Where I've Been and Why I'm Back

I can't believe that it's been 2 1/2 years since my last blog post.  That's unbelievable to me.  Over the past 2 1/2 years, I have been a very busy lady.  There have been so many personal and professional changes in my life that I'm very proud to share with you.

 

Pictures of me with my international students

• I finished my graduate degree.
• I started teaching in international education, a field that was completely new to me.
• I was promoted to administration.
• I began training, mentoring, and leading teachers in an official capacity.
• I presented at an national teaching conference on international education.
• I led national webinars teaching administrators on best practices in metacognition and collaboration in the classroom.

Right: Me at my MA in English Linguistics graduation

Left: Me before presenting at English USA

Right: Me training teachers on grading writing

And those are just the professional changes.  No surprises but there have been a lot of life changes as well.  Moving.  Relationships.  Church.  Small group.  Friends.  Too many changes to count.

I'm so grateful for all of these changes, though, because I have grown in a deep and profound way.  In many ways, I'm a completely different person than I was 1 year ago.  I'm wiser, more experienced, and more assure of myself.  I'm comfortable leading others and taking risks on my own.  Even more, I'm comfortable coaching others on how they can successfully and effectively take risks.

And now I'm back.

I'm back and ready share what I've learned with you.   I wouldn't have been able to embark on some of these amazing opportunities without someone sharing with me first. It's time for me to pay it forward.

From this point forward, this blog is dedicated to:

• Developing teachers and enhancing practices
• Mentoring teacher leaders and administrators
• Sharing best practices about management and leadership both inside and outside of the classroom

I'm excited to share content with you on this page.  You'll also be able to find content on my other platforms as well.  Please be sure to like my Facebook page and follow me on Instagram so you can catch this info as well!

So buckle in!  We're in for a ride!

Commenting Manifesto Freebie

Caution: Freebie for My Followers ahead!

Commenting is something that I didn't used to discuss with my students.  Sure, I would read my students' papers and mark allllll over them.  I felt like I was imparting my wisdom.  After all, I had studied this content intensely... shouldn't I be sharing my wisdom?

It wasn't until I read and heard Nancy Sommers talk about Responding to Student Writing that my philosophy of commenting completely changed.  Where as before I would mark up the drafts as much as I could, now I follow the Minimal Marking Philosophy (though I'm not a devout disciple).  I give my students one long note at the end of the paper that points out the general strengths and weaknesses dealing with global issues like logic, reasoning, organization, purpose, etc.  Not only do I point out the weaknesses but I give them suggestions as to how to improve.  They're no longer overwhelmed with corrections that they need to make.  Instead, they are focused on developing their writing in a deeper and more fruitful way.

But what does all of this mean if we don't have a conversation with them about essay commenting?

Absolutely nothing.  Our students need to be involved in the commenting process.  Sommers suggests to create a class manifesto.  

Bouncing off of that idea, I have my students create a Mini-Class Manifesto on Commenting with a small group.  They collaborate with 4 peers to create 4 general guidelines for paper commenting.  That means they need to boil it down to the 4 most important elements to a successful essay.  This is hard work!

(to get your hands on this bad boy, see the directions down below!)

Not only that, but they need to give a full description of what that guideline entails.  So instead of suggesting we comment on organization, they have to be explicit with what makes a good organization or why organization is important to an essay.  Furthermore, their Mini-Class Manifesto on Commenting has to include sample comments representing these guidelines.  So what would a helpful comment on organization look like to them?

Once they have finished creating this Manifesto on Commenting, they then need to try it out! Let them experience what it is like to comment on an essay with certain expectations.  Then have a discussion about it.

What worked?
What didn't work?  Why?
What comments kept popping into their heads that didn't fit their criteria?

In general, this exercise is very beneficial to the students.  They get a first-hand look at the grading process.  Even better, they give you insight into what's most important to them!

Want to get your hands on my Class Commenting Manifesto?! 

