Positive Thinking Thursday

Welcome to Positive Thinking Thursday!  I'm glad you are here.  I hope you will visit Mrs. Laffin's Laughings to see many positive thoughts from the teacher blogosphere!  Everyone is welcome here.

As we settle into the school year, we need to be reminded of our passions.  It's easy to get into a comfortable routine.  My passion in my teaching career is two-fold.  I love my students and I love innovation.  But how do I combine the two to stay fresh and unique each day?  That's the question I attempt to tackle before every class meeting.

During a conversation I had with Noam Chomsky he mentioned that "...you're supposed to challenge.  Come up with new ideas.  [And] go in new directions" in regard to education.  This thought really stuck with me over the years.  I challenge both you and me to mesh our passions with creativity and innovation. Stay current in your content area and pedagogy.  Try new things.  Explore new routes for teaching.  

As always, good luck and happy teaching Brownbaggers!  I look forward to hearing (or seeing) your innovative ideas!

To Journal or Not To Journal?

I always had a problem with having to journal when I was a student.  I never knew what to write about.  Worse, I never understood what the point was.

This perception carried over when I started teaching.  I had the impression that having my students journal was simply busy work.  It was something that I could have them do while I was taking attendance, passing out papers, or talking to students individually.

Boy was I wrong.  Journaling can be an excellent tool for your students - 
IF it is set up right!

This summer while I was teaching summer school, I started to implement journals as part of the daily routine.  But my students weren't only writing about what they would do if they had $1 million.  They weren't only writing about which 3 books they would take with them if they were on a deserted island...

Yes this was my elementary understanding of journal prompts.

Instead, they were writing about their past experiences in writing classes. They were journaling about what part of the writing process was the easiest for them.  Which was the toughest for them.  Journaling became a reflective part of the learning process that was essential to their learning.  

Better yet, their final exam turned into a reflection of their overall growth in the semester.  They were able to look back through old journal entries and see where and how they were struggling.  They were able to scan through their challenges and triumphs.  

I compiled a list of 14 Journal Prompts along with the Reflective Collage Essay for you to try out in your classroom.  You can utilize these prompts every day in class for 3 weeks or have them done once a week for an extended-writing project.  Either way, they promote reflection in the writing classroom.  

I don't know about your experiences with journals before.  But I do know that journaling has been a way for my students to truly reflect, both short- and long-term, in ways that I hadn't seen them do before in my classroom.  Try them out and let me hear how it goes!  I look forward to reading your reflections of their reflections!

Reflection in the Classroom

As teachers, we know how important it is to reflect.  We reflect every time a lesson goes good, bad, terrible, or horrendous.  But how often do we have our students reflect?

Typically we set aside time for our students to reflect after they've written an essay, right?  This is usually part of the peer review process where they think about what they did well in their essay and the areas that they struggled in.

But what if I told you that our students should be reflecting all of the time?!

What if I told you that having our students reflect before our units would enable them to succeed?

It's true.  Having students reflect on their past experiences, what they expect out of a situation, or what they hope to get out of a learning experience teaches them to frame the learning process in a different light.  It also allows them to buy into the learning. If they have already invested time and energy into reflecting on the unit before it begins, chances are they will be more engaged throughout the unit.  

I suggest that you start the school year and every major unit off with reflection. Remember, reflection doesn't end when you call time.  It is something that students should be readdressing throughout the learning process. When "problems" come up, have students look back at their expectations.  Have them imagine what they were thinking then and how they would've expected to handle these "problems".  After the unit, have them look back at their reflections to see how accurate they were.  In what ways?  There should be a constant cycle of reflection during the learning process.

To make your life a little bit easier, I created Reflective Window Frames. These window frames are set up to have students reflect on what they want out of their teachers, partners, and group members.  Better yet, they're Copy & Go.  No work required! 

Print 'em off and hand 'em out! 

Field Trip to the Art Exhibit

To change things up in the 4-hour long summer school class that I teach, I took my students to the art exhibit on campus.  After visiting and observing, students were to write a back story on a piece of art of their choice.  It was, in a way, a multi-modal essay because it included both text and photo.  They were to include a photo of the artwork that they chose and reference it in their essay.  Aside from that, there weren't too many restrictions.  This was an opportunity for them to be creative!

