A Year in Learning at Elk Grove: Dual Language Program - Teacher Part I

by Jessica Maciejewski and Mark Heintz

This is part of a blog series intended to document and define learning at Elk Grove High School throughout the 2018-2019 school year in order to increase student learning, give professionals autonomy, increase trust in our learning community, and foster a sense of personal-intellectual collegiality within the building across departments.  You can read all of the previous posts here. 

This is the first year that Elk Grove High School has students in a dual language program.  The students in this class have been in the same class together since first grade.  They have been enrolled in a dual language program that has been taught in English and in Spanish over the past eight years.  Now, this first cohort of students is at Elk Grove.  They take English, Spanish, and Biology together.  It's an incredible program that values both languages and pushes the boundaries of the traditional high school experience.  It's simply amazing.  

Jessica Maciejewski volunteered to teach this class, and her passion is helping to ensure the success of this program at the high school level.  She is an amazing teacher who gets students to have meaningful conversations, work together, and write at a high level.  

Jessica Maciejewski

What did learning look like in the lesson?

Students pre-writing in their packets then sharing ideas and responding to one another’s thoughts in a traveling debate; communication in small groups to write “grenadiers” using leadership and cooperation.

What do you hope to do for the next time?

Increase student responses to one another--I know sometimes rewards (even getting to sit down after commenting) can actually backfire. Maybe students can respond as much as they want? Maybe there is a grade for participation in Habits of Work? Maybe there are some students with roles, or partners who actively look out for one another?

Sabrina
What did you learn in this lesson?

I learned in this lesson that communication is key to helping each other out. If you don’t communicate, your partners will never know what things you want to achieve from the project. Like with the strings attached to the markers, we all had to come up with a plan, and maybe readjust it during the process to sort out the mistakes.

What do you hope to learn for the next time?

Next time, I hope to learn to switch off each partners being leaders, and possibly thinking ahead and strategizing. Coming up with a plan A and plan B is important because you will always have a backup plan. When your group all comes together and talks through their ideas, you can get a bigger picture and more techniques that will spark new ways to achieve your goals.


Bryan

What did you learn in this lesson?

I learned that without communication no one knows what to do, for example, we wouldn’t know who will pull what string in order to make that letter, some people would work faster than others or the group can just be a mess.

What do you hope to learn for the next time?

I hope next time we can communicate better, maybe think ahead so each of us knows what we are doing. Another example can be soccer, without communication, we would crash into each other, we wouldn’t be able to know if a person is running towards us, or we can even get hurt.

A Tale of Two Students

By Mark Heintz

I've been talking to a lot of students about learning.  I ask them what they want and how teachers can better create conditions to maximize learning and better serve them.  Two conversations stick out.  I asked them both to write out their responses.  They are very different and very honest.  I'm stuck here thinking what to do next.  They are pushing my thoughts and I wanted to see what others thought.  Please leave your comments, ideas, or reactions if you care to share.

Student A

When receiving our PSAT scores, every student looks at one another and mouths or straight out asks what the others got. We compare our scores and internally we judge ourselves based on these scores. I was taught to base myself on a number and I do exactly that. Every day, twice a day, I check my grades and obsess over studying to get that number. To be brutally honest, I get frustrated due to the fact that in classes, when grades are not put in right away or soon after I hardly know where I stand academically. I will obviously still try in classes due to the fact that I am addicted to learning (or rather memorizing), but that doesn’t change the fact that I am a number since that’s how I view myself.

Student B

I want school to be a place where I love to go to every day. A place where learning is new, innovative, and exciting. I love class when the teachers aren’t so worked up on everyone getting high standardized test scores and where we are constantly being told: “this is good practice for the SAT”. When learning feels natural and not like all the content is being forced into my brain I have a tendency to remember it more. However, I also realize that I don’t always fully grasp what I’m supposed to be learning because l will try and memorize all the stuff I was just taught so I can take a test or quiz on it, but then I forget it later or don’t remember how to apply what I’d just learned to the new content. Truthfully I think what I really want school to be is a place where I can learn new things without being worried all about what score/grade I’m going to get and rather worrying about how I can use what I just learned to make my life (or someone’s else’s) better.

