The Hyperdoc

I've Been BUSY!

It's been two years since my last post. In that time, I've moved school, become department head at my school, had a baby boy, and am pregnant with my third child (a second boy, due in a month). Whew!! No wonder I haven't been posting. However, in that time, the classroom has really changed and my teaching has had to change with it. 

Technological Advances

We are living in an age when in only a month we can see leaps and bounds made in technology. I'm old enough to remember moving from VHS/tapes to CDs and finally to iPods and digital music and movies. For each of those generations, I couldn't help but think, "how could this get any better?" But it seems the "betterness" is in making the technology more invisible, less intrusive, and most importantly more portable. We want to be able to access everything we own in all places, at all times. This idea has begun to make its way into my classroom.

Going 1:1

Another big development in my life and going to a BYOD campus to a 1:1 with Mac laptops. I've spent my summer planning lessons that will allow the students to take more ownership of their learning. Take me off the stage, and make them independent, inquisitive learners. I give them the resources, any they explore, ask questions, find solutions, and figure things out. To be honest, this idea isn't new. In fact, it's been a goal of mine since I began teaching 11 years ago, but now with the internet at my students' fingertips, it seems to be more attainable. It's no longer an Everest I hope to achieve one day; instead, it's a hill I plan to hike up this year and just keep getting better at it. And I'me EXCITED about it!

Enter THE HYPERDOC

I didn't like these creatures the first time I was introduced to them. Probably because I didn't understand how people were building them. Staring at that blank white Google Doc, I was at a loss for where to even begin. So, I started where a lot of people started. I found a template and built from there. Now, that blank Google Doc isn't as intimidating. In fact, I've even started enjoying the HOURS that go into creating the hyperdoc. And, it takes HOURS! There's the content of course, but then, there's the structure, the pacing, the fonts, and colors. Getting it just perfect takes time. But just like anything in teaching, the more time you take at the front end of the lesson, the less you have to do during and after the lesson. 

I've made three hyperdocs to use this year. 

Teaching the Anecdote with Barbara Kingsolver's "Going to Japan." Students have a lot of trouble understanding the difference between writing a short story and writing an anecdote WITHIN another genre of writing, specifically, expository and persuasive. The essay "Going to Japan" serves as a mentor text.

James Hurst's "The Scarlet Ibis" is short, but it is jam-packed with short story skills including non-linear plot structure, symbolism, figurative language, character development, conflict and so much more. If you don't have time to teach a bunch of short stories, but you need to get through everything about the genre, "The Scarlet Ibis" is the place to start.

Tim O'Brien's "Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?" is a great introduction to literary realism. I use this lesson before reading difficult texts like Of Mice and Men. Students have trouble understanding why the author felt it necessary to include the topics and language in that particular novel. This short story helps create those discussions about leaving the "grit" in literature. 

Let me know how you use hyperdocs in your classroom!

Until then, Happy Teaching!!

Facing Research Paper Adversity

So... Research

We all have to do it. We all hate it, teachers and students alike. It's just awful. And the worst part is ... well ... everything about it. Research is the time of the year when a teacher really has to decide if she made the right life choices. I question mine every year. Seriously. But there are a few things that have made research bearable.

#1. Practice every part of the process BEFORE the dreaded paper. 

This year we typed a short story in MLA format, used the abstracts to take notes on everything we read, and did a group research project over the Great Depression after reading Of Mice and Men. The final product of the project was a PowerPoint, not a paper. It was accessible, they had their friends, and it was just a presentation.

#2. Do everything the students do.

When I had the kids writing an outline, I wrote one. Body paragraphs, got those too. Intros and conclusions, you bet. I did everything I had them do. This helped in three ways. One, it gave me something to do. There's nothing more boring than watching the kids write. Two, the kids couldn't complain as much because I was in the trenches with them the whole time. And third, and maybe most importantly, it gave me real examples to show the kiddos when they were struggling.

And I didn't type them up all fancy-like either. I just took pictures straight out of my notebook.

#3. Get them interested.

