Teacherscribe's Teaching Thoughts
Week 12 - 23-25
How it is supposed to be
This is what vulnerability looks like
True
The World is a Fine Place and Worth Fighting For
Book of the Week - Old School Grit
In this time of lockdown and distance learning, we need to muster up a little more old fashioned grit. In fact, I thought of this book when we had our staff PD discussion on Wednesday. One topic that came up was what to do with kids who always had their cameras off. Well, one reason for that is perhaps kids are embarrassed of their homes or their rooms or are still in their pajamas.
There were great points made that there is nothing wrong with asking kids to get dressed and clean up their rooms or homes and take pride in things.
All that, though, requires grit. I'm afraid we in short supply of that across our culture.
Teaching Thoughts
Week #12 – November 23-25 Thanksgiving
Teaching Thought #50 - Try using a Three Act Lesson Structure
I stole this from the remarkable Dan Meyer. He teaches math, and one of the issues he has with a majority of math curriculum is that textbooks suck. They have problems that have neat solvable answers (I’m not a math guy, so I have no idea if this is true, for I rarely met any math problem that ever had a neat answer for me) or the problems don’t relate to anything in the real world.
So he designed what he calls the Three Act Lesson. Here is a blog post where he describes it in more detail and offers an example.
I think this is a lesson structure that anyone can use, and, best of all, it’s precise and engaging.
Act 1: Introduce the central conflict of your story/task clearly, visually, viscerally, using as few words as possible.
So on in my world of literature and composition, I might post a meme from FB that one of my
peers posted that is unreliable, biased, and less than informed. OR I may simply ask “What is a
key symbol in the upcoming story and what does it represent?”
Act 2: The protagonist/student overcomes obstacles, looks for resources and develops new tools.
So again, they would research the meme I shared with them for accuracy. Where can they look to double check this? Snopes? If that doesn’t turn up anything, what can they tell from the meme itself - and who created it - that might help lead them to a blog or website for more information. Or as they read the story, how are they sure they know what a symbol is? What is a sure way to determine a symbol? How are they related to theme? Maybe they do some research on the author to see if he or she often use recurring symbols?
Act 3: Resolve the conflict and set up the sequel/extension.
So what do the students find regarding the meme and the subject or topic it attempts to address?
What fallacies are found in it? What would they say to the person who posted it? How can they argue against them using logical evidence? How can they support them using logical evidence? OR students will present the symbol from the story and what it represents and THEN go out and find another symbol used in a film or other short story.
See how easy and effective that is? Just keep that in mind if you - like me - find yourself wondering why students are confused or just don’t ‘get’ the assignments. Break it down into this format for them.
Check out this stockpile of Three Act Math examples. It would be easy to adapt this to whatever you teach.
Teaching Thought #51 - The (real) Question You Should be Asking
Whenever I’m planning something new, I ask myself the question, “What would it take to make this possible?” But Michael Hyatt flips that question around a bit. And I like the possibilities it suggests: “What would this make possible?”
Instead of looking to add and tweak my material and curriculum all the time, when I reflect on it, I now use Hyatt’s question: “What would this make possible?”
For example, for several years now my College Comp II students have taken turns writing the “On the Other Hand” columns in the local paper. When I thought about resurrecting the column, which used to be written from students in the Magnet Arts program, when visiting with David Hill, the editor of The Times, I was just focusing on what we had to do in order to make it happen - topics, sign up process, scheduling, grading . . .
But now I ask “What would students writing all of these columns make possible?” That changes everything. How can they positively write about the school? How can they impact the community through the columns? How can they shed light on the issues that are vital to them? How can they show the community and the readership (who are far older than these students) how much school has changed? How can they let others know how important they have been to them? How can I get their writing to a larger audience (I created a Smore newsletter for that)? How else can I publish their work (maybe have students select one piece of writing that they believe is their best work and then have them revise it and submit it. Then take all the essays for each class and have them bound into a collection. Then give students copies and put copies in all the doctors offices and other businesses around town for the public to read).
What would happen if you applied “What would this make possible?” to your classroom and teaching?
Teaching Thought #52 - Share your best stuff
This is treading into TLAP territory, so some of you are tuning out anyway (actually, I don’t think any of you are - if you don’t like TLAP or PD I didn’t include you on my email list and you wouldn’t have clicked on this via social media anyway), but it’s a great idea to consider - and it’s one I’d love to have a MLK session on or, at least, a common prep around
What is your best lesson? Now Dave Burgess phrases it as “What lesson could you sell tickets for?” I think that makes other teachers uncomfortable, for if you offer an example, you may seem like a show off or know it all.
I disagree. In fact, I take the same attitude that Burgess does. He makes an analogy that I think is spot on: if you’re eating in crowded restaurant and suddenly someone starts to choke, you would sit idly by. You’d start asking (even shouting) if anyone knows CPR or the Heimlich.
Now imagine you do know both CPR and the Heimlich. Would you not act to save that person? Or would you feel uncomfortable?
I bet you’d jump to action and do everything in your power to save this person.
Well, it’s the same with a great lesson. You are saving the intellectual lives of children by sharing a great, engaging lesson with others who can then adapt it and change it to fit their classes.
I know there is a population that will say something like, “Well, if we all do that lesson, then it will get old.” I hear this often with new technology. “Oh, if I use Padlet and you do and everyone starts using it, the students will get bored of it.”
