Certifiable?

This week for our support class, instead of meeting at the high school we had to post responses to three threads and comment on others’ posts. Below are the questions and my responses.

I don't think, by the way, that mine are entirely representative. Many of my classmates seem more positive about the experience. I'm not sure if I'm being too honest, or just tired. Either way, I find it hard to revel in the experience at this point. I'm just looking down at the trail, putting one foot in front of the other as I try to shift the canoe to some place on my shoulders that isn't sore. We gotta be getting close to the next lake.

1. How has working through the National Boards process impacted your teaching?
When all this is behind me, I am sure I will have a different, more charitable take on the experience. I remember wanting to fling the canoe from my shoulders during long portages between lakes in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota; now I look back on my time as an Outward Bound instructor almost twenty years ago as a formative period of my life.

But at this moment, a month before the portfolio is due, I feel that the main impact National Boards has had on my teaching is to stress me out. Time I might use for grading papers is spent gathering up assignments and rubrics. Energy I could put into planning a lesson is spent fussing with video tape or poring through a 3-inch thick sheaf of directions trying to make sure I am meeting every requirement.

Another impact of the process is that I have altered some lessons, not to make them better but to make them better for my portfolio. For my second video tape, for example, after numerous attempts to get the first one right, I carefully staged a lesson that I knew would work well, and got usable footage on the first take. I’m not sure if I learned how to teach better, but I definitely learned how to videotape my teaching.

2. What have you learned about yourself as a teacher as you go through your candidacy?
I have seen the big picture: how a lesson fits into a unit fits into a year. Being forced to describe what is often an unexamined continuum has confirmed for me what I had hoped was true when I started; that I do what I do for pedagogically sound reasons and in the context of a larger plan.

I’ve also appreciated the chance to look closely at individual butterflies flitting amidst the flowers of learning, something we don’t often give ourselves time to do during our purposeful daily march through the fields of academe. This too gives me satisfaction: I can see progress in my students, with the evidence pinned down and labeled under a display case. There’s validation in such meticulous cataloging that tempers, to a degree, the resentment I feel at the extraordinary effort required to get a raise.

3. What do you feel are the implications for your future as you work through this process?
I have added my voice to a national discussion about teaching. I confess that at times this blog has been more important to me than the portfolio itself. It seemed more immediate (due each week and not at the end of a year), fulfilling (feedback comes immediately via readers’ comments) and useful (published for all the world to read, not just sent off in a blue box to anonymous readers). As a result of blogging my National Board experience, I was interviewed by a Washington Post reporter, engaged in a debate in a different national publication with another reporter, and joined a nationwide network of teachers, called TLN, dedicated to impacting education policy. In short, I have come to feel connected to a community that extends beyond my classroom walls, my division or my school. That sense of being part of something larger than myself will stay with me for as long as I remain a member of this maddeningly complex yet profoundly rewarding profession.

Posted by Emmet Rosenfeld at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I’m frustrated with myself over the choice of student work for Entry 1 but because I’ve already started the write ups (and also because it’s such a hassle to collect the stuff) I’m hesitant to change now. Neither the ticking clock nor these hoop burns are helping.

I like both students fine, but in seeking to use certain assignments that I know show a lot of growth, I’ve painted myself into a corner in regards to using others. For example, I need a response to a non-print text from the ninth grader in written form, and the piece I thought I’d use, an observation writing from his field notebook, he... umm... didn’t do. Yeah, that I wasn’t aware of this before now is not a good sign. I knew it was the weakest link of the eight when I was working the bar puzzle. It just fit. Except now it doesn’t.

Also, I’m starting to realize that I selected the sophomore not because we have a strong connection but because I really liked what she did on one particular assignment, and she is such a steady and reliable kid I knew whatever I asked for she’d be able to produce. Now it turns out that the assignment of hers I especially liked I can’t use, because it doesn’t fit the bar puzzle. (Another one over here, pal. Make it a double.)

So, what to do? This weekend, due to impending interims, I think I’ll ignore the problem while I wade through a six-inch stack of papers I haven’t been grading lately. See-- National Boards is already influencing my impact on student achievement.

After the paint has dried, I’ll get back to you on this. Hopefully, some good advice from blog readers will be forthcoming in the meantime. Speaking of which, let me share or reply to a few recent comments.

Faye wrote on Feb 15 to remind us that the portfolio is due IN THE HANDS of NBPTS on March 31st, not “postmarked by” as I wrote in “Arithmetic of Reading and Writing.” A small detail that may have prevented me or others from putting bullets in our heads.

Jennifer points out that I should not “recycle” work amongst Entries 1-3. While these entries are likely to be read by different readers, so I’m not sure how enforceable that restriction is, Jennifer is right. Thanks for citing chapter and verse.

