A Little Truth in Graffiti

A couple of weeks ago, I was monitoring a test.

It was my third test of the day.  I was bored.  This particular test is a state-mandated standardized test that asks teachers to "actively monitor"--meaning no grading, no planning, no computer, only watching students stare at computer screens--students to make sure the test is as secure as possible.  My job was to walk around, not read the test at all, make sure no one is looking at anyone else, etc.

By the middle of the first test I felt like going crazy.  I had random urges to jump around and wave my arms spasmodically in the air, just to change my pattern: weave this way between the computer tables; now this way.  I will admit to a certain level of hyperactivity and a pretty persistent need to keep my mind busy that often requires a pen and paper (at least) to record my thoughts.  This walking in circles thing while watching kids stare at computers, listening to mice click, scroll, click, is about as opposite my natural modus operandi as it gets.  When I first started teaching I used to carry a stone in one hand when I gave tests in my classroom so I could at least fiddle with something, but I didn't bring one to this test.

It was during one of my passes between computer tables that I noticed it.  Thin, shaky lines, obviously originally written to be hidden, but now betrayed by a simple rearrangement of cardboard dividers, spelled out one student's despair in three straight-forward words: school sucks balls.

School sucks balls.

I silently agreed with the concisely authored phrase as I did a quick turnaround just in case students might think they knew my path well enough to steal a glance at someone else's test--a test that contained different questions in a different order than their tests.  In that setting, at that moment, how could I disagree?  There was no learning, no spirit of inquiry, no empathy, nothing that makes school special, in that setting and at that moment.

There was the test.

And, before that, there was preparing for the test.

Teaching this year has been an eye-opening experience.   Before this year, I was already against standardized testing, pre-testing, interim testing, post testing, and field testing (we did all of these this year--none of that is made up).  I follow SOS: Save Our Schools, a movement against testing as a means of measuring student and teacher achievement.  I recognized the invalidity of a standardized test as a means of measuring either intelligence or learning even as a preteen who was extremely good at testing.  I have hated standardized testing for a very long time.

Yet, I had never experienced teaching a class that culminated in a standardized test.

This year was the first year I've taught Language Arts in a public school.  Previous to that, I have mostly taught Latin, an untested field, and have had the freedom to tailor my classes to my students' needs.   If they knew the current concept and were ready to go on, we did.  If they needed more reinforcement of a concept, we spent more time on it.  I created a community in my classrooms; generally my Latin classes have been joyful and celebratory, filled with fun, jokes, and a personal relationship with my students that let me experiment with methodology and let them tell me with honesty what was working for them.

I still had two Latin classes this year, but I also taught three Language Arts classes.

The difference has been astounding.  I feel like I only got to know maybe a fifth of the students very well.  We were rarely creative.  We were rarely laughing.  We were rarely having fun.  I spent most of my time in the front of the room, lecturing, or pacing through the room while kids read, worked on worksheets, filled out forms.

I should say, this is not my school's fault.  My administration is amazing and supportive--I have never seen such a cohesive and reasonable group of principals.  My course team for Language Arts has bent over backwards to help me teach as effectively as possible and has been there for me every time I had a question--and that's been often.

Instead, it's the fault of the current push to punish schools and teachers for past trespasses that rarely have to do with anyone who is now in the field.  The current cry of "accountability" has spawned a testing craze that makes a huge amount of money for textbook companies and hurts everyone else in education, especially the students.

My students never got to experience the joy of enjoying a great book, never got to celebrate characters and revelations, connections between themselves and literature.  Instead, I got to spoon-feed them as much information as I could so they could be ready for The Test.  The Test, a state-mandated standardized test, was worth 20% of their grade.  Everything I did in class ultimately revolved around The Test.  And my kids, already convinced they don't like spending eight hours a day locked in a building being told what to do, found class boring, tedious, uncomfortable, and uninspiring.  So did I.

Every day I had both subjects, Language Arts and Latin, juxtaposed against each other as a clear illustration of the difference between a standardized and unstandardized subject.  Every day I would so enjoy my Latin classes that I came to dread facing my Language Arts classes and their lack of motivation.  It wasn't the students or the subject, it was the way I had to approach both.

All my spoon-feeding and worksheet-pushing achieved its goal; nearly all of my students not only received a passing score on The Test, but received a good score, one that improved their grade average in my class.  However, I know, from their expressions every time we started a new reading, that they got no joy in my class, found no new literature to love, and generally think Language Arts is one more class that they need to "get through" to graduate.

This is no way to educate life-long learners.  As things currently stand, "school sucks balls."

