19.2422 hours
grading: 4.7339 hours
lesson prep: 4.9808 hours
switching out teacher workstations: 2.116 hours
literacy letter: 7.4116 hours
The literacy letter is the best example of where I could work smarter, not harder. For starters, I don't know what to have other people do, or how to get them started, or when to have them help. I've been doing what was right in front of me without looking far enough ahead to plan for help. Hopefully, by tracking my time I can plan next year's letter better.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Total extra hours Nov 4 to Nov 11, 2011
18.98 hours total
7th grade spelling curriculum: 3.98 hours
I'm planning and conducting model lessons for the 7th grade teachers in addition to writing the curriculum.
Computer Applications grading: 0.47 hours
I've been stealing a lot of class time to grade their assignments this week, while they have worked on projects.
Honors English 8: 8.75 hours
I had a couple of grading and planning binges. Moving to the new core, and emphasizing mastery grading over completion grading is a lot of work.
Literacy Letter: 3.07 hours
I worked on this during the school day as well. It's done, and all that's left is the printing and stuffing. Hoorah!
Tech Services (mobile lab maintenance): 2.21 hours
There have been many unhappy laptops lately, and I think it might continue. There's got to be something going on with the software updates . . .
Updating school website: 0.48
My goal of having that site run itself gets a bit closer each year.
School Community Council: 1.12 hours
In "Studying Teacher Moves," Michael Goldstein offers some good sense about what we know and what we need to know about effective teaching. Not just effective teaching- efficient teaching. The passage that seems most relevant to my life is:
That's the question that keeps ringing in my head: exactly what am I allowed to stop doing? Or just do less of?
7th grade spelling curriculum: 3.98 hours
I'm planning and conducting model lessons for the 7th grade teachers in addition to writing the curriculum.
Computer Applications grading: 0.47 hours
I've been stealing a lot of class time to grade their assignments this week, while they have worked on projects.
Honors English 8: 8.75 hours
I had a couple of grading and planning binges. Moving to the new core, and emphasizing mastery grading over completion grading is a lot of work.
Literacy Letter: 3.07 hours
I worked on this during the school day as well. It's done, and all that's left is the printing and stuffing. Hoorah!
Tech Services (mobile lab maintenance): 2.21 hours
There have been many unhappy laptops lately, and I think it might continue. There's got to be something going on with the software updates . . .
Updating school website: 0.48
My goal of having that site run itself gets a bit closer each year.
School Community Council: 1.12 hours
In "Studying Teacher Moves," Michael Goldstein offers some good sense about what we know and what we need to know about effective teaching. Not just effective teaching- efficient teaching. The passage that seems most relevant to my life is:
A second issue is that researchers don’t worry about teacher time. Education researchers often put forward strategies that make teachers’ lives harder, not easier. Have you ever tried to “differentiate instruction”? When policy experts give a lecture or speak publicly, do they create five different iterations for their varied audience? Probably not.
The return on investment for teacher time and the opportunity cost of spending it one way rather than another is rarely taken into account. In what other, valuable ways could teachers be spending the time taken up with building “differentiation” into a lesson plan? They could phone parents, tutor kids after school, grade papers, or analyze data. Much research implies that teachers should spend more time doing X while not indicating where they should spend less time.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
How to teach the common core: English 8, Reading Informational Text standard 9
8RI9 Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.
Adapting to the new core has been a good challenge. Teachers in my school have always pushed informational reading strategies, but I feel this takes it up a level. Reading to find whether a conflict is grounded in differing facts or differing interpretations of fact is an essential skill for any literate adult. It's also a skill that takes some time and instruction to develop.
Adapting to the new core has been a good challenge. Teachers in my school have always pushed informational reading strategies, but I feel this takes it up a level. Reading to find whether a conflict is grounded in differing facts or differing interpretations of fact is an essential skill for any literate adult. It's also a skill that takes some time and instruction to develop.
First, I made sure my students understood the difference between fact and opinion. In my classroom, an opinion is described as an interpretation of facts, so I consider "interpretation" and "opinion" to be interchangeable. Let me reframe the standard to make it a bit simpler: find texts with conflicting views on the same subject and determine whether the conflict centers on fact or opinion. Depending on the texts, it could be either or both, so students should have multiple opportunities to practice this skill.
Here are the texts I have used so far:
The Holt Literature textbook has two great pieces for this purpose: a Union Pacific Railroad poster selling the Nebraska plains to the pioneers, and "Home, Sweet Soddie" by Flo Ota De Lange. Students read and compare both in order to answer the question, which is more objective? Students should recognize that the poster is cherry-picking or reframing the facts to make the opportunity sound more appealing. This is a case where the conflict arises because the authors are presenting different facts.
Students have been told a lot about why they should or should not use Wikipedia. Argue the proper use of Wikipedia after reading three articles that provide conflicting viewpoints.
"Snared in the web of a Wikipedia liar" from New York Times
"In an effort to boost reliability, Wikipedia looks to experts" from Wall Street Journal
"Is Wikipedia a Victim of Its Own Success?" from Time Magazine
Students should note the timeline of the articles presented: the "Wikipedia liar" article is from 2005, and the more recent articles focus on the change Wikipedia has made to boost reliability.
Examine out-of-context quotes about Abraham Lincoln, or any US president. (Link to my overhead about Lincoln here) I use this as an anticipation guide/lesson starter for a discussion of how a limited scope of facts leads to bias.