The exhibit, called Plop Art by Erik L. Peterson, was interesting to say the least.  I'm not an artie by any means but I would assume that this would be considered contemporary art... I know that only because I Googled it. It seems to only be defined by the time period that it is produced in.  In reading the Peterson's description, he mentioned that the art was to serve as commentary on various norms in our culture including narcissim and ADHD.

While I won't tell you about all of the art work we saw, I'll mention a few. We saw a Reflecting Pool which at first we all thought was a pile of sand...Then we realized that it transformed colors as you looked at it.  After realizing what it was, the iPhones popped out.  Everyone wanted a shot.  It was hard to capture the rainbows on film, though.  As you can see, mine looks a little bit more ghostly.

We also saw a tapestry created out of the two billboards.  It took us quite a while to figure out what it was but, once we realized, we understood the large amount of time and painstaking attention to detail it must have taken to create.

We saw another piece known as the Cooler.  It was just as you would think. It was a cooler with two ice cream cones inside.  I'm not quite sure what the purpose was but I'm sure it's ironic in some way.  Students joked about it being a "grab-and-go" and not a piece of artwork.  

And then we saw my favorite.  The neon plop cone with spilled ice cream (it had no name).  Isn't it amazing? Surprisingly, we had a lot of conversation about it.  I say surprisingly because this isn't an art class and none of us have any idea how to discuss art.  Students argued about the focal point - "It's the cone.  It's on the wall.  How could it not be the focal point?" - "No it's the blob of ice cream.  Is it melted or did it fall off?  I think it melted because it's so much bigger." - "It's neither.  It's the light that catches your attention. The light and the color."  I was impressed with the amount of conversation that they had.  They enjoyed it, observed it, and didn't take the art viewing process too seriously. 

So what did I learn from this experience?  Take your students out of the classroom!  We all need a change of pace.  It doesn't have to be serious!  It can be fun and enjoyable but still educational.  While there, students took notes on the art work of their choice and later they wrote an essay on the back stories for how the art came to be.  Perhaps taking our students out of the typical classroom fires up their creative impulses.  One thing's for sure though, they were able to experience something new and creative, use a different part of their brain, and interact with one another in a way that encouraged discussion and collaboration.

So where to next?  Maybe the Student Center Coffee Shop?  Maybe the lake in the courtyard?  Perhaps even the observatory!   I'd love to hear any suggestions that you may have!

Changing It Up

Hi Brownbaggers!  I'm sorry for the week-long hiatus!  I was vacationing in Lake Geneva with Mi Madre.  It was a lovely, much needed vacation.  3 days of pure bliss that included horseback riding in the rain, laying poolside to catch some rays, and eating a caesar salad that I had my eye on since day 1. After I got back, I had to quickly prepare for my second semester of summer school teaching.  The week has already started and we are doing some really fun things!

One thing that I'm doing this semester is changing up the content and the environment everyday.  4 hours is a long time for a class solely dedicated to composition.  

That's right - you read that right.  

No grammar

No reading

No discussion

It's JUST FOR WRITING!  Not surprisingly, that can get boring.  

So, we like to change it up!  Here's what we've been doing.

1.  I let the students create the content:  

I never really saw myself as a teacher that let students determine the content of the class, but I decided to give it a go this semester.  The first day I had them write an essay describing their best and worst experiences with writing and one suggestion for an essay that they would be interested in writing. From that point forward, I have been and will continue to use their ideas. 

They have LOVED it.  

They're writing about things that they truly care about. And what's better? They have been creative in what they suggest!  Some offered ideas on reflections, some on research, and some on theoretical scenarios.  It makes for interesting content to say the least.  

So what holds this all together?  My prompt decoder (<--- CLICK the LINK so you can check it out!).  I created a document where I just slip in the student-generated prompt and then we, as a class, determine the requirements, type of essay, pre-writing strategies, drafting ideas, etc.  It's been great to have them think deeply about a prompt and learn about the process more than the product.

2.  We write in different locations:

This has been so fun!  Everyday, we start off in the classroom, do pre-writing outside, and then finish with drafting in the computer lab.  It has been BEAUTIFUL out so that's obviously a plus!  However, I plan on taking them to more locations.  There is a coffee shop on campus, mini-living rooms, lakes, gardens, etc.  Taking them to different places breaks up the 4 hours but more importantly, it gets the creative juices flowing.

I'd love to hear more about the ways you change it up in your classroom.  Are there certain places you take your students?  Different pedagogies you try on? Comment below or tweet me @mac_ker1!

