Thoughts during unrest

As a person of mixed race, I understand that I have different privileges in society and relationships with institutions like the police than people of other races and backgrounds.  Over the last week I've been processing how my lighter skin color has afforded me protections from violence, profiling, and trauma from law enforcement.  I think it's sad, and frankly I'm embarrassed, that it has taken countless episodes of police brutality caught on video, for me to fully reckon with this in a way that even approaches the degree needed to honor all of these victims.  I know that I'm not alone, and I hope that more people of privilege continue to speak out and join in solidarity with people of color, in powerful moments like this one.

I also think it's important we contribute money to grassroots organizations like Black Lives Matter, as well as to political organizations and candidates who will seek to bring us together rather than divide us. 

I live above a liquor store that was looted on Sunday.  Luckily the building was not burned and my family and possessions are safe.  The moments that I witnessed were very confusing, and I've sat with many emotions as I've reflected on what happened.  I don't condone looting, but I think I understand some part of it.  Trevor Noah summarizes this much better than I ever could.

I think we all wish that the things our society is dealing with, the cracks and the ways that we are broken, weren't true, weren't here with us, every day.  And for people of privilege, we can almost convince ourselves of this because we don't feel the effects of systemic racism.  That is privilege.  The protests and unrest over the last week forces us to be uncomfortable and to sit with the discomfort, the hurt and pain, that people of color have been sitting with for so long.  We have to listen, we have to step forward and join this movement, otherwise the system will not change, and our children will be in the same place we are.  Look what happened just yesterday in Chicago.

I hope and pray that each person, regardless of race and experience, can join in reflection, prayer, and action to stand up and be part of the change.

students are starting to...

As we were studying the coal industry's effect on the environment, Vianey said: "I have a question that connects with our guiding question [How does coal effect the environment?].  What does coal have to do with global warming?"  This was great because it connected our previous focus of study (global warming) with our current one (coal), and gave students something to look for as they read.  I

In seminar, we were discussing questions about the poems we read most recently in Out of the Dust.  Omar's group asked: "Why does Billie Jo want Louise to leave?"  There was much opinion, and it was divided, so I said that we'd hold on to this question and think about when we read the next poems.  We put the post it on the outside of the think tank so that we'd remember to come back to it.  Vianey raised her hand and said that her group's prioritized question was kind of the same and should be next to it: "Does Billie Jo like Louise?".  So we put those two post-its next to each other on the outside of the fish tank.

Are my kids just more inquisitive?

I've started to notice that my kids ask a ton of questions.  Like, more than classes I've had in the past.  Today we were watching March of the Penguins as a way to relax after a morning of stressful ISAT.  And my kids, especially Omar, Emon, DQ, Ty'najah, and Donnell, kept raising their hands as we watched.  Here are some of the questions they asked me:

• How do you know the difference between male and female penguins?
• Are the noises the penguins are making saying that they're cold?
• Can that type of wind blow a human away?
• What will the male penguins do if there's an avalanche?
• Is that saltwater or freshwater?
• Why doesn't the dad let the baby penguin go?
• Is this still happening [in Antarctica]?
• What about global warming [as to why the penguins are walking on large icebergs]?
• How do the parents know which baby is theirs?

 Remembering:1

• Is that saltwater or freshwater?

Understanding: 3

• How do you know the difference between male and female penguins?
• Are the noises the penguins are making saying that they're cold?
• How do the parents know which baby is theirs?

Applying: 4

• What about global warming [as to why the penguins are walking on large icebergs]?
• What will the male penguins do if there's an avalanche?
• Can that type of wind blow a human away?
• Is this still happening [in Antarctica]?

Analyzing: 1

• Why doesn't the dad let the baby penguin go?

Evaluating:
Creating:

I feel like these questions are really strong, some of the same questions I had as I was watching.  I wonder what the value of these questions is.  I mean, of course one value of questions is the investigation/research/learning that it stimulates.  Students may watch the video to find answers to their questions, they may seek out the answer in another source, or they may just act like penguins when we go out for recess (like Omar and Emon did, waddling around the jungle gym like penguins marching in Antarctica:-)  Whatever the case, I think the inquisitive spirit is part of what makes some one a smart person and good learner.

reflections on a videotaped lit circle discussion

students took notes on what they noticed and wondered as they watched Darvell, Vianey, Demarrion, and Donnell discuss Out of the Dust.  They noticed that students often agreed or disagreed with each other respectfully, they raised their hands to talk, they stayed focused around important ideas from the book.  Kamari's wondering about whether they answered their question was interesting.  I agreed with him that they never really consolidated their thoughts into a consensus.  I asked him if he thought that it was important that they do that and he nodded yes.  I wonder if it's important, perhaps there should be some sort of final project on Friday where they do consolidate some of their best answers...