Hillary asked after reading last post, “Are you answering ALL the questions about Student A, and then ALL the questions about Student B, or for each question dealing with first one student, and then the second?” For what it’s worth, I’m using the order of forms in the bible as my guide, unless someone offers a compelling reason to do it in another way. Check out the “Entry 1 Assembly Final Inventory” for a schematic drawing complete with information including where to place the paper clips.

A last random question I posed to my support class instructor, Lisa: When including rubrics should they be the ones I actually used with students or “clean copies”? She wrote back, “It is better to send the rubrics that were actually used, with comments. That way, the assessors can see the feedback you provided and that you actually used it! If you did not use a rubric for the assignment, just clearly write up how the students were assessed and why you chose that method.”

Posted by Emmet Rosenfeld at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The end of an unexpected 6-day weekend is approaching, and the snow and ice that closed school has also put a freeze on my ability to slog ahead on Entry One. Bored with boredom, this morning at last I forced myself to the keyboard to write about work samples I’ve selected for use in my final portfolio entry.

“Making Good Choices” is the slightly paternalistic title given to the section in the bible offering advice on which assignments to select. It’s true, though, that my dilly-dallying on this entry is because I found it hard to choose only two out of my hundred some students; and then to choose only four out of the dozens of assignments they’ve done. Even with all those choices, I’ve actually recycled some of the work mentioned in other entries, in part because I have all the documentation handy.

I described the required work samples last time I wrote. Below is a paragraph outline in which I’ve sign-posted profusely to keep the somewhat obscure requirements straight, both for me and my NBPTS readers. All that remains is to flesh each graph out to a page in length, using the guide questions provided at the end. Oh, and then collect and label up to 40 pages of documentation. Has anyone checked the long range forecast for more snow?

Analysis of Student Work (10 pp; 5 per student)

Student A as Reader
The first response for Student A as a reader is in writing to a nonprint-based text. The response itself is writing based on observation: one part “shows,” depicting the scene using subjective or impressionistic language; and the other part “tells,” depicting the same scene in a more objective or “scientific” way . The “text” being observed is the natural world, specifically, the wetland refuge which is the site for a year-long science project involving water quality testing that is the centerpiece of the 9th grade IBET program as previously described.

The second response for Student A as a reader is in a non-print mode to a print-based text. The response itself was a dramatization: the student played a role in a skit that presented a “mock trial” in response to Earnest Gaines’ novel about the execution of a black man in 1940s Louisiana called A Lesson Before Dying.

Student A as Writer
The first response for Student A as a writer is a creative take on a personal narrative written from the point of view of a bird.

The second response for Student A as a writer is a “Review of Research,” a technical writing drawing on scientific sources from specialized databases which examines a topic related to the water quality project.

Student B as Reader
The first response for Student B as a reader is in writing to a nonprint-based text. The response is an observational sketch and drawing that records her work on a Native American dugout canoe being built by our 10th grade class this year in conjunction with local historical groups as part of a special project this year to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown. The “text” under observation is of course the canoe itself, and the process of building it-- using traditional stone tools and “primitive” technology-- with her classmates.

The second response for Student B as a reader is in a non-print mode to a print-based text. The response is a 3-tiered fountain that was made to represent the structure of a novel by Native American author N. Scott Momaday recording the rise and fall of the Kiowa people, The Way to Rainy Mountain.

Student B as Writer
The first response for Student B as a writer is an essay in response to a prompt which is thematically related to our canoe project, “Life is a Journey.”

The second response for Student B as a writer is a personal narrative describing a special moment from her childhood when she went sledding with her cousin.

Guide Questions

Experiences, skills, interests, etc about the student that provide insight into his work samples and my analysis of them...

My instructional goals to promote growth for this student as a reader and interpreter of text were... I used these texts, assignments, and strategies to accomplish these...

These characteristics of the selected work samples demonstrated the students ability to understand and interpret the text...

My assessment and feedback to this student promoted his growth as a reader and interpreter of text by...

Given this student’s responses, as a teacher I will do this to build on what they have already accomplished as a reader/interpreter of text...

Posted by Emmet Rosenfeld at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

To begin an entry, I make a template by retyping directly from the bible the sections and the questions listed under “Composing My Written Commentary.” Gluttons for minutiae may see one below (if you’re certifying in EA/ELA consider it my gift to you for being a loyal reader).

I’m nervous that the template alone for Entry One runs to 3 pages. The entry itself, when completed, should be no more than 13, which doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room given that I have to write about 4 assignments for two students each (when I was a newbie at this game, I thought 11 pages was a lot to work with).

Attached to the finished piece, please find up to 20 pages of student work samples, assignments, prompts and rubrics to go along with it. Per kid. (Each item gets its own official cover page, too, which will give this entry the approximate heft, if not the readability, of an issue of The New Yorker.)

You’ll recall there are four entries in total, three of which I’ve more or less completed by now. “Analysis of Student Growth in Reading and Writing” is the official title of this entry, and for those obsessive-compulsive readers who may still be keeping score, it covers these eight standards: I. Knowledge of Students; II. Knowledge of the Field; VI. Instructional Resources; VII. Instructional Decision Making; VIII. Reading; IX. Writing; XIII. Assessment; and, XIV. Self-Reflection.

