Thursday, December 1, 2011
Chapter 2: Let's Get Personal
Chapter 2 speaks volumes about formative assessment. WE are the people who "determine what kind of learner each student can be" (p. 32). Asking students to think about themselves as learners and knowing our students' perceptions of themselves is POWERFUL. I believe our formative assessment process with our students should begin on this personal level. Our current "system has beaten them down, and they have given up control...of their learning" (p. 28) After reading this chapter, has your thinking shifted about formative assessment? Have you tried anything out of this chapter? If you have, let us know how it's going. I would really like you to try the challenges at the end of this chapter.
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The title of this chapter, "Let's get personal," has been something I've felt that I've always been good at. I have a natural curiousity about people, probably we all do, and feel my mothering experience benefits me, too.
ReplyDeleteEach of my students writes a letter of introduction at the beginning of the year. I do learn a lot from those. I need to revisit those letters later as a reminder after I've gotten to know them.
I love journals and use them for grammar as well as to get to know them. When I do have - er, make- time to read and respond to them the reaction is phenomenal. But it is very hard to do that everyday. I've always told them that they can write whatever they want but I think I will begin to ask them focus questions about their learning. I've recently allowed them to use email as a journal entry. (Sigh. IPads) They write less but when I respond - which is easier with email - the results are just as impressive. Is there another way to incorporate technology that I can respond to each student but not clog my emailbox?
The sparknotes thing drives me bonkers. One student smugly bragged that he made 96 on my The Scarlet Letter test and didn't even read it. No, he made 55 on The Scarlet Letter test; he made 96 on the Writing about Literature essay test that incorporated The Scarlet Letter text.
Some changes I plan to make will be to incorporate learning questions in my daily journal responses, um, read them, and use them to make notes and brainstorm ways to address needs I see. Probably ask my good friend Paula to help me, especially at first.
I agree that, on page 32, "[w]hen I know my students well, I am a better teacher."
Two things stuck with me while reading this chapter…
ReplyDelete“If I really want to make a difference in students’ learning, I have to show them that ultimately they are the ones in charge of their comprehension…Helping them become independent learners is my ultimate goal.” (p. 30)
The phrase “independent learner” has been a catch phrase for a long time – I have seen it used in school mission and vision statements, district statements, and goals for classroom teachers. However, sometimes I think we use that phrase because it sounds good, but maybe we aren’t always doing things instructionally to create the type of “independent learner” we want to see. Going back to what Shandon said last week, I would love to see us get together and start collaborating on effective instructional strategies that really create students who can “use strategies flexibly so they can construct meaning on their own.” (p. 30)
“When students know that I am invested in knowing who they are as people, they are more willing to exert the effort necessary to master challenging work.” (p. 23) and “When I know about students’ lives, they tend to try harder when presented with challenges in the classroom.” (p. 30)
Simply, I think that if we as teachers can show students that we care about them, that they have a voice in our classrooms, that what we are teaching is valuable to their lives outside our classroom, and that we are teaching them a certain content because we want them to be better people in general, we will be able to get the majority of students on board with learning, especially challenging learning, in our classrooms. Yes, there will be exceptions, but more often than not, I believe students will work and work hard because they know we care.
As I reflect on what I read in this chapter, I definitely see ways I can improve my use of formative assessment. I HAVE to make time (because there certainly isn’t any extra just lying around) to ask my students what they think, what they know, and how they feel AND respond to what they say. To respond to what Paula asked, this action of knowing my students as people and learners is inseparable from the effective and consistent use of formative assessment in my classroom. This information cannot be acquired by solely using summative assessment. As a teacher I MUST use formative assessment, I MUST use it often, I MUST use it effectively, and I MUST use the results to guide my instruction…the more I read, the more I realize that there is no way around it because this type of assessment provides me with the most powerful and useful information available. As Tovani says on p. 32, “This data doesn’t have a neat row of numbers attached to it, but it gives me a wealth of information…”
I believe making personal connections is imperative for English educators. We must know and understand our students on a personal level for several reasons, but we must also encourage our students to make personal connections to the literature they read. I really liked several of Tovani’s tools that she uses to encourage her personal relationship with students. The conversation calendar is a great idea. I will definitely incorporate that in my own classroom (Every time I’ve read one of Tovani’s books or heard her speak, I end up using one of her assessment tools in my own classroom…she’s so creative). She also highlights the importance of implementing a “Beginning of Course Survey” to assess how she can meet students’ literacy needs. This is something that I already implement in my classroom, and I love it. It definitely gives me a quick glimpse into each child’s reading ability and reading interests. I always use the data I receive from the surveys to further guide my instruction for the class. Terri, you reminded me in your post about the introductory letter students write. I also implement that in my classroom every year, and I enjoy reading the letters and getting to know my students. It is always so amazing what some of the students will share in those letters. I also make it a point to write back to students on those letters (similar to what Tovani does in the conversation calendars and surveys ). My students ALWAYS enjoy the comments and questions that I put on those letters (and other activities throughout the year). I’ve literally had countless students tell me “I love how you write back to us on stuff.” I enjoy it as well, but it can be VERY time consuming (especially for me as I am very verbose). Students that I would not expect to respond to something I’ve written on an assignment will come up to me after class and before class to comment on my comment or answer a question I’ve asked. I always enjoy that, and it definitely aids me in getting to know my students better. I also open every class with a time of “Celebrations.” This is a chance for students to share something they are excited about, something they’ve done recently, something they’re looking forward to, etc. I always learn about students during this process.
