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Hybrid Instruction

7/26/2021

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Terrific Techniques
​from The Past Two Years
​(or, "How I Learned To Love google ClAssroom and Run The Best Damn Workshop of My Career")

1. Portfolios & Google Classroom

Of course portfolios is my #1 strategy! This long-term carrot drove my classes to the finish line in 2020 when school was out for the final four months and in 2021 with its hybrid nuttiness. If there is one piece of advice I love to pass along to young teachers, it's this: Begin at the End. 

I begin by saying, "You have to end this year with a portfolio. It will be due around June first. It will have about 50 pages worth of your creativity: writing, poetry, visual art, reflections, and other original material that you will create this year. We will do a little bit each quarter, and build it throughout our year together. If you meet the quarterly goals, then you will easily accomplish a great portfolio."

Then, I show them samples.

Even with the pandemic limitations, I coached these students as much as any others I've worked with the past 27 years. They accomplished authentic, meaningful work that they NEVER thought they could do. Through this work, they improved their literacy skills in inspiring, unknown and unexpected ways. It didn't seem to matter if they were at home, in class, or somewhere in between ... students are passionate about their literacy when they feel like their writing, reading, reflections, and art matter to them and might mean something to another person.

The portfolio is the most effective way to both begin and end the course. I just love setting this long-term goal and then working together with each student to accomplish it.

Click here for a sample pandemic portfolio just finished in June 2021.

Turns out, Google Classroom was ready for pandemic teaching. Fortunately, I had already been using GC for a few years and had some experience with it. My GC techniques evolved over the past two years, and I'm looking forward to a new start in September. Even if I have 28 students in the room, I'm still going to run most of the class through GC.

List: Some things I do through GC.

1) All my grades. Assignments fall into two categories: ungraded and graded.It's so easy to let GC do the grades -- especially with the new direct link to Infinite Campus.

2) Discussion questions. I love getting all students to contribute. I "create" a "question" -- and that lets me show all answers to all students on Meet/Zoom. I use these questions to take the class temperature, emphasize writing skills, add variety, etc. -- and I review student responses. EVERY student writing his/her thoughts is SO MUCH better than calling on one student whose hand is raised.

3) Ask for pictures of work. It's so easy for students to submit screen shots of their work, especially for notebook pages and visual response art.

4) Inspire revisions. Formative assessment is so easy and palpable on GC, students are eager to do revisions for more points. 

5) Post the lesson plan the night before class. It's effective for me to get my thoughts into a post before I go to bed, and then I just follow my own road map for class.

Photos: My Google Classroom posts from the first day and the Portfolio Assignment. Some sample lesson plans. You can see exactly how I "begin at the end" and use GC to convey all information I need my students to know.

You can also see how I use "student samples" to teach everything.

Pandemic teaching immediately necessitated learning and utilizing A LOT of technology in order to keep our students engaged and learning. For me, it was just as important to lean on my tried-and-true strengths -- like portfolios, student samples, and encouraging students to "bleed on paper" and "experience the therapeutic value of writing and other arts".


2. Notebooks & FoRmative assessment

Notebooks go hand-in-hand with portfolios -- they are the daily playground where students will "fill pages" to figure out what they are thinking, set goals, reflect on the past, conceive of new works, and so much more. I went "all-in" on notebooks this year by telling students they could, "Keep a notebook on their iPad or in a real notebook ... or a mix of both!" This flexibility opened the doorway for all students to experiment and succeed with keeping a notebook and advancing their literary (and technology) skills.

Through Google Classroom, it was easy to coach students through a ton of exercises to get them consistently exercising their literary muscles. I ended each quarter by asking students to submit "10 Notebook Pages" for a grade. I had been collecting real notebooks for a few years now, but I will never go back to that strategy. Using GC to look at photos of their notebook pages was easy, interesting, and gave them a choice of what to submit.

Through FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT, I could say to a student, "This is worth 80/100 because a lot of pages aren't filled and I'm not seeing enough of our classroom exercises. Resubmit it for more points."

Again, Google Classroom is really perfect if you like to use formative assessment to coach better work from your students. Their portfolio reflections indicate they really enjoyed being taught in this manner and being given the opportunity to improve their grades if they improve their work.

Regular readers know that for decades, I didn't grade creative work: I only evaluated it as "final" or "not yet final". But that didn't seem to work as well in the hybrid era.

For me, the pandemic experience opened the doors to effectively using formative assessment -- ant not just for notebook submissions. EVERY ASSIGNMENT I gave this year had built-in opportunities to "resubmit for more points". And Google Classroom is PERFECT for this -- very easy to change a 65 to an 85 to a 100 if the student does the revisions.

I consistently open class with notebook ideas and timed entries.

List: Some favorite notebook exercises.

1. 10-minute freewrite. "Draw, doodle, write ..... just keep the pens and markers moving for 10 full minutes. Then, I put a timer on the screen (very important!!).
2. 15-minute quickwrites. This journal-prompt strategy is based on an exercise in figure-drawing classes, where the model moves every 30 seconds. Here, I change the topic every 3 minutes. I love to find topics from all over the internet, especially "self-help journal ideas". I always get them to set goals in these sessions, too. Might be "Bucket lists" or "things to accomplish this week" ... I gained great experience this year using Google Slides to present the topics.
3. Topical mind maps. Mind-mapping still works amazingly well even in the hybrid classroom .... so I will guide them to "Make a mind map of important settings in your life..." if I'm going to teach some  setting poems later in the class.
4. Connect to literature. I always ask them to set reading goals: short-term to life-long. Then, I have them "loop back" and reflect on goals they accomplished or failed to accomplish. I mostly teach through independent "reading" -- and encourage students to consider Ted Talks, podcasts, and YouTube instructional videos as "Alternative Literature".
5. Outside item. This is when a student has to put something into their notebooks and reflect on it. "Inside items" are most of the notebook -- the ideas come from "inside" you. But, here, tape or glue in a ticket stub, letter, photo, or some other item of note. Or, draw it in. It's all about writing the response to something.
6. Looping & Reverse Looping. The first term means you look back in your notebook and find a detail to bring forward for a new mind map or written entry. Maybe you mentioned Paris earlier … so you “loop” back to that idea and devote an entry to Paris. “Reverse Looping” my classes invented this year: When you go back and add details, shading, drawings or anything else to further develop an old page.

Photos: Notebook handout, Quarterly Notebook Assignment, and some student submissions.

Self-Select Books & Lots of Music

When I'm designing a course, whole-class literature is the first sacrifice I will make to fit in notebooks, portfolios, and a constant flow of creativity. I doubled-down on this strategy for my pandemic teaching -- with tremendous success! (In my Junior English class this past year we read Macbeth and Death of A Salesman together. The rest of the curriculum was independently chosen works.)

Although I encourage students to pursue "alternative literature," I never stop encouraging books. And we know that simple encouragement, book talks, suggestions from friends, and self-selected literature are the KEYS to getting students to read .... not threatening them with tests and teaching students to hate books.

