Of Mice and Men (Beware the ramblings of ogres).

So we are nearing the end of the program.  Only three weeks left really.  It's both exciting and terrifying.  I've never been so exhausted as a teacher, and I imagine it's because I truly have everything riding on this.  These children successes or failures on this program are truly mine.  There is no excuse if they are not at least on the same level as the other 9th graders at the school.  It's funny, I used to take pride in my track record in standardized testing.  Even when I was teaching regular (rather than gifted/advanced) 9th grade I had a reputation when it came to my kids' tests scores.  While I have always felt that standardized and high stakes testing are not the best way and should never be the ONLY way a teacher is judged, I held those scores close to my heart as "proof" that I was a good teacher.  It is funny to me how much pride (and therefore bravado and even arrogance) is involved in teaching.  You really have to believe that you are truly the best and only person for the job, kind of like medicine (which I've had to do as a boy scout field medic at a summer camp) or law or even architecture.  All fields where you have to be confident in what you are doing to pull it off...  My dad used to tell me that military pilots (think Top Gun) were arrogant but that was a necessary thing as it takes down right arrogance to be able to "fly" through the upper atmosphere in a two ton (or more) metal tube (and be strapped in, no less).  The point is, teaching is like that too.  It's a huge put up job to stand in front of 30 (sometimes hostile) 9th graders and tell them you know enough to be the expert on a subject, an expert they must listen to in order to succeed in something.  Further, to write a program, to buck the system, takes it's own brand or arrogance.  In three weeks I put my money where my mouth is.  This "money" will be quite public, no less.  People are watching, not just the parents and administrators, but other teachers, school officials, and all the people who I've discussed this with, who wonder if I'm right or if I'm crazy....

The point of that ramble is Of Mice and Men.  The kids started reading it today.  First they watched the deeply dark and slightly unsettling episode, Born Under A Bad Sign.  We discussed and focused on the idea of good and bad (or evil) versus right and wrong.  Many people use these ideas interchangeably, but they are very different.  Sam feels he is bad and therefore may need to be "disposed" of.  Dean feels he may do wrong things, but he is not bad and is therefore redeemable (OK, it is both more simple and more complicated than that, but for the sake of this lesson, go with me.).  The parallel is George and Lenny and whether or not Lenny is bad or wrong or both or neither.  Also, the book is a great deal about hope (and what happens when it dies).  Dean is Sam's hope, or Dean is representative of the hope that the problems the Winchester's face can be solved.

As I taught today, and my students discussed I found myself overwhelmed with this thought.  Am I doing the wrong thing for the right reasons?  If I am wrong a whole group of students could possibly miss out on skills and lessons they need to get through high school.  There is hope, a whole lot of hope (and that is where the arrogance issue kicks in) and also practicality, I know how to teach, I know what needs to be taught and while some of the vehicles are different, driving is driving (metaphorically speaking) and I know how to drive and drive well, so....

Wow, I have really waxed philosophic at this point, haven't I? 

Like I said, this semester has been exciting and terrifying and most of all exhausting.  New things almost always are and there is a lot on the line here (and that not even including the most important part, the success of my students as learners of Language Arts).  I am very tired (the kind of good tired, you get from working out for a marathon, but before you know for sure that you will be able to do that final run) and that is probably why I saw all these parallels in Supernatural, Of Mice and Men and my professional aspirations as an educational innovator.  If my students can do that kind of critical thinking and connection making, then I've done my job.

I leave Wednesday night for Chicago and the NCTE annual conference. 

Stories from the Front Lines

These are some of the email anecdotes I have gotten from two teachers who are using TLS in their classroom. 

From Perth, Australia:

* Three students chose to stay in at lunchtime to ensure they got their homework
done for next lesson! NEVER happened before.

*I have students visiting me before school to clarify or go over homework that is
due so they can make sure they have done it right

* Students are giving me homework BEYOND what I have asked for...I threw a
creative question in for Wendigo. What happened when Sam and Dean were kids to
make the Winchester boys hate camping so much? I asked for two paragraph
response, I've had kids hand me a three page short story!

*Class discussion evoked strong responses but one kid whom I have always had
grave concerns about attention wise; after I asked the question why do you think
Dean has a fear of flying (apart from the element of humour injected into the
episode) and he immediately stuck his hand up and said "It's because he's not in
control Miss, Dean hates not being in control." I was beaming from ear to ear,
this is real engagement and thinking about characterisation and what motivates
our fears.

From Daleville, AL

*One class went all out creating a Class Hunter's Journal and designed it on the computer and is really detailed with keeping up with it. My honors kids have already gotten impatient and said they were just going to start writing their own episodes, so I got to talk about the fan fiction a little earlier than planned, and I'm going to let them start that for some extra credit now before I assign everyone a fan fiction assignment. So, my two weeks have been a little crazy, but successful. My principal even came in and watched part of the pilot episode with us and then said to me later that he thinks this is going to be a good thing.

