The Ups and Downs of Teaching Writing

After handing back an essay, no longer are the days where students crumple the paper in their backpack after cursory looking at the grade. A post-mortum reflection on writing successes and challenges is just as important as the writing itself. How to execute a lesson like this can be challenging. Despite my attempts to create a community of learners, there is something about this particular task that proves frustrating.

In my latest attempt, I created a Google Spreadsheet with several tables with five columns each. In column one, students could use a code name, so that they could remain anonymous when posting their sentence that needed to be corrected. In column two, they included the actual sentence with the mistake. In column three, they wrote a hint so that the editor would know what to look for. In addition, the different table were titled to group the errors: thesis writing, awkward phrasing, quote introduction, topic sentence, and mechanics were separated. 

While I wouldn't label the lesson as a disaster, the students became very concerned with the code names. Some of them used other students' names as code names, or used names that were inappropriate. They deleted rows or columns. They G-chatted to each other. It was very hard to get them to focus on the task. I tried it again with another section of the class, and it was even worse. 

So, for the last section, I went back to pen and paper. Students did the same assignment, but on separate pieces of paper. I then handed the pieces of paper out to the editors, who were to correct it and hand it back to the original author. I wish I could say that this went amazing, but without seeing how other students were completing the assignment, as they could on the spreadsheet, some students had difficulty following the directions. The same amount of silliness prevailed. 

So what do you do when you know your lesson plan is good, but it just doesn't woork? My first though it to ask why. 

If I were to do this again, I would set up very strict ground rules and kick a student off the Doc if he/she behaved silly. In addition, there would be a grade penalty. However, I don't believe the issue is just about behavior. 

I think it's very difficult for teenagers and adults to be confronted with their mistakes. A coping mechanism for being disappointed with a low grade is silliness and laughter. The next time I do the assignment, I will bring this issue to the forefront, as well as the ground rules, and hope for a better outcome. 

Don't 'Tech' it for Granted.

I remember my seventh grade computer class consisted mostly of playing "The Oregon Trail."  I did learn a lot about dysentery and typhoid, but I didn't learn much about computers, per say. Fast forward almost two and a half decades when education has moved away from instructional computer courses. The assumption is that at least by high school a student's computer literacy surpasses most of his/her teachers. For teenagers who are especially adept, there are computer programming classes.

The investment has shifted from instruction to hardware. Every student should have an iPad! Every student should have a laptop! Great! You won't hear any arguments from me.

But what can happen when we focus on the hardware and not the kids is that we forget that not every student knows how to use the software or apps. While I'm not suggesting moving back to the days of mandatory computer classes, teachers must consider when assigning projects that some instruction is needed for many of the students in the classroom beyond asking kids to perform tasks that presumes skills that they don't have.

I know because I've done it myself. Once.

True, students can learn any program that you teach them 10 times faster than their teachers who were born in the 20th century, but  to be successful with the content, they still need our help with the technology.

Teaching Students Study Skills

When I completed my teaching certification in 2001 and was hired by a school to teach history, I was excited to try out all that I learned from the amazing professors at my university. However, what I found is that although many of their techniques and philosophies could be employed successfully in the classroom, some basic skills still needed to be taught in a rudimentary, perhaps old-fashioned manner.

One of the skills most lacking is how to prepare for a test. Many students simply do not know how to study, and while my role is to engage them in the material, I also embrace teaching student study skills that they can use across the curriculum. This is especially true teaching ELL students.

During the first semester of the course, I model different ways to prepare for quizzes and tests. Second semester, I ask them to choose among the models I've demonstrated and use the one that works for them.

One skills that students needed to be taught is how to use both their notes and class and textbook to study. Even with all of the technology we employ, including posting lessons and notes online, often times the students don't remember or bother to look at them. Or if we are using many different types of resources, they don't know how to organize them to prepare for a test.

Here are two techniques I have used thus far in ELL History.

The first is to create a chart and take the terms that the students learned from two sections and contextualize them (not just define) using their textbook and what we covered in class. The last column is a place for them to ask clarifying questions.

Using Google Docs, after they have completed most of the review sheet, I can then get them feedback as to what they are still missing. For example, if they didn't include anything about pyramids, I would write, "Remember the pyramid game that we played? What were the lessons that we learned from that?"

For the test that will be given next week, I've created a chart for them to fill out that compares empires.

In summary, while we can't learn the information for them, we can teach them how to study so that they can succeed to the best of their abilities.

Help Wanted in Mesopotamia

As I wrote in a previous post, connecting students to ancient history can be challenging. When first teaching about how city states and empires functioned comparatively to hunter gatherer communities in ancient civilizations, the notion of job specialization can be a tricky concept to teach, perhaps because it is too obvious in some ways.

