Learning IS Hard

Heard across my classroom today: "This is hard!!!" {I hope you're imagining the half whining/half frustration overload tone of voice this was yelled in}

So...how to respond?
-Well, yeah. Learning is hard, but how great - you must be learning something new!
-Yes, but that doesn't mean we give up.
-Please don't yell across the classroom and disturb everyone who is writing. It's okay to be frustrated, but it's not okay to interrupt everyone else who is working.
-What can I do to help you?
-Remember when I've talked about that idea of cognitive dissonance, where things get more confusing before they start to make sense in your brain when you're learning something new? Well, I think you're in that stage right now.

Take your pick. I'm actually pretty sure I said a variation on every one of those options in the minutes following that outburst.

Then I started thinking about it some more. My thoughts first went to...hmmmm, I really thought I had explained that well when I was talking with him, but maybe not. How can I explain it in a way that will help? Then, as I looked at the boy's face across the room, I realized that I recognized the body language and look of utter frustration. Just last spring I had been exactly there. When? At a writing retreat for my National Boards portfolio. I get it. I just wanted to be done and have it make sense and write whatever and just get it over with. I understood the emotion this kid was feeling. And it made me change my thinking to empathizing with him versus questioning it.

And as I write this, I realize what perhaps I came to understand even more today. It's crucial that I continue to be a learner. It's important for my role as a teacher that I put myself in situations that can help me feel what my students might feel like on a daily basis (without quite as much middle school angst). How can I possibly understand what my students are going through if I haven't gone through it? And I'm not just talking about thinking back to all those years ago when I was in middle school. I'm talking about continuing to be a learner today. With my understandings where they are, if I hadn't pushed myself past my comfort zone to that stage of cognitive dissonance recently myself, I'm not sure that I would have so quickly moved in my mindset to understanding just exactly what that feels like. And what did I need when I was feeling that way? To get up and take a walk, get a drink of water, talk to someone about something else for a few minutes, give my brain a break...and then get back to it. So why shouldn't I give my students the opportunity for that same outlet of taking that break to keep the thinking fresh? Something I'll be remembering the next time this happens.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/536015750/

Back to Basics (focus on the kids, best practices, and the day that flowed)

Sometimes you have one of those days in the classroom where things just flow. You know what I mean, right? The class period where even if the kids come unprepared, even if things don’t all go according to plan, even if it’s not what you thought would happen, some things just work really well and you’re left with a sense of accomplishment at the end? I had that day today. It reinvigorated me. It reenergized me. It reminded me that I do know what I’m doing. It put things back in perspective for me. It gave me a sense of peace and feeling like I’m in the right place with the right people at the right time.

I was out of the classroom on Friday at a workshop on close reading put on by Chris Lehman. I also got to see Chris speak about building a culture of writing in schools on Saturday morning. I made this comment on twitter:

And it’s so true. He is one of those speakers who inspires me and reminds me what being a teacher is all about…the kids. It’s about the kids becoming their best selves. It’s about being there for them. It’s about helping them see themselves in a new light. It’s about doing what I can to give them the tools for success. It’s about engaging them so they learn. It’s about the kids. No matter what else is going on with directives, assessments, standards, paperwork, or anything else that can be a distraction…It should always come back to the kids. They are the reason I'm here.

This morning when I got into school, the first thing I did was look at the notes from my sub on Friday. There was some confusion and I knew I needed to tailor my lessons today toward what my kids needed from me to clear up the confusion. What did I go to? Formative assessment, Conferring, Feedback, Modeling, Think Alouds, Time to Write…and, no, I’m not just trying to throw educational buzz words out there, I’m talking about the instinctive things I go to that I know make a difference. And that’s the key I realized today.  I turned off all of the “noise” and just did what I know works to support kids. That’s why it seemed to flow so well…I was going back to the basics that I know are best practices and I was giving my students what they needed.

Some days we lose sight of that in the press to reach the standards and cover the curriculum and meet requests, but it should always be about the kids and what they need and how we can best provide that. I know what it is, and I need to remember that. The difference in what I saw my students come to class with compared to what they left with after assessing where they were at and where they struggled, modeling the writing and thinking aloud, conferring with them and giving feedback, and allowing them the time to write, was impressive. Back to basics…that’s where I’m headed. What about you?

We Interrupt Your Regularly Schedule Lesson for this Tangent

Today we were working on teaching through our writing (a concept we're working on for the research papers we'll be starting to write soon), so we were practicing with the ways we had identified that non-fiction authors use to teach through their writing (you can see our messy brainstorming here). Instead of getting right into it, I wanted to have my students practice first, so I told them to pick any topic that they know something about, and we were going to take ten minutes to write a paragraph teaching somebody about that topic. Starting with a known topic would allow us to really focus on the craft of the writing. If my students have to write it, so do I, so I did. My topic? Chanukkah. Why? I don't really know other than it's what came to mind when I was trying to think of things that I know about, and we had just been lighting the candles with my nieces and nephews last week at my parents house. And then I shared.

First class: Went just fine. They seemed to like it and they identified the things I had tried to do in my writing. The topic didn't seem to phase them. It did however cause them to question why I chose that topic, which led to my explanation of being half Jewish and half Christian and a bit of background about growing up knowing both sides of my heritage.

Second class: Went fine again, although this time I got applause when I finished reading. That was appreciated because I was actually pretty proud of what I had come up with on the spot and how I had made it interesting for the reader, so I was glad they recognized that. The topic led to some questions again and the basic explanation was fine for them.