This is a no brainer. Choosing the research paper topic is just as important as writing lesson plans for it. If you pick something the kids hate, they will punish you with terrible writing. In the last few years, I've been tweaking the topic, but it's always surrounded the idea of adversity. It just happens that our research paper falls just before reading The Miracle Worker, which is chock full of dealing with one adversity after another. In the past, I had students pick one person that faced adversity and write a paper about them. In the end I got a lot of biographical papers about mostly interesting people. That's fine, but with the STAAR writing, it did little to prepare them for that. So this year, students wrote "an expository essay explaining how adversity affects people's lives." Sound familiar? It's modeled exactly like an EOC prompt, and the students write their paper like one as well. So instead of focusing on one person, they looked at three different people and explained how each was affected by adversity.

The results: I've never had so many research papers turned in on time as I did this year. Also, I'm not reading about the same twenty people over and over again either. Win win for everyone.

You Want Some of This??

You can get my entire Adversity Research Paper Packet here. Also, I posted a FREE download that I used for the peer review.

Happy Teaching!

Hitting the Reset Button

Pool of Misery

For the last six weeks, I've been fighting a monster in my 5th period class. Every teacher has that one class that is just dead set on chaos, destruction, and failure. Although, I'm sure it isn't a conscious effort on their part, they make my life hell and I get to return the favor. My time has been spent putting out fire after fire, telling kids to sit, stop talking, work, don't throw things, don't waste my sticky notes, no you can't go to the bathroom right now, sharpen your pencil when I'm done talking and so on forever and ever. My time has not been spent on teaching. It's been spent on discipling and training the students how to be human beings in my class. 

However, yesterday was the tipping point. I had a substitute so I could plan for a professional development seminar I am doing on Monday. The news wasn't good after 5th period. When the dust settled, I'd written three parents e-mails, a referral, and this letter.

I read it to them today in class. At the beginning, the culprits giggled, but by the middle, you could hear a pin drop. 

To My 5th Period:

I haven't hid that you are the most difficult class I've had to deal with this year. I've dubbed you my "worst class" and you've taken that label and made it your own. I don't deny that I dread 5th period everyday much like I'm sure all of you do. It's the truth for all of us and because of that we are all just swimming in a pool of misery. Every year I've always had that "one class" that was bent on chaos and self-destruction. And every year, I just accept that that's how it's going to be and just count down the days until they are gone. However, I'm determined to break that cycle now.

Part of the problem is me, I know. I helped create this 5th period monster with my attitude, actions, and sarcasm. First, I have to say sorry and seek forgiveness for my own fault in the matter. I will do a better job in controlling my frustration; I will be more patient, and I will hold back comments that could be hurtful even if I think they are funny. These are all ways I know I've made you dislike me as your teacher. 

Now, you must realize your own guilt in this situation as well. Since you are 9th graders, I know that sometime in the last 8 years someone has taught you general classroom etiqutte. But just in case, I'll review so we are all on the same page. First, having conversations with your friends across the room is generally frowned on in this establishment for many reasons. It's distracting, it's rude, and it's turning the class focus on you instead of learning. Second, yelling my name over and over again because you want my attention only makes me want to ignore you. Especially when you consider that 8 or 9 of you are doing it at the same time. Just imagine trying to focus on something when that many people are yelling at you at once. If you need me, raise your hand and wait. The worst thing that could happen is you'll learn to be patient. That or you'll learn how to solve problems on your own. Both of which are great lessons to learn. Third, sharpening pencils while anyone is talking is considered bad form. Certainly, waiting for an opportune moment would be better for everyone. Fourth, generally, walking around the room for no apparent reason is a bad idea. I'll explain. If you are up without a purpose, your purpose will soon become mischievous in nature. This leads you to make bad choices that disrupt others, stop learning, and cause you to get in trouble. All of which could be avoided if you just stay in your seat. Fifth, we have 50 minutes to learn as much as possible 180 times a year. I understand that sounds like an enormous amount of time, but it's really not. Therefore, anything outside of the current agenda for the day should be dealt with outside of the time we have in class. Basically, if you have any questions about anything that isn't included on the current day on the agenda board, then it should be held for tutoring time. For further clarification, this includes grades, missed work (past and future), homework questions, Blackboard questions, ways to earn class passes, class points, extra credit, and any extracurricular activities done by either you or me. 