I engage my students in self-select literature with some of these techniques:

1) Reading Goals Mind Maps -- This is a stock exercise of mine, and it works wonderfully submitted through GC.

2) Visits to the librarians. I love to let librarians do their thing: Talk books! (Meanwhile, I guide them in their note-taking. "Take out your notebooks while the librarians are talking ..." I say.

3) Constantly asking them to reflect on their reading. and set new goals I use my ungraded "Discussion Questions" to achieve this purpose. These are posted through GC and students know their comments are public. This is no-opt-out, introvert-inclusion, literacy-development work ... and it feels so easy!

4) Requiring "Literary One-Pagers" for points. Again ... this stock exercise works so well if you encourage students to use technology or not, show them many samples, and encourage them to create meaningful response art. GC and formative assessment pair wonderfully to get students to add layers, do revisions, and earn more points.

5) Incorporating "Personal Development" literature in my suggestions and reading. A lot of students don't even know about the self-help genre and these books can be quick reads that change lives.

​6) Encouraging students to try graphic novels, audiobooks, and alternative literature. These flexible strategies can really help you engage ALL students.

One of my favorite strategies is teaching students that MUSIC IS LITERATURE. Almost every day, I opened class with music. I constantly asked them to do mind maps or respond to discussion questions about songs, great lyrics, favorite artists.... etc. The 2nd-Quarter essay was a "Song Analysis" that always goes over well (pick any song and analyze the meaning of its lyrics while practicing our essay-writing lessons).

I tried hard to play music and videos that students suggested while at the same time incorporating lessons on Bob Dylan, Eminem, Jay Z, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and a bunch of other favorites.

Of course, for decades I have been encouraging students to "Put your headphones on and write ..."

All these strategies worked wonderfully in the hybrid classroom.

Photos: Music pieces, GC Ungraded Discussion Question, Reading pieces, Personal Development lit.

In Sum ....

What worked for me during these unpredictable times was playing to my strengths while incorporating some new technology. In the beginning, we had SO MANY ideas and apps and online platforms thrown at us -- it was overwhelming. I utilized Padlet, experimented with Actively Learn, and figured out how to record myself on Zoom. 

Instead of learning EVERYTHING, I did what I know works: notebooks, portfolios, and authentic student-art.

I just modified it a bit, trusted the students at home, and believed in the virtual workshop.

To solidify a lot of this, click here to see the "Open-School Night" video I made.

To sign up for an on-line class I'm teaching in the fall, click here.
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Molloy Course

3/1/2021

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Infusing
          Technology
                  & Creativity


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Notes about this blog entry! This mind map was created by an attendee at the NYSEC Conference.
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Linda Rief created this mind map at the 2017 conference of the Connecticut Writing Project.
I Create a Creative Culture. I begin setting a creative culture the moment I meet my students in September. I achieve this with the following steps:
  1. Covering the walls of my classroom in their work.
  2. Maintaining shelves full of reading choices.
  3. Mandating pupils bring magic markers and other art supplies daily.
  4. Setting creative goals for them quarterly, culminating in a portfolio.
  5. Getting them to fill notebook pages through freewrites, quickwrites, Zentangle and doodle sessions, asking for "10 Notebook pages" twice a quarter, and other ways to make the notebook a consistent element in class and in their lives.
  6. Including student-samples in every lesson. Tons of them. 
  7. What does this look like in the hybrid classroom: Tons of pictures on Google Classroom posts and assignments; Padlet for sharing sessions; creative assignments in every class; constant reminders of notebooks and portfolios.

II. Teach Mind Mapping & Create ID Cards.
  1. To learn mind mapping, students need direct instruction and plenty of examples. Mini-lesson #3: Mind Mapping.
  2. The first assignment: ID cards. Students mind map their passions and interests.
  3. Key points: study models but always innovate; art "skill" doesn't matter; create layers and drafts of your work; experiment with color; aesthetics count.
  4. Grading creativity in the hybrid classroom ... I try to use formative assessment to get the best work I can out of a student by always coaching them to revise for more points (instead of "summative assessment").

III Inspire a Love for Reading. Attending NCTE Conferences has shown me that effective English teachers can inspire a love for reading. This happens by encouraging students to read material they choose. Dragging whole classes through canon literature ... often reinforces a hatred of reading.

Once I caught the Book Love passion, I re-designed our department's summer reading assignment: Students are asked to keep a chart of what they read. Period. No mandatory reading - except in honors or AP. The question is: What should a teacher do with the chart in September?
  1. Invite students to create mind maps based on summer reading, which I define as everything they read -- books, newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs, etc. I want to know what they read.
  2. These mind maps are stand-alone art, but they also become useful on the first essay of the year.
  3. "Real readers set goals," says Penny Kittle. My kids just turn them into mind maps.
  4. "Reading Goals" mind maps are often revisited throughout the yearn(especially in quick-writes) and reflected upon in the portfolio.

IV Mind Maps for Whole-Class Literature
  1. ​Teacher-centric: Create mind maps designed for student-notes atop your starter web. Then re-inforce note-taking strategies as you go through the lesson. Click here to see my student-teacher's entire Frederick Douglass unit!
  2. Student-centered: Use the signposts from Notice & Note to give the students more flexibility and autonomy.

V Notations and Innovations. Once you get this far with creativity, mind mapping, and reading love ... there's no telling what your students might accomplish. Here are some pleasant surprises I've received...
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Themes in Lit:                                              Creating The Reading Workshop

6/27/2019

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PictureThe Core: Self-selected books and student response-art.

 The Mandate: Exactly one year ago, I was informed that in 2018-2019, I would be teaching "Themes In Literature." This would be a new prep for me, and a strange one for a guy who's been teaching "Creative Writing" for 20 years.

​ My first thought? Panic!!

My second thought: This is a great opportunity to try a reading workshop!




This blog entry looks back at what I did and how I did it. So, read on if you're interested in seeing what happened ....


PictureThis portfolio intro is a cartoon that captures the student experience in my Reading Workshop.
the
​The Class: "Themes in Literature" is a half-year senior English class. It's been taught in the department forever, and teachers are encouraged to design their own literature course. Any teacher would kill for this opportunity, and we are fortunate to work in a department and for a school that give us such wonderful support.

The Pre-Game: I decided to structure the course around my usual philosophies --
The Workshop Environment
Student-Choices
Bold color
Portfolios
Notebooks
and Visual Response Art.

I wanted this to be exactly like my Creative Writing class, but the intake/output in Themes had to be based on literature. In Creative Writing, much of the work is inspired by the personal lives and experiences of the student-artists.


PictureThe primary lesson of this book: "We can teach kids to love reading."
The Bible: I read and re-read Penny Kittle's "Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers."