A Year in Learning at Elk Grove: AP Spanish Literature and Culture - Teacher Part I

By Dean Burrier Sanchis

This is part of a blog series intended to document and define learning at Elk Grove High School throughout the 2018-2019 school year in order to increase student learning, give professionals autonomy, increase trust in our learning community, and foster a sense of personal-intellectual collegiality within the building across departments.  You can read all of the previous posts here. 

I've always heard from students how great Dean is.  His athletes love him.  His students praise him.  When I sat down with Dean as a follow up to a class visit, I could instantly tell how much he cares for his students. Being in his class and talking with him after, I feel the same way about him.  His class was organic. It was natural.  It focused on the things that the students were passionate about. Read his thoughts on learning and what school could be.  

Dean

What do you wish school could be?

I wish we could be an institution that helps guide students in a journey of self-discovery that unites them with the world and gives them a deep understanding of who they are and where they come from. I wish we could be more of a creative, problem-solving institution, a place to struggle with, theorize and debate the many issues and challenges affecting our students individually and life in our community, nation and world.

In many ways we are, but I believe there could be more emphasis on those facets and in creating the conditions to have students testing out and engaging in the community their unique ideas. Ultimately, our students will need to be creative problem solvers regardless of their career choice. Furthermore, being self-actualized and being grounded in a strong personal and community identity will give them the strength to overcome life’s challenges.

What did learning look like in the lesson? 

Students were able to articulate artistic analysis and extrapolate classroom conversations and literary analysis to apply them to a timely and personal debate about Mexican identity. Students demonstrated learning by applying varying cultural perspectives on the debate to historical and artistic analysis. Students will also need to construct creative and convincing arguments using supporting evidence and details.

What do you hope to do for the next time?

I hope students can bring to life the different perspectives on “Mexicanidad” in a lively debate to help recreate the panorama of views that exists and, perhaps more importantly, reflect on a deeper level about the many ways Art (in all its formats) changes perceptions and sense of identity in oneself through representations of identity (national or personal). Furthermore, I hope students see the many different perspectives that can exist and where there is common ground between viewpoints in order to construct a collective response (outside of the format of the debate) that answers essential questions about Mexicanidad and how heroes, history and art shape national identity.

The Lesson Plan - Create Conditions for Learning

By Mark Heintz

Lesson planning requires a lot of time.  Teachers spend a lot of their day planning.  I wanted to write a way for teachers to decrease the amount of time planning while getting at what they want.  This was a lesson I did with freshmen.  I hope it's helpful.

How do teachers increase a student's reading, writing, and collaborative skills?  
How do we "manage" the learning? 
How can teachers decrease time spent lesson planning?  
How do ensure all students are learning?

Okay.  So, what does a lesson look like that does all of this without driving teachers crazy?

The lesson plan.  

To start, I had students develop a question they were interested in.  You can read how I did that here.  Once they have their question, things get a little easier.

1. Have students find an article online that might help them answer their question.  I typically use Newsella or NPR. I let them use other news sources if they are already currently reading it.  (Not many are)
2. I had them spend fifteen minutes reading the article.  Although I didn't tell them to, they were annotating the articles or writing down notes.  
3. At the ten minute mark, I told them to jot down three facts, ideas, or questions that might help them answer their questions.
4. I used Team Shake to pair students.  For five minutes they shared with each of their new understandings and how it might help them answer their questions.  As a class, a few students reported out.
5. Then they had about twenty-five minutes to work on their question.  Most kids are writing a paper. A few kids are doing a presentation.  One student is doing a collage.  I walked around and answered any questions I could.
6. With five minutes left in the class, students paired up again and shared with each other on the work they did.  I told them to give feedback to each on if their mini project was compelling or if the student provided evidence that actually answered the question.  

