SOLSC Day 31

Thank you to ThinkingAloud for recognizing me and Walking the Dog with a Splash Award.

The Splash Award is given to "alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive and inspiring blogs." (I'm so flattered!- especially looking at the other blogs on the list.)

But there are rules... upon receipt of the award, one must:

1) Put the logo on your blog/post.

2) Nominate up to 9 blogs which allure, amuse, bewitch, impress or inspire you.

3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4) Let them know that they have been splashed by commenting on their blog.

5) Remember to link to the person from whom your received your Splash award.

And my first splash-worthy blog nomination goes to...

drum roll please...

Pictures and Such

Mary has an awesome photo-a-day blog. I hope you'll check it out.

As for the 2009 SOLSC Challenge, thanks to everyone involved. What a trip.

SOLSC Day 30

I s'pose, with only one more day to go in the SOLSC, it would be a good time to write about the experience of regular writing. Right before I began this challenge, I was trying to write at least a paragraph a day on the novel, and that was going pretty well—I wasn't going to finish in a month, but I was making some progress. Then, when I started this exercise (on a whim, I tell you!), I was sure that I could keep up with both, but that only lasted for, like, four days. Beano and LB went by the wayside. (Fortunately, I had already written enough to bring to the beach with me for my writing group, so that worked out.) Now, here we are, nearly finished with the month of March, and I am contemplating the changes in myself as a writer.

I’m definitely more fluent (why, I typed that paragraph up there in no time, and there are a lot of words in it), but I’m not sure where I’m headed as a blogger. Sure, I like going on about myself and my ideas (who doesn’t?), and I like the discovery that comes along with that type of writing, but I don’t know if I can maintain such a pace without the challenge aspect. I’m also afraid that there may be a difference between like to and ought to— this daily writing thing has taken up a ton of time.

I know from experience that a routine is helpful for me, though, and I do want to write regularly. My blog is named for something I do daily, and the time I spend outside with my dog sustains me. Besides caring for my pet, it gives me the opportunity to reflect and observe, and many of my writing ideas are germinated then. And so, one way or another, I’ll definitely continue Walking the Dog.

SOLSC Day 29

I’m thinking about assessment:

My thoughts were triggered by an English assignment my 8th grade nephew shared with me. He had to create eight different response products to the novel Animal Farm. The teacher actually gave them nine options, and they had to choose eight, all to be completed outside of class for homework. They had 2 weeks to do them, but this assignment was in addition to their other English homework. This morning, he only had three of the eight done. He had found a working windmill and researched its history and then written a one-page summary of it. He’d chosen a political speech to summarize and analyzed it for effectiveness of message, and he’d chosen a person who sought leadership and had written a one page essay on the impact this person had on the world. Five more to go by Monday, but he’ll get it done; he’s a smart guy and a capable student.

The quarter ends on Friday, though, and I have a feeling that the teacher’s never going to get all those things graded by the time grades are due. I also wonder what the objectives of the assignment are; they don’t seem immediately clear to me, an experienced educator in the same discipline, in the same district. I note the lack of any formative assessment or guidance of any kind in the way of process, and I find it frustrating to see my nephew have to spend so much time on something that will never be properly assessed or even appreciated. I asked him, jokingly, if he wanted me to do one or two of the assignments—I would have been interested to see what grade I got.

I’ve been grappling with the issue of assessment for a while, now. I want to figure out a way to use it more effectively in my program, so that I may better instruct the students, but I also want to convince other teachers that mine is a sound approach. It all comes down to product versus process, which is a false dichotomy, of course. The other key distinction is the difference between grading and assessing. Right now, I grade the process and assess the product, but I admit that I spend more time on the grading part. I think that is upside-down, but I want to emphasize the process over the product. At the same time, I want to use the assessment to drive my instruction, but logistically, that piece often gets lost in the time I spend on the paperwork of grading.

I’m doing a mini “Take a Stand” unit with my students where they identify an issue of concern to them, describe it carefully, and then create an action plan to address the problem. One of the things I am emphasizing with them is to examine the issue thoroughly before rushing to solutions. That almost seems counter to human nature—most of us want to rush in and offer answers, to fix things quickly and move on—but I’m trying to convince my students to take their time, so that’s what I’m doing with my assessment issue, too.