Penny Kittle: A few years back I went to Kittle's session at the NCTE Conference. It was an eye-opening experience, and my learning can be summed up in what she said: "We can teach kids to love reading ... but we have to stop pretending to teach them the old classics." She means that teaching canon literature to teenagers is a pretty fruitless endeavor: "The kids who don't love to read won't read. The kids who love to read would rather read their own choices," Kittle said. (Or maybe it was Kylene Beers who said that ...?)

Kittle's book builds on all of my (our?) old favorites: Elbow, Atwell, Graves, Beers and Probst, et al.

I did not exactly follow this book step-by-step. (I never do...) But it served as the basis for many of the core structures and base ethos for my course.


PictureMost studnts were unfamiliar with self-help literature until we read "The Four Agreements" together.
Short Books: Despite everything I just wrote, I knew I had to order some books for the course. It couldn't ALL be self-selected literature, right? My guiding principle in choosing literature was this: short books only. Any book I was going to teach would be a week-long break from their self-selected works. I ordered the following: The Outsiders, Siddhartha, Night, War of The Worlds, The Giver, Maus, Thee Four Agreements, Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 and Doubt.

I became so obsessed with researching novellas, one acts, and other short pieces that my colleague Margaret started joking that I was teaching “Themes in Short Literature". She's funny, but she was right. I didn't want to drag the class through six weeks of a book that very few of us were particularly interested in reading.

I only ended up teaching the last four listed above -- one short book and one quick play each quarter.


PictureMy trademark: Boxes of Portfolios.
Begin at The End: On the first day of class I did what I always do. I told the students they had one goal in this course: Create a Portfolio. I can't imagine ever teaching a class without an end product - and the perfect PBL/final exam is  a portfolio of EVERYTHING you created in the class + reflections about your art and experiences. The portfolio gives structure to the whole course. It is the END GOAL.

It's important to explain about portfolios on the first day of the class -- and show alumni examples.

Students are encouraged to make either a book or a website portfolio -- the choice is up to them! (Students also made podcasts, songs, videos ... etc.)


PictureMy first handout: the syllabus.
Begin at The Beginning: I handed out a one-page syllabus to my class. This set my expectations in writing.

You can see the four goals at the top, and I'm proud to say we accomplished them all with plenty of surprises.

SETTING GOALS is an important element in every class I teach: my goals, their goals, short-term goals, long-term goals ... mind maps about goals, discussions about goals, literature goals, movie goals ... etc.)

I next explained the three grade categories and how they would score points in each: the essay, the responses, and the notebook.

I emphasized NOTEBOOKS more than ever - from the syllabus to the final day. I constantly coached them to fill those notebooks. (Thank you, Linda Reif! Each year I improve at incorporating notebooks into the lives of my students!)
                                                                     
"The heart of the course is this," I said to conclude the first class. "You will use most class time to read your own books and respond to that reading in your notebooks -- which is where you document your process -- and in your finished pieces," I said. "The first thing we have to do is figure out what you want to read."


“Reading Goals” mind maps can take many forms.
Reading Goals: The First Mind Map: We started with a notebook exercise the next day - Reading Goals. I've been doing this mind map ever since my first experience with Kittles, when she said, "real readers set goals." She has students keep lists in their notebooks; my students turn those lists into visual art. It doesn't take long to teach mind-mapping ... honestly, you just show them a few, explain the basics, and say , "Make something just like these samples." I encouraged the students to get on GoodReads or Amazon, utilize the available technology, and talk to each other about books. "Start a first draft mind map in your notebook," I said. "Use our markers or colored pencils. Get colorful even in your notebooks!"

The next day we went to the library and our two fabulous librarians talked up all kinds of books as the class continued creating their mind maps. "Take notes as the librarians are talking," I said. "Keep your markers moving." I am always, always, always coaching my students to take notes.

PictureThe possibilities ...
Possible Responses: I did a session with the class about possible responses to their literature. What could they do? I talked about everything I do in Creative Writing and showed them samples: Mind Maps, Calligrams, Pie Charts, Cartoons ...  Visual Response art of all kinds.

​We also discussed poetry, essay, and research paper as acceptable submissions. And, of course, I encouraged them to do what they wanted. "Surprise me," I said. "My best students, ironically, don't do what I tell them to do. Instead, they tell me what they want to do."


PictureDoes this literary Heart Map look “final” to you? It sure does to me!

The Process and The Grading: I used this first mind map to teach them about the drafting process: "Create the first draft in your notebook and then make a polished version to submit for credit," I said. You can see on the syllabus that students needed to turn in 15 "final" pieces to get a 100 in the "Responses" category.
​
This is my tried-and-true method for grading art: I don't grade it! I only evaluate if it is "final" or not. If it's not, I advise the student on what I want (too sloppy, too many errors, not enough details, add color, study the examples ... etc) and have him/her re-submit the work. It's so easy -- and it lets me coach student-artists instead of grade assignments.


Their art, their literature.

PictureHand out a rubric months in advance, then coach them to succeed on the assignment.
The Notebooks: For all things Notebooks, you have to read anything by Linda Reif. Or, better yet, go see her speak. She is so sweet and so smart you'll be a better person just for meeting her.

On the back of the syllabus, I printed the Notebook Rubric - and I used that rubric when I evaluated the notebooks at the end of each quarter.

Again, I was "frontloading" by showing the class the notebook rubric and letting them know the expectations and the grading method way ahead of time. This set me up to be able to say "work in your notebook" during a workshop session and students know exactly what to do and why.


Picture

My classroom is a gallery of student work!

​The Typical Class: My BFF Howie likes to say, "You know what good teaching looks like?" Then he puts his feet up and drinks from a pretend coffee cup. (They keep giving this guy awards for his great teaching, so he must know what he's talking about.)

I took this philosophy to the extreme with this course: I revved up the motor with all the structures I just explained, then gave them the freedom to create in the workshop environment I love so much.

​"Get working! You guys know what do," I would say to start many classes. "Read. Work in your notebooks. Develop response art ..." I would troubleshoot, encourage, get kids on task ... and do some of my own reading and note-booking. Mostly, I coached, encouraged, and applauded.

PictureNext time around: This student will do a short talk on this favorite book.
What I Didn't Do: Book Talks. Kittles emphasizes the importance of having students give 5-minute book talks. I admit, I should do more of this. I should probably have one or two book talks each period. Nothing fancy and not too time-consuming.

​I didn't do them because I didn't want to disrupt the flow of the workshop. It was amazing to see 28 kids really getting into their reading and response art. This class was amazingly on task and absorbed in achieving our literacy  goals.

However, incorporating book talks is a goal of mine for next time.


PictureThis exam-prep mind map started as a notebook assignment and developed into a "final" piece.
The First Essay: After about two weeks, I said to the class, "Time to start preparing for the first essay. This will be OPEN NOTES and you have a week to get ready. The task is to write about a book or books that have impacted your personal growth."

I encouraged them to make mind maps of books they had read and to stay away from books taught in school.

I love open-notes tests like this because it gives the class a strong focus, sets a goal, emphasizes long-term thinking, encourages thoughtful writing, and creates structure to balance the freedom of student choice.

