"No Child Left Behind" and Assessment

For the video, focus on minutes 1-3 regarding assessment but the whole video is a great reference to understand the reality of “No Child Left Behind.”

Personally, I think the emphasis that is put on high stakes testing is ludicrous. Jay McClain explains it very well in my opinion when he says, “High stakes assessment has killed teachers learning and developing as assessors. It uses external tests and evaluates data…the most vital assessment is actually inside the classroom.” I think this is especially true regarding writing. In-class writing assessment is a valuable tool for students to develop their writing with the help of other students as well as with their teacher. Students must, first and foremost, learn that writing IS enjoyable. However, students are not going to have that joy for writing if emphasis is constantly put on standardized assessment of their writing. I think that giving students freedom to write, without receiving a grade is important for students to maintain that enjoyment in writing. This can be achieved through exercises such as journaling and free-writes, where they are given a choice about what they can write about and are free from the pressures of receiving a grade. Moreover, conferencing is a great way to evaluate the progress of children’s writing. Getting to know students and the power of their individual writing is a fundamental element in progressing student’s writing skills. Pat Johnson said, “Teachers want to know how they can help children”, and I feel like this should be the aim in everyday education. What are your thoughts on “No Child Left Behind” (especially pertaining to assessment)? What is your experience with this act? A goal of the act is to make all students reach the 100% proficiency level by 2014; do you think this is possible? Do you think that 100% proficiency is EVER going to be possible? What kind of pressure does this statistic put on children? Let me know what you think about the video too! :)

Got a good reason to write song!

PBS Teachers | Resources For The Classroom

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I am first off sorry that this video did not show up for you on the blog. You just need to click on the like and then hit "View Resource". I could not get the special code needed to put it on here... sorry guys.

This video is short but adorable! I think that it would be a fantastic resource to use for your classroom (for the younger grades) because it is a song about having a reason to write. Routman talks about the importance of teaching your class to write with a purpose. I feel that this is imperative in making not only a good writer, but also in helping to make writing enjoyable for the writer and the readers. This song is something that can be used in your classrooms to help students understand the reasons behind writing and how important it is in everyday life. I think that it is sometimes not made all that clear to some students that writing is something that (even though we may not know it) is used every day for so many more reasons that we might not know. This song helps clarify that for younger students.

How To Use Blogger

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

How To Use Blogger

View more documents from Marcus9000.

As many of you are already aware, blogging has become a wonderful tool in the classroom for encouraging literacy development and stimulating conversations about current issues relevant to classroom discussions. Above you'll find a guide to using blogger, developed especially for teachers. Please take the time to view this so that you can familiarize yourself with all the possibilities that blogs offer to your class and to our class right now.

Reading is Fundamental

‘Reading is Fundamental’ was started in 1966 to motivate underprivileged children to read by delivering books and literacy resources that can help young students get interested. Knowing that 4 out of 10 American 4th graders read below their grade levels show that there needs to be more emphasis on the importance of reading. Students are surrounded by words every day of their lives, within the classroom and even when walking home from school. Students can only become lifelong readers if they are exposed to books throughout their childhood. This also entails having caring adults around that are willing to help students learn how to read. The text talks about how good readers are good writers and without accessible books how can a student ever become a good reader or writer? Reading and writing go hand in hand. Students pick up on the way authors write and the ideas they write about, making them more open minded when it is their time to sit down and write in class. Should teachers in today’s classrooms make it a point that students read every day even if it isn’t educational books?

“The International Teddy Bear Writing Project”

In 2008, the Nation Education Computing Conference held a convention in San Antonio, Texas, where Kathy Timpone and Agnes Awerski introduced “The International Teddy Bear Writing Project.” As seen in the video, these two teachers started up a program where stuffed animals are “adopted” by classrooms, “live” the life of the classroom, and then are written about by various students. These teddy bears are then sent to other countries to participating schools where international students do the same. The greatness of this project is its simplicity. It’s just a teddy bear being sent from country to country, classroom to classroom, but it is so much more than that. The children, who care for the teddy bear, write about what they do in their country and school. They are then able to spread their shared experiences with their teddy bear with others around the world. This project not only supports and encourages writing, but it also encourages global education and diversity. What can we do as future teachers to incorporate other aspects of life and education into the way we teach writing?

Social and Emotional Learning and Writing

Remember the reading we had at the beginning of the semester--Powerful Learning by Linda Darling-Hammond? Darling-Hammond is clearly one of the leaders in the field of education, and her emphasis here on the importance of social and emotional learning taps directly into writing instruction. What kinds of writing instruction nurture the development of social and emotional learning? What kinds hinder it?

When a writing assignment is designed well, with an authentic task, choice within the limits of the learning objective, and clearly scaffolded instruction that helps the student move from one level of competence to another, then we assume the assignment will be meaningful and full of learning opportunities for the student. But if we don't allow for the social and emotional learning that happens through writing, then we've neglected an important part. What can we do to address social and emotional learning in the classroom?