I only hope that, as this current unfortunate generation of students graduates and gains control of our politics, things will change and this trend will be remembered in history as the mistake and disaster that it is.

FLAG Presentation: Creating a Differentiated Classroom Without The Headache

I was honoured to be asked to present at the Foreign Language Association of Georgia's annual conference in Augusta this year. I decided to present on a topic that I have been very self conscious about this year: Differentiation. It seems to be a very popular "buzz word" in education now and often throws teachers for a loop. There are twenty billion definitions it seems and every person has different standards for what it would look like in a perfect classroom. My hope was to provide real examples of differentiation and help take some of the pressure off of classroom teachers when it comes to differentiation. So, without further ado: Creating a Differentiated Classroom Without the Headache!

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The Rules

1. Keep it simple - As teachers we can over complicate things, not on purpose, but just because we like to think of every angle of how an activity will work and what it will mean for us and our students. As I've experimented this year with differentiation, I've found the simpler it is, the easier it works and the better it works. 
2. It's all about choice - Bearing in mind the first rule, this one is incredibly easy to follow. Make it about the students choosing. This is the simplest form of differentiation. You can limit the choices, but ultimately, let the students choose. Provide guidelines, but let them be the keepers of their educational destiny. They will thank you for it and you won't be reading the same 3 paragraph essay/story over and over again.
3. It's okay to relinquish control, every once in awhile - I made this a rule as a follow up to rule #2. As teachers, we are asked to always be in control of our classrooms. I have found though, that the more you try to control differentiation like you would classroom management, the more unbearable it becomes. It's okay to say "yes" every once in a while when a kid says, "Hey... what about...." You never know where it may go.
4. The more you do it, the easier it becomes - Practice makes perfect... or in this case, practice makes fun. The more you try differentiation, the less afraid you become and, if you relinquish a little control, let kids make choices, and you relinquish a little control... it can become a whole lot of fun!
5. You define the parameters, they get to show you their style - Often it is said that we teachers should teach life skills. Why not take this and apply to all classes with differentiation? Define the parameters (grammar topics, sentence limits, vocabulary targets) and let them have creative freedom. This will make the grading process more interesting as well as make it more fun for them (as well as anyone observing your classroom!)

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The Ideas

• You probably already do it! - You may not realise it, but every time you review vocabulary, grammar, culture, do a warm up or summarising activity... you are differentiating the content. By reviewing, acting out, drawing, giving synonyms, "previewing", or answering those quick "student driven" questions, you differentiate! Point this out to your supervisors, parents, and make note of it. You'll be surprised by how much you do it already.
• Only Half the Story - Differentiate the content by breaking students into groups and only giving them part of the information (e.g. the first/second half of a story, a list of half the vocab from a chapter/activity/story, a picture that evokes certain words/ideas/phrases, etc.). Ask students to come up with a list of what they think the item is about, what emotions it evokes, what they think is going to happen, what they think happened, etc. Then, share with the rest of the class and start a discussion. If you look at the photos in my presentation (listed below), you can see what kind of words a well put together activity can evoke. Use this as an opening activity, or as a tool of summary, or a pre-reading strategy.
• Student Choice Assignment - This is all about choice. I collect four grades each chapter/unit --> a classwork grade that I choose, a classwork grade that they choose, a grade from their computer study day, and a quiz grade of their choosing. I reserve the right to collect any assignment, and I set specific parameters for each assignment. Students then choose their best work. This ensures that their grade isn't reflecting a day where they were sick, absent, or what have you and they get to show me exactly what they found valuable or learned. Here are my parameters for the three grades they get to choose:
  1. classwork grade - must be an activity that took the majority of class and pertains to our stories.
  2. Quia lab day - students must work for the entire period on our Quia activities. They may fill out a questionnaire or base their grade off of time spent/notes taken.
  3. Timed Write quiz grade - students complete a series of timed writes (described below). They choose their best and submit for a quiz grade.
• Embedded Stories - You may wish to read this earlier write up about embedded stories. I find myself doing these more and more. In my presentation (listed below), you see an upper level example based off of Ovid and a first year example based off of a story we read. Embedding involves taking the story and simplifying it. This can take many forms like a wordle or a summary for pre-reading, a very simply version for Day 1, a dictatio (dictation), a more complex version, so on and so forth. The idea is to severely limit vocabulary to make the language become comprehensible for students. You can lead students with an embedded story through a dictatio, a read and discuss, a guided notes session, a reader's theatre, etc. By embedding it, you create 2, 3, 4, even 5 versions that students can learn from and you've increased your way of reaching them. 
• Timed Write - Start with 5 minutes after a discussion or reading. Ask students to silently write for the entire 5 minutes. Everything they remember. No aids. Ask them to do their best. If you do this consistently  you will find that you can keep track of their progress, as can they. My students often tell me excitedly how their word count has increased or how they notice certain minuscule details about their writing. I love hearing that. When I collect these, I NEVER grade them on grammar. I simply grade them on understanding. As you do this, students will start complaining about the time given. This is when you increase the time you give, eventually getting to 15-20 minutes. 

