The CCSS: How Does My Writing Program Measure Up?

Last week, I shared my summer learning goals in my post, one of which was taking the online course offered by Heinemann called Harnessing the Common Core Standards K-12. Yesterday I started with the first session: Getting to Know the Writing Standards and Making Choices to Fortify Your Writing Curriculum.

The "course moderator", Mary Ehrenworth, is on staff at the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project, and taught the middle level section of the Reading and Writing Institutes that I attended in previous summers. She is a strong advocate of the workshop approach to teaching writing. Because we share a similar teaching pedagogy, I have immediate trust in what she is saying; however, I do need to keep my critical thinking cap on because the schools she works with-- mostly public schools-- are different in many ways to the private international school in which I work.

As I studied the CCSS Writing Standards for middle school, I noticed a few things:

• It calls for processed pieces of writing as well as on-demand writing. I mostly do processed writing, although there are times when I ask for on-demand writing, such as performance assessments.
• It calls for three kinds of writing: opinion/argument, informational, and narrative. In our 6th and 7th grade curriculum, all three of these kinds of writing are taught, along with poetry. In 8th grade, we double up on opinion/argument, drop informational, and keep narrative and poetry. 
• The benchmarks under each kind of writing focus on articulating a clear main idea/problem in the lead, supporting that idea with details, transitioning from one idea to the next, using precise and concise words and correct conventions. These are all things I teach within each genre unit.
• The benchmarks spiral from earlier grades to later grades, increasing complexity each time. We do this as well within our K-8 writing program. 
• The expectations for how sophisticated the writing becomes is slightly higher than we are currently reaching, but I see that it is within our grasp.

So what does this mean for me and my teaching? In practical terms, nothing, since we have not adopted the CCSS at my school. However, when we do (and I firmly believe they will be adopted within the next 3 years), I will need to make a few adjustments.

• Add an informational writing unit. Right now our ELA curriculum calendar is full, and I do not see a good space to teach informational writing. On the other hand, I do see how I could replace a social studies activity/project with an informational writing piece that included instruction on how to write in that way. If this project happens at the beginning of the year, I could add this "all about" writing as an assessment piece at the end of our nonfiction reading unit, which could give students a practice opportunity later in the year. I'm thinking maybe a "How To" book on Native Americans (How to Adapt to Your Natural Surroundings in Order to Thrive) or explorers (So you want to be an explorer? Here's how!).
• Start adding teaching points that lift the level of writing so that the expectations of the project more closely match the CCSS benchmarks. I will need to closely examine each unit and see where the gaps are and what can be adapted/adopted/replaced.

That's not too long of a list. I'm feeling pretty comfortable right now. I think I'll dig into my Social Studies unit calendar and see how I can tweak things.

Summer Learning

I am a lifelong learner. Some of my friends say that I don't know how to relax. Both of these things are true. I start my summer "vacation" with a list of projects to work on during the long, slow weeks. Here's what I've got on my list for this summer:

Harnessing the Common Core Standards to Achieve Higher Levels of Reading and Writing: This is a 6-hour online book study course run by Mary Ehrenworth of Columbia College's Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project. It focuses on the book she co-authored with Lucy Calkins and Christopher Lehman, Pathways to the Common Core. Our school isn't using the CCSS yet, but I see it coming down the line. As a Reading and Writing Workshop teacher using the TCRWP units of study, I would like to be pro-active in understanding the adjustments needed to integrate workshop teaching and the CCSS.

Understanding Real Spelling: A couple of years ago, the elementary school launched the Real Spelling method of word study. Pete Bowers, the developer of this method, came to our school to do some professional development with the ES teachers. He did a short workshop with the MS teachers as well, and we got very excited about the idea of morphological study of words to develop vocabulary with students. We ordered the Real Spelling Toolbox so that we could use it with our students. The Toolbox kits arrived, one set per grade level, but we were so involved with our technology integration initiative that we didn't have mental space to jump into such a complex idea. I brought the CDs with me this summer so that I can play with them, understand how they work a little better, and see if I can pilot it next year. We have a major one-to-one technology initiative on our plates next year as well, but I don't want to put off word study any longer. We have a gap in our instruction, which I am worried about.

Writing: I have an idea for a short fiction story based on a headline I saw on Yahoo News: "Strange Sleep Disorder Makes People See 'Demons'". Doesn't that sound intriguing? So I need to write this, and I have a due date: July 11. This is the time I will be visiting with my writing friend, and we agreed to swap short fiction stories. I also have another idea based on a blog I recently read "Six Words You Should Say Today", which are "I love to watch you play." I don't know where either of these ideas will take me, but I'd better get started if I'm going to make my due date.

Reading: I just got a slew of new Young Adult novels for my classroom library. I want to get a jump on reading some of the titles before I return in August. I went to the library today and found a couple to get me started.

Fitness: Always. This year: walks and yoga and 20 minute blasters. Sigh.