(click me!)

-> Like my Facebook page and you'll see a tab on the top (or side) that says "Freebie Grab Bag!"  (If you don't, it's either because you haven't liked the page or you'll find it under "More").  Click the Freebie Grab Bag tab and you'll be rerouted to free content just for my followers!

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!

Leaving Class with Questions

So you had a great class, but in the last 10 minutes there was an influx of questions.  Really big questions.  Questions like, "but how do I organize my essay?" or "what if I'm having trouble identifying the rhetorical strategies to analyze?"  It happens to everyone but what if you don't have time to cover it next class?  We're on strict schedules with our curriculum.  Even worse, I only see my students 2 times a week.  And one of those times is in the computer lab!

Frankly, I don't have time to hold the class back one extra day to cover what was confusing.

So what do we do?

Here are three things that you can do to address 

those last-minute questions for next time:

1.  Email:  I have a professor who, after every class, emails us.  It usually starts a little something like this: "After class, I began to think about..."  It never makes us feel like we're idiots and he has to waste his time to teach us more...via email.  Instead, he brings up the issue in a conversational tone and directs us to places (text book pages, website, podcasts, videos, etc.) that will help us address those questions.  He helps us take our learning into our own hands.

2.  Podcast:  If it's not something that you need a visual for, why not just record your voice lecture style.  But make it a short lecture.  Audio without visual can drag if it's too long.  No more than 10-minute sound bytes.  Also, make sure you're using verbal cues to help your students stay on track.  Say things like "3 things I'd like to discuss" and mention "first, second, and third" when you get there.  Using those verbal cues will help them with note-taking.  Feel free to visit my podcast to get a feel for how I do things.

3.  Screencast-O-Matic:  So you like the idea of a podcast but the topic really would benefit from having a visual?  Okay, use www.screencast-o-matic.com.  This is a free service that allows you to audio and visual record your screen without installing anything to your computer.  I use it in one of two ways. Sometimes I will create a PowerPoint and go through that while discussing what I naturally would as if I were in class.  And sometimes I pull up sample pieces of writing and do a "read aloud" with my students noticing what strategies the authors are using in their writing.  Both are great options.  The best thing is that Screencast-O-Matic will set up a video page for you or upload it straight to Youtube.  That way you can have it for all the world to see if you'd like!   See one of my examples down below or visit my How-To for your first time screencasting!

Whatever you choose to do, make sure that you have a plan before you begin.  Just like you would with any class, you need to have an objective.  If you have that set from the beginning, you're follow-up will be clear and concise!  Good luck!

Lil' Durk Time: Building Community within the Classroom

Apparently there is a new up-and-coming, Chicago-based rapper.  Lil' Durk.

How do I know this? Well my students were taking a survey for my Peer Advocate (more about this down below) so that he could learn more about them.  One of the survey questions: Who is your favorite artist?  As I creeped over their shoulders, I learned that many of them really liked Lil' Durk.

Side note.  Yes... that's his name.  It's really stupid.  Let's be real.

After I made a joke about how ridiculous of a name that was and how I didn't believe that he was even a real person, it made me start thinking.  You see, I have been working on a pilot program in the First-Year Composition Program called the Peer Advocate (PA) Program.  Holy program.  The goal of the program is to help retention rates, a problem that is plaguing college campuses nationwide.  As a cohort leader/trainer of PAs, I always tell my students that the real goal of this is to get them connected to one another.  In all honesty, it doesn't matter how cool a college campus is.  It doesn't matter if the football team is amazing or if there is great Greek Life.  

If students don't connect with one another, why would they stay?

This program, although it is a pilot, is large scale.  It involves 30 students being attached to 30 FYComp classes with 25 students per class.  That's a total of 750 incoming Freshman being impacted!  While the PAs have successfully completed the FYComp classes themselves, their goal isn't necessarily to help the students in class.  Instead, they invite students to events, attend club meetings, and take them out for pizza.

