Certifiable?

Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Not a teacher was stirring
Not to grade or to grouse

The folders were stacked
By the desktop with care
In hopes they’d be graded
As if I were there

The students at home
Must be snug in their beds
Independent variables
Dance in their heads

My wife with her vacuum
And me with my blog
Get set for the onslaught
Of sisters and dog

Once all were asleep
There arose such a ruckus
What could it be that
Had up upon snuck us

Away from my door
A green elf was fleeing
He’d left me a box
“For your NBCTin’...”

The box, it was blue
And filled with four entries
And videotapes
And reflection a plenty

Santa’s been busy
I saw with a flash
Observing the naughty
And nice in my class

The strange thing about it
The entries were mine
About blogs and canoes
And computer lab time

They were all done up neat
Size 12 font, headings placed
The forms were complete
Bits of standards bold-faced.

As I stood on my porch
With the box in my mitts
A chill ran up my spine
Santa really exists!

But quick as I read
How, I don’t understand
All that student achievement
Disappeared in my hand.

Like icicles melting
Or a watch’s tick tocks
Each page disappeared
From the soggy blue box.

I was left holding nothing
But thoughts in my head
Of how I’d been finished
But I wasn’t, instead.

It didn’t defeat me,
This vision of June
Instead it reheated
My desire to bloom.

Quick to the ‘puter
I flew like a flash
Clicked open a browser
Logging on real fast

Google was festive
Yes I had mail
But I wasn’t distracted
I’d now seen the Grail.

I started typing
Didn’t go back to bed
Awoke with the keyboard
Against my forehead.

There at the printer
The sheets black and white
Two entries were done
And they wouldn’t take flight

Okay, I dreamed it
I was NBC-free
But if I’m good I will finish
Both entries this week.

Posted by Emmet Rosenfeld at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I know that after last post you are waiting at the edge of your feed-readers to discover how my videotape of kids learning about databases in the library displays the rest of the ten standards related to Entry Two. And believe me, I want to discover this too. However, please allow me a week’s digression to pick the lint out of the bellybutton of my blog, and simultaneously fulfill a request to write a quick piece about it from the editor of the NVWP’s Journal.

The truth about this blog is that it’s a blast to write-- puns, purple, pedanticism... anything goes. Anther truth is that sometimes I write it in a blast, one quick pass at the keyboard like a falcon smashing downward on its prey. Following are a few things I have learned in the process of writing “Certifiable?” over the past ten months.

1. That I can write every week. If nothing else comes of all this, at least I got religion. It’s still not the hallowed 8 to noon that how-to-write-a-novel books assume we mortals can somehow carve out of our schedules. There is, after all, the day job to think about (without which I wouldn’t be writing the blog in the first place).

2. That I can do this National Board thing. It’s true that with every blasted bite of elephant I start to feel more like Forrest Gump, swabbing the deck in his barracks and listing for his pal ad infinitum the ways to prepare shrimp. But what I’m really saying, with each key stroke and each new post, is I think I can, I think I can, I think I can... I am writing toward my goal, figuring something out each week. It’s kept me honest, and been a genuine experience of what writing guru Donald Murray calls Writing to Learn. Or, in my case, Writing to Earn.

3. That voice follows form follows function. When I started this, I looked at every piece as a mini-column. I sweated. I was a little uptight. Eventually I realized what it was for-- to capture a process as it happens. With that I accepted that this is its own form, more forgiving and more plastic. It allows one to imbed fragments of the topic like shards in an ongoing mosaic, without the same obligation as a column to achieve a complete portrait at each sitting. In discovering the freedom this allows, I have also discovered a voice that is, to my ear, more authentic and fluid.

4. That I can connect with my readers. Audience is everything in this game. It’s connected to the context bone, which is connected to the purpose bone, which is connected-- directly-- to my flibbling fingers every time I sit down to write a post. I realized this the very first week, when I received a cascade of genuinely supportive comments from more than a classroom’s worth of teachers sprinkled across the country. Since then, the comments have trickled in at a much slower rate, but are no less meaningful. NBCT’s offer advice, wannabe’s like me offer amens, even old students pop up with unexpected thank yous. Knowing that there are real somebodies at the other end keeps me coming to the keyboard each week when I really ought to be doing Entry Two.

5. That I can be a better teacher of writing when I write. I know how long it takes to write 500 words, and the exact cost in bodily fluids. When assigning writing now, I can be the poor shmuck standing next to them in the soup line instead of the imperious do-gooder ladling it out. Not only do I think twice when asking them to write, I read more honestly, too. I tell them what I want as a reader, red pen be damned.

Posted by Emmet Rosenfeld at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Eating liver. Grading papers. Doing the dishes. It’s not that there’s nothing to be said for activities like these. It’s just, most of it isn’t good. Especially when you’re at the beginning of the process, feeling put off by the idea of the work rather than the work itself. Which sometimes isn’t that bad (except for the liver). In the spirit of one bite at a time, here is a list of just three little things from the first five of the ten standards which apply to Entry Two. After all, I’ve only got 16 double-spaced pages to go.