I understand these things seem insignificant, but when the majority doesn't adhere to these general classroom practices, it creates chaos, as you have witnessed for the past six weeks. 

I also understand that this may seem like I just want you to behave to make my life easier. And while that is an attractive byproduct that isn't my main focus. 

For the most part, you as students have an "us vs. them" mentality when you come to school. It's usually the students vs. the teachers. This mentality sets us at odds with one another and most teachers would say that we are on the same team, but I disagree. Teachers are fighting against you. As you sit in your seat I am actively waging war against you, but I'm not fighting for myself. I'm fighting for YOUR future selves.  

I believe education offers infinite opportunities to those who take advantage of it. A few weeks ago, I was getting my oil changed. I happened to be wearing my school shirt and while I was paying the guy behind the counter he noticed and asked what I taught. I told him freshman English. He laughed and looked away a little embarrassed when he said, "I wasn't great at English. That was the class that kept me from graduating." I wasn't really sure how to react. I didn't want to laugh with him because dropping out isn't funny, but I didn't want to stand there awkwardly either. Finally, I said, "Wow! That's a bummer. Do you wish you could go back?" Even as I asked the question, I knew I was overstepping the bounds of mechanic and customer, but it just popped out. He could have gotten offended and slashed my tired. But he thought for about .2 seconds and said, "Everyday of my life." He went on to tell me he knew he wouldn't be changing people's oil for a living if he'd just done what he was supposed to do. Instead, he barely scrapes by. 

Ultimately, a decision he made as a high school student dictated his future. So, back to how I'm fighting for your future selves. I'm determined not to see you in 5, 10, 20 years and hear that you are like the man who changes oil. I know you believe that what you do here doesn't matter, but it absolutely does. And until the day you figure that out for yourself, I'm going to do my very best to fight for you even if you won't. Even if that means making you stay in tutoring, or taking away your phone, or writing you a detention or referral, or contacting your coaches and parents.  

Teachers say all the time (me included), "If they want to fail, just let them. It doesn't bother me any." But if I'm really honest with myself, it absolutely affects me. And when you are 25 or 30 or 89 I want you to look back at high school and know that I did everything I could, even got on to you everyday, to keep you from not just failing my class, but from becoming a failure. 

Last thing. I also know many of you believe nothing I have to teach you in English will help you later in life. Can I just point out that English is language and language has more power than many of the other things you depend on in your life. Language has the ability to get you that great job. It also has to ability to keep you from it. Language can get you a girlfriend or boyfriend. It can also make that girl or boy you like think you are an idiot. Language can help you get promotions and demotions. So, you're probably right. Knowing the story of "The Most Dangerous Game" won't get you far in life. But if you remember when we started reading the story, I told you that. We were reading it to learn about language and how to use it effectively. The day you learn to harness the power of language is the day you figure out that you can encourage, motivate, bolster, lead, persuade, manipulate, harm, cutdown, and belittle people. Language when used for good can do great things, but it can do equally terrible things. It's my job to teach you to decipher language so you can have the power to do good, hopefully.  

It's true that language is power. For example, with my words, I named you my worst class and you rose (or fell) to those expectations. Again, I'm sorry for that. but I hope that these words can help move us in a different direction. One that your future self will be proud of. 

Our class discussion after I finished reading was enlightening and encouraging. One student said I was wrong about them not liking me. Another asked why teachers separate friends if we didn't want them yelling across the room. So, it was hit and miss. But, I will say that today the culture of my 5th period changed radically from when I began the letter to when it ended. Time will tell if this reset button moment is permanent or not. Either way, I'm glad to have gotten the chance to be honest with my kids.

Happy teaching!

Shades of Meaning

Words Have Power

It's nothing new to English teachers. Kids just don't understand how powerful their words can be. As a result, their writing includes a vocabulary equal to that of a four year old, basic, repetitive, and libel to make any literate person run for the hills. 

But, it doesn't have to always be this way. There are things we can do in the classroom to help kids recognize how words can change mood, can persuade, can hurt, and can encourage. The lesson is simple, but the impact is great. 

