Week 24: Student Relationships

Instead of talking about new strategies and tools I used inside of the classroom this past week, I am going to talk about some other "firsts" I experienced this week...

Unlike many teachers today, I don't tend to stay in contact with my students after they graduate high school. Even though I have a Facebook account, I don't have other forms of social media; I've stayed away from Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Snapchat, etc. On Facebook, I have my privacy settings set in a way that makes me virtually unfindable (I know that's not really a word...) unless I share mutual friends with the person searching for me. I know that some teachers like to keep in touch with students through social media, but since I am relatively young and always try to appear professional at work, I don't really want any of my present or former students to see pictures of me in shorts, sun dresses, bathing suits, etc. I am so careful about trying to keep students from finding me that I have even avoided liking my school's Facebook page, friending some of my colleagues, and following a friend's local business. Despite my precautions, about a year ago, one of my former students found me and sent me a friend request. 

The student who found me was one who I had a special relationship with while she was in high school. Due to the fact that she was (is) an ELL and had already switched schools a couple of times, when I met her as a student in my English 11 class 5 years ago, she was already 19 years old; she was jaded, depressed, and wanted to drop out of school. I couldn't blame her - at 19, she had already been married and divorced in Mexico, she had been raising her sister's daughter for at least 2 years, and she was pretty much supporting herself and some of her other family members financially. 

When I first tried to get her to work in a group with other students, she stayed after class to tell me she "didn't like people" and, therefore, wanted to work on her own. Over that year, I helped her slowly come out of her shell mainly by listening to her and encouraging her to keep going. When she found out she would need to come back for one more semester the following year in order to graduate, once again, she wanted to give up. I talked her through it, and I forced her to sign a paper that said, "I promise to come back next year and graduate." I kept that paper pinned to the wall behind my desk until she graduated the following year. 

So when she found me on Facebook, I accepted her friend request. (She had come to visit me and another teacher a few times at lunch since she graduated, so it didn't seem totally out of the blue that she had looked me up and found me.) Soon after I accepted her request, she sent me a message asking for advice. Once again, she was in a situation that had not turned out as she'd hoped, and she did not know what to do. Because I don't have any of my apps set up to notify me instantly, I gave her my cell phone number in case she needed to reach me in an emergency. Not long after, I got a few text messages and a few calls, always when she was in need of advice; we continued to stay in contact. 

Two weeks ago, she sent me a text asking if we could get together this past week before she moved to Tennessee on Saturday (yesterday). After texting back and forth a few times, trying to figure out a date and a time, she also told me that she was going to get married on Wednesday. (I knew that she was in a relationship and had recently gotten engaged.) We decided to meet for lunch on Monday. 

At lunch, we talked about her plans to move with her 9-month-old son and about her upcoming wedding. It was then that she told me that only 3 people knew that she and her fiance were planning on getting married so soon, and she asked me to be at the ceremony, which was going to be at 3 PM at the courthouse in San Diego. I don't know if I was more surprised by the fact that I was one of the 3 people who knew about the wedding or by her request that I be there; I told her I would try to make it work. 

On Tuesday at lunch, a current student of mine (the one I've mentioned before who often comes into my room to talk to me) came in to talk and to make up some work. This student has a slew of personal problems, including health issues that have caused her to miss quite a bit of school this year. Over the weekend, just when she thought things were starting to look up, her grandfather passed away. On Monday, she had been in a really bad mood, and she didn't even look at me when she walked in and out of class. On Tuesday when she walked in at lunch, the first thing she did was apologize for how she had acted on Monday and then she unloaded everything that had been going on since the last time we'd talked a couple of weeks before. I listened. She told me that she'd almost called me on Saturday night because she didn't know what else to do. (I'd given her my number a couple of months before after she told me that she'd been kicked out of her house the previous weekend and had nowhere to go.) She said she didn't call because it was late, and she didn't want to wake me up. 