Yes, I know. Ambitious. I always start out great, and lose a little momentum as the summer goes on, especially as we travel to relatives' houses and get busy with other things. But I am excited about these projects. They keep me mentally engaged, excited about teaching, and fill my time with something constructive (besides eating). 

What are your summer project ideas? How does professional development fit into your summer plans?

8th Grade Exams

When I started teaching 8th grade last year, I was told that we give second semester exams at the end of the school year. The intent was to give the students the "exam experience" before it "really counted" toward their high school grade. Since the curriculum changed, the exam needed to change, and so I re-wrote the final exams for English Language Arts and Social Studies to reflect the standards and benchmarks from our second semester units.

Since they were final exams, they were, of course, given as late as possible in the school year: the last two days of the week before school let out. No new materials was to be covered the three days before the exams; instead, those were to be review days. That gave us teachers the weekend to grade all the exams and have report card grades and comments in by 8:00 Monday morning.

Three weeks before the exams, students started to get stressed. There were constant questions about what would be on the exam, what kind of questions would there be, how should they study? I consulted with my high school colleagues and put together a study guide modeled after theirs and handed it out two weeks before the exam. We offered study tips during classes and Advisory. One week before, we started review activities. The stress level rose higher and higher.

On the days of the exams, students sat in homerooms and focused for an hour and a half on each subject. The MS principal decided that extra time was available for any student who needed it, up to an extra 30 minutes. Despite the extra time, nerves were on edge.

I spent about 16 hours grading the 82 exams. I got it done, but it wasn't a very fun weekend.

Results? In general, the students earned what I thought they would have earned: A students got A's or high B's and C students got C's or high D's. When I put the grades in the gradebook (15% of their total semester grade), students' grades shifted by 1-2% or not at all.

I have to wonder: was it worth it? It's a pretty stressful way to end the school year and their middle school careers. It pulled very few grades up, and pulled some kids' grades down to the next level. If we actually wanted to mimic high school exams to give students the "exam experience", then why didn't we have exams in the gym and why did they only last an hour and a half instead of two hours and why did they get extra time?

I am going to bring this up to my Grade 8 team and MS principal. I would like to hear from the high school teachers: Do they think 9th graders were better prepared for their winter exams because they had taken 8th grade exams? If the reason we are doing 8th grade exams isn't actually accomplishing its purpose, then I recommend we stop doing them. I would rather spend that week celebrating the work we've done all year, choosing the Best Book of the Year, and building our summer reading list from book recommendations of peers.

Do you give 8th grade exams at your school? If so, do you think the benefits outweigh the detriments?

Celebrating Success in Research-based Argument Essays

I have been grading research-based persuasive argument essays all week. These essays tackled big issues like abolishing nuclear weapons, and small issues like deciding if milk is healthy for you. Each student in the class chose a different topic, each had his or her individual struggles, and each got several check-ins from me along the way. This was hard work-- research projects always are, especially because this is a new genre for them and they are unsure about the best way to write it. I am exhausted.

As I grade their finished pieces, I do as all teachers do (I suspect): I celebrate places where they have stretched and succeeded and I sigh when they still make the same mistakes they've been making all year. Here are some things I am celebrating:

• Sentence fluency. For the vast majority, I have seen a great deal of improvement in their ability to write sentences that flow, are concise, and have a minimum of grammar mistakes. It is an area that we've worked on during our writing units this year, focusing on sentence combining, looking at models, and learning fix-up strategies like reading your work aloud to hear clunky sentences. I am celebrating their logical sentences that are interesting to read.
• Conclusions. Everyone knows a conclusion needs to restate the thesis and main points. But a good conclusion is more than a summary; it concludes something. I am celebrating the thinking about future implications, the calls to action, and the connections to the broader world context. 
• Structure. Throughout the drafting/revising phase, I got so many questions about the best way to organize paragraphs to make a strong argument. I had already taught a lesson on possible body paragraph structures: reason/reason/counterargument or reason/counterargument/reason or counterargument/reason/reason. Usually when these questions came, students had already tried one of these structures, and their questions usually centered around: It doesn't feel right or It's all chopped up or It doesn't really make my point. This conversation said one thing to me: I care about this topic and I want my ideas to come through loud and clear. And so we "wrote in the air" (thank you Katie Wood Ray) to hear what it would sound like if ideas were rearranged. Now as I read their essays, I am celebrating the care they put into constructing their argument to make it as powerful as possible.
• Citing sources. Weaving research into an essay so it sounds good is a new skill. Oh, they have done research projects before, but they have not had to cite the source along with the research. We looked at several models and talked through how to incorporate the expert's name and why we should trust her or him (based on their affiliation) or where the statistics came from. I am celebrating paragraphs which incorporate cited research in a way that sounds natural.

It's a difficult and serious project to tackle at the end of eighth grade when summer looms and energy flags. But they rose to the challenge, using all their best writing skills. I still worry about how some of them will cope in high school next year. For most of them, though, I can see they have the independence, work ethic, stamina, and openness to learn that will help them succeed.