Some scenes from the field

personal commentary on consumerism & the holidays

I recently taught a lesson on the personal commentary genre, using the inquiry method of teaching championed by Katie Wood Ray, among others. We used a great PC on consumerism and the holidays. The link to that is here, in case you'd like to check it out: http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2011/12/06/142890136/pepper-spraying-the-holidays-time-and-the-ethic-of-consumption?sc=emaf

It's just money

Since many of you have asked, here is the outcome of my meeting yesterday with the Jeffco's executive director of finances.
1) I was one of ~12 people in the second largest CO school district to which this salary mistake happened. Whatever that means. The irony of how the mistake was found should also not go unmentioned.
2) Usually, once the mistake is uncovered, the deduction (they call it "correction") begins that next month. In my case, the mistake was found sometime in September and it was rolling around in negotiations and legal red tape, largely because of my principal and Amy Weber's advocacy (thanks, Rod!) since then. My case was even taken so far as Jeffco's superintendent.
3) I will be losing between $250.00-$300.00 per month after taxes, beginning in my January pay period. That's bad.
4) salaries in the District are frozen until...sometime around the next ice age. So that's bad, too. However...
4) I will not be required to pay back the salary discrepency from 2007 to now, so that's good.
5) Legal action on my part would not yield positive results on any level, so that nuclear option is off the table, which my principal will be pleased to find out :)
6) Though my salary has been drastically reduced, at least I still have two secure jobs in a world where millions of highly qualified people find themselves unemployed, so that's good. (It's clear that I'm trying to find that elusive "silver lining" people talk so much of these days, and that's good).

Thanks for all your support through this. I'm looking for more holiday hours at my second job, Alisa is making some "creative" budget decisions, and most of our Christmas presents will be organically-produced this year. (Read: hand-made). No way around this being a real kick in the head, but it's forcing my family to think about what really matters and what is only superfluous...so that's good, too.

Greetings from Nirvana

One of our charges as educators is to be agents for change. For this week's journal, please explain something that you will advocate for in relation to the ideas you've read about and explored this week. Change does not always need to be on a grand scale - start small! Perhaps you will have a conversation with a colleague, bring an article to discuss at your next department meeting, or schedule a time to discuss something with your instructional coach or an administrator. What is something that you are thinking about as a result of your learning from this session and what is your plan of action for initiating change?

Sometimes, I just get tired of writing the same-ole-same-ole. I wrote this journal entry for my Advanced Genre Study class from the perspective of one lucky guy who has attained Nirvana. Nice work, buddy.

In one of my previous lives, I was a secret agent for a certain world super power government. That is as specific as I can be, due to the constant vigilance of that government's agents monitoring my activities even beyond the grave. Sorry). Anyway, in doing that work, I was often backed into the existential corner of 'kill or be killed'. This is never a comfortable place to be, as either outcome is preferable only to a nice night alone with a dull razor blade and the Lady Gaga Pandora station. But I digress...

On these occasions, I found it necessary to suspend certain beliefs and philosophies in order to complete the missions assigned to me. Oftentimes, I felt like a traitor even to my own country, the one that paid my heating bills and fed my pet iguana. When the smoke cleared, though, I usually realized that the reason I was struggling with my beliefs was that those beliefs were outdated or in desperate need of revision. Example: war is about economic gain, whether I liked it or not, and oil fuels the choice of which African nation to assist. Life is harsh, and letting go of comfortable paradigms to which we hold dedications is painful.

Those years of deep inner turmoil and moral dilemmas wormed their way deeply into subsequent lives, and I'm sure I could benefit from some counseling, even three lifetimes later. It certainly affected my lives as a Green Peace boat captain, refuse collector with Western Disposal, and my just-completed life as a Colorado public school teacher. I just couldn't stop teaching like a piece of 20th century masking tape, even when, if I looked out at my students and their work, a newer, more adhesive adhesive was required. I did what I did without question. I had the mythology memorized and the rationale ready. And I truly believed. Truly. That should count for something...shouldn't it?

Back then, it wasn't my life on the line, just my posterity. What would I leave for the future? What would I leave behind? One thing I decided--no matter how much I loved teaching poetry, classics of literature and analysis of those things, and having my kids write about those subject, I would not do that [much?] anymore. I decided to make a shift toward relevancy and practicality.