SOLSC Day 28

Last July my writing group agreed to do our own novel writing month. For those who aren't familiar, there's actually an official NaNoWriMo (wait for it), but it takes place in November, and as teachers, it seemed silly to try to write a novel in a month in the middle of the school year when we had the whole summer to try it.

In retrospect, I'm not sure if that was a good call or not-- the old adage that if you want something done, give it to a busy person, might have had some bearing here. Each of the four of us started a novel, but early on we abandoned the basic concept of the challenge, that "Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly." I like to think that we thought too highly of our ideas to relegate them to such fast and furious crap production, but who knows?

By the end of the month we had roughly 20% of the required word count, but we all had the beginning of, well, a novel. I've worked on mine on and off since then, and I feel like I'm making some progress. There have been unexpected benefits, too. In a beginning-of-the-year-introduce-yourself exercise with my students, I mentioned that I was working on a novel, and I was amazed at the level of interest and engagement that they showed. It gave me some serious writing cred with the sixth graders. As the year has gone on, I've used bits and pieces of my work-in-progress to discuss leads, hooks, and character development, and it's been really fun; the kids have offered some constructive advice, too.

My novel is about two 12-year-old boys who are geocaching and find a clue to a real treasure. The kids in the story are based on two boys whom I adore-- my nephew and my godson. When I'm writing, I like imagining what one or the other of them might do in the situations that I am making up. I also think that they think it is pretty cool to be characters in a novel. They both happen to be here in the room with me at this very moment; that only happens a few times a year, and we're going to do a little novel reading in a few minutes. I hope they like it.

SOLSC Day 27

"But if you do not find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go on your way alone, like a king abandoning a conquered kingdom, or like a great elephant in the deep forest." ~Buddha

Sometimes, when I'm teaching away in my little corner of the school, I feel like that elephant in the deep forest. Unlike the other English teachers in my building, I'm commited to a process-based workshop approach where my students choose their own reading material and their writing topics, and I do my best to plan instruction based on their needs and interests. My class is as individualized as I can make it.

Fortunately, I do have a wise and intelligent collaborator, she just happens to be at another school in our district. We both teach sixth grade English, and we have worked pretty closely over the last three years-- not in lock step by any means, but doing many of the same things. Besides the writing workshop, we created an online community for our students where they can share their ideas and writing, and we do some joint assignments that way. Whether or not we're working on the same thing, it's great to have somebody to talk with and throw around ideas, troubleshoot problems, vent frustrations, and celebrate successes. We laugh a lot, too-- teaching seems much funnier when we work together.

Whenever the topic of professional development or professional learning communities comes up, my friend always says, "Find people you like and work with them. It's as simple as that."

She's right. I'm glad I found her.

SOLSC Day 26

Today at the swim meet, I overheard a couple of eighth girls talking. "Well, if she's dead, we won't have to do all those assignments."

"What on earth are you talking about?" I asked them, my eyes wide as a lemur's.

They shrugged, barely embarrassed, but my mind churned. So it's come to this, has it? The students planning our demise so that they can save themselves from some insipid assignment.

Noticing my slack jaw and furrowed brow, one of them explained, "We have two vocabulary worksheets, some dialog worksheets, a vocabulary test, a project and a scary story all due before next Friday."

I nodded and considered for a moment who I was talking to. You might be wondering what sort of heinous students wish their teacher ill to get out of an assignment, but I knew from experience that these girls were neither lazy nor non-compliant, and that they were referring to an intensified English class.

So, what advice for these young ones?

SOLSC Day 25

Well, I'm hitting the slice of life wall. In the words of Bruce Springsteen, "I'm just tired and bored with myself." My students are wrapping up some fiction writing, and as some have finished their pieces, they seem at a loss for what to write next. "Check your writing territories," I've advised, but it's been a while since we've revisited them, and I can tell by their glum looks that the ideas don't seem as fresh and exciting as they once did. So this week, I've done a series of mini-lessons and activities to re-introduce the students not only to their writing territories, but to their whole writers notebooks, too. I love my notebook-- it's a combination diary, scrapbook, research journal, writing exercise book, personal word list, sketch book, and laboratory-- and I want my students to have something like it for themselves, because it's so awesome and so helpful. Except right now, it's not really helping me come up with anything for my slice. I just can't find the common thread to connect the shark's tooth, Mrs. Dalloway, odes versus rants, and that crazy black squirrel I saw this morning (she flung herself from the bare branches of one tree into the flowering boughs of the next with utter abandon).