The Lost Art of Field-Tripping

By Rita Thompson

        

The best field trip I experienced was when I took my first group of students to see Much Ado About Nothing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater over twenty years ago.  The students, who had never seen live theater, were fascinated with the lighting, scenery, the physical comedy of the actors, and the entire sensory experience.  The play jumped off the page and turned into something entirely different in the theater space. 

 AP students? Far from it. These were lower level students, some of the weakest readers in the building.  Why did it work so well?

Create barriers, but not financial ones.

This is a privilege, a delightful treat, not a march. We built a barrier (study guide, quiz mastery, lunchtime discussion/preparation) that allowed students who were interested and intrigued to join us, but left behind those who were not yet ready.

We made a point to take students who came from disadvantaged backgrounds. Despite living thirty minutes from world-class museums, these students had never entered the doors of these institutions.

Anticipate where your students may struggle.

 

What will intimidate your students?  When will they feel uncertain or uncomfortable? Directly teach behaviors.  Before I took my lower level class to see Shakespeare, we talked about what to do if they found it boring, had to go to the bathroom, or got hungry. We discussed the difference between applause and yelling out.  Students worry about getting lost, what to wear, and when they will get to eat. Openly address those fears. 

Let students design the trip.

A few years ago, we were studying the novel Things Fall Apart, and a student wondered what some of the African cultural references actually looked like. A few weeks later, the students walked into the African Art wing at the Art Institute of Chicago and exploded with awe when they saw what was at the entrance – the towering dramatic costumes of the mysterious edwugwu.  Suddenly, the students understood the power of these intimidating demi-gods.

Prepare yourself and prepare your hosts.

We use the education departments at these institutions.  When my students went to the Art Institute in conjunction with our reading of Things Fall Apart, the volunteer docents took the time to read the novel themselves the week before our trip so they could be better prepared to help students find those cultural connections.

Are Creative Projects a Dying Art?

By Kristen Guth

Lately, as I reflect on my unit plans, I find myself continually coming back to the same questions. What is the purpose of this activity? Is this going to help my kids master the learning targets? Is this going to give me the information I need about where they are currently at with regards to mastery? When I answer these questions truthfully, it sometimes means that I no longer see any justification for some of the “fun activities” that go along with novels I am teaching. As much as we have a good time creating funny Facebook profiles for Lady Macbeth, I’m not totally convinced that the activity provides anything more than just a few laughs. But, does that mean that I should cut out all opportunities for creativity in my classes? I sure hope not.

I recently gave my Honors World Literature students (sophomores) an opportunity to demonstrate in a creative way their understanding of Chinua Achebe’s important African novel, Things Fall Apart. I asked them to focus on important themes, character development, cultural significance of the novel, and/or metaphorical and philosophical analysis of the text. They had a lot of freedom in designing and implementing their visions, but the learning targets were the same for everyone:

1. I can thoughtfully evaluate and explain important themes, characters, and significant events in Things Fall Apart.
2. I can understand the point of view of a particular culture presented in a work of literature.
3. I can provide formal, written analysis to explain my creative project, including textual evidence (quotes + page #s).
4. I can speak with enthusiasm and expertise when presenting to my classmates.

It might sound cheesy,  but watching these students really pour their hearts into their projects was nothing short of inspiring. I was truly blown away by their creativity. More importantly, I was thoroughly impressed by their insightful commentary and meaningful conversations with classmates regarding the novel. So, was this creative project a worthwhile assessment? I’ll let you be the judge.

For more information on each project, please leave a comment or contact Kristen on the Twitter link above!

Giving Students More Choice: a 20% Time Reflection

By Kim Miklusak

The American Lit team did 20% Time projects with our students again this year.  If you are unfamiliar with the concept behind 20% Time projects or would like to read more about our reflections on last year, please check out posts here.

Using last year's experiences and reflections from ourselves and the students, we switched some things up this year.  Instead of having one day a week or every other week be dedicated to the project--especially with testing in spring--we had one of our five units be focused on this project, starting 4th quarter after state testing was over yet before AP exams began.  This allowed the students to have the same experiences with no gaps as we found the switching back and forth between units to be distracting.