I. Knowledge of Students
1. I know a student in this class who is both intellectually precocious and wears provocative clothing, and is emotionally vulnerable because she lost her father about a year ago.
2. I know a student who patiently raises his hand all the time instead of blurting out answers because he is from a culture where he needs validation from the teacher.
3. I know a student who is extroverted and verbal and would rather take a short-cut than go through the assigned steps of an assignment.

II. Knowledge of the Field
1. I know that even gifted students with high reading levels need help navigating primary source articles from science journals, which is why I did a lesson on this before going to the library.
2. I know that students will find it easier to write “idea papers” about topics related to water quality for an authentic audience of their peers and for the purpose of finding a personal research topic rather than just for me and only for a grade.
3. I know that students can benefit from a writing workshop guided by a fairly specific set of criteria when writing a technical paper using APA format, with special attention given to how and when to use parenthetical citations (new to most ninth graders).

III. Engagement
1. I captured the interest of my students at the outset of the lesson by using the smartboard in the media center’s interactive classroom, letting them guide me in navigating to the school’s databases.
2. A student volunteer was “the researcher,” and got to sit at the keyboard and make choices as I guided the class in a sample search to review limiters and Boolean operators.
3. The class and I had a healthy give-and-take as we discussed ways to narrow our search results and evaluate the quality of those results by scanning titles and reading the first few lines of an abstract.

IV. Learning Environment
1. I listened carefully when students offered their ideas about whether or not the aforementioned abstract was a good potential source for the assigned research task and guided the class to consensus about its applicability.
2. I let students know that during the work period I expected them to complete their search ladders, zero in on a research topic, and record two sources in their notes or on Noodelbib (an online bibliography writer).
3. I managed the class and resources efficiently by moving through the review in ten minutes, then letting students work individually while I circulated to offer one-on-one instruction as needed.

V. Equity, Fairness, and Diversity
1. I was proactive in selecting a girl to be the sample researcher and in calling on girls in our whole-class discussion because I am aware that in mixed gender classrooms, particularly in science and math, boys may feel more comfortable speaking out than girls, and do so more frequently.
2. The first individual I helped after the min-lesson was a Latino boy who I know is sometimes hesitant to begin an assignment if he doesn’t feel comfortable, and whom I had observed sitting in his chair without moving when other kids were already at their computers.
3. Only later in the class did I approach another student, one that was extremely comfortable with reading scientific literature and fully capable of doing this assignment, at which point I nodded my head as if I understood when he explained to me an utterly fascinating premise he’d just uncovered in one of the journal articles.

Note. For those of you keeping score at home, these are the standards still to come: VI. Instructional Resources; VII. Instructional Decision Making; X. Speaking, Listening, and Viewing;XII. Integrated Instruction; XIV. Self-Reflection.

Posted by Emmet Rosenfeld at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last Thursday I gave a lesson in the media center on how to use the databases for scientific research and had kids start working on a “search ladder” that helps them find good sources to use for upcoming “idea papers.” One really great thing about the lesson was that the librarian (sorry-- media center specialist) was kind enough to videotape me three periods in a row. The first time, we worked on camera angles and where to place the mic. The second time, the camera somehow clicked off. And the third time.... we got it! Usable footage.

One student asked a question while standing right in front of the camera after my mini-lesson, and when I answered said something along the lines of, “Your direct and individualized instruction has not only made me understand this concept, it’s made me a better learner and a better person, too.” Well, maybe not in those exact words, but it was a moment caught on film that was better than anything I could have scripted.

So, what’s next? Just a quick 16-page write up. Below is the outline for the required analysis, which I’ll be busy pecking away at before the glow of pedagogical success fades. These sentence-starters are transcribed from the section in the bible on Entry 2, “Composing My Written Commentary” (EA/ELA 2006, pp 114-115).

Instructional context (1 pg)
The number, ages, and grades of the students in the class featured in this entry are... and the subject matter is...
Relevant characteristics of this class that influenced my instructional strategies for this lesson are... Instructional challenges represented by these particular students are...
Relevant features of my teaching context that influenced the selection of this particular strategy and style of instruction are...

Planning and Video Recording Analysis (6 pp)
My long-term goals for this class are... Thematic connections include ...
These goals and themes are appropriate for these students because ...
The instructional goals for this lesson are ... These short term goals fit into my long-term goals and tie in with class themes by... My rationale for choosing whole class discussion as the format to meet the goals of this lesson is…
Information about this particular class influences what is seen on the video in several ways…
There were several specific procedures and teaching strategies that I used in this lesson, including ones to foster student participation in the whole class interaction… My reasons for these choices were…
To ensure fairness, equity and access for all students I did the following… An example was when…
The materials and resources that I used in this lesson were… My reasons for choosing these materials were…
Activities related to this lesson that came before the video segment were… Activities related to this lesson that came after the video segment were…My rationale for selecting this sequence of activities was…
This lesson reflects my integration of the language arts strands (reading, writing, listening, speaking, and/or viewing) in these ways…

Reflection (4 pp)
I achieved the goals of the lesson to the extent…
The most successful moment/aspect of the lesson on the video recording was… It was successful because…
If I were to reteach this lesson, I would change… for these reasons…
The influence of the lesson’s outcome on future instruction of this class (or members of this class) is…

Posted by Emmet Rosenfeld at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)