Gladly Would I Teach

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Despite having had the seasonal flu shot and the H1N1 flu shot and doing my best to stay away from sick students, I contracted a bad cold a couple of weeks ago. Unlike most colds that go away after three or four days, this cold apparently loved living in my body and stayed around to torment me for 10 very long and miserable days.

I took a day off from school when I was really ill and then returned to work the next day. In the span of a couple of hours, I felt just as bad as I had the previous day. But, like so many teachers who keep reporting to school despite their illnesses, I kept on working. Finally, I awoke one morning and determined that there was no way I could drive myself to work and called for a substitute.

Normally it isn’t difficult to create a lesson plan that students can complete without me, but I had three students scheduled for speeches in each class. Since delivering speeches makes some students really nervous, I knew it might cause problems if they had to reschedule their speeches after they had already worried and prepared for the speeches. Unfortunately, however, there was nothing I could do. I had to cancel the speeches.

As I climbed back into bed, my thoughts drifted to that tiny little video camera asleep in my top desk drawer.  Perfect!  I sent an email to my department chair and asked him to obtain the camera and have a student videotape the speeches.

It worked!

Now, instead of grading speeches as students deliver them, this weekend I am staring into my computer screen and viewing and grading speeches. I actually graded one speech today as I went to the park and stared into the very tiny camera screen as I ate lunch.

I love technology!

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Edie Parrott

For decades Georgia has required public schools to teach character traits. Each month spotlights a trait: respect, responsibility, citizenship, compassion, resilience, diversity, commitment, and integrity.

Who can argue with such a plan?

Teaching and emphasizing strength of character is a noble goal, and literature is the perfect platform for discussions about valuable character traits.  Any English teacher discussing Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird certainly touches on each of the character traits Georgia emphasizes.

History teachers discussing the founding of America, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, and other important historical events also teach and emphasize character.

Is it possible to teach science without emphasizing respect, resilience, responsibility?

Is it possible to teach foreign language, or physical education, or mathematics or any other school subject without addressing character traits that we want students to develop?

As with so many things in education, we often let other interests sidetrack our goals, and too often our decisions are not based on what is best for students. Instead of allowing teachers to emphasize character traits naturally as they teach their subjects, my school, along with a few others in my district, changed the process a few years ago.

For 45 minutes one day each month, high school students attend a Character Education lesson. They return to their homerooms and are instructed in the “Word of the Month.” Imagine pulling sixteen year olds into a classroom and saying, “Today we are going to learn about responsibility,” or “This month’s word is ‘compassion.’ Now, who can define ‘compassion’?”

Students complain that the program is silly.

Teacher complain that the program is unproductive.

In fact, students and teachers have complained and suggested improvements FOR YEARS!

No assessment of the program has ever been conducted, and most teachers simply go through the motions of teaching a character education lesson each month, believing this is the way it is going to be regardless of what they think.

On Tuesday we taught RESILIENCE, a fitting word for teachers and students who gather each month and go through the motions of learning character in such an unnatural setting.

Like too many things in education, this unproductive and inane activity doesn’t have to be this way.  Teachers could indeed restructure the program and make it meaningful for students, but things won’t change because we have “taught” character this way for over 15 years. It’s the only method that most teachers, students, and administrators know.

Unfortunately, we all know the mantra:  “This is the way we have always done it.” Sometimes routine appears more important than success.

Maybe one month we can add a new character word:  effectiveness!

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Edie Parrott

It’s New Year’s, and I suppose its time to disclose my teacher resolutions for the year.

• I have such a hard time keeping my mouth shut during class discussions, and I know I would be a better teacher if I allowed students to participate more as I participate less.  Hence, I resolve to use the World Cafe approach to discussions at least once every other week. (I’ve written about this method several times. For more information, type “World Cafe discussion” in the search box on the right.)

• For years I have heard teachers, parents, and students declare that red ink is upsetting to students.  I have never really believed there was much validity behind this claim, but just in case these people are right, I’m going to switch to another color this year. I’m giving up my favorite red Flairs and grading in green ink. Will green ink really make a difference? I am inclined to think it will make little difference or I would have changed long ago, but I’m going to give it a try.