Students still went through the same processes this year, including most of the same materials.  However, getting into the project this year seemed much smoother because of the two mini-units we did leading into it.  First, after our unit on Sula, students found non-conformists of their choosing, did mini-research on him/her, and then created an Adobe Voice project to share with the class.  The next unit was an American Dream unit where students identified a community with which they associated, did mini-research, summarized articles, wrote a narrative, and interviewed someone else in that community.  This provided the framework for so many of the skills used in 20% Time that the unit itself required little instruction!

That was another reflection we had on last year: easing the transition into finding their topics.  Again we played the same videos, did the same surveys, and discussed the same topics, but everything seemed to flow smoother!  This year's projects included topics covering mental health and school stress; providing useful resources for teen moms; debates on immigration and free college through the lens of current political candidates; investigations of the effects of curfew laws on teens; and explanations on how and why students wear hijabs, including a station where students were able to try some on.

Students from Mrs. Kim's class

Ultimately, I think this project is more support that students need to have more say in how they reach their targets.  I can't think of a student who asked me if an article was good or not, for example, or how long their project had to be.  They knew their own purpose, and they knew what steps they needed to take to get there.  There are definitely more things we can continue to refine, but I'm thankful for our students' work and have enjoyed seeing all of their projects.

What is the Purpose of School: students' perspective

By Kim Miklusak

We talk about purpose a lot in the Collab Lab, so much so that it's become a running joke.  But it's true: knowing the purpose of why we do what we do in our classrooms is the center of everything.  It guides everything from our goals to our assessments to our grades and everything else in between.

We decided it would be interesting to hear students' perspectives of school and classes--not any class in particular, but overall.  So we invited in a small group of juniors and (literally) grabbed some seniors as they were on their way out the door.  This is a group limited in that they are mainly AP English students.  We realize that this is just a small representation of our student body, and we hope to host this same type of meeting with other groups of students on the same and additional topics in the future!

We could write a year's worth of blogs based on what they talked about, and they could have talked another hour!  You can follow this link to read the entire summarized transcript of the conversation as it happened, but here are some points I found most insightful and interesting:

• Students felt that while academics held a great importance, obviously, that "soft skills" such as time management, character, networks of support, etc. are all equally as important.  We talked about whether these were skills teachers should teach or if they were simply expected.  Surprisingly (or not surprisingly based on this group) many students said it was self-accountability and self-awareness that were most important although they admitted that not everyone has a support structure or that it took some people more time to develop these skills.  This, interestingly, relates back to a previous post we had about Executive Functioning Skills.
• Students discussed at length the process vs. product of school.  They discussed why some teachers require notes and assignments to be completed in a certain way even if it wasn't the way a student learned best--again while conceding that it's not possible to completely individualize instruction.  They do advocate for options in the process of learning.  There were disagreements about whether habits of work and task completion were truly useful in the learning process.  There was also great discussion about why we average grades (unprompted, seriously!), that if by the end of the year they are able to demonstrate mastery, why were grades averaged from earlier in the year when they were not yet mastering materials.  Again, however, the conversation came back to the idea of grades being a reflection of where you are and thus not including "task completion" activities simply to bump up grades.
• Students brought up the importance of clear standards, the need to clearly know what they need to know and be able to do.  They talked about how class needs to be a reflection of the proportion of the assessments; that is, do we as teachers spend the appropriate amount of time on skills and topics in our instruction and in our assessment, and is that then reflected appropriately in our grade books?  Do we provide appropriate and timely feedback when we return assignments, holding ourselves to the same standards that we hold them?  This led into a conversation about the importance of critical inquiry and critical reading (again, unprompted!) with one student saying: 

  “The way we critically analyze or think, most of my classes taught me how to be a better writer or thinker, how to look through a different lens.  That’s what they’re trying to teach…when we leave this school there are a lot of” people who are not like you.  This will make you well rounded.

So many thanks to these students for their time and insight!  We appreciate their speaking with us today, and we definitely look forward to hosting more sessions like this in the future!

Summer Reading 2016 Kick-Off!

By Kim Miklusak

Today we kicked off our Summer Reading 2016!

A few months ago students voted on a theme--Overcoming Obstacles.  The teacher Literacy Committee led by our API Megan Knight then went through various genres and selected several book options.  Students were invited either by various committees or randomly during lunch periods to do "speed dating" to help narrow down the choices to one or two from each genre.