The supplementary materials for the Holt Literature book also have two articles about Captain James Cook. One is praises Captain Cook, and deliberately glosses over some of his violent actions towards his crew and native islanders. The second is more objective, although it presents pretty much the same information. I had students highlight facts and opinions, and then explain which treatment was more objective and why. I asked them to specifically analyze how the first article used or rephrased facts to support his interpretation of Cook as a hero.
For their final mastery assessment, I'm having students read articles about Benedict Arnold**. One, ""Without Arnold, Revolution Would Have Been Lost" by Bill Stanley" argues that Arnold is more hero than traitor. The other, "Hidden History of the American Revolution: Part IV: The Traitor" from Boys' Life clearly paints him as a traitor, and only an incidental hero. This is, I feel, a perfect example of texts presenting the same facts with conflicting interpretations. Here is the entire assignment I gave my students: http://www.nebo.edu/dfjhs/anderson/assignments/benedictarnold.
**I focus on history texts because they complement the 8th grade Social Studies curriculum.
Link to English/Language Arts Common Core here: http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/english-language-arts-standards
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Good idea: use bellwork as formative assessment
In my Computer Applications class this year, I have changed my bellwork from writing to completing small tasks. I've been very happy with the results. Each bellwork task serves as a small formative assessment for the day. The bellwork shows me they can remember what we just learned, or have mastered a prerequisite skill for the day's assignment.
Every single one gets checked daily. It takes around 8 minutes at the beginning of class, and it saves re-teaching time later in the lesson. I pick one skill from the assignment that is essential, or I predict may need re-teaching, and make sure students can do that first thing. Checking every bellwork every day means that no student, no matter what dire academic straights he or she is in, can get through the class period without showing that they know something.
Examples:
Today we worked with Audacity. For bellwork, students opened a 30 second piece of music and changed the pitch 40%.
When we worked with Adobe Fireworks, I made single-tool tasks for the students like
Remove the tree from this picture with the rubber stamp tool.
Use the effects menu to change Bob Hope to match the background colors.
Cut the penguin out using the lasso tool and paste in 5 more so he has company.
When we worked with Flash, students would create simple tweens.
Starting class with these small tasks has, I believe, ensured that students are ready to learn. It has been valuable feedback for me as a teacher, and I get it right at the beginning of class.
Every single one gets checked daily. It takes around 8 minutes at the beginning of class, and it saves re-teaching time later in the lesson. I pick one skill from the assignment that is essential, or I predict may need re-teaching, and make sure students can do that first thing. Checking every bellwork every day means that no student, no matter what dire academic straights he or she is in, can get through the class period without showing that they know something.
Examples:
Today we worked with Audacity. For bellwork, students opened a 30 second piece of music and changed the pitch 40%.
When we worked with Adobe Fireworks, I made single-tool tasks for the students like
Remove the tree from this picture with the rubber stamp tool.
Use the effects menu to change Bob Hope to match the background colors.
Cut the penguin out using the lasso tool and paste in 5 more so he has company.
When we worked with Flash, students would create simple tweens.
Starting class with these small tasks has, I believe, ensured that students are ready to learn. It has been valuable feedback for me as a teacher, and I get it right at the beginning of class.
The best thing that happened today
A young man in my Computer class was doubled over laughing- could barely catch his breath. We've been working with Audacity, and he thought he sounded hilarious in playback. His group was making mistakes, and they ultimately couldn't find where they had saved their project. But they didn't seem too worried. They shrugged, he laughed, and they said they would try again tomorrow. That was really the only solution left to them, and I'm glad they arrived at it themselves!
What a great attitude! I smiled all the way around the computer lab, picking up and putting away.
The other best part about this Audacity project: I didn't come up with it. I borrowed it from another teacher: Tonya Skinner. (http://lessonplans.btskinner.com/multimedia.html) I don't know Tonya, but she was gracious enough to post a bunch of projects online and I ran into them right when I really, really needed an Audacity project. I am profoundly grateful, Tonya. Bacon was saved today.
What a great attitude! I smiled all the way around the computer lab, picking up and putting away.
The other best part about this Audacity project: I didn't come up with it. I borrowed it from another teacher: Tonya Skinner. (http://lessonplans.btskinner.com/multimedia.html) I don't know Tonya, but she was gracious enough to post a bunch of projects online and I ran into them right when I really, really needed an Audacity project. I am profoundly grateful, Tonya. Bacon was saved today.
Assuming there is some value in tracking my extra hours worked, what is the best way to present it?
I've been meaning to keep better track of how I spend my extra time at work. I'd like to find out where most of my time is going, and if I can use it more efficiently (I'm assuming the answer that question is yes). I think tracking your time is a good exercise for any teacher, and I think it would be fantastic to see a whole school do it. Any qualitative researchers out there need a project?
I'm using TimeClock app from Spotlight Six for recording and iChart for publishing. There may be better options for both, and I have a lot to learn. I recorded more data than just the when, and I'm wondering how to make that part of the chart as well.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Student surveys: What was the easiest thing you learned to do?
You'll see Flash show up big on both the hardest and easiest charts. I think students really took to it, or really didn't. I'll need to make Flash more accessible and interesting next year.
Fireworks was an obvious answer. It is easy, and we all love working with it.
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