topham's attic: dear mr. president...

Friday, February 13, 2009

dear mr. president...

Please give me an extra day off of school!

OK?

Thanks!

E2H: You worked on a specific scene today. Here are the questions that were written on the board:

what themes were present in this scene?
what do we learn about willy here?
what do we learn about other issues here?
if the goal of tragedy is to make us feel pity for the main character and fear that the flaws in that character's personality might be present in our own and lead us to similar fates, is there anything in this scene that could point us toward these emotional responses?
how does this scene connect to any specific moments elsewhere in the play?
point to key lines in the scene and explain why they are key; what do they mean in terms of the rest of the play?

In your groups, continue this discussion online. Also, continue other board postings (esp the new boards) throughout the weekend.

More to come...

E3H:

Continue those board discussions about Oedipus...and don't forget that the Portrait projects are due on Tuesday! (Oh yes, and it is Portfolio Day - 17!!)

Drama:

We only had six people here today, but that did not prevent us from accomplishing a lot. Those who were here presented their entrances. We discussed them and explored the importance of asking lots of questions about each of the ten beats designated in last night's assignment. You should always make very specific choices. We'll have everyone (even those who went today) present on Tuesday.

In addition, we selected scenes for performance. I gave out three duet scenes to those who were here; I have several other two and three person scenes to hand out. We'll be focusing on these next week.

Next week also, we will begin the Journal schedule as follows:

Mondays: Jenny, Madison, Julia, Haley
Tuesdays: Rohan, Alex, Marina
Wednesdays: Harrison, Ellie, Courtney
Thursdays: Taylor, Spencer, Jimmy

(For next week, Monday and Tuesday will be collected on Tuesday.)

For those who missed it:

silly 70's: the night chicago died: paper lace

--kt

Notes to Parents

8/24/14

Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another (or your first) year at LFHS.

What you have heard is true. The English teacher has lost her ever-loving mind and is not going to be giving any grades at all in her classes this year. Not. One.

There will be no percentages, no numbers, no scores, no letters, no anything that will count toward anything that will end up being averaged for a final grade. But before you call in the men with the white coats, let me explain:

As I hope you have read in the doc your son or daughter (I have always hated the phrase "your student" when addressed to a parent) should have showed you, there is a wealth of research that indicates that grades--or the need to achieve them--are the single greatest thing that stand in the way of a great education. Studies show that the most influential thing a teacher can do to help a student grow academically is to allow him or her to self-grade. Most teachers would rather climb Mt. Everest dressed only in a swimsuit.

But the thing is: our academic system is severely broken. We say that our goal is to get our students to master Common Core Standards, and that is all well and good. But if that is truly the goal, then why do we care how long it takes them to master them? I'm serious. Think about it this way:

Try to remember back to when you were learning how to ride a bike. Oh, it was scary. You needed all kinds of support at first, lots of help from Daddy or Mommy. Then they let go and you were very, very wobbly. Probably you fell off, maybe several times. It took quite a while before you completely mastered the skill. But when you had...you had it down perfectly for the rest of your life.

Now imagine if you were being graded on that learning experience the way schools grade you. We would not score those first scaffolding attempts with Mommy and Daddy, but then...oh, you failed those quizzes when you fell off. And those wobbly rides? C's at best. Then a bunch of B's probably before you finally settled into 100% forever. But if we graded you right at that point, you'd probably average, oh, 83% or so. Why? You've mastered the skill perfectly. So why do you not get 100% if that is what we say we care about? Why on earth do we care about all those earlier times when you didn't have it down yet?

That will be what we go for here. Students will know what the goals are. They will understand what an "A" student looks like. And they will know when they have mastered an objective. Those who do so earlier than others will become tutors to those who have not yet done it: everyone gains from this and the newly learned skills, instead of being quickly forgotten as things studied for a test usually are, will continue being applied as masters tutor their classmates.

That is an awful lot to imagine will happen because I don't give grades this year, but what the heck: if you don't dream big, you never win big, right? The research is behind this, as is the school administration. I'm happy--well, actually I am excited--to pilot this concept at LFHS. As always, I'm glad to discuss this or anything else with you.

Karen

Feel free to email me any time at ktopham@lfschools.net.

topham's attic

Friday, February 13, 2009

dear mr. president...

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