As depressed as she was over her grandfather's passing, her main concern at that moment was figuring out how to raise her grades. Due to her absences, she had missed a lot of assignments in all of her classes, and if she didn't get her grades up by Wednesday (the next day), she wouldn't be allowed to play in her lacrosse game. As we talked, it turned out that it was "senior night" at the game the next day, which meant that before the game there was going to be a small ceremony honoring all of the seniors on the team. She really wanted to be able to participate in the ceremony since she was team captain, and, in addition to possibly not being allowed to play due to her grades, she was also upset because her father told her that he wasn't going to be there. (In other words, he didn't care to be there.) I asked her what time the game was and told her I would be there. I don't think she registered what I said at first, because she continued to talk about how nobody would be there for her and then said, "You should come." I told her, "You get your grades up, so you're allowed to play, and I will be there." 

That afternoon, I confirmed the time and place of the wedding with my former student, and I made a plan that would get me down to San Diego for a 3 o'clock wedding, allow my son to take a nap at my brother and sister-in-law's house, and get us both back up to Fallbrook by 6:30 for the lacrosse game. 

On Wednesday, my current student brought me her make-up work. I graded it quickly and entered it in the grade book; it was enough to raise her grade from an F to a C! I signed a grade-change form for her and then rushed home to get my son before heading down to San Diego. About 10 minutes after I'd left school, my phone rang. Even though I didn't recognize the number, I picked up; it was my student. She was distraught because one of the women in the counseling office told her that they could not accept the grade-change since I did not deliver it to them. I told her not to worry. I called the school and left messages for both the registrar (explaining the situation) and her counselor (updating her on the situation). Soon after, I got a call from the counselor saying that everything was taken care of and the student would be allowed to play. I was home by 1 and back in the car, with my son, by 1:15. As long as there was no traffic, I had it timed to my brother's house by 2:15 and to the courthouse by 2:50 - 10 minutes before the ceremony. 

As I was driving, I got a call from the bride asking if I would be there by 2:30 because they needed a witness! I said I was on my way and would be there by 2:45 or 2:50. I got to my brother's house as planned, dropped off my son, and continued on my way. As I was getting off the freeway in downtown San Diego at 2:40, my phone rang again. It was the bride asking me for the spelling of my name and my address. I gave it to her, parked, and made my way to the courthouse. I found her and her soon-to-be husband on the second floor, finishing their paperwork. Aside from her baby, I was the only other person there. 

The ceremony took place almost exactly at 3. It was only a few minutes long, but it was beautiful. I held her son and video-taped while they said their vows and exchanged rings. I was honored to be able to take part in this event, and I am tearing up right now thinking about it. Afterwards, I took a few pictures of the newlyweds outside the courthouse. When the bride asked me if I could stay and get something to eat with them, I told her how I had to get back up to Fallbrook for the lacrosse game. She smiled understandingly; after all, it was this same quality about me that had brought us together and brought me down to San Diego to be the witness in her wedding. As we parted ways, she shouted that they would have a bigger celebration the following year; I told her I would be there. Before turning the corner, I looked back at her one last time and smiled as I thought about how I had literally changed her life. As teachers, we know that we affect our students' lives on a daily basis, but we don't often have the opportunity to actually see concrete evidence of the influence we have on those lives. And off I sped to Fallbrook...

We got to the game and out of the car at about 6:37. As we were walking up, I could hear my student giving her speech, and I was sorry that she would not see me sitting in the stands, listening. However, we stayed at the game up until the break after the second quarter. Luckily, my student saw me then, waved, and thanked me for coming. I shouted, "Good luck!" to her before we headed home for bedtime. 

The next day, she walked in and handed me a letter. At first, I thought it was a note excusing her for being tardy, since she came in after the bell rang, but then I saw that it was in her handwriting and started, "Dear Ms. Lewis..." It was a note thanking me for everything I'd done for her. In it, she admitted that she wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for me. 

Now, I'm not telling you these things to impress you or anything like that. As teachers, we have these kinds of connections on a regular basis; it's the nature of the job. I'm telling you these things because I think sometimes, especially at this time of year when we are starting to get sick of some of our students (it's okay... you can admit it...) and when we are starting to get sick of going to work every day, we need to remember why we became teachers in the first place. Contrary to popular belief, we didn't become teachers in order to get summers off (especially because every teacher knows that you don't really get summers - or any other time - "off"); we became teachers in order to help young people learn and grow. We give up our time before school, during breaks, at lunch, and after school because we care about our students and their futures. With some students, there is nothing more to our relationship than the brief interactions we have with them in our classes each day, but we love them all nonetheless. 