Ultimately, seven books were chosen.  Literacy Committee members and students worked together to create promos for each of the books.  Students then responded to a Google Form in order to select the book they would like to read this summer.  Here are this year's promos!  As you can see we tried to focus on "If you liked..." recommendations.

1.  Positive by Paige Rawl
2.  I Beat the Odds  by Michael Oher
3.  The Book of the Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez
4.  We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
5.  The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
6.  We Were Here by Matt de la Pena
7.  The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

This year we are happy to announce two new exciting updates to our summer reading program.  First, each student at Elk Grove HS received a copy of the summer reading book of their choosing!  Additionally, we are going to host our first Million Minutes of Reading in May.  Each day in the month of May everyone in the building will "Stop, Drop, and Read."

As we did last year, many teachers are "sponsoring" a book for their team or club this year.  We hope to continue to build our committee of readers!  Also like last year we had a kick-off event where teachers stopped by to pick up their book selection, enjoy some cake, and take some photo booth photos with the books they chose.  Check out our tweets from the event at our hashtag #EGSR2016!

Using Replay App for Student Documentaries

By Kim Miklusak

For the Contemporary American Texts class, John Bottiglieri has his students create their own documentary.  You can find more information on the assignment here.  Mr. Bottiligieri allows students to pick whatever technology they would like to complete this assignment in order to meet the rubric requirements.  Traditionally students use iMovie and their iPads as we are a 1:1 school. Around this time of year you will see students setting up tripods in the hallway, interviewing people or speaking (and often re-speaking) into the iPad.  They then head back to class to edit and finish their projects.  If you would like to see student samples, please let Mr. Bottiglieri know!  Many are available only as files right now although we are hoping to make some available through YouTube in the future.

One student, Sarah Pauscher, was frustrated with iMovie, so she worked with the app Replay to create her documentary.  Check out her project about Chemotherapy.  Here is what Sarah had to say about the app and the process:  

"Out of all the apps that I had experimented with, I found that a good amount of them had crashed. Every time that I would use this app [Replay], it never crashed and it was the most interesting of all the apps I had. The app allowed me to incorporate many things into my documentary such as music in the background, text on screen and interesting effects. This app was easy to use and had many benefits to my documentary. This app compared to other benefited my document because it was easy to understand and had many interesting features. One disadvantage to this app was I'm pretty sure there is a limit to how many videos you can add into the whole thing. Other than that, I enjoyed using this app more than iMovie."

Thanks to Sarah's recommendation, I checked out the Replay app.  I can't wait to use it and offer it as an option to my students in American Literature for their American Dream interview project and later in the year for their 20% Time projects.  Look for an upcoming post on how to use Replay and more suggestions for the classroom!

FlipQuiz

by Kirsten Fletcher

Looking for a fun, easy way to have students review material? I first heard about FlipQuiz from my colleague Sara Kahle-Ruiz, French teacher at RMHS. Like Kahoot, Blendspace, and other educator-friendly sites, it is easy to create, share, and collaborate with colleagues on FlipQuiz. It is basically an on-line Jeopardy board where you input the questions and answers.

FlipQuiz game board. Students tap the amount to see the question.

Students answer questions orally, then click "Reveal answer".

Students all play on one device. 

To create a FlipQuiz, simply create a free account at FlipQuiz. Then select "New Board". You may choose any number of categories and create 5 questions per category. You can enter definitions, questions, and even images. FlipQuiz also lets you search games that others have made. My favorite part about FlipQuiz is that students don't need an account. You simply embed the link to your quiz in your LMS, and students can open it and begin playing.

While you can certainly project this game and play as a whole class, I've found that it's much more engaging to share the link and have students play in small groups. They have to keep track of their own score, but that way they can play individually or in teams. It's a great way to incorporate some student choice into your review activity, and it frees up the teacher to circulate and answer individual questions students might have.

Students work at their own pace and can work in small or large groups.

FlipQuiz does also have a Pro version that offers cool features like importing questions from Google Docs or exporting questions and answers to Excel or Word so you can print out answer sheets.

Teaming on Tuesdays #2: Student Presentations Made Easy!

