Say what?

I need to make it clear that I think that the English folks at Virginia's Department of Education do an excellent job making all kinds of resources available to teachers and students in support of their Standards of Learning Assessments. They also allow teachers to apply to work on the committees that see the tests through just about from start to finish. Every effort is made to construct valid measures of students' abilities to read and write.

But I have to tell you about the practice writing tool that is available on line. It's a stripped down word processing program that children will use to type their essay responses to prompts in March. The tool is user friendly, right down to my favorite feature-- the indent button. You would not believe how many times I have to reteach how to indent a paragraph...as in literally. But that's a different story for a different day.

This entry is all about the spell check feature. This is the first year students may not use paper dictionaries, but they can use a feature that will underline suspicious words in red and offer suggestions, if you left click your mouse. It's pretty awesome, if you ask me.

Lissen here, all y'all. That spell check doesn't care for dialect atall. Makes sense, right? I think so, but here's where I got into trouble. I was modeling an essay for my students using the "if I could visit anywhere in the world" prompt. Well, I decided to go back in time and visit with my grandparents at their home. It was a lovely summer night, full of corn shuckin' and sweet tea drinkin', and my grandpa talkin' like my grandpa did.

The words were "git" and "gonna." They look harmless enough, don't they? When I was showing my kids that dialect will most likely be considered a misspelling by the program, and that they should just double check to make sure they are spelling their dialect consistently and purposefully, if needed-- I clicked on the suggested words to prove my point.

Hmmm. One of the recommended words for "git" was "tit." I innocently clicked "gonna" to be rewarded with "gonads." Just so you can picture this, I had set up my projector in order to magnify the program on the screen in the front of the room.

I can't really say I was surprised. I mean, those words are in the dictionary. I just found myself wondering about the essay that would necessitate those words, and the scorer who would undoubtedly need a cold drink after work. And then I pictured a young Hunter S. Thompson sharpening his wit for a standardized test, and my heart got a little warm just thinking about the whole ding-dang lexicon being open to all of our kids.

Feel Good Art



This is sideways because I can't figure out how to rotate the image in my Blog.
The photo is saved right side up!

 As a prelude to this art project, you will need to teach the difference between denotation and connotation.   It's also wise to have students scour a piece of writing for positive and negative connotations.    This is a good opportunity to split your white board into two areas and allow students to write their found words down on the positive or negative side before leading a whole class discussion.   There are some words that may fit on either side, depending on personal opionion.  

For independent practice, you can have your students focus on the positive.   Here's another way to use your mountain of magazines.   Hand out blank 3 x 5 notecards, glue sticks and scissors.   Students will cut out words from their magazines that they feel have personal positive connotations.   The goal is to completely cover one side of the notecard without any bits stretching over the borders.  

When your grade their work, set aside the best examples and mark them with a symbol on the other side of the notecard.   These are pieces that you would like donated back to you for classroom art.   (No pressure.)   Arrange the returned notecards to your satisfaction.   Glue them to another piece of paper that can be laminated.   Hang the community creation in a place where students are able to get close enough to view their work. 

My Summer Vacation

It's that time of year again!   Are you ready to go back to school?   We're not quite there yet.   I'll tell you about that later.

I thought I should let you in on what I did over the summer break.   The Virginia Department of Education hired me to serve on the Content Review Committee for the 8th grade reading SOL test.   They also paid me to work on the Range Finding Committee for the Virginia Substitute Evaluation Program.   Both groups were filled with dedicated educators with a single desire-- to ensure that we are assessing our children in fair and rigorous ways.  

Do you think that you would like to work for the DOE?   Check the state website every Friday afternoon for Superintendent's Memos.   This is a great information hub for the latest news in Virginia as it pertains to education.   It's not top secret; it's open to the public.
I also enjoyed being a teacher assistant for two weeks at William & Mary's Summer Enrichment Program for the Gifted.   Learning about engineering and chemistry was fun for this English major.   Did I mention that I was not responsible for lesson plans?   I may propose a unit to teach for the summer of 2012, but as for last summer, assisting was just right for me.   I had the good fortune of being paired with Mrs. Carolyn Kendall.   Her hands-on approach to some seriously sticky science was brave and inspiring.   It's always a bonus to see a master teacher at work.   Sure, the chances that I will ever teach chemistry are slim, especially if my high school chemistry teacher gets wind of the plot.   Great teaching is great teaching.   We can always learn lesson-design tips from our colleagues.

Not only is a passion for teaching contagious, so are summer colds.   And, boy, did I catch one.   It felt like the flu and clung to me like nothing I've ever experienced.   If you have stock in Kleenex, you're welcome.   That's all I need to say about that.

I also enjoyed taking on the role of guest teacher at William & Mary's 2011 Eastern Virginia Writing Project.   You didn't miss anything since my main focus was on resources and ideas I've already posted here.

Finally, my last week of freedom included some time with dear friends in the Outer Banks.   Ahhhhh.  

So, yes, I need to get back to work to take a vacation from my vacation.   I have a nice little corner trailer in our temporary modular units.   I have two windows and my own air conditioning unit with a thermostat.   I even have my own phone and extension.  

Although our office staff has worked tirelessly over the summer, they were unable to build over 400 student desks and such.   We are anticipating some NEW furniture by the end of this week.   To tide us over, we were able to scavenge through some items that were salvaged from our school.   I found a chair that students painted for me years ago.   I also eyed an old, old, old oak desk that I hope to get soon.   My pal Willie Thornton let me have one of his wooden bookshelves.   I picked up a few ancient wooden chairs, a wheeled metal cart and one of those cool book-holders librarians' use to exhibit dusty dictionaries in all of their glory.