• I have  always scoffed at the idea that English teachers need to teach visual literacy. Who needs any special talent or skill to understand a photo, cartoon, or video? Several incidents recently, however, persuaded me that some of my students might benefit from more discussion of visuals. This year I’m going to include more opportunities for students to study and discuss visuals, particularly photos and editorial cartoons.

• Finally, although I generally do a good job of recognizing and thanking good students, this year I resolve to write at least three notes per week to students, parents, or former students.

That’s it!  Four resolutions.

Teaching resolutions are so much easier than personal resolutions.

At least teaching resolutions don’t revolve around losing weight!

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Edie Parrott

Over my long career, I have been astounded by how much technology has advanced and enhanced my ability to teach.

For example, when I first started teaching in 1977, it took an hour to read through a huge catalogue and select a movie to show to my class, another hour to complete the proper form and mail it, and weeks before the movie arrived in the mail. When it arrived, I usually had two days to show the movie before I had to pack it back up and return it. I don’t even want to describe the frustration of learning how to thread the movie through the projector and create the proper loop so the movie would not pop throughout the viewing like a “silent” movie in the 1920s.

Years later, VCRs and video cassettes replaced movie projectors.

Years later, DVD players and disks replaced VCRS.

Now, we have moved on to digital downloads. Who knows what will be next?

No aid, device, or piece of technology, however, has made my job easier than a course website that contains information about my class, due dates, information for parents, links to websites that provide additional help, and most of the assignments that students must complete in my class.

I created my first course website about 8 years ago and suffered through learning FrontPage. Today, I use a blogging platform (WordPress) that allows me to add information through pages. This process allows me to post updates and add new information in only minutes.

As the years go on, I keep adding and refining what I have on my website. When students needed more examples, I started posting papers from previous students (with their permission). When I create new assignments, I add a new page and show the assignment. When I stop using an assignment, instead of removing it from the website, I simply type the note “We will not complete this assignment this month.”

Many teachers who look at my website express the idea that they do not have the time or the skills to create a comparable site. What they may not understand, however, is that I built my site a little at a time over the years.

Today, as I prepare for a new semester, all I will have to do is update my syllabus and due dates and make the changes on my website.  I will then direct students to the website, teach them how to use it, and explain that they will need to print assignments when we get to them. I save myself hours simply by reducing the number of assignments I have to duplicate for students,

If you don’t have a website for your class, it’s an idea you might want to consider. Course websites increase communication between teachers and students, teachers and parents, and teachers and other teachers. Each week I receive one or two emails from new teachers who ask permission to use my assignments or who just express thanks. We are all accustomed to sharing ideas with the teacher down the hall. Course websites allow us to share ideas with teachers across the globe.

Here’s the link to my AP English Language & Composition website:

Parrott\’s AP English Language and Composition

Throughout the semester, I require students to research contemporary and often controversial, topics. Students must read a variety of sources and then present their findings to the class or share the information they uncover in a paper or project. Although the topics are quite limited in its early days of development, a new Google service may become a tremendous research aid in the future.

Google Living Stories allows users to access one URL where they can track stories from The New York Times and The Washington Post. Currently, the only topics available are health care, swine flu, global warming, the war in Afghanistan, executive compensation, and a couple of stories of importance to Washington, DC.

Readers who click on a topic can then follow the timeline of the topic, read news stories and editorials, watch videos, see important quotations, etc. all on that topic. Google Living Stories provides a quick primer on topics, but the sources are so extensive, that it appears to be an excellent research tool.

It’s new and limited to a handful of topics and pulls sources from only two newspapers. However, as Google adds sources and topics, Google Living Stories may transform into one of the most important sources we have for tracking important developing stories.