However, job specialization is critical to understanding ancient history as the emphasis of pedagogy in the field has evolved to a more popular approach to studying ancient cultures, not emphasizing every battle but rather the evaluating the lives of the ordinary people who lived during the time period.

To accomplish this, I used a lesson plan from "The History of Our History" website produced by the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute.  Titled Jobs in Ancient Mesopotamia, I created a job application from a Microsoft Word template. Students applied for the positions in writing and presented to the class why they would be the best candidate.

One of the best parts of this lesson was increasing the students' vocabulary. Many of the job specializations featured words they had never heard before. For example, they had never heard the word "confectioner," although clearly they had all eaten candy at some point! As you can imagine, there was a lot of competition for this job.

This lesson was for my ELL class, and it worked really well. To increase the level for a standard or honors level course, I would introduce students to primary sources about the job specializations and ask them to compare them to current sources about those same jobs today.  

Connecting with Early Humans

One of the most difficult aspects of teaching history is helping students connect to people who lived so long ago. This is acutely true of prehistory, when what we know comes only from archaeology and anthropology.

When teaching prehistory, I use a web site hosted by the Science Museum of Minnesota based on archaeological finds from Çatalhöyük. However, as I repeatedly emphasize with newer teachers and will reiterate on this blog over and over, most students cannot achieve learning outcomes by just browsing a web site or even reflecting on it. Also, given that the one of the goals of history is to build vocabulary, students need direction on how to scaffold the information.

Feel free to use this worksheet that I developed to help students make the most of the website. 

Using the BBC to teach Ancient Egypt

A website that almost always come through with great materials is the BBC.  The network features interactive and informative games that captivate students' interests.

The two most recent that I have used are games that allow students to build a pyramid and mummify someone. I have students work on this games as a class to build team work and ensure that everyone is understanding the material and on task.

After these two games, my students will never forget that one shouldn't build a pyramid too close to a river (flooding) and that ancient Egyptian embalmers removed the brain from the.....

I don't want to spoil it for you. Play the game!

Painless Grammar

When I emailed a colleague in Chicago about the challenges of teaching students grammar, he told me to check out a site called Noredink.com. He hadn't used it himself, but had heard many endorsements.

I have been a faithful user of the site for about a year now. While perhaps students will never develop a love of grammar, the staff of Noredink has found a way to make it painless and even fun. Also, their instructional materials are clear and concise.

How do they do it?

Students answer a series of questions about their friends, hobbies, favorite music and t.v. shows. Then the site uses that information to create sentences. Students practice and then are assessed using sentences that say things like: "Homer Simpson love to eat cake, apples, and doughnuts."

It's brilliant.

However, like with all websites, the role of the instructor is critical. First I introduce a concept, then students practice it on the web site, and lastly their assessment is also through Noredink.

I highly recommend giving it a shot. The level that I use is free.  

Twitter in the Classroom

Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus. The options for engaging students through social media can be overwhelming. The tool that I have found allows for the most appropriate exchange and provides for the best educational opportunities is Twitter.

As a Twitter user, I include my feed on my Moodle Page. Students, parents, and colleagues from around the world can follow me. I can also follow them. This exchange of ideas allows for robust learning in and out of the classroom.

My most recent Twitter success was during a simulation of negotiations between Iran and the G5+1 over the Iranian nuclear program. A colleague forward me an email from the Choices Program at Brown University. The Choices Program was hosting a lecturer on the Iranian Nuclear Program and opening up questions via Twitter for the professor. My students tweeted (through their personal accounts or via mine) their questions and the professor responded. They loved that their ideas and questions were being taken seriously and heard on an international forum.

Another use of a Twitter-like-program is called Today's Meet. In a closed chat room, it provides a closed forum for students to Tweet. Both my colleague and I used it during our different sections of Middle East History during the Iran Nuclear Negotiations. One person per group was assigned the role of Tweeter. They would Tweet their sides' main points throughout the negotiations. If a student Tweeted something factually incorrect, I could Tweet a correction. During a simulation such as a negotiation, it can be hard for students to take notes. This provided them with a record of the conversation. The students received the Tweets at the end of the negotiations so that they could study them for their test.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about using social media tools in the classroom.

Publishing Student Work

As I presented at a recent faculty meeting, writing drafts and editing papers is a crucial part of the writing process. However, not all students are motivated to complete the process thoroughly. I have found a shift in students' attitudes towards drafts after publishing their work through the use of Blogger.  Having their work published for their peers, parents, teachers, and loved ones to see motivates them to display their best writing or project submission. In addition, it creates a community of learners. Students will find mistakes on their peers' page and let them know. The classroom becomes a team environment where everyone is there to help everyone else look their best.

Check out the blog here: http://10thgradewritings.blogspot.com/.

Here is the Peer Editing sheet. This is used before they upload to the blog.