So far this week has been a whole lot of time spent with cardboard boxes.   And then there was a whole lotta shakin'.   When that earthquake took hold of us yesterday, we were having our first faculty/staff meeting of the year in a teacher's classroom.   Yep, we were in a trailer up on cinder blocks.   It was one wonky ride!   Everyone's fine, but we're looking forward to Irene's departure a.s.a.p.

Highlights

For those of you joining us from another state or another country, Virginia's 8th graders take two state assessments in language arts.   We administer the writing test in early March.   Students must pass a multiple choice portion that focuses most heavily on editing, but includes other parts of the writing process.   They must also write a short paper that is evaluated in three domains: composing, written expression and usage/mechanics.   It's the essay portion that I want to talk with you about today.

A great tool that Virginia's Department of Education made available to teachers and students is the NCS Mentor Program.   It's a collection of scored student essays that were written for the writing assessment.   You are able to show students what passing and failing papers look like.   Essays have been scored in each of the three domains, so if you are giving a lesson on written expression, you can zero in on papers that illuminate those techniques well.  

My favorite part of the NCS Mentor is the color-coded overlay feature.   If you choose that option in viewing a paper, you get to see a student's essay evaluated with annotations that are linked to a color.  

• Red = Central Idea
• Green= Elaboration
• Blue= Unity
• Purple= Organization

To see this free program for yourself, visit http://perspective.pearsonaccess.com/perspective/appmanager/va/educator

I wanted to translate the color coding idea into something manageable for my writing classroom.   Two of the materials that I require for class are pink and green highlighters.   I decided to equate pink with "pause" and green with "go."  

Here's what I know about 8th grade writers.   Many students don't really know when or how they got it right or wrong when it comes to writing.   Often, they don't have the right vocabulary to pinpoint what works and doesn't work in their essay.   It's like looking at a great piece of art when you don't have the language to evaluate it.   Your gut tells you it's great, but what techniques is the artist using to please your eye and move your heart?   In addition to giving students the reasons why part of a piece does not work, we need to give them the language to explain why other parts do.   For example, "You are right to organize your story chronologically, but your word choice is flat and the lack of elaboration does not let the reader visualize what is happening."   This book can help you comment on student work http://amzn.com/0439796024.

Where do the highlighters come in?   When students are revising, I ask them to identify their best parts in green and the parts that need help in pink.   Sometimes when I am evaluating a paper, I use the highlighters as well.  

The highlighting task can have a smaller scope.   For instance, if you are teaching students the beauty of word choice, ask them to highlight their vivid language in green before turning their paper in to you.   If they are unable to make any highlights, they have already discovered that they do not have mastery of the skill.   They should revise before turning the paper in to you.   It's so important for writers to critique their own work.   Every now and then we do some peer editing, but that's not a realistic scenario, is it?   And peer revising is just too much to ask.   Really.   Writing is work.   Writing is craft.   Expect to sweat a little.

Highlighters, colored pencils, pens, crayons...it doesn't really matter what students use.  

Also, if you administer the VA writing SOL, check the directions.   This year students were allowed one colored pencil to use for editing and revising their draft...not on the final though.   It looks like the DOE caught on to the good idea they shared with teachers through the NCS Mentor.   And guess what?   Students used those pencils.   What's better than giving students techniques that they can carry with them throughout their writing lives?

For an in-depth look at the new curriculum framework for 8th grade writing, look for pages 73-79 after you click "6-8" at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/review.shtml

What do good readers do?

If we are good readers and always were, we may not even know what makes us different from those who struggle.   This poster is a good reminder of ways a good reader approaches text.   I keep mine near the front of my room where it's in full view of the entire class.   It reminds me to model these types of interactions with the text when I am teaching students who need more support.

http://www.carsondellosa.com/cd2/Products/CarsonDellosa/PID-114098.aspx
  

I don't think that we can ever emphasize previewing the text enough.   As teachers, we are usually the ones who set a purpose for reading.   When we are looking at a selection in the literature book, we scan the before you read section for the big ideas. We look at the title and author of the piece. We look at the questions at the end of the reading and note which ones rely on basic comprehension.   Have we read anything by this author before?   When will we find out how the title connects to the story?   Do we understand what is going on before we turn the page?   Better re-read now than later.   Can we answer the basic comprehension questions at the end of the story when we're done?   No?   Well, don't even try the other questions since they get progressively harder.   It's time to re-read and look for the major plot points we missed.  

And I always caution them about the art in their literature books.   Ug.   The art.   I'm assuming that it's all in the name of cultural literacy that we drop gorgeous artwork down in the middle of stories that lead struggling readers astray.   I love art...passionately, but some readers have a difficult time visualizing what takes place in the text.   They are convinced that the art is there to help them and attempt to reconcile the image that they are trying to create from the author's words with the sometimes completely unrelated masterpiece.   So, you could preface just about every story by telling them to look at the artwork after they read and explain which parts of the image fit the text and which aspects do not.

When they are taking standardized tests like the Virginia SOLs, we have to let them read solo.   How can we help them set a purpose for reading then?   I encourage readers to look at the questions for a selection beforehand, just like we do in class.   I don't mind if they take the test out of order.   They should preview all of the pieces and see what they will be reading about for the next chunk of their lives.   Let's say that they have always wanted to read a story about a go-go boot wearing ferret that leads a town full of curious prairie dogs on a cross-country karaoke odyssey by hitching rides from truckers with wicked senses of humor.   What if that story is on the test?   Well, go for it!   Read that story first.

What about when the kids are living it up with their free choice independent reading?   How can you check for understanding then?   Remember those Probst questions I mentioned earlier?    Pull those back out again.   You can also use them in place of canned questions that don't appeal to your readers.

Do what good readers do!