As I played with the website, I, once again, thought about how the Internet is changing how we conduct research. Initially as I looked at Google Living Stories, I did not like it because it provides students with sources without requiring them to search on their own. I quickly changed my mind, however. One of the Internet’s greatest strengths is the ability to perform quick searches and deliver sources that once took individuals days to find. Sure, students don’t have to search as long as students of the past, but the time they save from searching can be spent in reading and analyzing more sources (including graphics and videos) than we ever thought possible.

It’s early in development, but I like what I see so far in Google Living Stories.

I received an email yesterday from a teacher who wanted to know if I would share my lesson plans for teaching In Cold Blood. I had to apologize to her for not sending anything because the plans that I have for teaching the book are all inside my book. I don’t type up plans for teaching; I just put everything I need inside the book itself. Until I received the email yesterday, I had never given this concept much thought.

Years ago, I created plans and typed everything to make it look pretty, but each time I made changes to the plans, and, after awhile, I realized that making plans and typing them up was just spinning my wheels because it wasn’t a valuable way for me to prepare to teach. Besides, since I’ve been teaching for decades, I also had to endure the conversion process: from typewriter to early computers; early computers to Windows based computers, and on and on and on. Those of you who are really young probably don’t understand this part, but in the first 10-15 years of personal computers, many files were not compatible from one machine to another.  It was painful!

Today, the only plans I have for teaching a book are located inside the book itself. I write/circle/underline/highlight/colorize and decorate my book with sticky notes of everything I need to teach. It’s a system that works really well for me.

First, I buy a popular HARDBACK edition of the book (one that students often also purchase). While paperbacks are fine, I prefer hardback books for teaching because I will indeed teach from that same book for decades. Paperbacks fall apart after four or five years of teaching, and I don’t want to have to transfer over my information.

What notes do I include?

• In the first pages of the book, I list  the items I want to go over with students before they begin reading, including any warnings about the book, information about the author, publication information, things I want students to pay attention to as they read. I always begin by emphasizing why the book is a classic or why it has become so popular.
• In the opening pages of the book, I also list the reading schedule I will use. For example, if we will spend three weeks on the book, I list which pages we will read the first night, second night, etc.  Then, each time I teach the book, I only need to supply dates.
• Before each block of text for nightly reading, I include notes about what I want students to pay attention to that night or the purpose for reading that night.
• On each page in the book, I highlight important information and terms or descriptions of people, etc. If there is something on the page that I definitely want to review with students in class, I circle the page number. (As I discuss the book, I always look for circled pages so I know what to go over in class.)
• On pages I will review with students, I write the corresponding page numbers for other editions of the book that students might use.
• I highlight or mark pages that I want to read aloud in class. These may be “Aha” moments or prose where music should play in the background.
• On each page or at the end of the block of reading, I write discussion questions that I will use in class.
• At the end of the book, I write the quizzes that I will give in class after each section of reading.

Each time I teach a book, I add more information to my book. After a decade of using the same book, the poor thing is covered with highlights and notes, but I have everything I need for teaching in the same place. As a result, when I prepare to teach the book for the umpteenth time, I don’t have to flip through file folders of information or computer files of handouts. All I have to do is take my book home with me. It contains everything I need to teach the book.

Except tests – I still keep them under lock and key!

Holidays are times for students to relax and rejuvenate. Although some excellent teachers disagree with me, I don’t think teachers should assign homework over vacations. (My one exception to this rule is for summer reading.)

This morning we are returning to school after a full week of Thanksgiving vacation. What a blessing to have an entire week off!  For years the district where I teach granted students three days of vacation and two days for teachers. A few years ago they rearranged the calendar so we could have a break over the entire week. What a great idea. Whereas in the past teachers and students were “sucking wind” to survive until final exams that were administered a few days before Christmas, this morning we will return to class happier, rested, and perhaps a little heavier.

If we give homework over the holidays, even homework that only takes an hour or two, we defeat part of the purpose of vacations. While it’s true that we could wedge in another novel or another paper if kids read and write over the holidays, do we really need to do that?

When I left my classroom on Friday, the week before Thanksgiving, I also left behind all of my school work. Yes, I still had some work to do but nothing that couldn’t wait until after the holidays. I wanted my students to have that same privilege.