Third class (now we're getting to my 8th graders who have had me now for a year-and-a-half): Before I even had time to share my paragraph, Excuse this interruption in your regularly schedule lesson plan...the topic led to a fifteen minute discussion on religions, faith, heritage, the difference between religion's beliefs, where certain ethnicities originated, international travel, rich, poor, levels of wealth and if you can judge someone based on that, and cheese. Somehow we got off on a tangent and it just kept going. I'm not even really sure how it happened, but the kids were really engaged, and I even heard one exclaim, "This is the best language arts class ever!" Hmmmm...should I be concerned?

I'm thinking no. We want our kids to be critical thinkers and participate in discussions, right? Well, there was definitely some critical thinking going on there, and there was debating and making points and arguing perspectives and acknowledging others. It wasn't intended, but it was interesting to hear their perspectives, and the fact that this tangent led to interesting conversation, a little bit of learning (even if not what I thought it would be about), and caused my students to have to make points and defend them...well, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Students need to think, they need to be challenged, they need opportunities to construct arguments, they need the chance to share their thoughts, they need to think sometimes that language arts class can be fun...and if it happens to come from an unexpected tangent instead of a planned lesson or writing assignment once in awhile...well, I'm okay with that.

Now back to your regularly scheduled lesson.

From Dread to Hope (a Confessional on Teaching Research)

Confession Time: I dread teaching research. Ugh...the research paper. I hated it in 8th grade when I had to do it, I was dismayed by it when I had to do it in graduate school, and I've yearly lamented on having to teach it. There's just something about the entity that is the formal research paper that has always seemed overwhelming to me as a student and now as a teacher.

All 7th and 8th graders in my school participate in the annual science fair, and a formal, traditional research paper on a topic related to their experiment is a required part of entering the science fair. This is my least favorite unit because of the beast that is a formal research paper.

After going through teaching research on this particular topic for the the first time last year, I knew I needed a better way. A better way to approach it, to teach it, to engage my students in the process, and definitely a better way to get a more interesting end result. There's not much that can be done when the traditional, formal research paper essay is required, but thanks to Chris Lehman and his professional book, Energize Research Reading and Writing (Heinemann, 2012), which is 160 pages of logic and smartness, I have found so much more I can do to remedy the rest of the process of teaching research.

If you teach research in any way, you're going to want to get this book.

Having the notes from when I attended a workshop on this topic led by Chris over the summer, and opening his book as I sat down to begin planning out our big research unit, I began to feel hope. Hope that I could make it more interesting. Hope that I could make it more meaningful. Hope that I could make it more engaging. Hope that I could make it something that would be lasting and students would use again. Hope that I could make it something I would be interested in teaching. Hope that I could make it something my kids would be interested in learning. And hope that it would lead to final products I would actually be interested reading.

My unit planning session in progress - notice I'm opened to the page where Chris has kindly given us a unit design overview (including page numbers for mini-lessons that you could include!)
Side-note: I've learned to use post-it notes for lesson topic in planning - it makes it much easier to readjust things as/when needed!

Chris' book is laid out in such a teacher-friendly way. It's utterly useful and easy to follow and includes reasoning, chart examples, transcripts of teacher language to use in mini-lessons, unit planning, and so much more! It's the kind of book you can pick up, read, and try out in the classroom the very next day.

So, thanks to this book, for the very first time in my nine years of teaching, I haven't hated or dreaded teaching research, but I've actually been looking forward to each new lesson to see how it would be received by my students through this new lens.

A lens of thinking about research as Reading to Learn & Writing to Teach. 

A lens of realizing that it doesn't all have to be one set way, there's room for choice and inquiry in teaching research. 

That mantra and focus has gotten me into it this year and we've had several successful lessons so far, and I'm looking forward to reading what my students will come up with as they teach through their writing.

I no longer dictate what type of notes to take, the information and purpose does.

Our messy list of ways non-fiction authors teach through writing after looking at mentor texts, which naturally led into the ways non-fiction text can be organized/structured. This will eventually become a neater reference chart posted in the room as students start writing.

So, if you teach research in any way (hello, CCSS!), I highly recommend you get Chris Lehman's book, read it, and use it to guide your teaching. It's been a game-changer book for me and my teaching.

Sometimes It's Best to Go With the Distraction

It was a dreary day in Southeastern Wisconsin today. I had lessons planned. After our Independent Daily Reading and choice quick write, we were moving on to looking at non-fiction books together to identify what types of things authors do to teach through their writing. You see, we're doing our big research unit right now, and I'm trying a new focus this year. But in my last (4th) class of the day doing this, after our quick write time, a student looked out our classroom windows and exclaimed about this.

How could I ignore that distraction? It was an eerie view outside those windows. My kids were totally distracted. So I made an on-the-spot decision to go a different direction and follow the distraction. Sometimes a teacher just has to do that. You see, I wasn't going to get them back and focused on the lesson at hand at that point. So we didn't even try.

Instead? I told them maybe we should work with the distraction and go with the nature at hand - let's write stories about it! We'd spend the last twenty minutes of class writing stories - the only stipulation was that the setting had to be what we were seeing outside those windows. We did a quick review of narrative structure and what elements should be included in a fiction short story, then we looked out the windows at our setting inspiration, and we started writing our stories. And, yes, I do mean we. I sat down to write a story of my own as my 8th graders were writing theirs. There were smiles, and engagement, and glances out the window, and giggling, and sharing of ideas, and the sound of pens scratching across paper...and every one of my students was writing for that whole 20 minutes. Sometimes it is best to go with the distraction. That other lesson? It can wait until tomorrow.

My last line at minute nineteen: As she tried to look beyond the edges of the white fog blanketing the woods, she heard the screaming start.