Like I said, this is large scale.  But what can we, as teachers, do right now? What can we do in our classes without having to ask for approval, form committees, and run pilot programs?  

Here's a list of 5 things you can put in place in your classroom today to help start build community with your students this week.

1. Lil' Durk Time:  Like I mentioned above, my students love Lil' Durk.  However, every Monday in my class we discuss deep topics like gender, sexuality, race, and religion.  I want to loosen them up and have them connect on a human level before we get into these heated discussions. So, I have them sit in different groups each week and give them one odd ball question to get discussion flowing: This is our "Lil' Durk Time".  Questions like: What's the worst song on the radio? or What's the best movie you've seen lately? give them a chance to connect with each other as people. Priming them to build relationships.
2. Group Projects:  Every teacher has group projects.  Make it a requirement for them to meet outside of class once.  You can have them tell you the time/place or you can have a student leader help coordinate. Forcing them to meet outside of class will give them another opportunity to create friendships with one another.
3. Email: We all have email lists of our classes but don't delete the classes that you don't have any more!  Send out an email blast to your old students.  Let them know that you're happy the year has finally gotten under way and remind them that you're still here for them. Tell them when your office hours or free periods are and where at so they know when and where to find you.
4. Seating Arrangement:  Don't be afraid to switch it up.  Rows facing forward.  Rows facing each other.  Groups.  Large circle.  Semi-circle. Pairs. Putting them in different seats allows them to be next to new people that they might not know.
5. Pictures:  Take a group picture! Most of us have an online classroom environment like Moodle or Blackboard.  Use that picture as the online class banner!  That way the online space becomes theirs.

Whatever you do, remember that while content is important, the most important thing in life is relationships.  We want our students to not feel alone in this cray cray world.  They should feel comfortable expressing themselves with one another. As terrible as this sounds, I used to say "The class that parties together, stays together."  While I don't endorse the partying part, it is true. Our students are more apt to stay involved with the program or school if they feel like they have built roots there.

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! 

Top 5: July

So July is coming to an end and it's about time to show you my favorites from the month!  This summer, I was exposed to great professional development and implemented several new things into my teaching with my summer school classes.  Without further adieu, here's the Top 5 for July!

Coggle:  I wrote a post on Coggle before but I want to reiterate how amazing it is.  This FREE mind-streaming software really reimagined the way my students planned out their essays.  I had intended on using Coggle as a pre-writing device but my students had other plans.  Instead, they chose to use it as a way to create an outline that was not limited by the Roman Numeral system.  They focused on relationships and level of specificity.  

Drive:  This summer I transformed my entire writing class into one that is based online.  Every essay was written online (yes... I used to be the teacher that made students do hand-written drafts!).  Every essay was revised online. Every essay was graded online.  The share, chat, and commenting functions of Google Drive allowed me and my students to interact with their writing in a way that time wasn't allowed for in the traditional writing classroom.

Twitter:  This has been my favorite professional development!  At this moment, I'm loving these Tweet chats: #christianeducations (Christian Educators), #iledchat (Illinois Educators), #ntchat (New Teachers), and #21stedchat (21st Century Education). There are so many others that I love too.  Pretty much any state-level tweet chat is fun to me!  I enjoy collaborating with teachers across the country.  Stay tuned for a post on how to successfully participate in an educational Twitter chat.  In the mean time, check out these other Tweet Chats.

BRIEF: Joe McCormack's new book BRIEF is intended for high-level executives in Fortune 500 companies.  But that doesn't mean teachers can't learn from it!  The premise of the book is that because we are so inundated with information, we must learn the keys to brevity and how they apply to speaking, presenting, and writing - or as he calls it, being a "lean communicator".  Isn't that what we do as teachers?

Creating Magic:  Lee Cockerell, the man who ran Walt Disney World operations, says "It's not the magic that makes it work; it's the way we work that makes it magic" in his book Creating Magic. In it, he discusses 10 leadership strategies that help you to put people first in any and every market. The book itself is full of insights into people and what makes them tick.