Being English department head at my campus, the shift was a bit easier, not having to convince the Tall People in the building in this profitable course of action. I began slipping pills in the drinks of my department through off-hand comments in meetings about how students were more invested if the writing was realistic and relevant, and the true value is in process over product. I even once espoused the idea that not all our students are going to grow up to be literature critics. Weird, that. ("Look! An elephant!"). I gave them pdfs of articles and snippets from professional journals about 21st century learning and writing, even going so far as to share a chapter by Peggy Kittle about her struggle letting go of the old and embracing the new. Finally, I led the charge by pilot teaching cornerstone genres in class, and supported them all when it became a mandate one year later. Little did I know that those small things would earn me a place in the all-beautiful Beauty of Nothingness. It's pretty much all it's cracked up to be. Except there's not any non-dairy creamer.

Writing From Nirvana,
You Can Call Me Al, who had his coffin lined with books, still.

PS-For this particular educational shift, I have a few people to thank. First, Deborah Dean for her dense but studied thoughts on genre theory and how to teach it, especially her considerations on how to make genre study practical and contextual, not isolated and forced. She also made an appropriately big deal about having mentor texts and exemplars available for kids to review and even emulate to a point. (This was all found in chapter 3 of her work Genre Theory). I also appreciate Peggy Kittle and her educational masterpiece Write Beside Them. She enlightened me and emboldened me with her ideas of why we must, and how to break out of the norm and head into true relevance in writing instruction. She put the cost out on the table: 1) we risk students becoming topic dependent and 2) the writing task will become the driver of revision. Bad karma, there. Those attitudes, she asserts, will only persist our students to keep on "playing school". She says "if we try to craft meaning from our lives right beside them, they'll see that story is more than formula and writing is more than an activity, and it will entice more students into rigorous work" (154), very much encouraged me to jump off the ledge into the Great Wide Open. Apologies to James Bond, The Buddha, and Tom Petty.

more on the concept-based curriculum

The concept-based curriculum is designed this way:

CONCEPT-BASED FRAMEWORK

OVERARCHING UNDERSTANDINGS
-deep, enduring understandings that represent
-the essence and complexity of a discipline(40-year learnings)

BIG IDEAS
-are the same, P-12
-single word or phrase
-represent core concepts of a discipline
-represent 40-year learnings

OVERARCHING ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
-written in grade bands
-not unit-specific
-are "broad and deep questionsthat remain alive in the disciplineperhaps forever" (from UBD)

ORGANIZING CONCEPTS
-a word or phrase that spans multiple grade levels, though it may not be used every year.
-are "clustered under Organizing Concepts in a planning template
-makes connections more clear and planning easier
-help make connections to previous and future units

thinking about genre study

Recently, my school district has taken a different direction with our curriculum. We're focusing on the concept-based approach, as opposed to the standards-based approach.
This switch has definitely affected the way we're doing business in the classroom. In Language Arts, we've chosen one genre to study each quarter. The hope and expectation is that, within the genre study, we will be able to hit on the valuable (and CSAP test-able!) skills students need in order to write that genre, and that those skills will be transferrable to other writing tasks. The other hope is that this approach will be embraced by students as being more practical and compelling. That's the hope.
As with any systemic change like this, there is a lot of confusion, trepidation, and sideways glances from the interested parties being asked to change their ways. Teachers are mostly positive and willing to make the shift, but it's not easy, emotionally or pedegogically. We're in our fifth month of implementation and it's a thumpy-bumpy success, so far. More later...

promises, promises

I promise this year to:
-not be as sarcastic (That should be a breeze!) Oops.
-talk less, take in more
-recognize that our kids do not learn in a personal vacuum, and be sensitive to that

I'm sure there's more I need to promise, but that's good for now.

What are some of your professional promises this year? Comment below.

my student teacher's list of epiphanies

I asked my student teacher, we'll call her Tatum, what she's learned so far about teaching. She was happy to respond. (Very insightful things here, person-we're-calling-Tatum. You're gonna do great!)

List of Epiphanies

Your lessons very rarely turn out the way that you planned. You are always revising or throwing things out between classes or even for the next time you teach it.

This may sound ignorant, but I thought that honors would be easier because they are advanced. I am finding out that they are almost more complicated that the other classes. I think in part it is because they know they are smart, and they have really test the waters. They require a lot of differentiation to be pushed and challenged. This class has definitely challenged me as a new teacher.