When my students arrive in a little over an hour, I want them happy, rested, and ready to learn!

Yesterday a teacher asked for advice about easy and quick ways to grade notebooks. I’ll pass along the information I gave in case you are staring at a stack of notebooks you have to grade over the holidays. My method is so simple and practical that I am embarrassed it took me over a decade to figure it out.

The best aspect of my notebook grading is that I do NOT take home any notebooks, nor do I have stacks of notebooks on my classroom floor for days and days as I grade them.

Before revealing my grading suggestion, however, I’ll review why I have students keep notebooks in some classes. I want students to keep all handouts, assignments, notes, and graded work in an organized fashion. I want them to be able to find everything they need to study for tests and to study for the final exam. I hope during the process that they will also improve their organizational skills. I’m not particularly interested in whether or not their notebooks are pretty so long as they can find what they need and read it.

At the beginning of the semester, I tell students how I will grade their notebooks and I make suggestions for how they should organize their notebooks (how many dividers they need, sections they need to establish, etc). I also insist that they have a notebook just for my class since I may take it up during the semester. I emphasize the importance of bringing the notebook to class each day and, particularly at the beginning of the semester, I remind them to place their work in their notebooks.

Instead of collecting notebooks to grade, this is my process.

1. I tell students to place their notebook on their desk and prepare for a notebook check.
2. I distribute a one-page notebook check (See example below.)
3. I tell the students that the notebook is timed and that they must finish it within 30 minutes (adjusted for individual classes). Students must write answers on the notebook sheet. They may not use their textbooks, hunt for papers in their book bags, or ask me for help. They can only use their notebooks to find the answers.
4. The notebook check includes abbreviations that I have to explain to students before they begin. For example. The first question may state:  Night 3.12.  I explain to students that this means they have to go to their questions on Night.  Look at the questions on chapter 3 and provide the answer to #12.  All answers should be 2-3 words. (I don’t ask essay type questions on notebook checks.)
5. Depending on the class, I ask from 20 to 50 questions.
6. I walk around the room to ensure that kids don’t pass papers from their notebooks to other students and to ensure that they can’t copy other students’ work. I collect papers as students finish.
7. If I have multiple classes of the same subject, I collect the notebooks at the end of the notebook check and keep them overnight so students in one class cannot give their notebook to a student in another class.
8. Instead of taking home stacks of notebooks to grade, I only have a stack of short answer questions to grade. Since I make students write answers in little blocks, I am able to grade the papers much faster.

Some teachers wonder about students who are able to answer questions on a notebook check even when they haven’t written down the answer. For example, what if a student did not write down the answer to question number 12 in chapter 3 of Night? As long as the student knows the answer, I don’t care. Students tell us all of the time that they don’t need to write down the answers because they know the answers. If that’s the case and they can indeed remember the answer all semester, I am happy to give them credit for that question. (As we all know, however, most students cannot remember the answers.)

By utilizing a notebook check of this type, I test whether or not students have maintained the papers that I requested and whether or not they have them in a reasonable order that THEY can retrieve easily.

If you still feel the need to check notebooks to see if they are pretty or tidy, you can always add a category to the notebook check and flip through notebooks quickly to add that score after grading the notebook check.

For years and years I plodded through notebooks for hours until I reached the point that I really didn’t care what grade I gave them! Then I went through a period when I didn’t require notebooks because I didn’t want to mess with grading even though I knew it would help students if I required notebooks. When I finally figured out how to grade notebooks through checks of this type, I was delighted because I could emphasize the organizational skills I wanted to instill in students and grade their notebooks quickly and painlessly.

I’m attaching a sample notebook check and answer sheet below.

Notebook Check

Notebook Check with answers

A few weeks ago, I posted information about an exciting class discussion procedure called World Cafe. I used the approach yesterday for the first time, and the group discussions proceeded much better than other forms of discussions that I have used in the past. If you are looking for a new or perhaps more productive way to place kids in groups and have them discuss a work of literature or a topic, take a look at World Cafe.

