End of 1st Marking Period Reflection Fall 2018

My school district has 6 week marking periods, created in response to parents not feeling like they were kept informed about grades.
There are lots of things wrong with this.
I had my students complete progress report reflections at three weeks. I was pretty horrified at classes where students had no idea what their grade was, how it would be determined, or in some cases, where students said they'd turned stuff in but weren't given credit.

My students tend to have less grades- one writing assignment, one project, one assessment, each marking period, but we spend the whole time building up to these, and parents know, and I keep them informed.

Open House was this past week. If parents couldn't come, I had students take book selfies, and pictures of the page they were most proud of in their Daybooks and text/email them to them.
For parents that came, I displayed this, but it was the students showing them the books they were reading, explaining how class ran, showing them their notebooks. This meant that I could cycle around the class and speak to individual parents, answer questions, give them updates. In 18 years, it's the best Open House I've ever had.

My class runs according to a pattern, my English 9 class goes like this- we start class with reading. They read the books they chose, I read. 20-30 minutes. Every day. Students are laser locked. They love it. I've read conflicting things on responses. Some encourage reader's notebooks, some say students should just read. I split the difference. They record the date, pages read, and some sort of response. I often give options- illustrate, write down a cool quote, ask questions, in case students are stuck. But they can always choose their own. Because we're at the end of our marking period, the response prompt is a little more specific.

Mondays (our 50 minute class, where I see all classes) are news days, and this year I tried out and am liking Newsela. I assign the articles, this marking period we've been focusing on youth culture and representation, and they can read, get support. Then I usually have them answer a prompt in Google Classroom. They seem to really like it.

The rest of the week, I either see kids Tuesday/Thursday or Wednesday/Friday for a 110 minute block. For these classes, I use the station rotation model I piloted/tried last year during testing. I really like it. At first, I was a little worried because me working with one group means the other two are on their own. But it mostly works. This is the slide I display, I review all the stations, I ask what question they have, then I sit with whatever group I'm working with that day. Sometimes it's the mini-lesson, where I use our mentor text to teach, then they apply those lessons to the book they're reading. Sometimes it's the writing group.

Their writing assignment this marking period was to write a personal narrative. We brainstormed, chose our format (visual essay, picture essay, regular essay, comic), used our mentor text as a guide (Jenny Torres Sanchez' "In The Past" from Hope Nation), drafted, and revised. This upcoming week they'll type up their final drafts, and hyperlink their writing portfolio.

I created editing Post-Its for them to use in revision (image and link below). They're a pain to create, but really cool, and the students really like them.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mpEe1XtEReSONLwuBitr5qhgVZ_CElyT9Y2EpZFbzok/edit#slide=id.g2f2d4f0b80_0_0

For their marking period project, because we've been focusing on youth culture and representation, I had them create a collage that showed this. One of the big shifts this year is that I'm doing the work with the kids- t-charts in notebooks, annotating, sample projects. So I created this and posted in Google Classroom so they had it for reference. Some turned in not much, some really ran with it. These were due this past week, the narratives this week, and they have their assessment. I try to space out the deadlines so they don't feel overwhelmed.
I piloted Google Classroom last year, but this year went all in, and I'm loving it, especially grading in line.

I rough sketch out over the summer, my plans. It's in a Google Doc that has the marking period calendars. I print copies each marking period for the students because they ask me too, but it's a live Doc, with the link posted in Google Classroom, and I update it with links, resources, etc as we go but especially now, as we end one marking period and get ready to start enough, I update it and change approaches based on what I know about my students.

I feel good about having first marking period focus on getting to know them, their choice, youth culture, and representation. I think it's the best year yet. So I'm excited about moving forward. The students also get a unit plan based on Understanding by Design and I want to make sure I'm more explicit about it this marking period. At the beginning of the year I try not to drown them in paper, and pick my battles.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MNjKEuEpg_HrBF2ZAjYa5hBqS1fWoIAm2Gl3RDKtXqA/edit

I also have an AP Language class this year, and they have similar things- the week by week Google Doc, using Google Classroom, the slides as reference.

But I've also changed what I do there.

Each marking period has a major writing assignment and two low stakes assignments that build up to it. I've done this before, but the rhetorical situation is radically different.

So far, I've been excited about the reaction. Again, I wrote/did samples so they had them for reference. I was particularly impressed with their annotated posters (below) and look forward to the final posters.
(our students sign releases for student work and images)

We meet every morning, 1st period, five days a week, so I hold class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and they have Tuesday and Thursday for workshop days.

I have squares on the whiteboard in my room, and each workshop day they update what they're working on, but the time is theirs. Some use computers, work together, read, ask me questions, some catch up on homework. It's their time to use as they want. I'm there as a resource, but I don't police anything.

They also have a project every marking period, in the fall each marking period is a rhetorical terms project. Then in the spring their projects are based on application, like presentations, Bloom Ball project, etc.

Their assessment each marking period is a sample exam essay. In the fall, each marking period covers an essay- synthesis, rhetorical analysis, rhetorical purpose. So they'll take a sample exam. In the spring we do the same, but I start adding multiple choice, adding more each time.

They also have their notebooks, but like the freshmen, they choose their best page, and that's what I grade each week.

I am part of our new this year freshman academy. We meet every week in small groups, once a marking period as a whole, and track attendance, behavior, and course performance, share info and come up with working interventions.

I've created two forms for this that so far are proving really helpful. One is an intervention tracking sheet so we can make sure we're moving forward and following up and another I recommended this week we implement, a behavior plan so we focus on restorative justice and not just suspending students and losing them.

For personal professional development, I continue to keep up with the #ClearTheAir #DisruptTexts and #ProjectLit chats, even if I can't always participate. I'm still reading Troublemakers, so I'm behind, but it's radically changed how I intervene and interact with my students. It's so easy to see the damage done with the little uns, and it's just so much worse when applied to high school. I'm also reading Sara K. Ahmed's Being the Change which I'm adding a bunch of stuff to my freshmen classes.

I'm working too with our librarian, on integrating stuff into my classes, but also, she is the sponsor for our GSA, and we're meeting this week with admin to create a plan for how to better serve our students. I hope we can make some concrete improvements. I'm sure we'll get pushback, but any forward movement is good.

I'm also going out of my way to call things out as I see them, and avoiding the negative nellies on campus, focusing on my students, my classroom, our learning.

There have been some rough days. Some tiring days. But all in all, I feel it's the best beginning of the year I've had, and I'm really, really pleased with how I'm supporting my students.
Here's hoping it continues!