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What They Don't Tell You About Grad School

I'm very thankful for the opportunities that have come my way.  Being a full-time graduate student was always a dream of mine.  Even better, I was offered an assistantship to teach while studying.  The best part - tuition remission.  How amazing is it to continue your education for free?!  I'm incredibly grateful and don't want to down play that.

However, there are some things that they don't tell you about being a full-time graduate student.  

Sometimes it feels like you're on pause.  As someone who left a position teaching full-time, it doesn't feel like I'm working.  Don't get me wrong, I AM working.  But when you're taking classes and only teaching 1 or 2, it feels like you're not doing anything.  I'm ready to get my life going again!  I never in a million years would have thought that I didn't want to always be a full-time student. However, I've come to learn that.  My initial plan after my M.A. was to pursue my Ph.D. full-time.  I now know that there is NO WAY! I'm ready to get a job, start working, and begin developing my life.  

Sometimes it feels like you're behind.  You see everything that your Facebook "friends" are doing and it makes you feel incomplete.  Everyone and their mother is now having a baby.  Everyone is now engaged.  Everyone is out and about loving their lives.  Don't get me wrong, I quite enjoy my life.  But, I am now single and still in school.  It sometimes feels like the life marks are way out of reach.  But that's okay, our culture needs to value singleness.  After all, right now is the time when I can do anything I want with no repercussions.

Sometimes it feels like you're ahead.  This obviously isn't bad, but it is true. You realize that you really have accomplished a TON in your life... but what do you have to show for it?  You were up for tenure.  You received numerous scholarships.  You were offered an assistantship.  You presented at conferences. You even worked on a book published by Oxford Journals.  I don't know.  It just seems like all of these accomplishments should work toward something.  In the future they will, but right now nothing is a brewin'.

With all of that aside, I'm 100% confident in my decision to leave my job and pursue my M.A.  If you can swing it financially, do it!  You will definitely dig deeper into your content area.  And hey, you'll probably find out what you like and don't like.  And that's really what every experience is about.

Chatting with Students: The New Form of Raising Your Hand

I used to be slightly afraid of technology.  Not of technology itself.  After all, I grew up on technology.  I hardly remember not having a cell phone.  I was afraid of the trouble it could get me into.  There are so many things that can go wrong with technology in the classroom.  The least frightening, it just doesn't work.  The most frightening, students writing something inappropriate online directed at myself or another student.

Recently I stopped giving into the fear and decided to embrace technology.  I'm currently obsessed with using Google Documents in my classroom.  I have the students open up a document, share it with me, and give me commenting rights.  I do this for two reasons:

(1) I can see what they're writing about.  I don't have to constantly walk around the room looking over their shoulders.  Instead, I look over their shoulders from the comfort of my own seat.  I'm not lazy but it is way easier.  Plus there isn't that frantic switching of tabs when I walk around.  Now, I can watch them type like a stream-of-conscience.

(2) The chat feature is amazing.  About 1-2 paragraphs into their writing, I start asking them questions.  I will either write it in the chat box or directly comment on the essay.  However, it's not my questions that I love.  I love that they respond back with their own questions.  I really enjoy seeing the tab of their page blinking.  There's a nice little inquisitive question just waiting for me to unwrap.  

Using the chat feature on Google Docs allows students to ask me question without having to raise their hand and embarrassingly call me over.  Even better, I can put links in the chat box to direct them to webpages that will help them specifically with the problem that they're having.  For example, a student of mine couldn't figure out how to get started.  I let him brainstorm for about 5-10 minutes before I asked him how his progress was going.  He was honest and said not well.  So I sent him a link to a page talking about summaries.  I also created a sentence frame for him and typed it directly in his document.  It was instant differentiation without having to prepare.  I saw the problem and I helped him address it.  Later on, I asked him how he was progressing and he wrote back that he was doing much better.  He never had to raise his hand.  He never had to call me over. 

The fact of the matter is, sometimes students don't ask questions because they're embarrassed or there is too much rig-a-ma-role (is that how you spell it??).  Using the chat feature allows us to help students by eliminating both of those steps.  I implore you to try this in your class.  If you feel the need, set some ground rules.  Your students will love the opportunity to connect with you without... well, connecting with you.

Oops I Did It Again: Reflecting on My Own Sarcasm

I’m sarcastic by nature.  In my family, we call it the “Allen” gene.  It’s a sense of humor that has been passed down from generation to generation.  To be quite honest, I love it.  I love sitting around the living room and hearing quick witted jokes spat back and forth.  It’s the trade mark of my family.