The students wrote about John Green, Shel Silverstein, and Shakespeare. They wrote about heartbreak, death, and divorce. "Remember that your personal growth must be at the center of the essay," I encouraged. "So, your thesis should be something about you growing ... and connect it to this book."


Picture

Whips Around the Room: I always love a whip around the room. It's the easiest technique and invites everyone in class to participate.

"Share with us your idea for the first essay," I said. Then we did a whip around the room (No Opt Out!) and heard all sorts of great ideas.

What I lack in book talks, I make up for with whips. I do them three or four times a week, giving students a voice for a wide variety or purposes.

​The whip is fantastic for public speaking skills, collaborating, sharing ideas, community building ... and teaching listening skills. "Put away all technology and make eye contact with the speaker, please," is my typical instruction here. 


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The Four Agreements: About four weeks into the course, I handed out The Four Agreements.

I decided to teach this book because I know it is a favorite our fantastic school psychologists, and I wanted to introduce the students to self-help literature. This proved to be an amazing lesson and many of the portfolios I just read included reflections on reading other self-help books throughout the course.

Also, it gave me the element of surprise: Who teaches this?? I love for my classes to be unique, unexpected, and authentic. It took a little over a week to get through the book before we went back to open workshop.


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Note-Taking and Whole Class Lit: "Open your notebooks, take out your colored pencils or markers, and start a mind map about the first agreement," I instructed.

"When I check your notebooks I expect to see four mind maps - one for each agreement. You can also polish them up and submit them for finals."

Then we started reading the book together. In fact we read the whole book together, out loud. We just went around the room, each student reading a page before moving to the next student.

I love this strategy because it builds community, adds focus, and gives me a chance to coach note-taking skills. Also, I don't even have to address issues like, "Are they reading? Do I quiz them?"

I would frequently end class/begin class with a whip around the room to share something from your notes or a 5-minute session to swap notes with other students and augment your own notes.


PictureTerrific student response art!
Twilight: Los Angeles 1992: After a few more weeks of self-selected literature, we began a whole-class reading of an experimental play about the Los Angeles/Rodney King riots.

When I was assigned this course, I talked to our amazing Theater Guy about options. I knew I wanted something different, bold, and interesting. This play was the perfect answer.

First of all, the kids had no idea about these events -- which occurred just as I was graduating college and made a powerful impression on me.

Also, I knew I wanted to do a play because we could read it all in class ... no assigned reading!

​Anna Deavre Smith wrote an incredible series of monologues for this journalism/drama genre-buster, and I guided the students through the note-taking and reading aloud processes. I encouraged them to hit Wikipedia, listen to Sublime, surf YouTube for related content, and watch the Oscar-winning ESPN documentary "OJ: Made in America".


​First Quarter Wraps Up: It was a wonderful first half of the class. Students were reading everything from Manga to Dale Carnegie to George Orwell. My constant reminders were often heeded: "Read something for your future. If you want to go into business, read a book by a business leader." And, "Read a classic that you've heard of but never read before." I evaluated their notebooks, had given them all 1-on-1 grading sessions with their essays, and kept a spreadsheet of their submissions. "I was so afraid of this class," I told my chairman. "But it's turned out to be the most perfect workshop environment I've ever seen!"

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​Second Quarter: The syllabus and the goals were very similar to the first quarter. There was an essay ("Explore how you were impacted by something(s) you read first quarter"), notebooks, workshop time, finished pieces, two whole-class selections, and a portfolio. We got the term going with a few weeks of open workshop before we started reading a graphic novel together.

PictureReading and responding to Maus was a powerful experience.
​Maus: I always wanted to teach a graphic novel - because I never read them. They look so special and appeal to a certain segment of the population, so what was I missing? I chose this one because it goes back to the founding of the term "graphic novel" and has a powerful impact on the students in "Facing History".

I was not disappointed.

We whipped around the room to read it together; each student read aloud one page. I insisted they create one mind map in their notebook per chapter - and encouraged them to submit second drafts for response-art finals. 

​Maus delivered pure education on all fronts: the Holocaust, the artistic process, parent-child relationships, and plenty more. End-note: About 1/4 of the class read Maus II when we went back to workshop mode.


Alternative Literacy: One day in the second quarter I led the students through an exercise. "Make a mind map of what you feed your brain. Put 'alternate literacy' in the center and tell me about the podcasts, audio-books, YouTube instructional videos, Ted Talks, and other ways you educate yourself," I said. "You should also start making one for your goals -- what alternative literacy do you want to consume?"

I have been doing this activity in other classes for a few years, and it is always successful. It adds whole new element to the class, their goals, our discussions, and everything else.

"You can do as much in your notebook as you like on 'alternative literacy' but can only submit up to three final pieces to count for the quarter," I added.

​Doubt: Another play based on the suggestion of our Theater Guy. This cutting edge drama is fairly well known, and it delivered exactly the kind of thoughtful education it would. it took about a week to read together, and the student responses confirmed that it was a great choice.

​The Portfolio: As I do with Creative Writing, i ended the course with one week in the computer lab to develop our portfolios and ended with a 'Portfolio Party". The portfolios were similar to those developed in my Junior English classes and CW - they could be websites or books, but they had to be some kind of presentation of all the work you did in the course plus several pages of reflections.

Click here to see a collaborative website-portfolio done by two former ENL students.

Click here to see another website-portfolio.

Click the photos to read the reflection topics I gave the class.
​Portfolio Reflections: This was a big change from my usual portfolio because all the reflections had to be literary in nature. So, I changed all my usual ideas to make them about literature. 

Final thoughts: I feel so proud about this course's success!

The students enjoyed and appreciated the workshop environment and were on task almost all the time. They developed important Reader's Notebooks, invested themselves in the polished pieces, and produced portfolios of which they can be proud.

 Many of these techniques will be applied to other courses I teach as I continue attempting to inspire my students to love reading.
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Professional Development

8/5/2016

2 Comments

 

Teaching Teachers:
               Writing Workshop
                                   for High School


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​I recently broke new ground in my career as a mouthpiece for workshop teaching on the secondary level. I went to Elizabethton City High School in Tennessee to deliver a full day of professional development to the English teachers there. 

I over-planned for my six hours of PD, and was full of anxiety about the teachers I would be meeting. What would they be like? Could I have anything useful to give them? 

They turned out to be a group of enlightened educators who valued the EXACT same ideals as me and my colleagues on Long Island. They felt hemmed in by the "standards" and knew that, as English teachers, they could do more for their students than give them the tools to write an essay and force-feed them through the testing machine. They knew the Common Core had more to offer than just text analysis and source-based argument. And, of course, they knew that a full day of PD just before school opening would most likely suck eggs.

They prepared for the worst and hoped I would have something interesting, valuable, and energizing to show them.

​I think I succeeded. 