*Oh! Also, my kids were picking out allusions that you didn't have listed and I didn't even catch either. It's awesome!

*My honors kids are super amazing. They've even been making Facebook posts to discuss journal topics that they didn't have enough time to talk about in class. We just wrapped up our 1st 9 weeks and everyone save one student did well in that class.

All of these stories sound like lots of my experiences so far and I am so thrilled it's working.  We are all waiting for the "real" proof, but it is so much fun to come to a class each day where the kids are excited to learn and I so believe they are!

Kick In The Head, Poetry, and 206 No Exit

Drama One Act Competition this week so things have been crazy!

We are doing the poetry unit transitioning into The Odyssey.  That's not to say there is no prose, but more poetic language than not.  Additionally the students are doing a poetry project I call, "Kick In The Head."  The title comes from the book it is based on.  Kick In The Head shows 29 different poem forms.  So I present them all and the kids have to write one example of 25 of the forms.  Further, 10 of them need to be about Supernatural (this helps give them theme and maybe I'll get a neat anthology out of it...)  The idea is to get them to try and play with poetic forms. 

206: No Exit is one of my favorite episodes.  I pair it with Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" and another poem about relationships we have with our parents, though from the parent's view.  No Exit is fascinating to to me because I think it is so much about the nature of the relationship between parents and children and mothers and fathers and the roles they play in our lives. 

The kids should have gotten it today, but as I was at competition and part of it was that I wasn't comfortable with a substitute teacher doing it, but, honestly, I wanted to be the one to do it with them...  The directions I left for my sub (the kids did skill drills for the day) were the most type A I have ever given.  This whole program is changing the way I look at my class, how I teach, my expectations and who I am in the classroom, even, I think.  Who knew?

Also I have been getting some amazing reports from other teachers.  I am clearing it with them first but I hope to post some of their anecdotes soon....  Amazing stuff.

Last, I will be presenting at NCTE after all on Moodles.  That just blows my mind.  I can't wait!

Episodic Graphic Organizers: What I am learning...

One of the key pieces in TLS is the Episodic Graphic Organizer or EGO.  There are questions, vocabulary, notes, setting, prediction, characterization, writer and director "boxes" that the students fill out while watching.  Graphic Organizers are a big part of the Learning Focused Schools philosophy or sometimes they call it "Best Practices."  The idea is that by having students create a graphic representation (with words, but lines, categories and boxes) of their comprehension they will have better comprehension and better recall.  There are MANY studies on this idea.  There are also a couple that say/show that gifted students categorize information differently, uniquely and therefore are not helped by the Graphic Organizer philosophy.  I find that if I let them create what fits their needs, it works for them too...  Anyway, the point is about the TLS EGO....

So, what I had been doing was having the kids hold them and turn them in to me in big gluts.  The grading of which was KILLING me.  Additionally, I was disappointed to see "holes" where kids were not doing work consistently (and seeing it too late to do anything about it).  I was sure though that grading them on the spot, every time would be just as time consuming...

I was WRONG (I know, it happens, shhhh, don't tell anyone.).  Having the kids turn them in at the end of each episode is working REALLY REALLY well.  With a specific, immediate deadline (versus the more nebulous, "at the end of the unit.") the kids are more focused and on point.  Plus I can give them much more immediate feedback.  With more complete work and fewer holes it is also easier to grade.  So, what I am doing now is grading them and putting the score (out of 50) in the corner right away and passing them back.  I don't record the grade in the grade book, though.  The students can make corrections (highlighting them so I know they added) and turn it in at the end, but that's easy too now because the grading is primarily done and added up already.

The notes I am seeing are really impressive.  Yes, 1/2 to 2/3 are repetition of what is being pointed out as we watch, BUT (!) there is often extension of the idea and there are more frequently occurring original notes as well.  They really are becoming Critical Watchers and they catch a lot. 

Now if we could improve a couple of the little darling's handwriting.  I've don't think I've ever read so much student handwriting at one time (now three times a week).  I see an increase in my eye-glasses prescription in my future.  :)

Also, I see things I do want to change about the organizer.  Rather then have them list signifigant characters I think I'd like to add a section about conflict, antogonist and monster specifics.  I think I hav also hit (with the midway point) the reorganizing, reconoitering, re-evaluating portion of my "experiment."  Glad I have the next week off from school (Fall Break) I feel another sleepless writing/planning marathon coming....  Oi Vey!

Unit Two: On our way to Salvation!

So we had the first week of Unit Two.  In Unit Two we finish Season 1 (Unit, Season, Semester, Period, anyone confused yet?) 