Adventures with Doctopus

Today I discovered Doctopus. Apparently I'm a year behind but it's better late than never, right Brownbaggers?  Doctopus is a Google Sheets Add On and, according to its description, it was designed with "teacher workflow in mind - taming complexity and unlocking the power of Google Apps for differentiation and collaboration."  Quite a claim!  You all already know that I am a HUGE FAN of using Google Apps in the classroom.  In fact, I have revamped my entire writing curriculum to be entirely online through Google Drive.

So when I heard about an Add On that could essentially make my life easier by "passing out" my documents, storing them in one place, and allowing me to grade with a rubric... I was down!

Thus far my experience has been a little murky though.  I don't know if it's just me but I found that the explanations of Doctopus could have been a little bit clearer.  Maybe they could have hired a technical writer?  I wonder if the directions make sense to people who have used Doctopus over the past year, but as a newbie I was confused.

It starts off by asking you to import or create a new roster including names and emails.  Simple enough.  
Check!

Then it goes through the different types of folders that can or should be created.  As a newbie, I didn't know the difference.  I suspect that the longer I toy around with it, the more familiar I will become.  You'll see in the picture below that just one assignment for one roster created all of the folders under "July - Summer School Students".  That's 11 folders.  I only have 7 students for this section so imagine a full-sized class!  That being said, I hope and assume that additional assignments will be filed under the same roster.  Time will tell.  But, folders created!
Check!

Next it asks you to choose the assignment template.  I had a difficult time choosing one because it didn't give me access to other folders on my Drive. Maybe that's a glitch with my computer.  Anyhow, I just resaved my assignment template in the folder that the roster had just created.  I could then upload the assignment template from there. I did like that it gives you options for how the students view the document.  For example they can view only, comment, or edit (nothing new) but you can also set it up for them to view each other's or only their own.  That's a cool feature!  It also allows you to send it to groups or to individuals.  There's where a new level of collaboration comes in.  I sent the assignments and checked what they looked like on the other end - meaning I snooped over a student's shoulder.

Check!

Finally it allows you to do Add On's with grading.  I have yet to use those but I look forward to exploring them.  Goobric, an interactive rubric tool, can be added on to the Doctopus sheet so that they interface together.  As I typically grade holistically, I haven't tried it yet. All in good time!

Check!

My thoughts so far?  It seems difficult to use and easy to use at the same time.  As a beginner, I feel like I have no clue what's going on or how to truly utilize Doctopus yet.  It's not super user friendly.  At the same time, I know that it has much to offer. I'm excited to see what opportunities for innovation and collaboration it will bring into my classroom.  

I'll keep you all updated as I become more familiar with it, of course.  Have any of you used it before?  I'd love to get some tips from you all! Comment below or tweet me @mac_ker1.

Learning from a Veteran: An Interview

I had the pleasure of working with my girl Steph for the first three years of my teaching career.  During that time, she was supportive and challenging and encouraged me to be a teacher that really stuck to her guns.  She taught me that it was okay to challenge my students in a new way and she always urged me to be a collaborator.  During our last conversation, I thought this teacher has so much wisdom to offer!  So I decided to interview her.  Below are some little nuggets of gold to take with as the school year begins.

1.  What is the most important thing that you have learned that student teaching didn't prepare you for?

Student teaching is a time of life when I was definitely in survival mode. I was trying to lesson plan well, teach well, grade well, know my students as best I could, and to sleep a bit here and there. During this time, I was so focused on my classroom, that I saw little outside of those four walls. Therefore, student teaching did not, in any way, prepare me for the variety of teacher personalities and agendas that I would come in contact with.

