a few weeks walks in alone, this could be a sign as well.

So how can a teacher help prevent classroom bullying? I asked my twitter and instagram followers that question. Within a few hours, I got a flood of responses. Here are the three i heard the most:

- Creating a survey students could take every week or so, just to tell the teacher how they are doing. In the long run this could be very useful for a student who is dealing with in classroom bullying in that class. This could also be a safe place to turn to report bullying in general. The survey would also build a relationship with students, making them feel safer in the classroom as well. Some questions you could put in the survey could be simple questions, like “how was your week at school?” or “have you ever seen bullying at this school?”.

-having a place they could report bullying. This is up to you, but having a specific way to report bullying would make it more likely for students to report it.

-if you use assigned seats, having a way to request a seat change. This would create a way for students to say “If you could change my seat, that would be great” other than “can you pleaseeeeee change my seat!”. We all know that kid that whines whenever there is a seat change in class, and this would eliminate that and create a more positive classroom setting.  Lets say a student is being bullied by his/her table mate. Having a way to request a seat change would give the student a chance to eliminate the bullying without causing a scene.

In conclusion, there are many ways to stop in classroom bullying without getting into fight. Utilizing these ideas could give many victims of bullying a tool to fight back without the situation escalating. So, if you see a student who is struggling with in classroom bullying, help them fight it.

Mentor Texts and g2great Work by: Jason Augustowski

Happy Monday!  I have decided to revisit my theme of discussing awesome teacher texts I have recently read and thought this fall should be no exception.  Below I have brief explorations of Writing with Mentors by: Allison Marchetti and Rebekah O'Dell and g2great Teaching by: Mary Howard.


WRITING with MENTORS

1.  Love the idea of structuring a class: quick write, mini-lesson that investigates a particular writing craft within a mentor text, and then allowing students a chance to write and practice in that voice.  Will certainly help with "synthesis of voice" essays in APLang.
2.  It is important to keep the mentor texts relevant (especially when using nonfiction).  Kids nowadays don't want to read political articles from the 1990s nor may they want to read the "classics" when investigating literature.  I am not convinced if they will ever NEED to be able to write like Agatha Christie - BUT the voices of current YAL may be the precise sound of their generation.
3.  Class can be spontaneous and immensely differentiated based upon what individual students need.  If everyone is rocking "hooks" - ditch the week long lessons on "how to write hooks" and perhaps focus on character development or Rogerian argument strategies.  Talk openly with your students about what THEY want to get out of your writing class.
4.   Look at texts from both a reader's and a writer's lens.  Discuss critical lens theory and allow students to "get into the minds" of others when reading.  Then, once they get comfortable reading in this style, they can begin dabbling in writing from another lens during their quick write time.
5.  Bring in multiple texts: nonfiction, fiction, cartoons, graphs, charts, etc.  Help students read and write in the modalities that challenge them and that they feel like they will utilize in their real lives.

My takeaways:  Instruction is audience, tone, bias, slant, and style are married to the APLang curriculum.  Utilizing mentor texts is an extremely easy fit in a composition class.  However, stepping away from precise curriculum, this book is also awesome because it discusses how to take students through the publication process and how to make this level of critical reading commonplace in their everyday lives.  Using authentic audiences (actually sending student work to publishers) always engages students as writers.

g2great Teaching

1.  I love how Mary situates our thinking immediately in this text.  She clearly and thoroughly defines the ideas of bad, good, and great teaching and allows us to begin recognizing the impacts of each in our own classrooms.  She is able to categorize numerous practices under these headings in a manner that makes her readers want to improve "bad" teaching to "good" and "good" teaching to "great."  None of the tone is punitive but rather endearing and sometimes comical in nature.  I felt as the reader like it was okay (rather imperative) to admit my own flaws or shortcomings as a teacher and look for methods through which I could improve.
2.  Understanding that these practices exist on a continuum is important and that any specific tool could be elevated to great teaching or slide to bad teaching with relative ease.  The idea of charting our own methods and labeling under each category gives an immediate visual to any singular class meeting.  This can be extremely eye-opening when planning future lessons and units.  Bringing in student voice and reflection adds an additional layer to this introspection.
3.  Targeting differentiation to tailor learning for each individual student is a major takeaway from the text.  We should always make sure our practices are inclusive and allow each student (regardless of where they enter the curriculum) to achieve and master content at a high and efficient level by the time the exit at the end of the year.  Targeted differentiation also hinges on the assumption that students are engaged in the content.  It is not about filling students' time (busy work) but ensuring that everything they accomplish can be linked back to real world knowledge and skill acquisition.
4.  Frequent formative assessment is key in knowing exactly where students are on their journey to mastery.  These formative assessments should of course inform purposeful and skill-based summative assessments.  It doesn't help to quiz kids on what a character is wearing in chapter four of the novel - but assessing their ability to read critically and synthesize information IS a real world skill.

My takeaways:  I will discussing the ideas of bad, good, and great teaching with the students in my tenth and APLanguage classes.  Once they have the definitions as set forth by Mary Howard, I will allow them (at the midterm and end of each quarter) to enter the reflection and help me best assess how to meet their individual needs.  It can sometimes be hard to open ourselves to student feedback and criticism, but I find it necessary if we really want to improve our craft.  After all, we have no problem offering students constant feedback and criticism - it only levels the playing field if they are permitted to do they same.  We grade them.  I think it is important that they give us a grade too.  (And just as we are expected to be impartial and professional and separate our feelings about a student from the work produced, so should we teach them how to evaluate our instruction, assessments, and grading strategies without taking into account whether or not they like us or think we are cool.


That's it for now!  Next up will be a pre-NCTE conference reflection!  Can't wait to see you all in Houston!