The entry requires analysis of the work of two students. Selecting appropriate assignments is more difficult than a bar puzzle. I’ll try to explain. Remember, multiply the following by two, since I’ll be collecting work from student A and student B. (There will be a quiz.)

“Reading” is construed rather broadly: one of the assignments should be in response to reading a book, and the other to “reading” a non-print source, like a movie. The output by the student, in other words the responses themselves, must also vary: one should be in writing, and the other should be “non-print” itself, like a collage or a speech.

Moving to “writing,” things get a little easier. Pick two things the kid has written and talk about ‘em. This is another thing I’m nervous about: there’s got to be a wrinkle I’m missing. Such as, one writing must be done in Sanskrit, the other in the student’s native language.

All four entries have to be boxed and postmarked by March 31st, by the way, a once abstract date which suddenly looms ominously close on the horizon. That means I have a little more than 49 days, 8 hours, and 22 minutes to get this thing done. But who’s counting.

1. Instructional context (1 pg)
The work in this entry is drawn from two students. Student A is ...
Student B is ...

There are several relevant characteristics of each class that influenced my instructional strategies for the lessons reflected in the selected work samples... ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity; range of abilities of the students; personality of the class... instructional challenges unique to teaching this population...

Relevant characteristics of the students with exceptional needs and abilities that influenced my planning for this sequence of instruction (ex, range of abilities and cognitive, social/behavioral, attentional, sensory, and/or physical challenges of my students). Help the assessor “see” this class...

Relevant features of my teaching context that influence the selection of this instruction... resources etc.

2. Analysis of Student Work (10 pp; 5 per student)
Student A as Reader (repeat for Student B as Reader)
Experiences, skills, interests, etc about the student that provide insight into his work samples and my analysis of them...

My instructional goals to promote growth for this student as a reader and interpreter of text were... I used these texts, assignments, and strategies to accomplish these...

These characteristics of the selected work samples demonstrated the students ability to understand and interpret the text...

My assessment and feedback to this student promoted his growth as a reader and interpreter of text by...

Given this student’s responses, as a teacher I will do this to build on what they have already accomplished as a reader/interpreter of text...

Student A as Writer (repeat for Student B as Writer)
Experiences, skills, interests, etc about the student that provide insight into his writing samples and my analysis of them...

My instructional goals to promote growth for this student as a writer were... I used these assignments and strategies to accomplish these...

These characteristics of the selected writing samples demonstrate the students’ ability to understand and interpret the text...

My assessment and feedback to this student promoted his growth as a writer by...

Given this student’s responses, as a teacher I will do this to build on what they have already accomplished as a writer...

3. Reflection (2 pp)
I achieved the goals I set to the following extent...

Taken in total, these students responses say the following about me as a teacher of reading and writing...

Posted by Emmet Rosenfeld at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I am writing this while standing up. It’s 9:20 pm and I am at a computer in a lectern in Room 127A at the community college where I teach a freshman comp class two nights a week. I am not lecturing—the part where I talk is done for tonight. But the classroom is buzzing with voices.

It’s a writer’s workshop. Six tables of adult students are reading drafts of their personal narratives to one another in our first formal workshop. And, as usual, the magic happens.

A guy with a gold tooth and bad lungs from the Gulf War talks to a round-cheeked Latina, who I actually taught when she was an ESL student in 9th grade (10 years ago?). She’s just shared a piece about one of her younger siblings, a twin who is severely disabled.

An Ethiopian man has written about his older brother, an educator and activist who never came home to dinner one night—the family found out on TV that he’d been murdered by the government. A less world-weary young man at the table, also Ethiopian, wrote about his first—or maybe his last—cigarette.

Earlier this class, we discussed Virginia Wolff’s “Death of a Moth,” produced when she was distracted one afternoon at her writing desk by a moth trapped between the window panes. The essay turns into a meditation about the passage from life to death that every living creature makes. One of the class’s more mature students, a substance abuse counselor with scarred knuckles, brought the wisdom of his years to our discussion.

So did another older student, a middle-aged Chinese woman with an accent so thick that I have to listen through it like falling water to make out the words. Last class she told me I was bossy and asked if I’d been in the military, because I forced her to tell me where the breaks should fall in the page-length paragraph she’d handed in.

My back is getting sore, and my feet are tired. The boys will be asleep by the time I get home. But as I listen to these people tell their stories, I begin to feel something else. Maybe it’s that no one’s calculating their grade on a graphing calculator; or that I’m not trying to videotape student achievement.

Whatever it is, I’ve faded away, and all there is in the room are the words, bright beads of light buzzing around our heads like dying moths. We’re connected tonight, but by what? The class ends and everyone files out the door. I walk to my car in the cold night air, too spent to wonder.

Posted by Emmet Rosenfeld at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)