By The Collab Lab Team

Today was our second Teaming on Tuesday of the Second Semester.  Our Teaming on Tuesdays offer staff an opportunity to participate in a short professional learning experiences, as short as ten minutes, that usually involves a brief visit to a classroom to see a strategy in action, followed by collaboration time in the Collab Lab to brainstorm applications in our own classroom and/or "play" with the apps.

The American Literature team invited us to observe their students doing presentations with Adobe Voice. Students projected their creation through Apple TV, but also gave an introduction in person and shared their presentation with their teacher digitally--mainly through a Media Album on Schoology. Much like ShowMe, Adobe Voice allows students to include images and text, then record their voice in the same slide. One advantage of Adobe Voice is that if a student makes a mistake, he or she can re-record one slide without having to record the entire presentation again.

When we returned to the Collab Lab, we brainstormed possible applications of Adobe Voice. In addition to presentations, one idea that emerged was to have students summarize the day's lesson in Adobe Voice as an exit slip. They could add one slide a day so that they have a review activity by the end of the week. We also discussed how students could create their own review videos to share with class--a type of podcasting, for example.  Other teachers liked the idea of having students take their own photographs around where they live and to create their own "About Me" presentations for their foreign language classes.  If you have more ideas and/or examples, please share them with us as the year goes on.

Here are some more examples of some of the American Literature students' projects!
1.  Mahatma Gandhi
2.  Dennis Rodman
3.  Lorde

Easier Presentations for All Subjects with Adobe Voice

By Kim Miklusak

I was first introduced to Adobe Voice through pre-service teachers who raved about the app, citing that it was so easy that kindergartners could use it!  I hadn't had an opportunity to try it out in class until this week when our American Literature class began preparing for our oral communications unit on a real-life nonconformist after having read Sula by Toni Morrison.  This will be part 1 of a blog; next week I will share out student samples and provide more feedback.

I cannot stress how simple Adobe Voice is for any subject or grade!  It's the best of a few apps all in one.  Also, it's free, which is always helpful.  The app first allows you to name your presentation and select a template if you want one.  All this does is set up key words for certain slides.  You are welcome to change, add, or delete slides to meet your goal.

There are several simple and pre-made template for backgrounds and slide transitions as well as layout design.  The downside (or upside) of this is that you cannot design these slides as you want.   You can also select music--which I wouldn't suggest if you have students speaking over it.  If you are not speaking in the presentation, you can set how long you want each slide to play for.  Otherwise the slide stays on the screen for as long as you talk.

When you want to add a photo, you are given a few choices including from your camera roll, taking a picture, or searching.  All of the search options are copyright safe!  This is a huge digital citizenship teachable moment for students.  One thing I noticed, however, is that there is not always a huge amount of photos.  I found more available for reuse through Google; I simply saved them to my camera roll.

After the presentation is done, students can record their voice if they would like.  This is the easiest option ever.  You simply hold down the record button and speak.  If you would like to record over what you just said, you just press the button again!  This is a huge bonus over other similar apps in that you don't have to re-record your entire presentation if you mess up on one slide.  The down side in comparison to some other apps, however, is that you cannot write or draw on any of the slides, which may not be a problem depending on why you are using it.

When you're ready to share, it's as easy as ever.  Among the options are emailing a link or tweeting.  For example, here is a link to the sample I made to share with my team and students.  However, the option I'm most appreciative of is the ability to save it to the camera roll because then I can upload it and have students upload them to a Schoology Media Album to share!  Now every student in class can provide feedback on all of the presentations.

I will post again next week with student samples and more feedback. 

What Are You Reading?

By Kim Miklusak

Last week I posted on my other blog a survey I gave my students about why they are or are not reading at home for enjoyment or for assigned books for class.  One point I reflected on was how hard it is for those of us who are teachers and who enjoy reading to carve out time for ourselves to read for fun let alone to read education-related materials--and do we ask the same of our students?

Personally, I try to balance two texts at once: one lighthearted or easy to read like graphic novels or YA Lit and one more complicated, frequently heavy one.  For example, right now I'm reading This Star Won't Go Out and The New Jim Crow.  I've started dialoguing more with my peers about what I'm reading in The New Jim Crow (honestly one of the most startling and important books I've read).  I've also tried to talk to my students about what I'm reading for fun, including bringing in the books after I'm done reading them (the whole Unwind series!!).