Unfortunately, some of our students don't realize just how much we love them and just how much we would do for them. Although I didn't mention it above, this past Wednesday actually started with a very sobering discussion about suicide in my 1st period class. It was exactly one week after the memorial service for a student who committed suicide over Spring Break, and, even though nobody ever brought up this student specifically, I'm sure she was on all of their minds. It was a discussion that brought tears to the eyes of more than a few students in the class. I admitted to them, as I admit to any class that talks about suicide, that my biggest fear as a teacher is having one of my students commit suicide. I told them that I don't know if I would be able to deal with that empty desk. I opened up to them about some of the suicides I'd experienced in my life, and I read them a letter written by Frank Warren to a 16-year-old girl who was contemplating suicide. 

When it comes down to it, teachers not only change lives - we save lives. I am writing this post to remind you of that. If you have not done it recently, tell your students that you care about them. Show them that you are there for them, even when nobody else is. Help them to understand that, no matter how alone they might feel, you are only ever an email away. As I said above, we are teachers because even though there may be nothing more to our relationship with our students than the brief interactions we have with them in our classes each day, we love them all nonetheless. 

Week 23: A New Approach to Developing Reading Comprehension

This week, my school started the first round of SBA testing, which meant we were on a different schedule every day of the week. Meanwhile, my students had just started reading The Great Gatsby the week before, and I had to figure out a way to keep the momentum rolling despite losing time to testing. I also wanted to find a way to put more work on my students' shoulders without having to assign them multiple chapters to read for homework. In other words, I wanted to have them reading in class, but I wanted to get them to do actual work with that reading, because we all know that if you simply tell students to read silently in class (or to read in groups or to follow along while you read), some of the students will pay attention while the rest of the students will: a) work on other assignments, b) fall asleep, c) try to sneak out their phones to check __________ (insert name of any social media app here), or d) all of the above. In the past, I have read or had the students read and:

1. told the students to take notes.
2. stopped to ask the students questions that they then answered in the "Think-Write-Pair-Share" method.
3. asked the students to come up with questions that they then answered in the "Think-Write-Pair-Share" method.

All of these methods work, and they do promote engagement and help students understand a text, but... I wanted to do something different. If you've been following my blog, you know we recently came out of a unit on The Awakening, during which I did a lot of options 2 and 3, and I didn't want to just keep doing the same thing over again.

Therefore, I decided to adapt a method from Inquiry by Design originally intended to be used with short (expository) texts. The method asks students to identify "difficulties" in the text they are reading and to use those difficulties to construct meaning collaboratively. What I like about this method is that it levels the playing field; it allows - and encourages - students to admit they don't understand everything they are reading and to talk about the parts they don't understand. 

In the past, in order to lower the affective filter for my ELLs, I would tell my students to not worry too much if they didn't understand everything and that I wanted them to try to focus on what they did understand. This is all well and good if you understand enough of the text to piece together the story or the theme, but what if you really don't understand anything, as some of my ELLs sometimes tell me in exasperation? And what happens if you think you understand everything, but you really don't? And what am I teaching my students - that they should just ignore things that are difficult for them? How horrible. You can see why I felt a need to change my ways.

I started by recording myself reading all of Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 on my phone. I wanted an audio recording for a couple of reasons: 1) using the recording would allow me to walk around and watch my students follow along with the reading, which is something I can't do very well when I am actually reading out loud, and 2) the recording helped me figure out how I wanted to chunk the text because I decided that I would stop the reading approximately every 5 minutes. (Why 5 minutes? Because it wound up being about 4 pages of text. Also, it wasn't too short where I felt that I was making the reading too choppy, and it wasn't too long where I felt the kids would start to lose focus.)

