All Good Things Come To An End? Not so fast!

Last spring, my colleagues and I received our marching orders - move fully to the "Workshop Model" of teaching and learning within the MPCL framework due to a district/building mandate. That effectively brought my primary focus on Customized Learning to an end despite solid results (both anecdotal and statistical). During this effort, I have received extensive support and encouragement from administration, but it appears the district is largely setting aside customized learning as a priority. The jury is still out about whether I agree with that decision, but I applaud that a decision was actually made, a rarity in the politically safe "Let's do everything!" world of public education.

While I should be upset about this development, and I admit a bit of nostalgic sorrow, I'm excited about the promise the future holds. Much of what I already had in place will fit nicely within the workshop model, and both approaches promote extensive differentiation. For me, the key is to be supported by administrators and instructional coaches who have a deep understanding of both what the workshop model really means in the middle school setting (not just in an overly simplistic "Let's all do it exactly like this" fashion) and the role that customization can play within that model. The message I've been receiving this summer has been just that - the workshop model (within the MPCL framework) can begin with a very simplistic, standardized form, BUT it can become a far more complex approach to teaching and learning, featuring a high level of customization.

Sounds good to me! As always, I remain a bit of a skeptic, but I'm eager to see where this all leads and have spent a busy summer educating myself.

More to come? Let's hope so!

That Time of Year

It's that time of year again, the point where time seems to overlap, and I find myself simultaneously looking back and ahead. Here are some thoughts during this reflective and forward thinking time of year.

• Reading Meeting is a good thing. Tons of learning happens during these regularly scheduled, small group meetings. Most of this year's focus has been on informational text (central idea, facts vs opinions, authors views, evaluating evidence, text features, and text structures). We got off to a clunky start because I made the groups too small. This resulted in limited conversations and (for me) too many meetings. Regrouping into fours from what had been twos and threes was a good move. This will definitely need to be a part of next year's program.

• Writing Workshop is improving. In recent years, I have tried to implement an overly customized writing approach, and it simply hasn't worked. This year, I have taken more of a teacher directed writing workshop approach in conjunction with MPCL formatted lesson structures. The results have been positive, with significant gains being made in student writing. While I have been at odds at times with the MPCL, this is one area where I am joining their ranks wholeheartedly. Over the summer, I'll also need to consider how to best differentiate within this approach, using what I have discovered about learning customization.

• MPCL-style mini lessons are proving more effective than I had expected. I've not been a huge fan of whole class, direct instruction in the middle school classroom as it seems to rail against what we know about the young adolescent population. However, I've been experimenting with targeted poetry as a kick off to our independent study/LT times, and this has been well received by students. By using poetry as a focus, I've been able to keep the lessons concise and focused. We've also developed the routine of "gathering round the smartboard" almost like it's a campfire. The key has been to let the poetry be the medium for delivering content rather than "doing a poetry mini lesson." This will need to be a regular feature of next year's plan.

• The Independent LTs strategy needs tweaking, but it's worth keeping. This has been the hallmark of the customized approach, and students seem to love it. Students each have their own bank of independent tasks that are assigned to them based on their readiness and needs. A bonus of this part of the program is that students are learning to manage their time. Plans for the future, which starts during next month's classes in this case, include more use of novels related to our social studies content. I find it interesting that this approach is very similar to the "stations" approach being used by MMS teachers more directly connected with the MPCL instructional framework. The idea that students learning independently frees the teacher for targeted teaching remains a good one.

Looks like I have even more to think about as I wrap up this year and plan next year's approach. This has been perhaps the busiest year that I have had since my early days of teaching. (Note the decreased number of blog entries this year.) I don't recall ever being so mentally and physically depleted, and I've paid a physical price as well. However, I think I'm finding my way toward the balance between customized learning and the MPCL framework. After a couple more months of putting a bow on this year, I'm eager for a summer of reflection and preparation for what may be the best year yet!