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I had a good feeling about this crew when, as they filed into the room, two of them were excitedly discussing Notice and Note, by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. This is an awesome book (two, actually, one each for fiction and non-fiction) full of great student-centered ideas about teaching literature.
​In fact, they had a photocopy of Beers-and-Probst's signposts between them as they discussed integrating the ideas into their upcoming year.

My people! I thought. 

I excitedly told them how I had written a blog entry about Notice and Note that the authors showcase in their workshops. "It's actually a part of today's conversation," I said. "I'm going to show you exactly how I use the signposts in my class." They were as thrilled I was: It was 7:55 am and we were already bonding over a shared love of pedagogy. 

Ha! How wonderful!


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To prepare for this presentation, I created this rundown (click on it to enlarge). This was my lesson plan, and it guided the entire PD session. 

Naturally, I opened up exactly as I begin with my students: packs of colorful magic markers and an explanation of portfolios.

​I explained the importance of setting that long term goal -- to create a book of your own original writing & language art. This is PBL (project-based learning) at its finest, and this goal supersedes even our CCR goals, namely the state exam tasks of reading comps and essay skills. 

The portfolio gives everything else meaning. It emphasizes that student-created art is at the heart of the class. Everything we read, every lesson we learn, makes sense because students know it will feed THEIR art. Setting the long term portfolio goal helps kids invest themselves into the whole course.

​Click here for my blog on portfolios: Ending Where We Started.

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​Then I went through how I establish all the goals of my class: state tests, essay skills, whole class reading, independent reading, and the creative portfolio. I do it through one handout that I give my kids: Goals of The Class. "It is vital that you use the first few days of school to establish the goals of the class," I said. "Then you set yourself up to be their coach who helps them achieve these goals."

Teachers always want to know how I incorporate the creativity into a standard class or an AP class. I explained that I make certain sacrifices to get it in: namely, fewer whole class books. Then I showed them this overview of my past year. It demonstrates how I approach planning out a marking period: I begin by devoting 2 or 3 weeks in each to Creativity Workshop. Do that and by the end of theater, you've given 8-12 weeks of class time to their creative work, their authentic writing, their portfolios. 


One thing I've gotten better at during the past 25 years in this career is seeing the arc of a whole year and knowing how to scaffold and build to my year-end goals. This sheet demonstrates how to mix in everything -- writing lessons, reading instruction, standardized test prep, etc. -- to build to the "summative evaluations' that end a course.


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Now it was time to teach the teachers what exactly they should do with workshop time. Of course, it begins with the teaching mind mapping. I handed out the markers and took them through my signature lesson. Then I showed them examples on the website and had them create ID cards. I put 15 minutes on the timer and they went to work. A whip followed. ​

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The whip was great. I love to teach this technique! (God bless you Jack Conklin for teaching me the whip!) I explained how the ID card and the whip help to establish the classroom culture as open, trusting, warm, and inviting. 

We learned that we had lots of baseball fans in the room -- one each for the Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers (and, of course, the Mets!). We had a roomful of passionate readers and heard a bunch of great quotes from great books. We had a snake owner in the group! There was a cat lover among us. Plenty of parents were in attendance, and the love for their children was inspiring. 

The atmosphere ("classroom culture") was established, and they seemed so happy to be learning techniques that can be applied in their classrooms!

Next up: How exactly do you set up a workshop?


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To break into this topic, I had them read, annotate, and mind map a piece that was recently published in EdWeek: "Remodeling the Workshop: Lucy Calkins on Writing Instruction Today."

This piece was perfect!!

a) It is entirely about using the workshop model, even in secondary schools.
b) It addresses concerns about the CCR and workshop teaching intertwined.
c) I could use it to show how I teach reading: through note-taking. First, they had to "chunk, annotate, and summarize" as they were reading -- and with colorful markers! Then, they had to turn their notes into mind maps.

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"I don't believe in 'discussion,'" I told the teachers. "I believe in students taking notes. They should be taking notes on the piece, turning those notes into mind maps, and then adding to those mind maps as you do the whip around the room."

These photos are examples of what it looks like when "discussion" is turned into "note-taking."

Throughout the process we learned so much about Calkins' thoughts on the workshop model and how to implement it into our classrooms.

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Setting up a workshop boils down to a philosophy of structures and freedoms. "A workshop can't just be this nebulous time you give them and then hope they are working on what you think they are," I said. "It is actually a highly structured block of time with concrete goals to accomplish."

The structures come from two key handouts: the workshop expectations and the quarterly goals and deadlines. These handouts provide all the motivation and structure needed to turn your class into a true artists workshop. 

I don't publish it on my blog, but I took the teachers through my entire opening day handout. This explains EVERYTHING students need to know about the expectations in my workshop. "It is vital that you establish these expectations and set goals for students in the workshop," I said.

Click here to read more on "goals & deadlines". 

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"Once your procedures are in place, and the goals are set, you can move into workshop time," I explained. "This is basically a two part division: mini-lesson followed by workshop time."

I explained that I have created over 50 mini-lessons, and I took them through three of the most critical ones: Bleed on Paper, The Therapeutic Value of Writing, and Other Language Arts.

The Bleed lesson teaches pupils the most essential fact about authentic writing: it has to come from the heart. Teachers can't tell students what to write about; in fact, it's just the opposite. Students must tell teachers what they want to write about.


The Therapeutic Value lesson teaches students the benefits of real writing: You can process your problems, contemplate important matters, and reach important conclusions through writing. Common Core essays will NEVER attain these elevated and important outcomes.

My lesson on Other Language Arts is covered in this blog entry. This is also the theme of my upcoming poster presentation at NCTE 2016 in Atlanta. It is the lesson that gets students thinking far outside the box and creating cartoons, pie charts, photo-writing combos, stream-of-consciousness works, and a host of other styles.


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At this point in the day, I was done with all the fundamentals of the workshop. Toss in some "sharing" sessions and voila! you are on the road to becoming a workshop teacher.

Now I hit the second half of the day's work: Incorporating the workshop techniques in other aspects of the English classroom.

I began by talking about teaching literature. The focus here is well-known to devoted readers of my blog: 
                  a) Inspire a love of reading through an Independent Reading program.
                 b) Use mind maps -- and Notice & Note -- for the few whole-class selections you choose to study.

Click on those links to read more about these ideas, but the basic premise begins with students mind-mapping their Reading Goals -- so, that's exactly what these teachers did.

Side note: Most people will write the names of books they hope to read during this exercise. But, I showed them this one student example where the goals are completely different: Read a book my mom suggested; Read a book on Mr. Weinstein's shelf; Read a book from the librarian's presentation .... 

You can see from these two examples how inspiring this one sample was. 

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One technique I discussed here is incorporating the "Jigsaw" -- which I learned in a class on "Kagan Cooperative Learning". The concept is simple: divide the work into smaller parts and have everybody in a group share their part with the whole. 

Recently I have had success with this technique when teaching whole-class novels. It helps me address this issue: How do you teach a book to a whole class if nobody is doing the reading? 