In class on Tuesday, which happened to be a day where I had about 85 minutes with my 1st period class, as opposed to my normal 56 minutes, I explained to my students that I wanted them to focus on difficulties; I wanted them to follow along with the reading and pay attention to anything they had trouble with or anything that confused them for whatever reason; I told them that if they had no difficulties, then they were not reading very well because even the best readers have difficulties. I told them that they didn't have to worry about writing anything down while we they were listening to the recording, because I would give them 3 or 4 minutes at the end of the first chunk to go back, re-read, and write down their difficulties.

We read the first chunk. I gave them the time to silently look back over the pages we'd just read and to write down their difficulties. Then, I gave them another 3 or 4 minutes to discuss their difficulties with the person sitting next to them. On the next page in their notebook (after the page where they were writing down their individual difficulties), I wanted them to write down anything that they both thought was difficult and why they found it difficult. Essentially, in their discussions, they were filtering out some of the difficulties because they were working through what some of them meant, thus leaving them with only the ones that they couldn't figure out together. 

We worked through all of Chapter 2 in this manner. We were left with about 10 minutes at the end of the period during which I asked students to share out some of their difficulties while I compiled a list of class difficulties. At the end of first period, this was our list of difficulties:

• Who is Dr. Eckleburg?
• Why is Gatsby in West Egg? Is he really getting money from family?
• The description of Dr. Eckleburg
• Why does Tom get angry when Myrtle says, "Daisy?"
• Why was Myrtle upset about her husband borrowing the suit?
• Why don't the women make a big deal when Tom hits Myrtle?

As you can see, this list comprises some of the most important issues in Chapter 2 - many of the issues I would have asked my students about if I had used my old reading method. However, the beauty with this list is that it was entirely student created. They were reading carefully enough to pick out these issues, and they understood that these issues were somehow important in relation to the rest of the book. 

The following class session, I started by having the students try to figure out one of these issues in their table groups. I told them they should look back in their books and that they could also use their phones to help them look up anything they wanted to look up. Again, I gave them 3 minutes. I told them that if they figured one difficulty out completely, then they should move onto another difficulty. 

After the 3 minutes were up, we discussed these difficulties as an entire class. I just asked the groups to share out what they found. Even though some of the groups discussed the same difficulties, each group was able to add something to the discussion; by the end, they figured them all out, and we were ready to begin reading Chapter 3. 

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Ease of use: It took me a little while to figure out exactly how to do this, but once I did, it worked fine. Also, the students didn't seem to have any trouble with it, once they understood the process. I did have to walk around the room the entire time, encouraging discussion, but other than that, it was a very easy method to implement.
Would I use this again: I used this for reading Chapter 3 as well, and I think I am going to continue using this method throughout the novel.
Downsides: It takes time. I was blessed with the block period that first day because we were able to finish the chapter. When we read Chapter 3, we started in class, and I told the students to finish for homework, looking for difficulties as they read; it worked out fine, but it would've been better if they'd been able to do it collaboratively in class.
Applications: Reading fiction or nonfiction texts in any subject area. Inquiry by Design uses this approach with shorter texts, about 4 or 5 pages long, but if you chunk a longer text like I did, it works just as well.
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UPDATE: 

As the unit progressed, I transitioned from having students read with the recordings to having students read out loud in their small groups. I assigned each person in the group a number - 1-4 - based on where they were sitting in the group, and I would roll a die to determine who was going to read. If I rolled a 1-4, then the person with the corresponding number would read (i.e., if I rolled a 2, then person #2 in each group would read). If I rolled a 5, then I would just choose a number. If I rolled a 6, then the students were allowed to choose in their groups who would read. 

When they read this way, I would have the person read out loud for 3 minutes. Then, I would give the groups 1 minute to discuss what they read and determine difficulties. I changed from the reading time to only 3 minutes, since only 1 person in the group was reading during this time; I didn't want the reader to go on for too long and have the other group members disengage. 

I would also use the numbers and roll the die when I asked the groups to report out difficulties to the class. 