When the Impossible Becomes Automatic

I still remember my first weeks of teaching...with horror. In fact, I've likely never been more exhausted and demoralized in my life than during that stretch of time when, instead of all things being possible, it seemed nothing was possible. It seemed that I had made a terrible career mistake because teaching required too much of any one person to ever have hope of future success. Months passed before I finally began to feel like I wasn't teaching with my hair on fire.

Gradually, the minutia over which I labored each day became more automatic. With each passing day, more processes became routines, more importantly routines that did not require conscious thought. This allowed my conscious mind to focus, first on teaching methods and then my population of students. It was only then that I could delve into the world of integrated and integrative unit development, eventually leading to my current work with customized learning.

I was reminded of those exciting, yet demoralizing days recently at a workshop focused on developing units of study that incorporate three realms of learning - content, complex reasoning, and habits of the mind. As a teacher, I have become quite skilled at the first and dabbled a bit in the second, encouraging my students to think rather than just constantly absorb and spew out facts. However, that last realm, habits of the mind (perseverance, managing impulsivity, using feedback, etc.), has sat on the back burner for most of my career. When I moved it to the front, I once again felt like that new teacher, facing an impossible task.

One teacher at the workshop compared this task to "squeezing playdough through a keyhole," and she was spot on. By the end of the day, I left the session, excited about the possibilities of developing more effective units of study but daunted by the seemingly impossible task of creating them.

Upon reflection, I began to see the similarity between my initial teaching experiences and this bold new addition I'm trying to make to my teaching methods. Hopefully, as in my early years of teaching, the development of these enhanced units of study will become more routine. Though the task seems unrealistic at the moment, I hope that eventually, things will be just fine.

Language Usage - a Great Integrator!

Now that many of my students have moved beyond a focus on Language Conventions and into Language Usage, I'm finding the content to be more integration friendly.

Today, I finished developing a unit part about figurative language, primarily simile and metaphor. I've always enjoyed teaching students this content. Perhaps one reason is that it highlights the connections between reading, writing, and language usage.

The first portion of the unit part focused on the nuts and bolts of simile and metaphor, but it was the latter portion of that unit part that brought the content to life. Students tend to enjoy describing emotions using figurative language and the Emotion Poem activity will allow them the chance to do just that. Allowing students to choose an emotion to describe figuratively has a powerful motivational effect. I often get a kick out of students who choose dark, unpleasant emotions (to match their temporary demeanors) only to wind up bringing smiles of satisfaction to us all after they use language effectively.

At this point, students are usually ready to dig into some short poems loaded with simile and metaphor. It seems to help students engage with poetry if the task at hand is not just about what a poem "means" but to also seek out uses of familiar figurative language. The task becomes more of a scavenger hunt. The bonus is that embedded within these similes and metaphors are hints at any number of interpretations students might claim as their own.

In this way reading, writing, and language usage work together as they always have.

Smarter Balanced Serenity

God grant me the serenity 
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

                          -Reinhold Niebuhr

This is my approach to this year's Smarter Balanced Testing. I could rail about the unfairness, the unreliability, the lack of validity, the political motivations and other aspects of the standardized tests and their connections with Common Core and NCLB. However, I'm not going to because I'm following the Serenity Prayer approach to Smarter Balanced survival.

The prayer is about being able to identify what can be reasonably done, and letting go of everything else. That's just what I'm doing with Smarter Balanced (and its good buddies Common Core and No Child Left Behind). I'm doing what I can (which is quite a lot), and not accepting the burden of what I can't do.

So just what am I doing?

Well, for one thing, I'm not freaking out. It's amazing how much power educators give to all the silver bullet mandates that are foisted upon us. We empower these initiatives when we freak out about them. It doesn't help anyone for me to get upset that some or all of my students may not meet the standards set by some secret pass panel that meets in a dark, educational bunker. It is far more helpful to be as effective a teacher as I can, and ignore those who claim I am otherwise (usually those who have never really spent time in my classroom).

Though I refuse to run around the school like my hair is on fire, I'm also not putting my head in the sand. There are several items that I have already put in place to support my student's progress toward meeting the Common Core standards. Others will be added over time. Here are a few:

• I'm focusing instruction on Common Core content. This is of course nothing new, as any reasonable teacher would make sure students are learning what they need to learn.