Not really an epiphany, but I have learned that students change a lot throughout the year. One student may have been extremely unmotivated at the beginning of the year and pulled a 180 by the end, or vice versa. It has been amazing to see the growth is some of them.

The relationships are hard. I have learned that it is hard to build a relationship with the students that can be both nice but strict (approachable vs. authoritative) I have established relationships with many of the students, but have struggled with "bringing the hammer down" on some of the kids.

It takes soooo much energy to teach! You have to be on your toes everyday. It is something that you have to become accustomed to.

Their minds and thoughts intrigue me! It is amazing how intelligent these kids really are. I didn't expect to learn so much from them.

Classroom management is something that teachers are always working on. There are a lot of techniques to try out and some work better than others.

You have to keep your students engaged or you will lose them! I have to work on my closings with this aspect. I have learned that while the time I want to give them to work on a paper is useful time, they do not always use it effectively. I have to give them less time for certain things.

Do the assignments yourself first! How much time did it take you?

I didn't expect it to be so hard teaching the content. I know how to do these things, but how do you break it down for someone else? This is something that I need to really work on. I do a lot of research on the topics before I teach it! I am guessing it becomes easier the longer you are teaching (hoping anyway).

Organization is key!! Know what you are teaching, know what the kids are doing, have a pocket of tricks just in case.

-Tatum D

thoughts from one entering the fray

Difficulties of Language Today

We never really think about language when we speak as something that we need to worry about. As kids we were taught to think about it in our writing. Our writing usually differs from our speaking in many ways, as we have the chance to think about what we are writing and we can go back and edit it. However, when you are speaking to someone, you can not go back and edit it. It is now out it the open for your audience to hear, no matter how appropriate or inappropriate it may seem.

As a child or a teenager, we do not usually get corrected in our speaking, except for the minor implication in your language arts class, “ you do not say me and my friend, you say my friend and I”. You continue to say my friend and I until the day you are corrected to me and my friend. It is so confusing! Then we become young adults and try to fit into the “adult” world. The adult world consists of slang that offends people, work appropriate language, family appropriate language, blog appropriate language, and many more! How do we know when to use what?

The first time I ever offended someone with language was at my job in a dentist office. I was maybe 22 or 23 years old. I do accounting and billing and deal with some difficult people and insurance companies, but for the most part it is pretty smooth sailing. Just like any day, I had a couple come in who wanted to apply for a loan. In this particular case, I had to call the loan company to have a verbal confirmation from the patient. The woman from the loan company answered the phone, and I politely said, “These people are here to apply for a loan, and it came back requesting a phone call”. I continued the conversation and finished their application. As soon as I got off the phone, the gentleman I was helping preceded to scream at me and tell me I was racist. I had no idea what he was talking about! He said I classified them as “Mexicans” when I said “these people”. I was shocked and so embarrassed; never in my life would I ever be racist. He continued to put me in my place for a few more minutes as I was extremely apologetic and my face was on fire.

Working in an environment where I am generally the minority, a young, white, female, I have really had to change my tone of speaking and act like I know what I am talking about (even if I don't). As a teacher, my language has also had to change quite a bit. Where as at my job at a dentist office I deal with adults, I now have to deal with teenagers. When in front of a group of 13 year olds, I have had to slow down my speaking as well as watch how I am wording certain things. For example: “What questions do you have?” rather than, “Do you have any questions?” When you say “what” versus “do”, it makes the students feel more comfortable, and believe it or not, they actually ask questions when you word it this way. I have also had to think about how I address the students. I catch myself saying “You guys” all the time. I have been told this puts me at the same level as them rather than at a “teacher level”. I am still working on ways to improve speaking to my students as a whole. It has been a difficult and new thing for me. Not only do you have to change the way you word questions, but you have to be direct. I always include a please; however, it has been brought to my attention that I say things such as, “Can you, um, please get out your journals when you are ready?” Do you really think 13 year olds will respond to this? Not so much. As a new teacher, you do not think about these things until someone brings them to your attention or you receive a wave of blank faces in the crowd.

The English language is fascinating in so many ways, and yet so difficult! In today's society we have to learn to think about everything we say, how we say it, and to whom we say it to. When we are put in a different environment, whether it is a new job, a new city, a new country, we have to think about our language skills.

Tatum Dean,
Teacher Candidate,
University of Colorado, Denver

You know it's a good day at school when...