topham's attic: 5/2 anything special about today? (didn't think so)

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

5/2 anything special about today? (didn't think so)

We are now officially in May. May is the only month of the year other than September to feature (at least potentially) more than four consecutive weeks of five-day school sessions. The difference? May is about to become June, and then we're done! Besides, knowing that fact makes May go by way too quickly because time just races by: you never have enough time to get everything done that we teachers think that you ought to do.

(What's wrong with us, anyway?)

Here's what is the haps in my little corner of the school:

Film: Your projects are overdue. If you cannot get them posted to youtube or otherwise brought in, send them to me by email. Use transferbigfiles.com or another such web site.

E2CP: We spent today in the library learning how to use our own resources to research. You will all receive a detailed schedule and rubric for these speeches on Friday. Tomorrow, be on time or even early. We'll be heading to the RMA at 10:40 for Ned Vizzini. And then there is this:

The May "Inverted Journal" Project!

Your journal has been a place for you to write for yourself. In May, we're turning it inside out: you're going to share pieces of it with your class!

Select pieces from your journal subject to the following parameters:

one poem (or one serious reflective piece)
one light or comic piece
one piece from your most-used journal type
one piece from your favorite journal type not yet represented
your favorite overall entry

Either bookmark them for easy discovery or copy them out into a separate document.
Practice reading them out loud.
Work up a brief (one minute or so) explanation of what you feel you gained from using this journal this year, or why you fail you didn't gain from using it. (You may use your portfolio journal reflection here.)
Practice reading that out loud also.
Beginning next week, you will be assigned a date on which to present your "inverted journal" to the class.

E3H: More ESC, more Macbeth. Tomorrow we'll be exclusively in Macbeth, Act IV. And then there is the May Inverted Journal Project (see directly above!).

Here's something silly: "Movies Hollywood Will Inevitably Make"

And is this an awesome prom couple or what?

How about this one?

or maybe...

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

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

5/2 anything special about today? (didn't think so)

0 comments:

Important Links

Great Grammar (Etc.) Help from The Oatmeal

Vocab Lists

Portfolios!

Archive

Notes to Parents

Profile