Working on Explaining During Social Studies

On my February 8 post, I talked about developing a "break-out" rubric that focused in on one particular writing skill, in this case a rubric on "Explaining" (AKA Elaborating). I had noticed that students were listing facts as their way of explaining an idea, and needed to expand their understanding of what I was looking for when the instructions said to "Explain...". I came up with a 4-level Explaining rubric that described each level and added a Social Studies example with it:

1	2	3	4
List of facts	Facts with a definition or some other information	Facts with a definition, some interpretation, other information and/or examples	Facts with concrete details, lots of other information, a specific example, definition and interpretation.

After going over this rubric, I had students compare their recent essay to the 4 levels, and self-assess at what level they felt they were currently performing. Most rated themselves a 1 or 2 (pretty accurate, I would say). Next, I had them make a goal of something specific they would do to move themselves to a 3 or 4, and they wrote that goal at the bottom of their essay rubric.

And then we practiced. Since we were at the beginning of the Road to Revolution unit, students were assigned historical roles, two students per role, and designated as a Loyalist, Patriot, or Neutralist. After learning about one or two historical events during the timeline of 1754-1775, we held a "Town Hall meeting" during which one of the partners would debate what they felt the colonists should do: Comply with Britain, Oppose (usually through boycott or petition), or Rebel (declare independence from Britain). Before the Town Hall meeting, the partners prepared the talking points for their role. As a final preparation step, I posted the Explaining rubric, and had the speaker "Practice making your point and EXPLAINING it to your partner. Partners, help them explain their points fully". We had four Town Hall meetings, which gave each partner two opportunities to participate (the non-speaking partner had an active listening sheet to tally responses). 

I noticed that students usually jumped immediately to their example and ended with their decision to comply, oppose, or rebel. I also noticed that they added more information and occasionally connected their example to another example or to something someone else had said. They angled their reasoning to their roles' political stance and/or background.The level of explaining was getting better, especially after the speaker's second Town Hall meeting.

Next, we read primary source documents from Debating the Documents: Loyalists and Patriots (Social Studies School Service), and organized a debate around the central question: "As the American Revolution began, why did some colonists choose to rebel while others did not?" I switched students' roles: if they had been debating the Patriot side during the Town Hall meetings, they now had to debate the Loyalist side ("Groan!"), and vise versa ("Yay!"). Again, they compiled their talking points as a group, while I posted the Explaining rubric for their reference. Then I mixed the groups for the debate, and gave feedback as I walked around: "You gave your example, but didn't state your point. What point are you trying to make? Start with the point, and then give the example. Try it again." "You listed facts, but didn't explain by defining, adding information, or interpretation. Try it again." "You made good points, but didn't support them with explanations. What examples could you use? Try it again."

The final practice came immediately after the debate, when they had 20 minutes to answer our essential question in an explanatory paragraph: When is it necessary for citizens to rebel against their government? What a difference! Oh sure, some students still jumped straight into examples or listed facts without elaboration, but most were at a Level 3 on the Explaining rubric. They stated their ideas and then supported them with examples, connecting the example to the idea. They defined the different Acts or events, and they added interpretations. As I was grading these formative quizzes, I commented on places where they had put a "List of facts-- Level 1" or "example without making a point", so that when they write the essay on the summative test next week, they will remember to lift the level.

I am really pleased that the focus on explanation through explicit definition of the skill, oral and written practice, and feedback made a difference. While I was grading the formative quiz paragraphs, though, I noticed a definite need to include content vocabulary into their writing. I guess I need to develop a "Word Choice" break-out rubric next!

Tech Integration: Enhancement or Interference?

A month ago, I sat down to look at the arc of the upcoming Poetry Reading unit. Because of some curriculum shifting, we had four full weeks for reading and analyzing poetry, as opposed to three in previous years. This is good, I thought, because it always seemed so rushed. This extra week will allow kids to really spend time digging into their poetry analysis and get their anthology projects done without stress.

Here I am with that fourth week ahead of me, and I'm thinking, "They need more time! They won't get their anthology project done in only five classes! I must extend the due date!"

What happened? First, there were the interruptions: one day for MAP testing, one day for a science field trip, one day for the visiting author workshop, one day for professional development... Oh, that's almost a whole school week.

Still... I'm only asking them to choose one poem and one song lyrics to analyze. I put in checkpoints along the way: after one week I want to see one poem you've chosen, after two weeks I want to see one poem with annotations and thematic thinking, after three weeks I want to see the second poem with annotations on meaning and music. Each checkpoint was a scramble. "I don't know what to choose!" "I can't find one I like!" "Oh, you want me to do margin notes?" "Can I give it to you tomorrow?"

image from Forbes website

I think back to how the poetry selection process was structured. My teaching partner and I are sharing a cart of poetry books from the library. We arranged English Language Arts and Social Studies classes so that they didn't overlap with our partner's; this way the cart can travel up and down the hallway for students to access in class. During the first week, the rule was: BOOKS ONLY! Although students were reluctant at first, the range of modern, thematic, classic, and familiar poetry in the books drew them in. Soon, sticky notes marking which poems they liked were decorating the edges of the books like fringe on cowboy chaps.