We have had a couple of quizzes and we have to keep reminding them that they have to keep working and working well to get on to the next episode.  Hopefully the "hiatus" while we do Romeo and Juliet in the more traditional method will also help motivate them to keep working. 

This is what is hard for me.  I can see they are enjoying it, and I think they are learning, but the December standardized test (EOCT) is a long, long way away.  It's not enough for them to do as well as everyone else, for me to prove a point, they have to do better.  Then there is the struggle not to try to do things to teach to the test and skew things.  I actually asked my dad, (an ethics professor) if the fact that I spend considerable time praying for the kids and that they do well on the test, was skewing results.  He laughed at me and said not as long as I was praying that they were learning...  cause that is the goal here.

I have to remind myself about that every once in a while.  The point here is the learning.  I think this method will work (and I have supporting evidence so far) and I think it needs to be considered in main stream education.  I am gathering more evidence to prove it.... Everything else is gravy, right.

The motivation factor continues to be fun to watch as the kids goad each other toward homework and quiz grade goals to get to the next episode.  I find that funny as the episode is actually part of the education and not actually a reward.

The other thing that weighed heavily on me last week, but I think I have reconciled is that this is a horror based series.  Sometimes it is a bit dark and I have to balance that with necessity.  Even with it being prime time and even before some of the newer less stringent censorship laws, there are some moments that can be a little tense...  (Which is why we like it at home, and it interests the kids, but I put on my teacher hat and suddenly I get a little nervous!).  When I was putting all of this in theory, it was simple, but watching the kids faces (rapt though they are) can be a little daunting sometimes.  That is why I went ahead and decided to forgo Shadows. 

then the kids come marching into class and announce they watched on their own at home anyway and they think I am a wuss...  Oh well.  Listening to the literary discussions is worth it.

Today we watched The Benders.  Most of the class read "The Most Dangerous Game" so the conversation was pretty good and I really look forward to reading journals and homework on this.

I also have assigned the kids their Monster Project to be due next Friday.

Unit Test 1

This is always a tricky thing, the first test in a class.  It is as much about the students understanding how you work, what you want and what you expect as it is about what they actually know. 

That said, the kids did beautifully.  Most passed and overall there is a definite indication of comprehension.

Meanwhile they are still working and paying attention.

I am really surprised about what a motivator, Quid Pro Quo, to watch an episode is.  Who knew? 

We say Asylum yesterday, Scarecrow today (though I preempted that final scene and simply TOLD them what happened.  I think I may end up skipping Shadows too.  It is really dark for a classroom and I don't have great lit to go with it yet).  They loved Asylum and the whole discussion about assumptions was amazing.  They read the Lottery and then when they were watching Scarecrow it was like watching lights come on.  The episode made the story make sense to them.  The conversation about sacrifice and the good of the many outweighing the good of the few was really a joy to listen to as a teacher. 

Their journal and ticket out the door answers are getting better, especially when they write on the computer.  We have this three weeks to finish season one and then we are on hiatus to do Romeo and Juliet.  If there are problems with kids performance or parents then we will go back to traditional methods after R&J rather than do season 2, but I think things are continuing to go well on that front.

Today, we are also becoming part of the supernatural superwiki family.  I really hope this helps get the word out about TLS.

Funny...

On a bizarre and light note.
A student turned in a descriptive phrase for Dean (to put on the character wall) last week.  (I took it down, for the sake of Dean's pride.)

"Chihuahua in a Rottweiler's body."

Who says this generation isn't poetic or creative?

I laughed for a good five minutes.  There might have even been a snort. 

Also, literally 20 girls wanted to use the descriptor "Hot" for either boy.  I allowed one "attractive" per each.  I was impressed by how much the boys did have to say and how shallow the girls were about the whole thing.  Who knew?

I must close my eyes and be very brave....

So, first period rolled around early this morning (might have had something to do with my smoke detector going off at 4AM for No Reason!) and I was so hoping that the kids would all have their homework...

50% had read the story.  At first 75% said they had, except that a third of them qualified that as they had read some or most of it, but not all.  The story is 26 pages.  They got it Friday.  They knew it was due today.  The assignment after the episode was to compare episode 108 Bugs to The Birds....  Can't do it if you haven't read it.

So, despite A LOT of pouting (I could have fished with all the bait on their lower lips!) as a class we read the story instead of watching the episode.  I explained that there was no room to make it up, either.  I also patiently explained that reading the story was not punishment.  One way or another it had to be done.  If they didn't do it with the four nights given them before hand we had to do it in class to the detriment of watching an episode.

