The Formative Mountain

"Climb every mountain....ford every stream...." Yes, The Sound of Music still rings inside my head a week after the all-school musical closed its doors. Its "man up and tackle the obstacles" advice worked for Maria, but as I sit in front of The Formative Mountain: 80 notebooks, and think how I have to climb that mountain to give feedback on the reading and writing process to each student, I feel myself quaking.

Yes, I believe in formative feedback. Yes, I believe in reading and writing notebooks as an authentic process that makes thinking visible. Yes, I believe in individualizing and adjusting instruction based on formative feedback. And yes, I believe that formative feedback helps learners know how to improve before they are summatively assessed.

HOWEVER! Formative assessment takes time, and I wonder how I can manage The Formative Mountain better so it is just a Formative Foothill or a Formative Mound (Formative Speedbump?). Our school is generous with shared planning time, department meeting time, and professional development time in the school day. I believe I probably have the best of all possible worlds when it comes to planning and prep time. And still I spent eight hours this weekend evaluating and giving feedback on notebooks. Sigh.

To put things in perspective, students turned their Writer's Notebooks in three times this quarter for evaluation. Two of those times (about once a month) they received a sticky-note comment on a self-selected "best entry" which gave a "Wow" about the entry as a validation of their thoughts and/or use of strategy, a formative grade on volume, variety, frequency, depth, and taking care of the notebook, and a general  "Wow" and "Next step" feedback comment. The third, in-between time they got an accountability score-- you kept up with all the entries, you did some of the entries, or you didn't do the entries. The Readers Notebook got one thorough review (as above) and an accountability score, because they also did two Discussion Thread postings in between which also received a formative grade (see previous post).

Am I over-assessing?

I have gotten good feedback from students and parents about my comments (I call them my "love notes", as in "Please read the love note I gave you in your notebook"). I have seen students make specific changes in their entries because of what I wrote to them. I have also seen students stay motivated and interested because they are getting positive feedback, especially the reluctant writers who need the practice the most and yet feel so discouraged when they have to write their thoughts on paper. That makes the "Wow" comment so much more important than the "Next Step".

So my eyes turn to The Formidable Formative Mountain of Notebooks, and trust that it will be worth it to "climb every mountain". But if anyone has any suggestions, I'm ready to put my alpine gear in the closet!

The Power of Formative Feedback

Teaching my second year of 8th grade English Language Arts is an opportunity to re-think and revise my first year stab-in-the-dark unit plans. I get to use a full year's worth of learning about the developmental range of 8th graders as I start this year's curriculum. I get to reflect on the student feedback from the end-of-unit reflections and comments I received last year so that I can make adjustments this year. I get to look at my model texts and think about the ones that worked well, and those that didn't seem worth the time they took to read aloud. This is one kind of formative feedback: from myself to myself as I look at student assessments and remember student comments.

We just finished our first full content unit: Short Story Interpretive Reading based on Lucy Calkins' A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop- Grade 8.(2010) Last year, I bravely taught big ideas like finding pivotal moments when characters made critical choices, looking at different perspectives, identifying multiple themes within one text, finding multiple texts with common themes and noticing character and setting differences between them. I taught types of sentences and literary devices like symbols and mood. I expected students to read short stories of their choice and practice these big ideas in their reading notebooks. I conferenced with students as they read, and tried to raise their level of thinking through our conversations. I was feeling pretty excited about the sophistication of this work, especially coming from many years of teaching sixth grade.

And then came the end of unit test, where I gave a new story to analyze along the very same strategies we'd been working with in class. It was something of a disaster. The students seemed confused, did not dig as deep as I'd hoped, circled around answers without really answering, and overall they seemed dismayed at "how hard" the test was. As I assessed their reading notebooks at the end of the unit, I understood why: their notebook work was, for many students, shallow, simple, and safe, with little practice on the strategies presented.

I was reminded of a common teacher saying, "Just because you taught it, doesn't mean they learned it."