My model looks like this: "Today we are going to discuss chapter 3 of Gatsby. Everybody will get ONE PAGE to read, mind map, and then tell the class something from it," I say. Then I assign each person one page, or if it's a short chapter two kids to one page. I give them fifteen minutes to read and mind map their pages before doing the whip around the room. 

I am in love with this technique, and I shared it with these teachers. I had hoped to get them to experience the strategy, but I was running out of time and had plenty more to cover. Trust me: Experiment with this idea.


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Next on the agenda: Formal Writing Lessons and Essays.

​Most of this material is covered in this blog entry on
teaching essays through revision. I wanted to take them through some of the exact steps I do with my students. Namely:

1) Using rubrics and connecting those rubrics to my breakdown lessons. For example: if the rubric mentions "sentence variety" or "transitions into and out of quotes" I make sure to do mini-lessons on those ideas. 

2) My exact lessons on punctuation and sentence variety. There's more to life than just commas and periods; the short sentence; some rhetorical tricks; and a few other items of interest are covered in these handouts. Basically, they teach students exactly how to score more points on the rubrics AND actually improve their writing!

3) Read and grade an actual student essay. I love to do this with my classes and with the teachers I'm teaching. You have to show them exactly what is "outstanding, adequate, or inadequate" about an essay. Not familiar with those terms? I learned how they connect to rubrics at an AP Conference. So easy -- they give you and your students a common vocabulary for discussing writing. "Do you see any outstanding writing here?" is one of my favorite phrases.

4) Demonstrate how students can combine our creative goals with the formal essay lessons. I showed them the three pieces below and a few others that demonstrate how easily students can "cross-over" between the class lessons and the portfolio requirements.​


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To conclude, I ran them through the handouts I use to wrap up my year and prepare the students for their summative evaluations.

1) The research paper. I always wait until 3/4 of the year is over to do the research paper because I want the most time possible to have taught them some writing lessons. For me, it's all about student-choice and standards.


The assignment addresses the CCR: Make an argument while citing high-level texts. Students may design any argument they like, but I encourage them to find something in the New York Times or something they've learned in school. 

Giving them this leeway creates excited, passionate students who are making inquiries into fields that hold their interest. Some arguments I read this year include:

a) Penn Station's restructuring plans need an overhaul.
b) You should never use a tanning bed, and they should be illegal for minors.
c) The most recent Supreme Court cases on the matter should strike down affirmative action in college acceptances.
d) To win the war against ISIS, the US needs to strike at its financial pipeline.


2) The Portfolio handout. The whole year has led to this moment, so what exactly do the students have to do? It's all explained here -- along with a bunch of suggestions for how they can tackle 8 pages of reflection.

​Yes, 8 pages. As detailed in this blog entry, I get my students to write a lot of reflection throughout the year. I believe in reflective writing because of its unique ability to get students to introspect, to think about their lives, and to contemplate the nature of their schooling. I'm not sure I ask student to do anything more important all year long as these 8 pages.

3) The Regents Review. These documents tie everything together: the essays, the grammar, the sentence variety, the reading, the research ... and makes sure kids are prepared for the State Exams. 


Final thoughts: I had the most wonderful time during this PD session, and I think the teachers found it refreshingly different than other types of Professional Development they have experienced. Full of magic markers, mind maps, and whips, this was a day of hands-on activities that are both educational and enjoyable. 

The teachers were given a ton of tools, techniques, strategies, and handouts that they can use in their classrooms immediately. I know most educators appreciate concrete benefits from a day of PD.

I hope to do more of these in the future!

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​That's Kylene Beers, co-author of  Notice & Note. This picture was taken of us at the 2016 NYCWP annual conference at Lehman College.

I encouraged all the teachers at Elizabethton to do a National Writing Project Summer Institute.


2 Comments

Reading Comps

7/29/2016

4 Comments

 

You can't teach reading comp
             ​but you can teach note-taking

These three examples demonstrate how I tackle one of the toughest problems faced by Language Arts teachers: How do we improve scores on reading comprehension exams?
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It's a tough task and every English educator knows how important it is to improve our students' ability to "read this, answer these". After all, this task is on every national, state, and local exam that measures reading ability.

Rather than focus on the questions, I focus on the reading passages. I specifically guide my students through a note-taking process where I can reinforce my writing lessons, explain difficult terms or phrases, and elaborate on the subject matter.

Look carefully at the notes taken in these three examples and you will see how I pointed out everything from transition techniques to rhetorical strategies and everything in between. I literally read the pieces aloud while constantly saying "circle this" or "write this down".

It's a funny mix of student-centered philosophy and teacher-dominated direct instruction. I'm convinced it is effective education -- the students are learning precisely how to read and take notes. Meanwhile, they are engaged in the annotating process, and I can see precisely which students are "with me" and which students need re-focusing.
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This last picture is an example of one of my favorite exercises: students annotate a New York Times article for all the writing techniques taught in the course.

Click on the photo to enlarge it, and you will get a good sense of how I combine my reading and writing lessons under one umbrella.

4 Comments

Getting more creative...

8/28/2015

5 Comments

 

teaching "Language Arts": 
                            Moving past mind maps


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If you are the type of person who found your way to MY website,  then you have probably seen this inspiring and hilarious video of Ken Robinson explaining How Schools Kill Creativity. This video gives voice to a nationwide undercurrent that ripples beneath the Education Field's battle with standardized tests and the politicians who love them.

It is the voice that says: We need graduates who can innovate, who can think of original ideas and express them clearly. Can we teach these skills? Can we teach Creativity?

I emphatically answer Yes!



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The definition of creativity lies along the intersection of language and visual arts. Throughout the video, Robinson references drama, painting, writing, and a variety of other pursuits that may be termed "creativity". Most secondary English classrooms are so focused on ingesting -- studying professional works -- that they fail to demand students create their own meaningful works.

 The first step to teaching creativity is to teach mind mapping. This valuable skill is quick to teach and easy to learn -- and it opens the gateway to creativity by showing students how simple it is to turn their thoughts into visual arts. YOU need to teach mind mapping...which leads the way to other language arts.an


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Once my students and I started mind-mapping regularly, we began to explore other "Language Arts" pieces. Teaching these styles and incorporating them into my lessons has made my classroom a richer and more unique workshop. Because I demand students meet "creative requirements" each quarter, they are always looking for new ideas, new styles, and new inspirations.

I never tell my students what to write. My mini-lessons focus on exposing them to different styles of language art, including calligrams, cartoons, pie charts, stream-of-consciousness works, photography, doodling, abstract art, visual poetry, blackout poetry, and any other similar work that I (or a student) might discover.


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In the March 2015 Council Chronicle, Trisha Collopy's "Students as Makers and Doers" explores the idea of "authentic literacies". This article is based on a book written by two National Writing Project directors who coach high-school teachers to  transform their classrooms into student-centered workshops.

Hallelujah!!


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To convert your classroom into a creative setting, you are going to have to take risks and work hard.        