Raising Expectations

Although this video speaks about writing to become a published novelist, we could all use their key points within our classrooms. Regie Routman mentions many teachers who lower the expectations of their students to the point in which they're not challenged to do better, to become better readers and writers, when in reality, many of the students can do better. Everyone has heard the saying “practice makes perfect” and though there is no such thing as perfect, it is impossible to become better at something without pushing oneself to do more, to write, express, read, and imagine more.

The authors in the video express the essential ideas to writing. Dianne Hammond said that you need to write everyday which really is important to early writers. Without that practice, the students’ writing will not improve. Using daily freewrites will force the students to tap into their inner writer, it will allow for the creativity, vocabulary, and length to emerge through their writing.

Do you feel that having the students write everyday, just to write, will improve their writing? If your teachers expected more out of you, would your quality of work improve?

Writing Workshop

This lesson used in a 2nd grade classroom is a perfect example of a

class working together, creating individual ideas, and sharing writing.

I loved how the teacher starts the lesson by reading a book to her

students. They work together to analyze the words used in the

literature and learn how describing words help to make the story more

interesting. The students then break off to write individually while the

teacher passes through the room to help when needed or edit along the

way. At the end the students get to stand in front of the class and

share their piece.

What is so great about the Writing Workshop is the success and

encouragement the children each feel by being excited to write about

their own individual topics. Most of the points in the Workshop support

Routman's ideas of essential writing techniques and the children all

seem genuinely engaged and excited about the lesson and their own

writing. Celebrating and encouraging the children is such an important

aspect of teaching writing. If they only learn that turning in writing

assignments means getting back papers full of read marks and

corrections, they are going to be less likely to enjoy the writing

process. Generating a passion for reading and writing at a young age

will help the students feel confident and proud of their work as

they progress through the years.

For more information on this specific video or program, visit

www.readingrockets.org.

Athletics and Education

Happy Labor Day everyone! Seeing as I am the first to blog I am going to take advantage of my leeway. While athletics is not very relevant to writing outside of sports journalism, I believe that it can impact students in a way that benefits them on the basketball court and in the classroom. The video I posted mentions some of the positive effects sports can have on students, especially those in lower-SES environments.
Sports embed values of teamwork, responsibility, preparation and determination in its athletes. This positive work ethic can also be transferred to the classroom, where student athletes will take the same values they developed through sports and apply them to their homework among many other academic challenges. Sports also offer students a positive and healthy outlet for the stress and anxiety that may build up during the school day. . . exercise! Although exercise may not always be the best cure for stress, there's always the coach to offer his or her advice to the student athletes regarding their situation. After all, coaches are some of the best teachers given the relationship they have with their athletes. For this same reason, a lot of student athletes can look back and appreciate the concern they received from their coaches.
Lastly, sports is an excellent way to motivate students to do well so they can continue on to college. Thanks to the NCAA, student athletes around the nation have the ability to receive athletic scholarships to various colleges and universities; an opportunity that is not offered to ordinary students. These scholarships offer hope for a college education to student athletes who otherwise would not be able to because of financial or academic reasons. Although the main focus of most of these athletes is on their sport instead of their education, at least they are receiving a degree while pursuing their passion.

Expeditionary Learning at King Middle School

While some educators warn that an emphasis on project-based learning will cut into standardized test scores, King Middle School's expeditionary learning projects have flat out proven those people wrong! In the video above, learners work together in teams with their teachers, and community experts to produce video productions of the learning they do in their classes. One project, The Vanishing Footprint, documents their research into Maine's endangered species. Aided by a video expert and a publishing CEO, the students successfully published their work for all to see.

This, I would argue, is where writing, in all its phases, reveals the wealth of learning that can happen. Project-based learning is where writing shines. Even though a video is the final product, all the scripting and drafting of the project takes place through a composing process that students master as they go along. All the elements of project-based learning are here: active, in-depth learning; authentic, formative assessment; opportunities for collaboration; attention to prior knowledge, experience, and development; knowledge organized around core concepts and connections; and the development of metacognitive skills through the use of formative assessment (p. 196-198).

For more information, go to http://www.edutopia.org/expeditionary-learning-maine-video

Celebrating a School Garden

Here, just for the fun of it, is a slide show/video with lively music that celebrates the planting of a garden at another school. This one appears to be a middle school. What would it take to launch a project like this? Would it be appropriate for middle schoolers? How would you as a teacher connect it to the curriculum and the standards?

School Gardens as Community Projects and Learning Opportunities

Have you ever started a garden? This garden is both a learning opportunity for an elementary school and a community project. Children learn about decay as well as growth as they study how worms enrich the soil, how plants decompose, and how the earth is built up to enrich the garden. Theme gardens are also a possibility, with one class planting a Japanese garden, complete with the Japanese use of gardens for contemplation. Children also use the garden as inspiration for the art they do, which is then displayed in the garden.

What learning opportunities do you see for a garden as a project-based learning opportunity? How would you integrate it into the curriculum?

The Cell Project--PBL Applied

The Cell Project illustrates one use of problem-based learning that sounds intriguing. One class of eleventh graders at High Tech High have been given the challenge to teach seventh graders all that they've just learned about cell biology. As you watch this, what questions do you have about it? What works from what you can see? How did they decide to go about teaching younger learners? What do you think of their approach? How would you go about setting up a situation like this?