Teaching Purpose & Audience in AP Language

By: Kim Miklusak & Rachel Barry

This blog is written by both Kim (who was observed) and Rachel (who observed Kim) in an AP Language class.  Students have just read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and supporting nonfiction written/visual texts and are practicing rhetorical analysis focusing on audience and purpose.  The focus of this specific lesson was for students to demonstrate understanding of how to use strategies to convince an audience of a clear purpose.  Students were to write a letter to a designated audience from a designated perspective regarding whether or not The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be banned from schools.

To begin, students selected a partner.  One partner was asked to raise a finger of 1 or 2.  This randomly determined which purpose they were arguing for in their paper: 1) ban the book or 2) do not ban the book.  Then students raised another number of 1, 2, or 3 fingers.  They then found out their audience based on 1) those who want the book banned, 2) those who are against banning the book or 3) those who are indifferent.

Students worked in pairs to brainstorm what strategies would best convince their audience of their purpose (for example, emotion, logic, specific examples, metaphors, etc.).  They then wrote a letter to their assigned audience.  Finally, the students anonymously swapped letters and provided clear feedback on what strategies they saw the authors using and what worked/didn't work from their assigned perspective.  Students will then use this to reflect upon their own rhetorical analysis essays in class tomorrow as they work to revise.

Rachel's Reflection: As a math teacher, I am always amazed at how teachers bring controversial issues to light without creating arguments in class.  I am both intimidated by and excited at the thought of having discussions with students on topics of race, gender inequality, sexuality, etc. due to the various perspectives and knowledge of students.  Also, people may be ill-informed or not informed enough on some topics, which could potentially lead to building warped opinions.  Through this observation, I learned how Kim is using the controversial issue of book banning to open students' eyes to multiple sides of an argument.  This activity taught students the importance of gaining pertinent information to support their claim.  Since students were not able to choose their side, some may have even written from a perspective different from their own, which I think is a significantly valuable lesson.  Because of this activity, her class will eventually be able to discuss social issues that are more pertinent to today and her students in an objective manner.  This was truly eye-opening.  I would've loved to have been in this class in high school! 

Crowdsourcing in Education

Written by Quinn Loch

crowdsourcing - n.  the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers

With the introduction of technology in the classroom and our current focus on formative assessment, it's easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of time needed to create materials for our classes. If you use Schoology, hopefully you already take advantage of sharing resources with your colleagues.

Don't forget, however, that teachers everywhere are using similar resources and elect to share those resources online. Online tools such as Socrative, Quizlet, and Kahoot! let you share resources publicly.

Socrative has a built in sharing function and there is also a database of shared Socrative Quizzes

There are more 4 million public Kahoots out there that you can search through.

There are over 40 million shared Quizlet Study Sets. You can also search for "Teacher-created sets" only. If you follow a specific textbook, sets can be found easily.

It should go without saying, that not every online resource is perfect. I often spend time revising, adding, or deleting parts of things that I find online, but I always spend less time editing than I would starting from scratch. Before you know it, you'll have a database of bellringers, study tools, and other formative assessments at your fingertips.

Unplug and move

by Kirsten Fletcher

I love technology. My first year with a 1:1 iPad pilot was one of exploration. I was constantly trying new apps and finding new ways to revamp my activities. I have discovered that I can now use Baiboard to complete tasks that once required markers and butcher paper. I can do exit slips on-line instead of asking students to hand in papers. Why fill out notecards when you can do a Google Form? Videos and media albums have replaced poster projects and group skits. Unruly class discussions have given way to more organized Schoology discussions that hold all students accountable for their responses. These are all effective and engaging uses of technology.

Baiboard vs. butcher paper

Only now I find that I really miss the way I used to do things. I could do Kahoot every week, but nothing beats the running game where students are constantly moving and interacting. Videos are fine, but they take the spontaneity out of presentations. Sometimes it is nice to pull out the butcher paper and do a gallery walk or a chalk talk. And students don't pay attention to the comments on a Schoology discussion the way that they listen to a partner's comments. As I rethink my use of technology, I am discovering that my favorite classroom activities have everything to do with movement and interaction.