“The lesson architecture changes dramatically,” Linda Denstaedt, a teacher featured in the article. “Students have to make independent decisions about what to do and how to do it." 

At the heart of authentic creativity lay the hearts of students: What stories do they have? What problem do they want to solve? What art do they want to create?


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Students need guidance and coaching to succeed in this environment -- and they need lots and lots of ideas. For me, the key is to maintain a website (and manila folders!) of student-samples of original work. I have hundreds of student-samples for every lesson I do, and they do the bulk of the teaching for me.

Creating language-arts pieces is a healthy, meditative, and reflective practice. This is why I created a mini-lesson entitled "The Therapeutic Value of Writing & Other Arts". This lesson invites students to up the ante and buy into what I'm teaching by creating meaningful work.



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"It is my contention that creativity is as important as literacy," says Robinson. "And we should treat it with the same status." I concur! The question that Robinson never answers, however, is How? How do we even teach creativity, not to mention elevate its status?

It begins with a student-centered, workshop approach. Elevate the creative quotient with colorful markers, visual notes, and mind-mapping. Top it off with lessons in the "language arts": a broad and inspiring field of ideas that is easy to teach and will impact student lives forever.




5 Comments

Guest Columnist

12/10/2014

1 Comment

 

Common Core?
       How about 
           a Creativity Core

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Editor's note: Radhika Viswanathan is the author of this essay. A freshman at the SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, she was my student two years ago.  - Daniel

The Assignment: For my English final exam, we are given two articles to read in class, and we have to write an essay related to and including information from those two articles. This essay was a take-home practice for the final. 

Before writing the essay, our class watched a video of Louis C. K. on Letterman, when he spoke about how his kids have been affected by the Common Core. 

Nazaryan's article was a response to the video, and Ravitz's article was a blog post in response to Nazaryan.

The part that spoke to me most was when Louis C.K. said that math makes his kids cry. If learning makes a student cry, something is wrong. 
I decided to write an essay about what kind of curriculum would make kids find the joy in learning.


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In Alexander Nazaryan’s article in Newsweek, he says, “introducing national standards is a step towards widespread accountability, towards the clearly worthy goal of having a teacher in Alaska teach more or less the same thing as a teacher in Alabama.” But what is that “same thing” that should be taught in all classrooms? The government’s response to this question is the Common Core. Although the Common Core is one way to ensure a uniform curriculum, it is not necessarily the right way. Rather than a national standard that focuses on teaching to a test, one that encourages creativity and a love of learning should be implemented.

Our current educational system is clearly in need of change. This statement is partially evidenced by our low scores on international exams. In her blog post, education historian Diane Ravitz argues that despite our mediocre scores on these tests, we have pulled ahead of other countries economically and technologically. But saying mediocre test scores are okay just because “we have been getting mediocre scores on international tests since the first such test was offered” sounds like a poor excuse. 


It only took a few well-educated and innately intelligent Americans to invent the personal computer, envision the Internet, and market the smartphone. If we can become so successful with the creativity and intellect of a small percentage of Americans, just imagine how much more we can do once we tap into the undiscovered potential of all those Americans who don’t have a proper education. 


The new generation of innovators can learn from mistakes—such as the destruction to earth caused by over-consumption of resources or the loss of social awareness that comes with technology—that the older generation of innovators did not foresee. A combination of an American culture that promotes individual thought and an overall improvement of educational standards can only work to produce a more intelligent and capable generation of citizens.


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So what are those educational standards? Well, definitely not the Common Core. One of the most ubiquitous complaints of the Common Core is its emphasis on rote memorization and excessive test-taking. As Louis C. K. said, “My kids used to love math. Now it makes them cry.” That's terrible! We need to teach students to love the intricacies and patterns that are the basic foundation of math--and all subjects. My AP English Language teacher, Mr. Weinstein, is a prime example of how the right type of education can generate positive learning. He created a curriculum in response to these ideas: “The Creativity Core.”

When it came to reading books, he encouraged each student to come up with his or her own bucket list of books; we could read what we wanted to read. We spent class time freewriting and creating poetry and artwork. In class, we were encouraged to listen to music that inspired us. Grades were not emphasized. And although it did not seem like the traditional English class wrought with essay writing, the lessons we learned helped transform us into more eloquent writers. Not surprisingly, this was the first English class that I enjoyed and actually felt inspired by.

This classroom setting seems idealistic—graded assignments are sometimes required and certain books must be read—but a nationwide reconstruction of education that makes schools more like my English class seems like a step in the right direction. From my experience, a teacher and a school system that encourage learning for the love of learning is one of the most important factors of a good educational standard.

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I was lucky enough to attend a high school that had plenty of resources and excellent teachers that took education into their own hands. But what happens to the students who live in areas that don’t have the same funding? These are the school districts that can benefit the most from government intervention. These are the students who have the potential to go far, but don’t. These are the kids who—if a proper national standard is set—will be a source of innovation. The lessons that are taught should encourage students to follow what they are passionate about. And the only way to incite passion is to create curricula that make learning fun.

While the Common Core is certainly flawed in its execution, it’s ideal of implementing a standard across the country has much potential. We just need to figure out what that standard should be.

1 Comment

Locating Student Identity

12/6/2014

0 Comments

 

Teach Mind-Mapping
      guide Self-Discovery


This article originally appeared on the Heinemann Digital Campus.
Want unlimited access to more articles like this, as well as video clips and full-length books? 
Subscribe here:http://www.heinemann.com/digitalcampus/referenceLibrary.aspx

Lucy Calkins, Nancie Atwell, and the other founders of workshop-teaching changed the Language Arts classroom through authentic writing. Their philosophies and techniques are based on the premise that students will tell their stories; they will learn about writing by learning about themselves. Teachers who demand authentic writing from their students quickly learn its intrinsic benefit: Pupils discover and develop their identities through these critical opportunities for self-expression. Authentic writing's benefits apply to all authentic language art, which includes mind maps among its many styles (visual poetry, cartoons, other art/writing pieces).
                                                            
"Know thyself" the Greek maxim states. But what teachers are giving their students the time and tools to accomplish this all-important task? You could be! And it wouldn't even be that hard. Mind mapping takes a minute to learn and leads to a lifetime of benefits. Here's how you can incorporate mind maps into your teaching practice:

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1) The First Assignment. "ID Cards" are a great way to kick off a year. You lay down the basics of mind mapping and students immediately begin learning about themselves. "Write your name in the center," you can say. "Then mind map about your interests, hobbies, and passions. Try to get as detailed as possible. Use any art skills or mediums you desire."

Assignments like these are student-centered because the child's life experiences are at its core. Most of school is about adults dumping massive quantities of information INTO the students.

"ID Cards" is the opposite: It asks students to pour OUT. Authentic Language art opens powerful and unexpected doors to discovery and inspires growth. This assignment creates momentum, too. The rest of the course relies on mind-mapping skills and repeatedly asks students to explore themselves through creative arts.