Week 22: New Routines with ELD 2 that Promote Critical Thinking and Conversation

Vocabulary

For a while now, I'd been feeling like I needed to up my game with my vocabulary routine in my ELD 2 class. It's not that the words I've been giving them need to be more rigorous; I've been using words from Averil Coxhead's Academic Word List in addition to words from the readings we do in class, and I've been quite happy with the results. What I needed to improve was the way in which I presented that vocabulary to the kids and had the kids work with the vocabulary throughout the week. My routine followed this sequence:

• Monday:
• Give the students the vocabulary worksheet (sample)
• Go over the pronunciation of each of the words
• Give the students the parts of speech and definitions using a Google Presentation (sample)
• Students work together to come up with synonyms and antonyms for the words
• Go over the synonyms and antonyms with the class
• Students write sentences and draw pictures for #1-5 on the worksheet in class; check to make sure the sentences use the words correctly
• Tuesday:
• Spelling test
• Students write the words they missed 5x each
• Students write sentences and draw pictures for #6-10 on the worksheet in class
• Wednesday:
• Spelling test
• Students write the words they missed 5x each
• Students write sentences and draw pictures for #11-15 on the worksheet in class
• Thursday:
• Spelling test
• Students write the words they missed 5x each
• Students write sentences and draw pictures for #16-20 on the worksheet in class
• Practice test using a Google Presentation with pictures to represent each of the words (sample)
• Students have to guess which picture matches with each word
• Friday:
• Vocabulary Quiz (sample)

While this routine gave the students plenty of practice with writing the words, it did not really help the students to internalize the meanings of the words. Also, the method in which I delivered the definitions did not encourage them to do any critical thinking to try to figure out the words for themselves, which is the very skill they need when they are reading or having conversations out in the real world; they need to know how to use context clues and how to tap into their prior knowledge in order to figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word because they won't want to stop everything to look up a word every time they come across a word they don't know. 

I decided that my routine needed an overhaul. I needed to do more in order to help my students develop their thinking skills as well as their vocabulary. 

At 8:45 on Sunday night, the last night of Spring Break, I was busy grading notebooks when my wonderful husband asked me if there was anything he could do to help. I looked at him and said, "Well... I need to make my vocabulary for ELD 2..."

"Okay. I can do that for you."

"But... I am going to start doing it differently..."

"What do you want me to do?"

"If I put together the word list and a worksheet, will you come up with three sample sentences for each word? You can just get through as many as possible; if you don't want to do all of them, you don't have to..."

"Sure. I can do that."

I quickly came up with a new worksheet template that had 4 columns - Word, Sample Sentences, My Definitions, Actual Definition - and set my husband up with the computer. Here is the result. I planned on having the students work in groups to try to figure out what each word means, based on the sample sentences, before I gave them the actual definitions. This would start teaching them how to use the rest of the sentence to make meaning for themselves, which is exactly what good readers do. It would also get them working in groups, teaching each other, which promotes learning. 

I still wanted to give them the actual definitions because I wanted to make sure they had the correct definitions in the end. I also needed to figure out a second worksheet that would have the students write sentences and draw pictures for each word because I really feel that those are beneficial activities in helping students understand the definitions. I also wanted to give students the related word forms, so they will start to recognize that if they know what the word verb "communicate" means, then they can also figure out what the noun "communication" means and what the adjective "communicative" means. I came up with this basic worksheet, which I can use for every list for the rest of the year. 

On Monday morning, I began introducing the changes to my students. I told them, "I am going to change the way we've been doing vocabulary-"

"Awww! Why, Miss?"

I explained to them that I wanted them to start learning how to use context clues in order to help them figure out the meanings of words they aren't familiar with. I explained that "this is what good readers do." I gave them the worksheet, and they got to work. It took them about 40 minutes to work through all 20 of the words. Then, I presented the actual definitions. What I didn't do, which I plan on doing in the future, is have them reflect on which words they were able to figure out and which words they were not able to figure out; I think this will help them refine their thinking process in the future. By the end of the second period on Monday, we got through about 2/3 of the definitions, and I told them we would pick back up where we left off. 