In my presentation and handout, you will find a few more examples as well as my resources and contact information. I hope you find this information useful and please feel free to contact me with any questions or stories! The more ideas the better! 

Happy Spring and happy differentiating!

How to Make an Ablative Absolute Quilt (From my article in the Classicist)

Today I woke up and (as happens all-too-often) realized that I really had no realistic plan for teaching my Latin II class. I was bored with the normal day-to-day activities that we all do as standby, and wanted to do something a little different.

As I stood looking around my room, willing my desks and chairs to give me an idea, that ever-elusive muse of teaching touched me and I knew what I was going to do with my students—we were going to make a quilt! A paper quilt, clare, because I don’t have the money for fabric or ... (you can read the rest here)

Activity for an Insomniac: Quick, Easy, and No Prep!

Last week I was facing my class after a night of almost no sleep.  Like many teachers, there are those times when my head gets filled with a huge list of responsibilities that have to be carried out in the next day or week.  This was one of those times; I woke and started working out how I was going to get everything done.  Unfortunately this was around 1 AM.  Which meant that when I finally got to school and had to teach around 6 hours later, I had little energy to offer my students.

Often on days where I'm sick or feeling wiped out (which are rare) I fall back on worksheets, which my class receives rarely enough that a worksheet elicits concern from my kids. 

This time, however, my son had just been sick the week before and I had given the substitute worksheets for my students to do while I was away.  I really had no interest in giving them worksheets again.  As the clock ticked closer to our late bell, I finally realized what I could do that would be low impact on me and enjoyable to my kids.

I assigned a comic.  They were required to form small groups (I arranged the desks in 4-person "tables" before class actually started) and write a comic in the passive voice (the grammar topic we've been working on).  Once I had all the comics turned in, I taped them around the hall, far enough away from each other that students wouldn't have to crowd each other to read them.

Lastly, because I wanted them to interact with each other's work, I gave each group seven squares of paper.  The papers were new comic panels, I explained,  for them to write and illustrate new endings for their classmates' comics.  Groups fanned out and eagerly read the other comics and discussed the best way to change each story.  There was a lot of discussion, a lot of laughter, and only a little need for a Latin teacher.   So I stood back and watched the movement and the relaxed Latin atmosphere.  

 I will break this activity out again sometime--it's a great rainy day activity with its natural kinesthetic aspect and light tone.  Yet students had to flex their Latin muscles too as well as solve the problem of writing an entire story in the passive voice (try it--it's hard).

If you've used similar activities in your classes, I would love to hear about it!  Post below.

My Date With CASIE (Part II)

I'm not really normally a two-part blogger.  If I have a lot to say, I just sort of put it all in one place and hope you don't get too tired of me halfway through and stop reading.

But this month has been a very, very busy one, and even though I wasn't yet ready to actually blog about the lesson I posted, I wanted to put it up online so anyone who was interested and possibly struggling might have a chance to watch a communicative method in practice.  I don't claim to be the best example, but I do claim to be an example, and when it comes to Latin, there are really too few examples of Latin lessons taught in the language itself.  As an awesome side-effect, another Latin teacher, the wonderful James Hosler, also braved the critiques of his fellows and posted a video of himself teaching using PQA (Personalized Question and Answer--a traditional and effective TPRS technique).

Long introduction.

Myself and John Wilson and Bubo.

I had a really unique opportunity this January.  At a regional conference, I met John Wilson, who organizes monthly Speakeasies for CASIE, the Center for the Advancement and Study of International Education.  We talked while I tried very hard to calm my nerves before a presentation (I am always nervous before a presentation) and thanks to that chance meeting, he booked me to teach Latin for one night at one of the Speakeasies.

I really love the concept behind the Speakeasies.  If you are interested in language and language-learning, you can sign up for a free ($1 donation optional) one-hour course in a variety of languages.  Every month, there is a Speakeasy featuring a different language.  They have ranged from Tagalog to Swahili to Polish, and each lesson is taught, with mine being a necessary exception, by a native speaker.  There is one rule for the lesson: it must be taught in the target language.