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What about artistic talent? What about grading this work? These are the first questions English teachers have about integrating mind maps and other creative works into their classes. I've developed a simple binary system of evaluating this type of work that works wonderfully, inspires students to layer their work, and accepts creative work of all shapes sizes, and styles regardless of  "artistic talent."

Creative submissions are not graded; they are evaluated as either "teacher-edit" or "final". If the piece is marked as the former, the student is coached to revise and resubmit until it is final. This system helps to nullify the difference in art-skill between students like Jeff and Michelle. If I thought Jeff could do any better, I'd mark his work "teacher-edit" or encourage him to keep working on the piece. Generally speaking, students tend to work to their ability when intrinsically motivated to create meaningful art.


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2. Incorporate Mind Mapping to Personalize Any Unit. I frequently begin my lessons by instructing my students to "Take out your markers, open to a blank page, and begin a mind map on ______." Notice, again, it's about drawing information out of the student.

These exercises motivate students to probe deeper by engaging their subconscious, digging for ideas, and creating connections to our reading and writing lessons. The time we spend on them is enjoyable, insightful, and educational.

"Places" kicks off my lesson on setting, which dovetails into memoir. I suggest the subtopics "Places I knew as a child" and "Places I know now," while also encouraging them to follow their own instincts, add original branches, and keep searching for true details (the "pebbles" as Atwell calls them).

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"Emotions and States of Mind" is a class exercise that invites students to first map out words like irritated, safe, and thankful; then "loop back" and write about a memory when they felt this way.

 In the workshop environment, these exercises are valuable tools of collaboration, reflection, and self-invention. 



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3. Believe in Art's Therapeutic Value. Students don't need any art-skills to enjoy the benefits of art creation. A teenager's life is complex and the journey can be difficult to navigate. All our lives are filled with tragedies, mistakes, broken friendships, illnesses, heartbreaks, poverty, family squabbles, and more. When students are given the freedom and coaching to produce mind maps, they will naturally seek out ways to heal themselves.

I never asked Mige to write about "Leukemia". She chose it herself because it allowed her to reflect on her childhood battle against this disease. The mind-map process took her on a journey through many important events in her life, including moving to the United States, undergoing chemotherapy, and being homeschooled.

This piece helped Mige accomplish her goal of creating three mind maps in the quarter, and it inspired a memoir she wrote later in the course.



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4. Finally, Always Say Yes. Mind mapping will lead students and teachers down unpredictable roads. When Beth asked about doing a piece with no words, I said "Yes!"

The result? A piece teeming with ideas symbols, and the search for identity. "I started in the middle of the page with a zipper," she said. "[It's] about uncovering feelings and thoughts that otherwise would stay locked inside."

Beth created this piece nine years ago and she's now a teacher herself. You can click here for a PDF of a reflection she recently wrote about this piece, where she explains many of the details in the work and reflects on their importance.


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Beth's piece has inspired countless students over the years, including Samantha just last spring. "Can I do a piece like that one?" she asked, pointing to Beth's. 


"Yes!!" I said. Then I learned that "KTG" means Killing The Game; that "Dope" still means cool; and that the Rolling Stones are still quite popular.


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Using mind maps to help students discover and shape their identities has all sorts of intangible rewards -- from developing stronger teacher-student relations to making learning relevant to creating fun in the classroom. It's easy to teach, turns every student into an artist, and leads to rewarding and unpredictable paths.

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Teaching "Language" Art

11/11/2014

2 Comments

 

NCTE 2014: Presentation showcasing
Calligrams, Cartoons, and More

Who: Me!
What: "Mind Maps & Other Language Art" A presentation on teaching creativity.
Where: NCTE Conference in Washington D.C. Prince George's Hall B
When: Saturday, Nov. 22. 8 - 10 am

Why: To teach teachers how to teach creativity.


Please stop by to see more student samples like these!


2 Comments

Visual Learning: From The Learners

10/5/2014

1 Comment

 

Four videos
   of students
      Showing Their Work


Visual learning - what does this mean?

Most teachers interpret this phrase to mean that they need show their students videos, photos, graphs, charts, and other imagery in order to induce better learning. Cue PowerPoint! Boot up You Tube!

Yes, these are excellent methods for better teaching in the 21st century.

But there is another way to utilize visual learning in your classroom: Have the students create their own visuals. Of course, this idea revolves around mind-mapping.

Mind-Mapping: The easiest, most effective, and most underutilized teaching strategy in the game.

YOU can include this superb technique in your teaching practice! Tomorrow!

Click on the photos to check out these videos to see my students explain their work, and you will better understand how and why you too should be using the mind map in your classroom.

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1. Determine Your Purpose. Allisen takes you through a few of her mind maps and explains how each serves a different purpose: Brainstorming writing ideas, taking notes in a classroom, setting reading goals, and more.


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2. Begin With A Central Idea. Diana explains the mind maps she created focusing on music, her dream jobs, literary lessons, and preparing for a quiz in social studies.


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3. Radiate From The Center. Daniel shows you how to create branches from the central idea with his mind maps on running track, The Great Gatsby, playing in a table-tennis tournament, and aiming to make the paralympics.


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4. Be Artistic. Emily discusses pushing your artistic boundaries through her doodles, collages, and other pieces

1 Comment
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    Blog Author:
    Daniel Weinstein

    I teach AP Language and Creative Writing at Great Neck South High School on Long Island. 

    Teaching philosophies: Student-centered. Collaborative. Goal-setting. Coaching. Divergent thinking. Portfolio. Writing as therapy. Take Risks! Find your voice. Experiment! Freewrite. Poetry. Memoir. Editing. Layers. Deadlines. Frontload. Rap and hip-hop. Expository technique. Drawing. Art. Magic Markers. Mind Maps. Publishing. Music. Cellphones. Ipods. Wikipedia. Twitter. Facebook. Stay modern. Stay open-minded. Keep learning. 

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    01. The Call For Creativity
    02. Take Risks!
    03. Use Color!
    04. Set Goals & Deadlines
    05. Teaching Rap Music
    06. Common Core
    07. Notice & Note + Mind Maps = Improved Reading Lessons
    08. Open-Notes Exams
    09. The Essay: A Multi Step Approach
    10. Proposal Accepted
    11. The Facebook Group
    12. Portfolios
    13. Summer Reading
    14. Creative ID Cards
    15. Student Choice In Literature
    16. Mind Maps Across The Curriculum
    17. NCTE 2013: My Presentation
    18. Quarter's End: Calculate & Reflect
    19. Mind Maps Magazine - Feature Story!
    20. Revising The MM Lesson
    21. Free Lesson: Ab Art
    22. Heinemann Reprint
    23. Student Videos
    24. NCTE 2014
    25. MM For Identity: Heinemnn Reprint
    26: Guest Columnist: Radhika
    27: Moving Past Mind Maps
    28. Improving Literacy
    29. Reading Comps
    30. Professional Development
    31. Reading Workshop
    32. Hybrid Success

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© 2013 Daniel Weinstein
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