The second week marked the launch into lyrics, a new form of poetry for eighth grade. Such excitement (until they heard the "school appropriate language" rule)! At this point, vetted poetry websites like poetry.org and poemsandpoets.org, as well as a vetted song lyrics site, were opened up to the students. Boom! All eyes on screens. No hands touched the books. And no analysis happened until the checkpoint deadlines loomed (frantic scribbling minutes before the end of class!). 

So I have to wonder: Did the addition of technology enhance or interfere with the objectives of this unit?

image from engagementworx website

Did the enormous quantity of poems on the websites become overwhelming? Were the sites unusable for eighth graders who haven't yet formulated a list of favorite poets or poems? Were they randomly selecting and skimming, unable to settle into deep reading and thinking, distracted by the links and tabs and options available?

I think having them choose (clean) lyrics is part of the delay. They are so motivated and excited about this, however, that I don't want to change to a different form or restrict their choices (beyond the "school appropriate" rule). 

So how can we do this differently next year? I am a big believer in student choice, so I don't want to hand students five poems to analyze and turn in for a grade. On the other hand, maybe they have too much choice. The choice of poetry books on the cart seemed manageable. The choice of books, websites, and lyrics sites seems unmanageable. What if we chose 20 poems for students to choose from, and made them available as .pdfs in a shared Google Drive folder? Is that restricting them too much? 

If I keep lyrics as a new poetry form for eighth grade, and I want to, then perhaps I need to delay introducing it until after the second week. They could be thinking about it at home, but class time would be for reading poetry and practicing the strategies learned in minilessons for the first two weeks. Having a tight one-week choose-and-analyze deadline may circumvent the spinning wheels syndrome I'm seeing now.

There is a lot of great stuff happening during this Poetry Reading Unit. Kids are excited about poetry. They find poems that connect to their emotions and lives. They delight in discovering a symbol or a hidden musical device like assonance. They love digging deep into the meaning of a beloved song. They just need to spend less time skipping around and spend more time in the actual work of thinking. Four weeks flies by quickly!

Some Take-Aways from Amanda Hartman's Workshop on Writing Continuua

Last weekend I traveled to Muscat, Oman with my 7th grade colleague to attend a weekend workshop led by Amanda Hartman of Columbia University's Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP). This workshop focused on using the new CCSS-aligned continua for writing as a tool to study student work. Since Amanda is a primary level expert, most of her examples were from the early elementary grades, although she did bring in a few upper elementary examples, and she tried to address some middle school concerns for those of us in the audience.

By the end of the weekend, I had a few take-aways:

1. The collaborative work we have done over the past four years in middle school around reading and writing workshop has paid off in a cohesive, vertical spiral. This take-away is a result of the many conversations I had with my 7th grade colleague around the student work samples we each brought, the thinking we shared around what we do with students, and how much we trusted each other to voice concerns or issues in our classes. Although I am less confident with the sixth grade program because those teachers are newer, I know that the flow from 7th to 8th is a smooth progression. 
2. Having tools aligned to both the CCSS standards and TCRWP units of study can save us a lot of time and energy. The assessment rubrics we use now were developed collaboratively within our department. There was value in that, especially through the discussions we had around what we were looking for in writing at each grade level, and how to write a good rubric. As we shift to the CCSS next year, though, it will be nice to have the rubrics, checklists, continuua, and exemplars already made for us. Of course we will gather our own exemplars as well, but having some on hand as we jump into our revised units is great.
3. Breaking out some of the discrete skills from the continuum and turning it into a "mini-rubric" can make those skills more visible. For example, one of the more important skills on the writing rubric is the ability to elaborate. Last month, I gathered a Social Studies essay from my students that showed very little elaboration (or, according to the instructions, "explaining"). I decided I would break down what "explaining" was at 4 levels of complexity, including an example for each. When I returned the essays, I asked the students to compare their level of explanation to the rubric and evaluate where their essay fell. Most could see they were at the 1 or 2 level. I then asked them to pick one thing they would do differently next time they needed to explain something, and write that goal at the bottom of their rubric. Throughout this next unit, they have been practicing explaining ideas to their partner, using the Explaining rubric as a reminder of what is expected. My hope is that there will be a jump in their elaboration on the next essay.
   
4. 4. Amanda's recommendation of doing on-demand writing as a pre- and post-assessment for all three genres makes my head explode. My grading load is at a level now that I can barely keep up with it. One writing piece takes me at least 5 minutes to read, and then at least another 5 minutes to evaluate. Add in comments or noticings of student strengths and weaknesses, and there goes another 5 minutes. Multiply those 15 minutes by 45 student samples, and multiply those 11 hours by 6 on-demands plus 4 writing projects for grading, and there would be nothing left of my life except assessing writing. I understand the value: I can see what students can do on their own without any support or assistance. But to be realistic, there's got to be another way.

It's good to break away from the routine of teaching to examine our practices and challenge our thinking. I think the work of using the CCSS/TCRWP continuua to assess student work is not something we are ready for yet. However, as we launch into our revised units next year, they will be wonderful tools to have on hand, as well as a focus for more collaborative conversations.