How do teachers increase a student's reading, writing, and collaborative skills?  

In this lesson, the students read, wrote, listened, and spoke.  Also, students inquired, explored, answered and presented.  That pretty much sums it up.

How do "manage" the learning? 

I didn't have to.  The students managed themselves.  I created conditions for the students to explore topics they were interested in.  Granted, we spent a lot of time crafting those questions and related them to human geography.  But, I didn't have to "manage" each activity.

How can teachers decrease time spent lesson planning?  

I didn't have to create anything for the lesson.  I spent time thinking about the time for each phase.  But I didn't create worksheets, print anything, post anything, or find the perfect article.  It didn't take much time outside of class.

How do ensure all students are learning?

I walked around.  As I did, I listened to the conversations, read what the students wrote, and observed students working together.  I connected with every kid.

 I firmly believe this lesson could be used in any subject.  The format might be different, but creating the conditions for students to learn would be the same.  In the end, that's what I did.  I created conditions to learn and ensured those conditions were upheld during the lesson.  If we can do that, then learning becomes natural.  We don't have to make a lot of "stuff" for the lesson.  We don't have to always have a formal assessment to see if they were learning.  We can work with students on things they are interested in.  We can focus on learning.  In the end, isn't that what's school for?

A Year in Learning at Elk Grove: Intro to Health Careers - Students Part I

By Alyssa Trausch, Matt Crimmons, Giselle Cordova Yanez and Mark Heintz

This is part of a blog series intended to document and define learning at Elk Grove High School throughout the 2018-2019 school year in order to increase student learning, give professionals autonomy, increase trust in our learning community, and foster a sense of personal-intellectual collegiality within the building across departments.  You can read all of the previous posts here. 

I'm blown away by the student reflections this week.  They write to what they want for their future.  They write about how they learn best.  They are honest. They know themselves.  I wish I was this clear in my vision when I was in high school.

A few of the highlights reflected on by the students:

• The course itself is really helping me learn more about my interest and my capabilities as a student.
• By learning more about the careers I also hope that I can figure out more about myself.
• Being able to do activities and take notes all in the interactive journal has been one of my favorite additions to my learning method.
• Mrs. Glosson had taught us how to study these new topics on ourselves.
• I’m interested in learning more and finding out more about the medical career and what it has to offer.

Alyssa Trausch 

What did you learn in this lesson?

In the first couple of units of Introduction to Health Careers, I have learned a variety of terms along with examples of words used in the medical field of work. During the first unit (chapter) “Building Blocks of Medical Terminology” I learned that the Latin and Greek language is where many of the terms used in medicine come from. I also learned the basic skill of note taking during unit one because Mrs. Glosson had the whole class take notes all the same, specific, way which really helped me stay organized, and made studying for the quiz much easier. I can now use this note-taking strategy to be more organized in the other class in the future.

Honestly, in the beginning, it seemed like there was lots of note taking about prefixes, suffixes, and word root, which made the class feel pretty slow and I just didn’t think it would be a class I would enjoy the whole year. Then we got into unit two “The Human Body” which is when we started to learn about not only what makes up the body, such as atoms, tissues, organs, etc., but then I got to personally learn something new which was the regions of our body.

My art skills were put to the test during the notes in this particular unit because we have to draw some bodies in our notebooks and then label them based on where the regions are located. At first, when doing this it seemed like they would be no help and really confusing to study however this wasn’t the case at all. The pictures helped me visualize them on myself and others where the regions are located rather than them just being listed as bullet points in my notebook.  So far this year in Introduction to Health Careers I’m not really sure if going into health care is still what I want to do, yet the course itself is really helping me learn more about my interest and my capabilities as a student.

What do you hope to learn for the next time? 