Connotation vs. Denotation

In the past, I've taught this idea with worksheets, lectures, example texts. You name one boring lesson about word meaning, you bet I did it. But, to keep the promise I made to myself (and my students) this year, I want to think about how kids might actually WANT to learn something. Novel, right? 

After a quick trip to Wal-mart to steal pick up 156 some paint chips, I got started on teaching the shades of meaning. The result was great. My kids loved it. 

What my kids had to say

"This was really fun!" -- Colton

"I've been using words all wrong." -- Tanner 

"Can we do this again tomorrow?" -- Jaylee

I will never teach connotation and denotation another way again. The best part is we glued this into our interactive notebook, so they will have this forever. We refer to it often to remember how our word choice can change everything. You can get everything I used to teach this lesson here. 

Happy teaching!

Test Anxiety... for Teachers

We live in an age where testing happens more than we'd like. As a teacher, I know I've said on more than one occasion, "When are we supposed to teach when all we do is administer tests?" Unfortunately for most of my state and the rest of the country, testing is the nature of the education beast.

However, tests don't have to be wasted. If we write tests in a way that teach the students how to read better, then we can use our assessments as teaching tools instead of time-suckers.

The Before-the-Test Test

This activity was taken from The Curly Classroom. It's an excellent way of getting passed the typical plot review questions. Instead, it gets to the heart of making inferences about a text. It's called nine squares and it can be adapted for any story. If you like using manipulatives, then this is exactly what you need to ensure your students are reading "on the lines," "between the lines," and "beyond the lines."

The Cold Read

I'm a huge proponent of testing students on skills instead of content. In fact, I've rewritten my entire curriculum to reflect this change in philosophy. It doesn't do any good to read a story, analyze it for the students, then give them on a test on all the things I already mentioned in class. How does that make them #1. responsible for their own learning or #2. better readers on their own? 

For many teachers this shift is difficult. Overall, I get two questions:

#1. How are you keeping students accountable to what you read in class?

Ohhh... wintery! Where's my pumpkin spiced everything?

The short of it is I AM keeping them accountable. The differences lie in WHAT I am keeping them accountable to. It's true, if I read "The Most Dangerous Game" and don't give them an assessment of some kind, students will check out. However, my goal isn't for them to be able to know MDG front and back; my goal is for them to analyze a short story for symbolism, figurative language, character, and ultimately, synthesize their life with the story to find the theme. I can't test to see if students are getting those skills if I just give them a test over MDG and nothing else.  

#2. Is it really fair to test the students over something you haven't covered?

If I could yell through the computer screen, I totally would. OF COURSE IT'S FAIR! Every standardized test does the exact same thing. However, beyond those tests everything students will read from now until eternity is a cold read. That job application, that novel, that report, that internet article, that everything in the whole universe. If we keep telling kids what things mean, they will never become successful readers. For me, the things we read in class are models for how I want them to read on their own. 

For the first installment of the Cold Read Series, I give you "The Most Dangerous Game" Assessment Pack. This pack includes the nine squares activity, a quiz over MDG and a cold read test. The quiz and the test cover the same skills (TEKS) and similar question stems. 

Happy teaching testing!

Student CENTERed

The Key is Organization

Using centers in the secondary classroom takes some planning on the front end. However, once everything is set up, you can just sit back and facilitate. The best part of centers is letting kids learn through discovery. I've already blogged about bringing centers into high school. Now, I'll show you how I implement them in my class. 

Classroom Arrangement

First things first: the groupings. As a rule I never allow more than four kids to gather in one place. Somewhere, someplace, someone said something about the more the evil-er... or something along those lines. To help kids get where they should be for the centers, I organize my classroom like this:

The view of my room from atop a rickety ladder

No grouping has more than four, no less than three. Each table has all the needed supplies for whatever their task may be. Crayons and paper for pictures, dictionaries for vocabulary, file folders with directions.