When it comes to teaching, though, I try to keep my sarcasm to a minimum.  Try as I might, sometimes it slips out.  Remember in the movie Mean Girls when Cady had word vomit?  She would tell someone’s secrets before she even realized that they were coming out of her mouth?   That’s what it’s like for me sometimes.  There are occasions when I feel sarcasm bubbling inside of me and it escapes before I have the chance to think it through.

Today was one of those terrible occasions. 

Today, I accidentally made fun of a student.  Luckily the student took it like a pro.  In general, he is always cracking jokes and poking fun in class.  He let it roll off his back simply by making a “if you can dish it, you gotta take it” sort of a comment.

Even though it was completely accidental and the student let it roll off of his back (and we were being let out for the day), I felt horrible.  I couldn’t get the sting of my own comment out of my head.  I never want to make a student feel bad about themselves or be embarrassed in my class.  School should be an environment where the people around lift you up and encourage you.  It should be a safe place where you can feel comfortable to ask questions and grow into yourself.

I once read that sarcasm is a higher order thinking skill.  Who knows if that is actually true, but I prefer to think that it is.  If that’s the case, then it’s easy for me to place blame on others who just “don’t get it”.  In reality, though, it’s just mean.  Sarcasm is only something that works if the two people have a very close relationship or if they are both relatively confident in themselves.  As teachers, we know that these aren’t characteristics that define schools and their students.

As I was driving home from school, still obsessing over my sarcastic and rude comment, I realized something.  More likely than not, that student had probably already forgotten I said anything.  I highly doubt that he was sitting in his own car pining over the comment I made, why I made it, and how it hurt his feelings.  I was making this more about me.  I was letting my ego take over. 

So here’s the decision I’ve made.  I’ll go back to school tomorrow not mentioning it.  I’ll continue to act as I normally do, paying special attention to not say anything sarcastic.  I’ll be sure to be kind and assuring to the student that I was sarcastic toward the day before.  If the student is upset about it, which he probably isn’t, my behavior should set him at ease.  If he wants to talk about it, I’ll be more than happy to apologize for what I said.  The main thing is this: I don’t need to make it a big deal.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, calm down.  We all say things that get us in hot water.  It happens all of the time in our personal lives and in our work lives.  We need to be able to brush it off and move on.  If a conversation happens, own up to it and then let it go.  Relax.  Being a teacher is tough work.  Perhaps with all of the punches that roll our way, we shouldn’t be surprised when a little sarcasm bubbles up and out every once and a while.  

Should We Be Teaching Phonetics in K12?

Phonics you say?  Nope.  Not phonics.  I'm pretty sure Hooked on Phonics screwed me over for life.  To this day I read aloud in my head.  I literally cannot read with out hearing my own voice say the words out loud in my head.  It's kinda sad actually.  I know many people who just read, without hearing voices, and understand the information.  It's magical.  I cannot even begin to understand what that would be like.

But we're not talking phonics here.  We're talking phonetics.

What is phonetics you might ask.  Phonetics is the study and classification of speech sounds.  There are two major phonetic alphabets, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and the American Phonetic Alphabet (APA).  The difference between these alphabets and the alphabet we teach in school is that each symbol only represents one sound.  

How is that different you might ask?  Well, for our traditional alphabet, the letter k can represent several sounds.  It might be silent... it be be vocalized. Don't even get me started with the vowels.  The vowel a can be long and short... and I still don't understand the difference.  Depending on what word it is in and where it is placed within that word, it would be pronounced differently.  With the phonetic alphabet, each symbol represents one and only one sound. It's a simpler system to learn.

Even better, the article "Texting Improves Children's Spelling and Grammar" discusses a study that found "Texting may improve children’s spelling and grammar because using abbreviations such as ‘gr8’ makes them think about language phonetically."  While texting itself is not using the phonetic alphabet, it is more centered around sounds.  By using abbreviations in texting, students and adults are thinking more deeply about language and it's patterns.  Isn't that a good thing?