ReplyDeleteI chose to try the first challenge from Donald Graves’ book. It was somewhat difficult for me to choose a class that I’m struggling with this semester (because I have really great classes), so I chose one that I’d like to know better. This was a very interesting activity. Several students I left off the list, I knew a great deal about, so I’m not sure why their name would not pop up in my head. Other students that I don’t know as much about popped in my head immediately. I think this confirms for me that my brain works in very weird ways; however, it could signal that I have a guilty conscience and that’s why I remembered nearly every student that I feel I should get to know better. Today when my 4th block class comes in, I will be sure to go out of my way to create a personal connect with those students.
ReplyDeleteOne statement from this chapter that stuck out to me is found on page 22 and 23, “If the climate in the classroom is not welcoming, positive, and encouraging, I spend the entire class period managing off-task behaviors.” This was my life last semester. I struggled with this in nearly every class. I began the semester (in my opinion) on the right track. The intro letter, reading surveys, encouraging personal responses on short stories and on youtube.com clips, etc.; however, the students did not seem to engage with it. It was so frustrating, and I made my mistake by stopping many of those activities. There were countless behavioral issues in each class, and I felt I was done trying to incorporate anything that suggested a personal response because they wouldn’t respond. In hindsight, I realize that I should have worked even harder to foster a community in the classroom. I should have developed activities that promoted trust and respect in the classroom, and I do believe that when that trust and respect developed, student behavioral issues would have decreased and personal responses would’ve increased. I did learn from my mistakes, and I think that is one reason I feel I have great classes this semester!
I have always thought that knowing kids is important because so many just won't do anything for you unless they feel like they can trust you with their weaknesses. Too many kids think that you'll use their weaknesses against them and are too wary to really let down their guard enough to let you help them. On the other hand, there is a fine line that sometimes kids do not understand concerning knowing them and being aware and being their friend. It is something that I think many of us struggle with.
ReplyDeleteI really do like the conversation calendar idea that is so much the focus of the first part of the chapter. I would love to adapt something like this for my English I's. Any suggestions? I do the same thing with journal entries except that I do not write back. I wonder if it would be easier with technology.
On page 23 and 24 when she is talking about cheating and overhearing and asking, I thought about how many times I have just asked students and they have given me a real answer about something like that. I often wonder why students go to such great lengths to circumvent learning when it would probably be less work to just learn it and move on.
A final thing that caught my attention was the part on page 30 and 32 about emotional engagement. I think that this is the most difficult thing that we try to do and sometimes I do this well and at others, not so much.
I start off my class with Celebrations like Emily. I think it's a great way to get to know students as well as a way for me to make conversation with them to show I care about their lives outside of school. It's important for students to know that I value them as people not just their ability to punctuate a sentence correctly. Also, it's easier to help them find topics for their writing and reading if I know something about their lives. Tovani states, "When I know what their interests are outside of school, I can look for authentic text that helps them see why reading and writing well matters" (p. 30). So true! And it also helps me figure out if they are connecting to the book or not! I like the short surveys she makes, I feel like I always do those and then they just sit in a folder, but it does give me a baseline of information on my students.
ReplyDeleteHey guys! This book looks like just what I need right now. Miss learning with WKHS friends.
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