For next time I hope to learn more about the specific jobs of different medical careers and the amount of post-high school education some of them require. By learning more about the careers I also hope that I can figure out more about myself. I want to learn more about my interests because all I really have to base my interests off of is what I’ve seen on tv and in movies. I think that if I learn more about different jobs then I can figure out a plan on which class to take later in high school.

Matt Crimmins 

What did you learn in this lesson?

Since the start of the school year, I have learned some of the basic vocabulary and skills in health care. We have started learning word structure and word construction in medical terminology. This process has been effective so far because of the organization of all of our work in our notebooks. In both this class and AP Bio, organizing our work with the notebook has been an effective form of not only the organization but also as a study tool. Being able to do activities and take notes all in the interactive journal has been one of my favorite additions to my learning methods and has assisted me greatly in learning the material in the class so far.

Throughout the year, I want to learn in this class the specific healthcare jobs to see if this field fits me.

Giselle Cordova Yanez

What did you learn in this lesson?

In these units I have learned many new things like in unit one I learned lots about the medical terms that come from greek and latin words, as well I have learned about many of the meanings behind these words and their prefixes, suffixes, combining vowels, and root words; Which are commonly and will always be used in the medical field. I also learned many new ways to organize my notes. In a way where I’ll be able to always add on if needed.

These new ways to organize notes has helped me find a way to study faster it also is easier to the eyes instead of just reading bundles of paragraphs stacked on top of each other. In unit two we learned about new prefixes, suffixes, combining vowels and root words; but other than that we learned about body regions and it’s placement along with how the body is made up. Here Mrs. Glosson had taught us how to study these new topics on ourselves which has been really helpful considering I don’t need to worry about reading books or study pages of notes. We also had to do at one point in the Unit make play-doh people which were fun and also very helpful especially with having to label them. Which is a plus for me because I learn better visual then oral or writing methods.

All in all, I’m still confused about what I truly do want to do for my future but for now, I’m interested in learning more and finding out more about the medical career and what it has to offer. This class, however, has helped me keep organized in my other classes and also has helped me figure out my strengths and weakness as a student in high school and what I am really interested in.

A Year in Learning at Elk Grove: Intro to Health Careers - Teacher Part I

By Krista Glosson and Mark Heintz

This is part of a blog series intended to document and define learning at Elk Grove High School throughout the 2018-2019 school year in order to increase student learning, give professionals autonomy, increase trust in our learning community, and foster a sense of personal-intellectual collegiality within the building across departments.  You can read all of the previous posts here. 

Words matter.  As much as they matter, a shared understanding of them matters more.  In the medical profession, not having a shared understanding can lead to life-changing results. That important foundational understanding of key vocabulary in the medical profession starts somewhere.  At Elk Grove, that foundational understanding can start their freshmen year.  Students have the amazing opportunity to become a Certified Nursing Assitant before they graduate.  They can leave high school with the ability to get a job in a hospital and directly care for patients.

In Krista Glosson's Intro to Health Careers class, the students spent the first few weeks doing that crucial work of developing that shared understanding of words that can lead to life-changing care for people.  The students self-assessed, reflected, shared with each, and continued to strengthen their understanding of a common vocabulary.  Read how the students begin to learn as they start on their journey into a possible life-long career.

Krista Glosson

What did learning look like in the lesson?

The first two units in Introduction to Health Careers are important to student success for the entire year.  These units ensure that all of our students have an equal chance of being successful in the course.  Many students come with the knowledge and have a working vocabulary that allows them to be successful rapidly, while other students need to have some knowledge gaps filled before they can move forward easily.

In this lesson, students received feedback on a recent quiz that they had taken.  After receiving the feedback students evaluated their errors and then took a survey to evaluate their personal satisfaction and progress in the course.  Students were asked questions about their grade satisfaction, personal progress, and organization tools.

After the survey, students created a foldable for their interactive notebooks and reviewed five new vocabulary words.  The students were engaged with their notebooks to work on the new material.