So why not allow text lingo in school?  Why not teach the IPA alongside or even before the traditional English alphabet?  Obviously others argue that it is not as practical.  These people would say that it doesn't prepare them for the Standard American English that they need to use in college and the work place.  True, but is that a legitimate argument against teaching IPA in addition to the traditional English alphabet?  Probably not.  We should encourage deep, critical thinking not just memorization.  When students are learning and using the IPA and/or text lingo, they are examining their knowledge about language and learning the patterns that exist in their language.  More so, it's an equalizer between native English speakers and English Language Learners.  If all the IPA does is focus on sounds and their patterns, native speakers and language learners should be on more of an even playing field.  Both can examine sounds in any language.  After all, that's one way they know the difference between their language and another.

Perhaps we do need to start teaching the IPA in American schools.  It seems as though the cognitive, social, and academic benefits outweigh the cons. Well...we should at least start with allowing text lingo in our classes.

Hot Secrets: What I've Noticed From Teaching Summer School

I'm already half way through teaching my first of two semesters for summer school. I can't believe at how slow and quick it has gone.  Four hours and fifteen minutes is a long time to do anything, let alone sit in a class. 

So here are the 5 things I've learned so far:


1.  Everyone is just biding their time.  We hate to think it as teachers but, yes, they're there because they have to be.  More often than not, they're there because they have failed.  All of this means that they want to get in, get out, and get gone.  That's fine!  Design your summer school curriculum that way.  It doesn't make you a bad teacher! 

2.  Students like the leeway.  Teach only what they need to know and find a way to give students autonomy.  For me, that's pretty easy.  Autonomy is almost synonymous with composition.  Regardless, I let them pick their partners, topics, sources, etc.  If I can give them choice and guide their learning, that's an efficient and effective way to spend my 14 days.

3.  My students respond well to routine schedules.  I have the same schedule every day.  Grammar - Journal - Research - Writing - Revision.  Students know what to expect when they come in.  They get straight to work and are able to become better at each task the more frequently they do it.  By the third or fourth day, you won't have to explain directions on how to do something... such as writing a basic paragraph.  Instead, you can spend time helping individual students at their own level.

4.  Don't give out homework.  Like I said, they're biding their time.  In my opinion, if we can get the work done in class, then that's what we should do.  Instead of having them write an entire research paper outside of class, I have them write it in chunks during class time.  We're already covering an entire semester's worth of content in 14 days.  Don't make this harder than it already is.  

5.  Give extra credit.  I give one extra-credit worksheet each day.  It's only worth 6 points and it ties into what we're working on with each unit.  Not everyone will do it but it's nice to give them the option.  Remember, this is a credit recovery summer school course - they need and want the choice.

These are just 5 of the many things that I've learned in the past 6 days.  Have you ever taught summer school?  If so, what have you learned?  Comment below.

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The Breakfast Club, The Truman Show & Summer School

This summer I'm teaching a summer school course called Pre-College Composition. I was under the impression that this course was to help students get ahead.  To help them prepare for collegiate writing and the expectations of English departments at major universities.

Turns out... I was wrong.  The majority of the students are credit recovery.  The dreaded credit recovery.  How one can be in a credit recovery course to prepare for collegiate writing is beyond me.  It sounds a little oxymoronic.  I felt like I was walking into The Breakfast Club... 

I haven't taught high school in a year and haven't taught summer school in four years so it has been a bit of an adjustment.

Anyway, I came in with the grand plan to show students what it is like to take a college English course.  They were going to collaborate and explore writing in ways they probably hadn't in high school courses previously.  Needless to say, that didn't happen as planned.  

It took me a little while to wrap my head around the concept of what I needed to do versus what I wanted or hoped to do.

So today I tried something different.  I played a movie.  No, not for the sake of watching a movie (which I secretly wanted to do) but for learning purposes.  You see I was assigning them a critical analysis essay anyway.  Initially they were going to research a few articles and compare/contrast rhetorical devices that the author employed.  I figured, hey let's have just fun learning these skills and do something interesting!

So here's what I did:
1.  We watched The Truman Show but beforehand I had students journal about three important quotes from the film: 

• We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.
• For God's sake, Chris!  The whole world is watching.  We can't let him die in front of a live audience!
• We've become bored with watching actors give us phony emotions.  We are tired of pyrotechnics and special effects.  While the world he inhabits is, in some respects counterfeit, there's nothing fake about Truman himself.  No scripts, no cue cards.  It isn't always Shakespeare, but it's genuine.  It's a life.

2.  Students filled out a worksheet during the film.  The worksheet asked questions that would lead to their essay.  Basically it was a way to jot down information so that they wouldn't forget specifics come essay time.