My Original Post on World Cafe

Yesterday I used a modified World Cafe approach when I had my students discuss the essay “Best In Class” by Margaret Talbot. Since the essay analyzes the problems many schools now face when designating a class valedictorian, I knew the essay would spark a wonderful discussion for seniors. Since I have more than 25 students in each of my classes, it is difficult for all students to participate productively. I knew that students would discuss more if I allowed them to work in small groups, but, as we all know, sometimes those groups are not nearly as productive as we would like, and students don’t have the opportunity to discuss their ideas with students outside their small groups.

I knew this was the perfect opportunity to use the World Cafe approach. I modified the procedure slightly to fit my class situation. I created 5 groups simply by having students count off by 5s. I then gave each group a different question to discuss in their groups. I reduced the time that students had to work in each group to only 10 minutes so all students (except the table leaders who stayed in the same group for the entire discussion) had the opportunity to go to each group and discuss the designated question.

At the end of the period, we all came together as a class, and I asked table leaders to summarize the main points that came up in their groups as well as interesting ideas that students interjected.

Throughout the period, most students were on task and interested in the assignment, and they seemed to like moving from group to group. By the 4th or 5th round, some of the students felt they were repeating themselves in discussions because there was so much overlap in the questions. Next time I will probably need to write better questions that don’t overlap as much or shorten the last couple of rounds.

Most importantly, the process worked so well that I will definitely use it again and keep refining for my students. Whereas I did not include table cloths or paper for students to doodle and write out some of their ideas with this assignment, I definitely want to include that in the future.

If you teach high school and want to give this approach a try, here’s a link to the essay my students read for homework as well as the handout that I distributed to my groups (one handout per group).

Best in Class by Margaret Talbot

Best in Class Group Assignment

I used to hate those days when I had to teach students how to write research papers. I would go over the entire process with students, distribute our research guides that illustrated how to document sources, and then take my classes to the library (yep, we used to call them libraries). Then for the next three days, students wielding heavy reference books would chase me around the library asking, "How do I cite . . . " 

It was maddening, and judging from the moans in the English Department workroom, other teachers shared my frustration.

Then, I met NoodleTools, a true gift from God.

NoodleTools is an online subscription service that allows students to set up source lists according to MLA, APA, or University of Chicago styles. Students begin by selecting the correct format and then start a source list. The program then asks students a series of questions about each source. Assuming that students answer the questions correctly, NoodleTools will create the citation for students and add it to the list of sources. Subsequent sources are then formatted and added to the list in alphabetical order. After students have added all of their sources, NoodleTools produces a perfectly formatted list for students to print or download into their research papers.

In the old days, students came to me and I had to help them create their citations by asking them a questions and helping them navigate through the research guide. Now, I just have to show kids how to use NoodleTools and then NoodleTools asks those same questions and walks students through the process.

In addition to creating citations, NoodleTools will show students how to create parenthetical documentation, provide a space for students to write annotations, and allow students to take notes on online notecards.

The subscription for schools is around $350 annually (if I remember correctly), and schools and students can create unlimited source lists. Students who work in groups can actually create an account together and work on a list collectively.

For those of you who are thinking that this program won't work for your students because students will still bombard you with hundreds of citation questions, NoodleTools provides another aid. Beside each citation on a list, there is a special gift called:

"Have a Question?" 

When students click on it, the program opens an "Ask an Expert" screen where students can then submit their questions through email and someone at NoodleTools, some kind soul with much more patience than I have in the midst of writing research papers, will respond to students within 24 hours!

Subscriptions are also available for individual teachers ($60 annually) and for individual students ($8 annually). Free trials are also available for teachers.

If you teach in a school where you have no money for such a service, NoodleTools also offers a free service to help students create citations. Students will then have to copy and paste the entries into a word processing document.

If you require students to write research papers, you owe it to yourself to investigate NoodleTools.

Now, if I can just figure out how to install a "Have a Question" button in my classroom!