Finding Purpose: Understanding Gen Z

By Rachel Vissing

This is part of an ongoing series in which I am working on developing my own mission statement of student and personal learning.  You can read the first post here.

Over the weekend, I heard it again.  I was getting my oil changed, and a man noticed my school apparel and said "Oh so you're a teacher?" to which I replied "Yes, I am!"  He then replied with a sarcastic "Oh good luck.  Kids these days don't know anything besides how to use their cell phones." 

Flash Forward to Sunday night.  I'm sitting watching the Bears/Packers game with my husband, and I heard it again.  "Rachel, get off your phone."  I hear this more times than I can count on a regular basis from him, along with "Get off your laptop or your iPad."  Now I always try to justify that I don't touch social media all day long or that I need to check my work e-mail or something of the sort.  In reality, I see that I many times I am just as bad as the "kids these days".  

In thinking about this more, I realized that so many people of the older generations (Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y) find all of the faults with the newer Generation Z, however, we don't find out what skills are their strengths.  I decided to do some research.

Differences in Generation Z

Pulled from two different sources (getsmarter.com and visioncritical.com), I have found these notable differences between Gen Z and the prior generations:

- Generation Z is the last generation with a white majority.  As this generation is still considered "ongoing", they are growing up in a more global community and thinking about the future in a larger and more inspirational sense than ever before.

- The population of Gen Z is the most tech-savvy and can pick up new technological developments quicker than other generations.  They are also able to multitask much better, with one source referencing using up to 5 devices at a time!

- Gen Z actually watches less TV but spends more time on YouTube and social media.  They are more focused on products, brands, and celebrities rather than experiences and emotional connections.

- The members of Gen Z are more realistic than idealistic.  They also want to be entrepreneurs and create their own businesses as opposed to creating a loyalty in working for others.

What Does This Mean in Education?

There are many ways to view and use this information.  The first thing that I think of is Apple (not that teachers get apples...the company Apple - I can be punny and see if you're still reading!).  There have been 14 versions of the iPhone to date.  There has been the iPod, iPod Touch, iPad, iPad Mini, iPad Pro, Apple TV, Apple Watch, etc.  These are all technology advances since January 2007.  In 11+ years, our world has changed dramatically in the world of connecting with others, multitasking, and access to information.

Now let's look at education, well at least from my perspective.  I have taught for 8.5 years, of which I have never used a textbook.  To many I encounter, this is crazy, yet this is all I know.  I have used an iPad for 7 of those years, 6 with 1-to-1 student devices.  I also have taught with white-board tables for 3 years now.  I have explored numerous instructional practices: discovery learning, flipped classroom, standard-based grading, various formative feedback methods, and many more.  I have rewritten curricula every single year that I have been here.  My question is...why?  Has this been of benefit to my students?

I always felt that I was adjusting curricula based on new technology and my students skill needs.  Was that practical?  Was it worthwhile?  Right now, after reading these articles, I found that maybe I was searching in the wrong place.  I was altering my practices to help build and strengthen the skills that they were struggling with instead of learning and understanding the skill strengths of their generation.  

So What...?  Connection to Developing My Personal Mission Statement

Last post, I articulated my need to focus on my students as individuals, not numbers.  This post, I dove into learning the skill strengths of my students and how they differ from those of my generation and those before.  In moving forward, I now have a better understanding of the "kids these days" and what they have to offer to the school, community, and society moving forward.  

I'll be honest, this post was a long way off from where it began.  I intended to look up some information and ended up falling down a rabbit hole and got a bit overwhelmed with the idea that I thought I knew the "kids these days" so well because I work with them daily, however, it is eye-opening that I have not looked into how their experiences and environments are drastically different from those of previous generations (ie: Powerpoint was still a new thing for teachers to use when I was in high school...).  Anyways, I'm saying this because this post may not make sense to all who read, but it has been very helpful for me to process this information of students' skill strengths thus start focusing on how to support their future needs.