Then I gave them an assignment (their first quick homework assignment, which up till this point I have been trying to avoid, but it is the more traditional method) to write a PARAGRAPH explaining why Nat Hawkins thinks the birds are attacking.  They should have had as their assignment the comparison essay (and they would have had two days...  for the rough draft, the final draft being an addendum to the test on Friday).  That's out the window.  I must have at least 85% return for us to continue onto 109 Home tomorrow. 

Then I spoke to my team teacher.  He was impressed that we had 50%.  Honestly, I was too, but it's not good enough.  They can do better, I expect better and for the sake of proving this program I WILL have better...  because they deserve better of themselves....  I think me sticking to my guns on this is what counted and I expect to see great things in the morning....

Fourth period was better and worse.  Only TWO out of TWENTY!  Yet, when I presented them with the case, you would think I shot their cat!  They were all quite mad, at themselves, which was refreshing.  I really expect great things from this group.  Very thoughtful, and on this, amazingly careless...

I have prepared for Home and Primal Moments tomorrow as lessons.  Here's hoping that's where we go.

Tonight, I believe.  Otherwise, while this is not a failure, there will be a lot of revamping in my future for the Labor Day weekend.  I have to have tactile proof of learning and progress.  Assignments and participation are the two biggest indicators...

Quid Pro Quo and Hookman

So I took the "Hunter's Journal" home over the weekend to grade Journal Entries, TOD's and EGO's (Episodic Graphic Organizers) on 102-106.

At first I was really dissapointed.  While they had done some work (and a lot more than I would usually see) there were lots of blank spaces and hurried answers.  Additionally, last week when they read "The Scarlet Ibis" only about 65-75% had marked up their copies.  Again, more than I have seen in the past, but...

So today we had what privately I call a "Come to Jesus Meeting" though at school we refer to it as a "Hallalujah Meeting" and I told the kids about Quid Pro Quo.  All of this was before they were allowed to watch (and do the work) on 107 Hookman so we didn't finish the episode (if things ar ecaught back up tomorrow I am pretty sure they will get to finish it before Bugs....  Provided they read The Birds....)

It was sort of funny.  They are working really well, and paying attention and it is working, but I also think they push and test, so I had to be clear, firm and steadfast on this...

We'll see what tomorrow looks like.

Also, as pre-aranged, the SRO (School Resource Officer) casually popped his head in and mentioned that he was a fan of the show, but for the record, impersonating law enforcement was not a good idea.  The kids ate it up!

Dead in the Water and Phantom Traveler

Two episodes in two days and two more in the next three....  Whee! We are rocking along here.  We have also covered themes, characterization, archetypes, exposition, film terms, and tomorrow we cover symbols and tension (foreshadowing and suspense).  The kids are going with it.  I can't begin to tell you how exciting it is to watch.  The real test is on Thursday and Friday when we read our first story (can you imagine not opening a book in a Language Arts class until the end of the 12th day of class?  Two and a half weeks in?)  This is where we really find out if it is worth it.

Today I was floored while watching episode 104, several kids picked up on one of the more subtle details before the characters pointed it out themselves five minutes later.  I cheered, "That's active watching!"

Also, I am starting to hear from a couple other teachers about their experiences and so far they are positive too.  I hope some will post in the comment section.  I think we are really on to something here!

Day 2

Fourth period yesterday also went really well.  This group of ninth graders are very eager and wide eyed.  More so than previous years.  Additionally both of my classes have a decent amount of Freshman football players and the leadership of the team is very positive and leadership focused, this is apparent in the student's behaviors and that positively affect the classroom environments.

Both classes were given a letter of introduction as their first assignment yesterday.  Two thirds of the students turned their work in today.  For regular ed 9th grade, much less special education students, that is huge!  These kids are excited and enthusiastic and I haven't even really gotten to the TLS stuff yet.  Terrific!

Today through Monday we are doing a lot of pre-test, base line data though we are also covering "Why we teach/learn English."

Today I played "The Scarlet Ibis" for the kids and gave them the assessment.  Tomorrow we will watch the pilot of SPN ( I can't wait to see them watch it!), do that assessment and Monday they will do an online practice EOCT.  These documents will comprise my baseline data.  Then we can really get going. 

Juggling all the activities and lessons I have in mind is still going to take some work with the truncated schedule (80 days versus regular 90, not to mention testing, altered schedule for first week, etc).  I am still trying to decided how I am going to make those adjustments, but based on the behavior and attitude of the kids so far, not to mention the interests listed in their letters of introduction I think this is going to be jut fabulous!

Day 1, First Period.

I got no sleep last night I was so excited and nervous to get started.  First period is very full.  33 (!) kids and there are several who are dual served and several encore (this is not their first time taking this class) and yet they were all so pert and open. 

With a truncated period for the next few days we have to move fast, today being rules and introductions, but they hit the ground running and went with us.

I feel like such a goof!  But it was wonderful!  This year is going to be such an adventure!