On Tuesday, we finished going over the definitions; then, I gave them the second worksheet. I went over the different word forms (something I will have them do on their own in the future), and I told them that I wanted them to write sentences and draw pictures for all 20 words for homework that night. Most of the students gawked, "What? All 20 words?" But a few of them just nodded and packed the worksheet away into their backpacks. After I explained, once again, that I am trying to help prepare them for their future classes, the rest of the students quieted down and packed away the worksheets as well. I told them that I wanted them to try; my paraprofessional and I would check their sentences the next day and help them with any they were unsure of. I also told them that anyone who didn't do the assignment would receive a detention (a method I had to implement much earlier this year when 3/4 of the class weren't doing their homework). 

On Wednesday, I only had 2 students who didn't do the assignment. We checked the students' sentences while they worked on an independent grammar activity, and most of them were very good. After that, I had them take a spelling test and write the words they missed 5x each, like we used to do in the past. I planned on having them write conversations using some of the vocabulary words, but since some of my students had to go to an assembly during the 2nd period, I pushed the activity to Thursday.

On Thursday, I was out for professional development, but I left plans for my sub to do the spelling practice, 5x each, practice test using the Google Presentation and the pictures, and the conversations using this worksheet. 

On Friday, we had our vocabulary quiz as usual. Prior to the quiz (I think on Wednesday), I told the students that I would just choose one of the 3 sample sentences to use for each word on the fill-in-the-blank portion of the quiz. I told them that I didn't want them to try to memorize all three sentences for each word; instead, I wanted them to focus on really trying to understand what the words mean, because, if they know what the words mean, then they will be able to figure out which word goes in each sentence, especially since I include context clues in the sentences on the quiz to help them figure out the answer. Here is what their quiz looked like.

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Ease of use: Now that I've established this routine, it will be easy for me to follow. The key with any new routine is that you follow it. That's all. Kids love routines. Also, it wasn't very difficult to switch from the old routine, since they were already used to doing some vocabulary work every day.
Would I use this again: Yes; I am going to continue with this method throughout the rest of the semester. (Although, I may continue to refine it.) I like that this new method has them think about the words in different ways - from figuring out the definitions, to writing sentences and drawing pictures, to using the words in conversation; the more work students do with new vocabulary, the more likely they are to remember those words.
Downsides: Although I like our new system, I don't think I would start the year with this in ELD 2. I feel like it was beneficial to do the vocabulary the other way for a while, because the students need a strong foundation in the English language before context clues are any help to them in figuring out what words mean. Also, now I (or my husband) will have to come up with 3 sample sentences for each word, which means a total of 60 sample sentences every week. However, once it is done, I will have those worksheets saved to use in the future. Also, my students did not do as well on this week's quiz. However, I think the scores will start coming back up once they get used to the new routine. Furthermore, the thing that really matters is that the kids start using these words on a daily basis, and since they've started doing this, I don't really care that the quiz scores aren't that great.
Applications: Routines, in general, help with classroom management. Other than that, I could see this kind of system used in almost every level of ELD or English (you would obviously just tweak it a bit to fit your level of students - perhaps in a high level English class, the students have to go out and find examples of the words and use those examples to come up with the meaning). Also, the conversation component is good in any language class, and I know it is a method that is used often in language classes. For my conversation worksheet, I tied in the grammar concept we were working on this week with the vocabulary. Speaking of conversations...
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Conversations about Watching Television and Current Event Assignments

Every week, my ELD students have to turn in a Watching Television assignment on Tuesday and a Current Event on Thursday. Every week, one student presents his/her assignments to the class. This has been working pretty well, but since I wanted to give my students more structured opportunities to talk to each other in English, I decided to create a conversation activity centering on these assignments. I put together this Google Presentation which walks students through discussing their Watching Television assignment. By using this presentation, I got all of my students speaking in English, instead of just the one student who was presenting. On Thursday, I did the same with their Current Event assignments. 

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Ease of use: This is really easy to use. I walked the students through the presentation, and I wandered around the room while they were talking to make sure they were actually speaking in English.
Would I use this again: Yep. I am looking for every opportunity I can to get my students speaking in English.
Downsides: Students got a little confused on Part 2 of the conversation, and I blame myself because the slide is a bit confusing. However, now that we've gone through it, they should know how to do it in the future. Also, if you have students who did not do their assignment (like I did), you will have to come up with something for them to do while the other students are talking.
Applications: Promoting discussion in the classroom.