This rule was harder to follow than I initially grasped, because initially I figured, hey, I teach using spoken Latin all the time.  But though I have used TPRS since my second year teaching, I eventually realized that TPRS has, almost since I heard of it, had no problem with introducing vocabulary in English as long as that builds meaning.  And now I had to figure out how to teach words like quid ("what"), words I have always introduced by simply writing them on the board with their English translations, in context without English.

Quid?!

How do you do that?

I won't take you through the painful process of the many, many false starts I had when creating the lesson I had in mind.  My creative process always includes false starts--perhaps why I encourage my students to write first and figure it out later.  I also won't take you through my final decisions (they're all recorded in the video of my lesson that CASIE and John were kind enough to allow me to make).

Teaching Latin without English gave me a chance to really think about language, how my students process language, how hard it can be to just want a simple word-to-word correlation and have to settle for vague similarities between word meanings.  How do you teach the word "have" and not end up communicating something more like "want" or "love" or any other possible meaning that could correlate with holding something like you own it?  I didn't want the Speakeasy participants to leave feeling confused or unsure of exactly what the language had been communicating.  I easily admit to being scared that I would be a poor representative of the spoken Latin community and more than once the coward in me considered calling up the many wonderful Latin teachers I know and seeing if I could find a substitute.  I felt just as vulnerable as some students feel, when they have to leave English behind in my class, because it's our safety net.  If they don't get it, I can quickly explain in English, then move back to Latin.

I did draw my words.  Many, many pictures.

Perhaps this is a problem that is not too prevalent in languages with fluent speakers and immersion opportunities.  Latin speakers have had to create our own immersion opportunities, which we do, but I know my progress in the language is much slower and more laborious than I would prefer.  My lack of fluency can hinder my bravado sometimes.

Watching the video I made, I see my nerves coming out during my lesson.  My arms are swinging constantly (also a sign of me thinking on my feet) and there are many significantly long hesitations when I realize I'm not sure how to move forward at the moment.

I also see myself having fun.  Because it was fun.  Teaching is fun, and teaching in an environment full of willing and responsive students is close to unreal.  The energy at CASIE and the Speakeasy was so positive and receptive that it would have been difficult to fail.

I am really excited to continue to take part in the CASIE Speakeasies.  I am already enrolled in one for Gaelic and another for Bulgarian.

My Date With CASIE (Part I)

This is the first of what will become two posts over a great program I was part of last Wednesday.  The reason I have split the post into two is simple.  This first post, a video of my entire lesson, is a lengthy engagement.  I don't want to ask more than that in this post.

CASIE's Speakeasy format is a lesson in a language taught in the target language.  This is my lesson, mostly inspired by my experience teaching in the TPRS and Communicative format.  Many teachers have asked me for examples of how I teach Latin via TPRS, and thanks to the generosity of CASIE and my participants, I now have a full-length beginning class to offer.

Analysis to follow in my second post.

A Very Short Open Letter to the President

Let me open by saying that I have read a lot of Stephen Krashen's work (but not nearly all of it!) and I find inspiration in his writings. I cite him in my presentations and I often refer to his work when putting together my own work. This is a letter that he has given open permission for educators to share, and I'd like to share it with you all. ~Miriam~

A very short open letter to President Obama
November 26, 2012

There is enormous frustration and dissatisfaction among professional educators about current educational policy. Many, especially those in the classroom and closest to the children, feel that current policy, one of closing public schools, encouraging privatization, and imposing more testing than has ever been seen on this planet, is ba

dly misguided and will lead to tragic consequences for our children, damage that will take decades to repair.

Professional educators feel that government is not paying attention to their expert opinions, and is paying far too much attention to non-experts. The voices of respected scholars are not being heard, and highly competent professional research done over the last few decades is being ignored.

The US Department of Education must stop demoralizing professional educators and free them to teach with passion.

Rather than submit another long open letter detailing these concerns, here is a simple suggestion. Please hold a private one-on-one meeting with Dr. Diane Ravitch for a serious conversation about education.

As you may know, Dr. Ravitch is a very highly respected and dedicated professional educator, a distinguished scholar, a very clear writer and speaker, and extremely knowledgeable about the major issues in education today. She does not represent any special interest group other than our teachers and our children.

We hope you will be willing, and eager, to meet with Dr. Ravitch, who has become the spokesperson for educators in America concerned about current policy.

Stephen Krashen
Professor Emeritus
University of Southern California