What? I can see their point, but has that thinking ever stopped us from doing slideshows or using the white board or giving notes? Pretty sure kids get those in every single class in America.
Share your great lessons! Here is an example - Lessons Designed to Create Culture.
Why I Teach
The passion of my colleagues
Students might not yet realize how lucky they are to have teachers who care so much about them, who hold them to high standards, who will schedule individual time to meet with them one one, and who will answer texts from them at all hours of the day.
Again, they might not realize how unique this is. But once they are out of here, they sure will see it.
I'm so impressed with my fellow teachers that these thoughts - "Why didn't I think of that?" and "I have to start doing that!" are in my head constantly.
Thank you!
Podcast of the Week - Entreleadership
Unfortunately, most of us don't. Delony notes that, unfortunately, in our culture today, we celebrate anxiety. We brag about how little sleep we get, about how packed our calendar is, about how much we can get done, and so on. But that's only making things worse.
On top of that, we are caught up in a technology driven world, where it's so easy to stay plugged in all the time. There are always emails to check or send (especially now if we are to also notify parents in addition to their students if we are going to be gone), Google forms to grade, Classroom assignments to grade, lesson plans to update . . . And on top of that, if one does take a break from that, what do many do? Go to social media and doom scroll! All of that just adds to the stress and anxiety.
Slow down and listen to your body. That is the best way to handle stress. Take some things off your plate. Practice self care. Or - as one of my favorite sayings states - if you're in a hole, stop digging!
Video of the week -
Thoughts from Twitter
Give this a try in your classroom . . . Spice up your Zooms
I can't imagine how students feel.
I'm trying to spice up my Zooms - and the elementary teachers my kids have had are doing an excellent job - so it's not just a content dump.
One thing that's a bit of a change is where I leave the Zoom up and running for 15 minutes when I'm doing with them, and then I tell them that they can hang on and ask questions or log back in with questions. I will have four or five kids always stay on. Some ask questions but many just say, "I don't have a question yet, but I'm just hanging on to see what questions others are asking." I love that.
Another idea that Bryce came up with was see if students could dress up for just one Zoom lesson. That would address what Darcy talked about in our Zoom PD session on last Wednesday.
I'm thinking of having a show and tell day. Another day where we just discuss and everyone has to share. I've seen some other cool ideas, many of which are listed below.
What are you doing to spice up your Zoom lessons?
Article of Interest - The 7 Soft Skills That Will Matter Most in 2021
How do you get people to invest and buy in to what you are doing? A grade or paycheck simply isn't enough. Instead, how you treat others in this digital world, how you actively listen to what your people are really saying, how you show them how much you respect them, how you can model your work ethic without seeming to be preachy are all huge now.
Bonus content of the week -
In Case You Missed it: Link to Last Week's Teaching Thoughts Newsletter
Chief Inspiration Officer of Room 205
I am married to the most amazing person in the world, Kristie. It was love at first sight. At least for me. And it still is.
We have four wonderful children, Casey, Koko, Kenzie, and Cash. And now we have been blessed with five grandchildren!
I also happen to have the greatest job in the world: teaching English to high school students.
I am in my 23rd year of teaching at Lincoln High School. I graduated from Lafayette High School in Red Lake Falls in 1992. I decided to enter the field of education because of two amazing teachers, Mr. Mueller, my fourth and sixth grade elementary school teacher and assistant baseball coach, and Mrs. Christianson, my 9th grade English teacher.
I attended Northland Community College, and had my life changed by the amazing Dr. Diane Drake. Then I transferred to Bemidji State University in 1995. There I had amazing professors who further inspired me to teach English (Dr. Helen Bonner, Dr. Mark Christensen, Susan Hauser, and Gerry Schnabel). I graduated with my BS in English Education in 1997.
I student taught with the wonderful Lisa Semanko and then began teaching full-time at LHS in 1998.
I took a year's leave of absence in 2001-02 to return to BSU for my MA in English. There I had the privilege to teach and work closely with my greatest mentor, Dr. Mark Christensen. I earned my MA in English in 2006 and was honored with "Thesis of the Year" for my creative non-fiction, braided, multi-genre memoir, "Meeting Myrtle: A Biography."
In 2013, thanks to my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Jodi Holen, I was offered an adjunct teaching position fall semester at the University of North Dakota. Tuesday nights I teach Intro to Education: Teaching and Learning 250 from 5-8. Those three hours fly by in about ten minutes.
Then in 2016 I was blessed to win a WEM award (thanks to a nomination from a former student (and now an elementary school teacher), Ciera Mooney).
In 2017 I became part of the #pineconepd podcast club along with Brian Loe, Jeff Mumm, Kelsey Johnson, Kelly Weets, Josh Watne, Tevia Strand, Megan Vigen, Mariah Hruby, Laura Brickson, Loren Leake, Katie Hahn, Melora Burgee, and new members all the time. This has been one of the best forms of PD I've ever been a part of. They make me a better teacher every time we meet. Please think about joining us in the summer at the Pine Cone Pub from 6:30 - until we've solved all the world's problems. For that evening anyway.
Thanks to the inspiration of Shane Zutz (our former principal) I devised this as a way to distribute my Teaching Thoughts and add more content to, hopefully, help out and inspire others.
Email: kurt.reynolds@myprowler.org
Website: http://teacherscribe.blogspot.com
Location: 101 South Knight Aver Thief River Falls MN 56701
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