Additionally, I've added a "currently reading" to the signature file of my emails.  I was surprised how much response I got back from peers about that: either asking about a book I'm reading or adding their own "currently reading."  I also saw a year or two ago an idea about having a dry erase board where you list your currently reading and "next up" and "suggestions" for students to see during class as well.  This has all been further inspired by participating in Good Reads with my students and peers--a game I am well late to, I realize, as it's an excellent community-building resource for avid and reluctant readers young and old.

So...what are YOU reading?

Why Am I Giving a Multiple Choice Quiz?

By Kim Miklusak

My daughter will be taking a quiz in the coming weeks where she has to name the 13 colonies.  I've been helping her study on Quizlet, and she loves it!  We've been practicing typing in the names, spelling, and identifying each state on the map.  The problem is that I don't know how she is being assessed on these names.  Does she get a blank sheet of paper and has to write them from memory?  Will there be a list and she has to circle the 13?  Is there a map?   Does spelling count?

None of this is a criticism of my daughter's teacher by any means!!  However, the whole experience as a parent has made me reflect more--and especially based on the discussions in Lead Learners over the past weeks--about the nature of assessments we give in our classrooms.  Oftentimes we give a multiple choice test or matching test because it is the easiest for us to grade.  We believe it assesses the students' content knowledge.  But I'm telling you right now, my daughter won't do well on this test if she has to write them all from memory.  And I can't help but think: if only they were to let her pick the way she wants to show her content knowledge, she would ace it!

...so as a teacher, why do I not want the same thing?  Specifically as an English teacher, I understand the time commitment and workload.  But I also know that I could just as easily give perhaps two or three different options for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills various times throughout various units.  As long as the rubrics were equitable and the content demonstration was equal, wouldn't it be worth it?

Guest Post: Adding Value to People

By Joe Bush

In February of 2015, I was fortunate enough to attend the John Maxwell Team Leadership Certification Program.  It was the best professional development I ever experienced, and the knowledge I learned from that conference fundamentally altered they way in which I teach.  The most important pieces of information that I took away from the three-day conference are as follows: 1. The best leaders are those who have the greatest influence, 2. Leaders need to serve, 3. Leaders need to add value to people and 4. Expectations drive beliefs and beliefs drive behavior.

As a teacher, I have always considered myself a leader. However, for much of my career, I was a positional leader.  A positional leader is someone who leads because someone else gave them a position.  An example might be an NFL head coach who was handpicked by the owner, but is unable to influence the players.  That type of teacher rarely has success in the classroom because they use their position to hold it over students.  After hearing John Maxwell (The Number One Leadership Guru in the World) speak, I began to think differently about teaching.  If I were going to truly change the minds and hearts of students and educate them they way that I saw fit, I was going to need to serve them.  The second part was adding value to the lives of the students. 

I would like to explain more on the notion of serving others and adding value through an example.  This year I was blessed with the opportunity to teach a leadership through service course.  What I quickly realized was that my students had great ideas, were already influential in their own circles and they all loved to serve.  After hearing Maxwell speak I realized that instead of pushing my own leadership agenda at the beginning of the year I should have focused on helping each student become more influential using their own strengths.  For some it may have been through public speaking, others it was through organization and still others just needed encouragement.  After coming back from the conference, I quickly changed my agenda in time to help the students succeed in our St. Baldrick’s charity drive.  As I incorporated Maxwell’s ideas, I could quickly see how the students grew in an explosive fashion.  I helped my students enhance what they already did well. 

The final piece to the puzzle was the idea that expectations drive belief and belief drives behavior. Motivational speaker and entrepreneur Paul Martinelli talked about how he overcame stuttering and the fact that he was a high school dropout to build several million-dollar businesses.  Paul said that belief drives behavior.  Therefore, if we think we are stupid, our behaviors are stupid.  However, because expectations drive beliefs, as a teacher it is our job to set expectations for our students to live up to.   When we set those expectations, hold students accountable and provide supports to assist them, students achieve more.

What I found to be the best part of the Maxwell training was the fact that serving and adding value to others is something that can be done regardless of your position. Maxwell says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”  This is true because leadership is influence.  So, regardless of your position, you can always strive to be more influential, thus becoming a better leader.   Going forward, I will strive to add value to my students right from the start.  Each year will be different based on the different needs of students, but the lessons learned from that conference will forever change the way I think, lead and teach.