Obviously the students needed more practice and better feedback in order to be ready for the test. This year I taught the same lessons, I conferred more often (because I'd practiced all year last year and my skill was better), and I had more frequent check-ins:

1. I set up a Discussion Thread on our Moodle site. I posted a spot for each of the short stories that were available for reading. After about 8 days of work, I required students to post "an interpretation" of their reading of one of their stories. Many students copied an entry from their Reading Notebook, which was fine, and some brought new thinking into the post. I gave them a formative grade and feedback on their interpretation.
2. I collected their Reading Notebooks at mid-unit. They marked their "best entry" with a sticky note. As I evaluated the notebooks, I looked for volume (how many stories had they read so far, how many entries, and how long the entries were), variety (were they trying the interpretation strategies or sticking with safe character charts or summary?), and depth (were they pushing their thinking by writing long about theme or character analysis?). I gave them specific feedback on their marked entry, more general feedback on their variety and volume, and a formative grade.
3. I asked for another Discussion Thread posting and two responses to others about a week later. I was looking for a lift in the level of their interpretation postings, and critical thinking in their responses to others. I was, in general, very pleased with the depth and detail, as well as the respectful and academic tone, of their responses. I could also tell that they were thinking about the stories a little differently by reading other interpretations and entertaining new ideas. Sometimes they agreed and added on, sometimes they disagreed and explained their perspective, and sometimes they admitted that this was a new idea to them and explained their new thinking. This, again, got formative feedback and a formative grade.
4. I gave them a study guide for the test. I told them the format of the test, how much time each section should take, I wrote the curricular performance indicators I was looking for, and I listed the terms they would need to know. Since this was a performance task test, and the performance indicators and terms were all the things I'd been teaching all along, I did not feel like I was "giving anything away". I made the mentor texts available to them on the Moodle site so they could practice.
5. I gave a formative "quiz" the day before the test so they could have a "taste" of what the test would be like. I stopped them after about 15 minutes, told them it was just for practice, and allowed them to work with a partner to discuss their answers, finish any of the unfinished questions, and go over the terms together. 

By the time of the test, students were much less stressed and much more confident than last year. The results of the test are much higher. Of course a few students still did not do well; I can look back on their formative scores and feedback, and see the gaps and lack of practice despite the attempts to support them. However, I feel that I did a much better job with my feedback as well as holding students accountable to do the practice work. This formative feedback made a big difference in their learning.

The Blunder

I traveled with three colleagues to Beijing this weekend to attend the Learning 2.012 conference. We were invited to dinner by a former colleague who moved here in August; he promised to send a driver to pick us up and bring us to his new house. The driver was to meet us in the lobby of the hotel between 4:30 and 5:00 with a sign saying the name of our school.

We were a little late returning from our afternoon at The Great Wall, arriving at about 4:40. No driver. No worries; we hung around the lobby, eying the Chinese man with car keys who was also hanging around the lobby, but he didn't have the magic sign. By 5:15 we started to worry.

A phone call to our dinner host explained what happened. Mr. Ren, the driver, arrived at the hotel lobby at 4:30 with his sign. A very old couple walked up to him looking expectant. He showed them the sign, and they nodded, so off they went together. What a surprise when my friend opened his door, expecting old friends and seeing, instead, old strangers! It took my friend about 10 minutes to explain the mistake to the somewhat senile couple and Mr. Ren. They piled back into the car and returned to the hotel. We met up with Mr. Ren, the old couple met up with Mr. Wong, their very worried driver, and we separated to our own rightful destinations.

Funny story! But also how I have been feeling during this technology conference. I am somewhat like that old couple, wandering off with the wrong driver and not realizing my mistake until someone meets me at the door to explain it to me. All of it is harmless, as was the driver mix-up, but an unfortunate detour nonetheless.

One of the big questions that has been bouncing around my head today has been this one from Heidi Hayes Jacobs and her Curriculum 21 work: What year are we teaching for? So much of what is driving our teaching is dated: SATs, IB exams,  College entrance requirements. We teach the 5 paragraph persuasive essay in grade 8 English Language Arts because they need to know how to do that in high school. We teach literary analysis essay in grade 8 because they need to know how for high school. And in high school, they still write the 5-paragraph essay because they need to do that on the SAT. And they teach annotating a printed text because they have to do it on the IB exam. But that is 1982 teaching because those exams haven't changed as the world of the learner has changed..

I am beginning to realize that even if we use technology to do some of those same things, it's still 1982 teaching. For example, typing an essay on Word rather than handwriting is still 1982 teaching. Videotaping a lecture and having kids watch it at home, AKA "flipped classroom", is still a lecture, and is still 1982 teaching. This is when I feel like the old couple standing at the door of my friend's house. I thought I was using technology; I thought I was on the right road to the correct destination. No harm done, but the bigger objective was not really achieved.