Some Tweaks to How We use Questioning with our Lit Circles

So I went to a conference in Baltimore and there was actually a seminar specifically on using Bloom's Taxonomy with Literature Circles! Go figure. One of the thoughts that this seminar reinforced for me was the importance of having layers of question-asking and discussion, so that each layer informs and improves the next. There is also a filterization process that happens from one layer to the next, removing less salient or interesting questions and thoughts, and focusing attention and energy onto the highest quality questions and thoughts. To contextualize these "layers" and "filters":

Layer 1: Independent Work
students independently read and generate questions and theorize answers in their journals

Filter 1: Students individually choose one question that they'd like to ask in their literature circles

Layer 2: Small Group Discussion
students share their questions and discuss answers in literature circles.

Filter 2: There is one "Question Master" in each group who chooses the question that led to the best discussion. He/she writes this question on a post-it and puts it in our Think Tank for Socratic Seminar discussion

Layer 3: Whole Group Discussion
Question masters launch and propel Socratic Seminar forward by introducing the questions they prioritized from their Literature Circles.

Filter 3: Me? I don't give feedback when seminar is happening, I try to say nothing so as not interfere with their discussion. At the end though, I have begun asking them to vote on which question yielded the most fruitful discussion. Question masters take pride in having their question selected. Also having students praise particularly salient thinking they heard may highlight positive contributions and set an upward trend.

I hope this makes some sort of sense, I'm very into this idea of revision/refining content/student work through multiple lenses so as to increase salience and quality.

Science Slice Debrief at EL National Conference

Building Background Knowledge Components

1. Mystery Piece: builds curiosity (NASA telescope zooming into the Baltimore Harbor)
2. Gallery Walk: builds curiosity (photos and articles and maps that have to do with the topic of the Expedition)
3. Concept Map: helps students synthesize information they're reading from...
4. Common Read: read for gist (no particular prompt or assignment given before students start to read), builds common focus/understanding)
5. Common Reread: framed with text dependent questions
6. Concept Map Revisited
7. Expert Texts (carefully selected to build specific knowledge)
8. Concept Map Revisited
9. Mystery Piece Revisited

Designing Projects and Products

•   Skills-rich projects that result in high-quality products or performances for audiences beyond the classroom
• Typically modeled on real-world documents and artifacts with professional models guiding student work.  Products are critiqued by professionals and contribute to a real-world audience
• Typically 2-6 weeks in duration
• Projects come before final products, and may be incorporated into them
• Projects should be worked on as students are learning.  They are not an enrichment opportunity provided after core learning has been completed as an add-on or supplement
• Teachers plan backward from the final student product or performance.  Everything (lessons, labs, research, fieldwork, experts, projects, and assessments) are scheduled to lead up to the final product
• Assessment toward learning targets takes place during all aspects of the project, not just the completion of the final product

Selecting Case Studies

• Usually either a subtopic of the larger expedition focus, or an investigation of a unique person, place, institution, or event within the expedition topic
• Engage students in original research with primary source materials
• "Case studies allow the students to deeply explore a topic and become experts, building their commitment and pride in their work, before generalizing learning to broader issues and concepts." --> "Teachers guide students to generalize from case studies applying their understanding to the broader content and concepts required by standards."  

4/5 Alike Group

One teacher gave me a great idea about how I group students, especially for group projects, called an "Expert Line".  First, you have everyone stand in a line and then tell them to go to one end of the line or the other based on how good they are at the activity you read.  You can do this many times and then extend it by having them then take a sheet with all the activities and find an expert of each of the activities to sign that box.  You can also create groups that are more balanced by putting different "experts" together so that their skills complement each other.

Her ideas on facilitating student research seemed much more reasonable than what I've been doing up til now.  She gives students a number of links to websites that they can use to find information.  She sets up an organizer that has some of the sentence starts/categories for the key content she wants them to get notes on, and then another box for facts they find really interesting.  This is something to try in the future.