It did not occur to me that collaboration would be incredibly difficult at times; that small groups of teachers are resistant to change and therefore growth. Student teaching did not warn me that some teachers would forget why they got into this profession in the first place. Their self-centeredness and stubbornness was shocking in the early days of my career. Honestly, after twelve years it is still surprising at times.  Student teaching did not show me the disappointment I would feel at times in my colleagues, and undoubtedly the disappointment they sometimes feel in me. It also did not show me the personalities of those who constantly go above and beyond, of those who can reach students unreachable in other classrooms. I was unprepared for the lengths some teachers are willing to go for students, for their schools, and for their communities.

What I have learned during the last twelve years, no thanks to student teaching, is to align myself with teachers, administrators, and staff who inspire me and to stay away from those who create drama or who drag me down. I have learned to seek out those who are like minded and to learn from and grow with them. Only in this way, can I become the absolute best version of my teacher self.

2.  When was the first time you realized, "wow, I'm really a teacher"?

I did not have my first “Aha” moment in which I felt like a real teacher, until a few years into my career. I came into teaching from the publishing field and have always felt that improving student writing is critical. During one class period, I was having students revise pieces of their own writing, as well as other student pieces of writing. We were making sure statements were supported with textual evidence and we were eliminating wordiness. Any changes that helped improve writing flow or increased clarity were celebrated and witnessed by the entire class. Students began complimenting each other on changes being made, and started thanking each other for the help they were receiving. I knew they were improving. They knew they were enjoying the activity. At the end of the period, one student came up and thanked me for caring about their writing and for trying to make them better. That was it! I knew then that I was a “real teacher.” When you can get students to thank you for making them work, you have made it!

3.  What's one activity that you did during your first few years of teaching that you will never do again and why?

During my first few years of teaching I wanted to work a creative project into my Shakespeare unit. I also wanted to have student-produced work to display in my classroom. I remember assigning the License Plate Project. Students were to create a license plate that related in some way to Julius Caesar.  They were meant to be clever and to reveal an important part of the play. Many of the plates simply had phrases such as: E2BRUTE, or SEASER or STABSTAB. They were colorful or cute and the right size or shape, but in my reflection of this activity I realized the students got nothing out of doing this. They were not asked to analyze or critically think. They were asked to be cute and to color nicely. I have learned since those early days that my creative projects must always contain a written explanation of the creative piece. When doing creative projects now, my students must incorporate a discussion of why they chose certain colors; the symbolism of their piece; any allegory or allusion they have included, etc.

4.  What role does creativity play in your classroom?

Creativity plays a solid role in my current classroom. I am very aware that not all students learn in the same way, and that many cannot express what they have learned in the form of multiple choice tests and formal essays. In my classroom we stand up, we move around, we sing, we chant, we play, we color, we paint, we write, we read, we laugh, we share. My opening day activity with seniors in Honors World Literature is a finger painting activity. They must describe the role of a griot in Africa, but do so on butcher paper using finger paints. Later in the year when we study cuneiform and hieroglyphics, they create their own symbols and alphabets related to modern day and write a brief story using their designs.  Anyone without an assigned reading part during Oedipus Rex becomes part of the chorus and must help chant those lines while walking in a circle in the middle of the room. Hector and Achilles have had their arguments on top of desks and they have spilled out into the hallway. Odysseus and Penelope have had heartfelt discussions lying next to each other on the floor of my classroom, and many a student has taken the risk to show us the video she created at home, because she was just a bit too nervous to be creative with us watching in real time. Creativity is noisy and messy. It means the teacher has to let go a little bit, but it makes learning fun and it is engaging.  And, it can create amazing results.

5.  If your teaching style was an animal, what would it be and why?

This is a difficult question. After much deliberation I have decided that my teaching style is that of a wasp. Much like the wasp, I attempt to keep stinging (read as motivating) my students. Their flailing hands and attempts and shooing me away, are useless. I buzz around their heads and near their ears so that they hear my voice and understand my expectations even when they are away from my classroom. I buzz near them and attempt to make them move, and only really sting when necessary.