We recently attended an Institute Day session with Eric Jensen. One of the big take-aways for the staff was that we need to break up learning into small chunks and get students physically moving in the classroom. One colleague commented that he came back from the session and started intentionally building movement into every class period. His students finally asked him why all their teachers were making them move around all of a sudden.

We all know that with 1:1 technology, our students have a host of new distractions at their fingertips. Rather than compete with on-line games, I find it much easier to say "Stand up - put your tablets away" and get my students moving. I've started doing this as often as I can fit it in, both for brain breaks and to keep my students from lulling themselves into a tech daze. So I incorporate technology where it advances my learning objectives, but I refuse to throw out the partner discussions, mixers, gallery walks and games that force students to interact with material in a meaningful (and unplugged) way.

Useful Tool: Infinite Campus Sorting

by Katie Winstead

Entering Quarter 2, you might have a lot of assignment piling up in Infinite Campus. To easily accomplish tasks, it might be beneficial to sort the assignments in different ways.

I bring you: Infinite Campus Assignment Sorting!!

In your gradebook, you will see a "Sort" button at the top left.

When you click on "Sort," you get multiple options:

You can sorts by "Due Date" and "Descending" to put all of your recent assignments first (for example):

So.. Happy Quarter 2! Hope this little tips helps =)

Reminders

By Mark Heintz and Rachel Barry

Last week, counselor Scott Deutsch brought a group of students down to the Collablab to help students get organized.  We walked the students through how to create subjects and dividers in Notability.  You can read how to do that here.

The group discussed issues they have with completing homework or studying.  Students often have at least six classes with schedules and tasks that are very different.  Because teacher expectations vary many students struggle to keep everything they need to do or study organized. From the student perspective, it is hard to keep every expectation in every class organized. Furthermore, the students struggle with study habits at home.

One thing the group brought to our attention, was that they write down what they need to do in their planner, but they forget to look at the planer once they get home.   To help keep everything organized student can utilize the app called Reminders.

This feature allows the user to set reminders! A student can create a reminder for the items they need to complete that evening.   The reminder could be set to go off everyday! The next day the students can edit the task with the new items they need to complete.

If the student uses their iPad at night, it pops up on the iPad. So, it would be one more reminder for the students to further their learning at night. Its an easy addition to a student's organization methods. 

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?

EG Lead Learners Team Meeting #3

Today was our third meeting of the Elk Grove Lead Learners Team. First, here is a brief overview of the EGLLT:

At Elk Grove High School, our Lead Learners Team is an interdisciplinary team of staff that comes together monthly to collaborate and learn, with our ultimate goal to improve learning for our students.  We are a team of staff that in many schools, and formerly at Elk Grove High School, would be called the "staff development team." Our EGLLT is a group of 30 staff members and it includes our principals, division chairs, counselors, teachers from all departments, and teachers from the feeder schools; it is truly a collaborative venture.

Our objectives for today's meeting were:

-Participants will be able to recognize and explain the difference between Clear Purpose and Clear Targets

-Participants will be able to recognize and explain the difference between Formative and Summative Assessment

-Participants will be able to use Formative Assessment every day to check for understanding and maximize student learning

The hope for the first two objectives was to get the entire school to use the words the same.  

Establishing Clear Purpose & Clear Targets

The EGLLT discussed the difference between a purpose and a target.  The purpose in the teacher actions, approach, logistics, etc. while the target is the content, skills, etc.  

Formative & Summative Assessment
One of the activities used to differentiate between formative and summative assessment was this Google Form. After completing this form, we discussed the results in our groups. We also talked about the best uses of each type of assessment as well as how all of these can be used to inform students of their learning. In small groups, we created six-word statements to define formative assessment.

Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning
In a jigsaw activity, we learned the background of the Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning. Then, teachers presented examples of each strategies. Thank you to Kirsten Fletcher, Leslie Guimon, Rachel Barry, Tom Boczar, Matt Bohnenkamp, Kristen Guth, Paul Kelly, Quinn Loch, and Kerry Frazier for sharing your practices!