Jacobs' teaching point is that we have to "upgrade" (her word) our curriculum to make it relevant and responsive to the world 10 years from now, the world our students will encounter as adults. We need to re-think and re-imagine our learning targets and assessments to capture the multi-media, connected, globalized world. Some ideas I've taken away from my first long day here that could lift the level of teaching out of 1982 are:

• have students videotape themselves demonstrating and explaining their analysis of a poem and embed that video into their poetry reading portfolio instead of a written analysis
• have students make a Public Service Announcement (PSA) video after they've written their persuasive essay instead of "performing" it as an oral presentation
• have students blog about their Social Studies homework reading: What I know, what I think, what I wonder, instead of completing the reading comprehension questions

When I return to my school, I am going to make a sign to hang over my desk: What year am I teaching for? As I plan, I will use that sign to guide me into the right car so that I end up at my preferred destination.

Bridging the Gap

I attended the High School Back-to-School Night last week, following my ninth grader's schedule in 10-minute periods to meet her teachers and hear about their courses. I came away feeling good that my daughter and her classmates, my students last year, were ready for the increased challenges in independence and higher order thinking. I came away feeling like the teachers genuinely enjoyed the students.  I also came away thinking about how different middle school is from high school, and how often this gap is blamed for rocky starts.

So I popped into the HS English department chair's classroom for a little chat. The department chair and I worked together three years ago on the last curriculum review when the middle school switched to a workshop approach. The switch made for a smooth flow from Kindergarten through grade 8 with students applying reading and writing strategies to self-chosen texts in an ever-increasingly complex way. This spiral is really starting to pay off this year. By eighth grade, students are agents of their own literacy, choosing books that are interesting and challenging to read, and writing stories with setting details, dialogue, and style.

Then comes 9th grade and it all changes. They read whole-class novels and write literary essays. They study Romeo and Juliet for a quarter. Their only "book club", which is the last unit of the year, consists of a choice between two titles: Of Mice and Men or A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. This year, with the support and encouragement of the secondary librarian, students are required to read at home and post reviews on shelfari, an online book sharing site.

This little chat resulted in my eighth grade teaching partner and I getting invited to the English department meeting this week to discuss our different approaches to teaching reading and writing. I am not looking to change their teaching, but I think that the shift in philosophies is something that both sides of the gap need to address. The shift in teaching reading strategies to teaching reading as content. The shift in teaching writing as craft to teaching writing as communicating reading analysis. The use of reading and writing notebooks as learning tools to... what? When I mentioned notebooks, my colleague said, "Yes, let's talk about those. They are completely off my radar."

Perhaps there are small things we can do in eighth grade to help students ease into the change. Perhaps ninth grade teachers can refer to systems we use as a way to shift students to their systems. In any case, we will understand each other's program a little better, and better understanding can only benefit the students.

The Buzz

Image from taklomauto2010 website

It has taken me a long time in my career as a teacher to know when noise in a classroom is good noise or bad noise. Over the past three years, I think I've finally gotten a handle on it. Learning about brain research and the importance of chunking lesson time helped me to think through my lessons differently.  Brain research says that humans (yes, even adults) can't handle much more than 10 minutes of a presentation before zoning out; therefore, a lesson should be chunked into 10/2 minute chunks for optimal learning: 10 minutes of information presentation and 2 minutes of processing time. Just 2 minutes will allow the learner to identify what was important, make connections, and find areas of confusion. When the next 10/2 chunk comes along, the learner is ready to link the new information to the previous learning, or anticipate getting his/her question answered. Processing can take many forms, such as a written learning log, a structured note-taking sheet with a graphic or visual element, or partner talk. Talk time works really well with middle schoolers, and it works best if the teacher structures it.

Last week during Writer's Workshop, I taught my eighth graders how to write a "constructive rant" in their Writer's Notebooks. This "constructive rant" follows a pattern often seen in editorials: the author rants/complains about an issue for a while, but then tries to see the other side or perspective, and finally attempts to find a possible solution. I ended with, "I know eighth graders are passionate about things they feel are unfair at home or in this world. Why don't you pick an issue and give this a try?" Immediately the room started buzzing... with talk, not writing. Time for one of those executive decisions that teachers make on the fly all the time: "I see you need to share your rant issue before you write. Go ahead and tell the person sitting next to you what the issue is, and then we'll get started in one minute."

They settled down after that, and wrote furiously for 20 minutes. Again, the buzz started... a little at first, but then more as students finished their entries. I shushed a few until I could see that almost everyone was at a good stopping place. Then I had them share with their partner again, but this time adding the shift of perspective and possible solution. The energy, the eye contact, the leaning forward and gesturing body language, the laughter and groans communicated far more than the words they were saying: this was writing worth doing! They loved it!

Yes the room was noisy during that 10 minutes of share time at the end of class. The buzz was the sound of every student being engaged and on-task. That's good noise, and I knew it when I heard it.