• I'm meeting kids where they are at. Students are in many different places when it comes to literacy knowledge and skills. Skipping content is not a wise strategy, nor is spending vast amounts of time on content that students already know. One instructional step ahead of each student's current skill/knowledge level is the most fertile of learning locales. The independent aspects of the customized approach allow students to be in a more constant state of growth while avoiding the pitfalls of excessive frustration (from the over pursuit of standards growth) and boredom (from the under pursuit of standards).

• I'm engaging all students with "grade level" content. While this seems to be in conflict with the prior point, it is not. Too often, instruction is seen as either grade level or not. Instead of an either...or scenario, instruction can instead be one of ...and. The independent aspects of customized approach allow for engaging students in content within their instructional range, and as a blessed side effect, instructional opportunities arise to meet with groups of students for grade level instruction. Of course, even the grade level instruction is customized, with varying levels of scaffolding in place to help students become familiar with the required content of Common Core.

With all of the above and more in place, and the reality that I'm working very hard to help my students learn, just what is there to freak out about? I've heard, "We have to worry because we'll be judged by the scores!"

I say, "So what?" My school earned an "F" from the Maine Department of Education last year, and guess what? The sky did not fall! Most people see right through the perpetual (and often fraudulent) crises that are proclaimed from the educational ivory towers of Augusta and Washington. And if you read the surveys, you'll find that most parents think their kids' teachers are great. I care a lot more about what parents and students think about my work than I do about the opinions of some overpriced government suit with a political agenda.

So, instead of worrying about how underprepared my students might be for this spring's Smarter Balanced assessments, I'm calmly adding to the list of ways I'm reaching out to kids, teaching them what they need to know. That, after all, is what teaching is. I'll leave the freaking out to the federal, state, and local politicians. It appears to be what they are best at.

Progress - One Step at a Time (..or in this case Two)

My students and I have taken a couple steps forward these past few weeks. The two biggest changes for us this year have been the use of tasks embedded within Educate and the use of a new Writing Workshop approach. Here are some highlights.

Embedded Tasks: This has been a huge plus this fall. In the past, students have been able to log into Educate to find out what is due and when.  This year, students can click on live links in the assignment descriptions, links that connect students to actual activities and resources. So far, this new feature has been a big hit. The only trouble has been a temporary internet speed hiccup that is being resolved.

Writing Workshop: I wasn't thrilled with my students' writing progress last year, and I knew I was mostly to blame. So this year, I made some changes. I set up a Writing Workshop approach similar to that being used by MPCL (Maine Partnership for Comprehensive Literacy), and it has worked much better than its predecessor. Writing seemed to need more direct instruction than I was providing students last year. This is still not a slow death by large group lecture fest, but in the structure of the Workshop, I am providing students with more direction. The work of Laura Robb has been quite helpful in this regard.

And so, we're taking more steps forward. We don't need to figure it all out at once, nor do we need to get it right the first time. Over time, however, we are making progress, and that is what matters.

One Stop Shopping (Almost)

I hate shopping malls. Despite the allure of one stop shopping, there are too many people and too many things I don't need, making it harder for me to get what I want.

That being said, I love the concept of one stop shopping. Perhaps that's the allure of online purchasing; it's all right there at your fingertips.

My goal this summer has been to move my customized program in more of a one stop shopping direction. I'm getting there. This  year, students will be able to access most of their independent learning through Educate (the learning management software purchased by the district). Each student will be able to look at his/her calendar and see what needs attention and then click on those tasks to receive step by step instructions, note sheets, video lessons, assessments, and more.

This is a big step up from last year, when students were informed of the major tasks that needed tackling but were not provided with links and other resources. This forced students to sort through Moodle, Google, and other locations to find their way to the checklists and other resources housed there. In short, my students were having to shop in a mall. Everything was there, but there were too many things in the way, too much sorting to do.

I think most students will be pleased with this latest progress as many of them spoke of the lack of logic in multistop shopping. Once again, the students have provided the next steps for me.