3.  I had students begin drafting their essay using Google Docs. The essay required them to turn the quote of their choice into a question. For example one of the quotes could be phrased as: "But do we really have to accept the world with which we are presented?". Students then chose two examples from the film that answered the question for Truman.  They followed those two analysis paragraphs up with a conclusion on what they had learned... a "Perhaps Statement."  Since, each student was writing their essay on Google Docs, they shared their essay with me.  While each of them was drafting I would read and write comments on their drafts... simultaneously... yes on all 18 students' essays at once.

So what happened??

Unbelievably it went well!  They really enjoyed it.  I would write comments and questions on their drafts and highlight corresponding areas.  If students had questions, they would reply on the comment.  I ended up having several chats on student essays without them having to actually ask me for help.  Most importantly....

Students felt more comfortable asking me questions online.

None of them called me over to take a look.

Instead, they said, "Hey, Miss.  Can you check mine?".  I would read their question, that particular section of their essay, and type a response.

So should you try it??

Absolutely.  I highly suggest doing this in your classroom.  It's especially good for differentiation.  I have various levels in this course: seniors who are preparing themselves for college, seniors with credit recovery, sophomores preparing themselves for American Literature, and juniors with credit recovery.  I also have quite a few ELL students.  With all of this combined, this synchronous collaboration and discussion on Google Docs allowed me to help each individual student at their own level...and I have an electronic record of what we discussed so I won't forget!

Please give it a try and let me know how it goes.  As always, if you found this post helpful or enlightening, please like and share!

How to Collab Effectively

As teachers we like to incorporate collaboration into our classroom. When students learn from one another, they learn more than just content - they learn to challenge each other, question themselves, and incorporate teamwork. All of this is important to teachers too. 

But how often do we collaborate when we're not forced to for our PLC's???

Today I met up with another instructor and LEARNED from her. It was by choice and it was a good reminder as to why we need to collaborate with each other regularly. 

Who Should We Collaborate With?

1. Teachers in our content area

2. Teachers outside of our content area

3. Administrators in various positions

4. Business people outside of the education sector

Why the Variety?

We learn valuable information from talking to different people. You never know what you could learn or what opportunities will present themselves. 

In a recent meeting with an entrepreneur, I learned about better communication and how to be more effective as a leader. As a result, we decided to collaborate on a writing curriculum.  It is because this person was outside of education that I learned these skills and was offered this opportunity. 

How Do I Effectively Collab?

1. Come in with a plan - Be prepared with what you want to get out of your meeting...but be flexible.

2. Ask about that person - Learn about their specialty and be open to learning their skills.

3. Plan - Be aware of what you will implement post collaboration. Maybe you learned a new skill you want to practice professionally. Maybe you experienced a new type of teaching or activity that you want to put in place. Be aware of what it is that you want and create and action plan.

4. Follow-Up - Always follow up.  Be kind, grateful and interested in that person.  

Most of all, remember that we need to be excited about all of the opportunities that come from collaborating with others!  From collaboration comes learning, growth, and influence!

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Five for Fraturday: Random Teaching Tips I've Discovered

Let's look at some random things I've discovered that I plan to implement in my curriculum.

I'm obsessed with using technology in the classroom to create social awareness.  I do a collaborative research project each semester.  During summer school this year, I plan to beta test a Facebook Awareness Page assignment where group members will post annotated sources, surveys, pictures, videos, etc. about the given topic!

In class I like to have my students display their research in unique ways. What's better than to have them create an infographic?!  Easelly is a *FREE* website that provides templates and graphics.  Students just have to plug in their information.  How cool?

Frequently we make students write LOOOOOONG research papers.  In the real world, though, management likes to see the Cliffs Notes.  While employees still need to know how to do long, time-consuming, in-depth research, they also need to be able to summarize their own work.  I'm planning on having them write 1 paragraph long summaries for each of their essays to practice this skill.

Each time I plan to have a class discussion, I am going to have a 5-minute prep session.  These 5 minutes will be devoted to looking over notes, skimming readings, and preparing thoughts.  No one likes to feel under prepared or unorganized.  This prep session will put students at ease before the discussion begins.

So I'm reading a book called BRIEF, more to come on that later, and I read a tip that I CAN'T WAIT to employ in the classroom.  The book talked about business meeting huddles.  So, why not have a quick teaching tip huddle where, for 5-7 minutes, we review information as a class and I give them reminders/tips/instructions?  I'll work out the kinks but I think the physical change will be nice!