Dispersing the Kiddos

But how do kids know where to sit? Do you just let them sit ANYWHERE? Uhhh.... no. These are freshman. Upon entrance into my fortress of high expectations I hand them a card with a number on it. The number corresponds to numbers on each table. When I make the cards I ensure that the number of chairs matches the number of cards at each station. This eliminates seven people around one station.

Folders and Switching

Once they get to their table, they find a file folder. Inside the folder, the students can find everything they need to complete the task.


Each center takes about twenty minutes. For me, that's half of the class which means we switch in the middle of class. That sounds like a huge headache, right? I can hear them now: I did this center already? Which number am I supposed to get? We didn't get a folder! We have three folders on our table! CHAOS!! Nothing a simple sticky note can't solve. On each file folder I have where they send their folder and which number they should be receiving. If the kids know their numbers, then they can do this.

You can find the center directions that I put in each folder here. These centers cover skills in "The Most Dangerous Game."

Happy teaching!

The Writing Muscle

Typical Conversation 

Teacher: "Today we are going to write for..."

Students:  "ughhhhhgughsdknfadf.... whyyyyyyy??" 

Teacher/Students: (all together) "I hate my life." 

We've all been there. Writing is no fun for the students because they have to think (geez how terrible) nor for the teachers because we have to listen to endless complaining (which IS truly the definition of terrible). 

So, what do we need to do to get our kids to somewhat enjoy writing? I'm not sure if there is a silver bullet out there for that, but what I witnessed today on the 3rd day of school was nothing short of miraculous. 

A Little Background

This summer I went to a training with Gretchen Bernabei. She's A-MA-ZING! I wrote about some of the strategies I learned here. Anyway, she mentioned that her kids write everyday... and here's the kicker... they like it. WHAT? How is that even possible. I think if I walked into my classroom with the "let's write everyday" bit the conversation would go something like this:

Teacher: "Okay kids, we are going to do the first of 180 writing assignments right now. Ready?"

Students: "GET THE PITCHFORKS!!"

Seriously, how does she do that and not get murdered everyday of her life? Then she showed us some of the kids' journals. They used composition notebooks for this. If they get full, they have to buy a new one. (Hahaha... like any of my students are going to fill a notebook with solid writing.) As I flipped through, I saw the beginning pages were sparse. In fact, a lot of the kids wrote about how much they hated writing. But as I went deeper into the notebook the entries began to get longer, more involved. Then they were illustrated. Then I saw recurring characters over a long period of time. I saw notes in the margins. I saw writing come to life. It was magical. But Gretchen is magical. I could never do anything like that. Or could I...

Writing Magic

Here's how it went today:

Students entered. Read note on board: "Get out your composition notebook and a pen."

Teacher: "How many of you do any kind of physical activity?"

All but about three kids in each class raised their hands.

Teacher: "Okay. What happens if you don't do that physical activity for a long time, and then you start back up again."

Students: "You are tired, you get sore..."

Teacher: "Right, so if you don't work out your muscles, they get weak, right?"

Head nods. Glazed over eyes. 

Teacher: "Well, did you know writing is a lot like a muscle."

Students: indiscernible mumbling. I assume it was "did she really just say the W word on the 3rd day of school?"

Teacher: "The more you write the stronger you get. So, we are going to write as often as possible." (Still afraid to say "everyday.")

Students: collective eye roll, murmurs along the lines of "Are you kidding me? Writing is dumb. I've never written ever in my whole life." And so on. 

Teacher: "I am going to start a timer for ten minutes. You can't let your pencil or pen stop moving, even if that means you need to doodle a little between thoughts. Write about whatever you want. Questions?"

Crickets.

Teacher: "Ready set write."

Then, I watched and waited for the rebellion. And I waited, and waited. I only had one kid today who I had to get on to about not writing. My other 172 students scribbled away. Some took a break to stretch their fingers dramatically, but that's it. 

The Miracle

When the time ended and I said stop they asked if they could keep writing. They begged, pleaded, and snuck in a few more words after time ended. I'm serious. I wouldn't lie about something this crazy. Really, I don't think I could make it up. I kept telling them no. They had to stop writing now. Which led to their followup question: "When are we going to write like this again?" I answered, "Tomorrow and everyday after that."

And then I died and went to English teacher heaven.