Finding your story

"I don't know what to write about."

If you teach English, you have heard that statement numerous times. I know I did when I taught English.

In my new role teaching Convergence Journalism, my students often struggle to develop story ideas that are unique and fresh.

For example, they want to tell a story about football, which is a very broad topic.

I often ask, "What story about football do you want to tell?" They struggle to dig deeper and come up with a story angle that is more specific than the broad topic of football.

To attack this problem, I returned to my English roots and Kelly Gallagher's Six Modes of Writing from his book Write Like This.

The six modes of writing are:
1. Express and reflect
2. Inform and explain
3. Evaluate and judge
4. Inquire and explore
5. Analyze and interpret
6. Take a stand/propose a solution

First, students generate a list of interest areas. These are the broad topics that they will then narrow down. For example, some of my broad topics include:

• Coaching
• Teaching
• Football
• Journalism
• K-State

From there, students will choose one of their interest areas and develop 2-3 story ideas for each mode of writing. This gives my students between 12-18 different angles, rather than the broad topic of "football."

Here is a simple handout that I use:

I always model this for my students first. Just like when writing, I employ the "I go, you go" approach where students see me model first and then they proceed to develop their own story ideas. Here is a picture of my modeling of the topic "football."

In five-ten minutes, I generated 19 viable story ideas for the broad topic of football. If needed, I could turn all of these ideas into stories.

So far, my students have only picked one from their list and turned that into either a video package or written story. My next step is to have the students choose one written and one video story from their list to combine together as a package.

Here is an example where the video story is an Inform and Explain about ACT Prep and the written story is an Inquire and Explore about how to raise your ACT score.

I have found this method forces students to dig much deeper and come up with better story ideas. 

What methods do you use to have students generate story ideas?

Teaching Animal Farm: Common Core-Style

When I was in high school, I studied George Orwell's Animal Farm through the lens of the Russian Revolution. I'm sure you did too. We had to learn which character represented whom. You know, Old Major represents Lenin... or was it Marx? See, almost 20 years later I can't remember.

If I can't remember, I should not expect my students to learn and memorize facts that will not be important to their lives after high school.

Previously, I wrote about close reading resources to support the Common Core. Animal Farm is one of the richest books we have on our shelves to teach two key concepts: rhetoric and satire.

This year, we had our students read the entire book, then we went back and taught rhetoric and satire through specific speeches. We didn't worry about which character represented whom in history; our objective was to get students to closely read and analyze the rhetoric in the speeches the characters delivered.

1.We used this lesson to teach rhetoric: the rhetorical triangle, appeals, and rhetorical strategies/fallacies.

2. Of course, the first major speech is from Old Major, imploring the animals to dream of a better future. Here is the text from the book that students performed a close read of Old Major Text.

3. After the close read, students then wrote about the text through a rhetorical precis. The rhetorical precis is a writing template that forces students to write about the text through the rhetorical triangle: author, audience and text. Here is a great template with power verbs that I found online. This is another fantastic explanation from Oregon State University.

4. After practicing with Old Major's speech, we did a summative assessment with two of Squealer's speeches combined: Squealer text. Students did a close read and then wrote another rhetorical precis over the speeches, analyzing the appeals and persuasive techniques. Here is the rubric we used to grade Squealer's speech.

5. Once we taught rhetoric, we switched gears to satire. We used a portion from Chapter 8 to teach satire: Chapter 8 text. Our purpose was to have students identify Orwell's elements and objects of satire. He uses satire throughout the book; however, the aftermath of the Battle of the Windmill is particularly rich.

Even after teaching Animal Farm this year, I still can't remember if Old Major represents Lenin or Marx. I don't care if my students can remember it either. However, I hope that they can take the skills that we taught them, such as close reading and analyzing rhetoric and satire, and apply them to much more challenging works as they move on through high school, college and beyond.

Close reading resources to support the Common Core

"Close reading" is the new buzzword in education, especially in Language Arts and Social Studies classes. Last summer I wrote a post called "Five close reading strategies to support the Common Core." After publishing that article, I received several requests for ideas on WHERE to find passages for students to close read.

Here are four ideas to get you started, with instructional ideas for implementation in your classroom:

1. Room for Debate - New York Times

If you are looking for multiple perspectives on current issues in the news, this is your one-stop shop. Room for Debate takes an issue and asks multiple experts to write a short editorial on the issue. I haven't counted, but I would estimate there are over 700 "issues" that are covered, and the site is updated with a new topic every couple of days.

I love the fact that most of the topics start with an essential question, such as: "Should Tweets Cost You Your Job?" and "Should Kids Pick Their Own Punishments?" Within those topics, there are usually 4-8 different opinions about the issue from professional writers. As you can see, they are high-interest topics for high school students.

Instructional idea: This site is great for pulling ideas for synthesis essays, where students must pull from different sources and address the opposition. Students can close read the articles and then develop an answer to the question in the form of an argument.

Mentor Writer: Leonard Pitts, Jr.

2. Mentor authors

In another post, I wrote about "Three ways to engage your students in writing." One of those strategies is to use "mentor texts" where students closely examine the "moves" that professional writers make, much like how I analyze the swing of professional golfers to help improve my struggling golf game.

There are many great mentor writers out there. Some of my favorites include:

• Leonard Pitts, Jr. - Miami Herald
• Mitch Albom - Detroit Free Press
• Rick Reilly - ESPN.com
• Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun Times
• Dave Barry - Miami Herald

Instructional idea: I ask students to first close read articles from these mentor authors and then emulate them for their own papers. Check out Kelly Gallagher's book Write Like This for more information on mentor texts.

3. Kelly Gallagher's "Articles of the Week"

Speaking of Gallagher, if you want a treasure trove of diverse articles, his website is the place to go.

In his book Readicide, Gallagher discusses how he noticed his students were not aware of current events happening in the news. His school implemented "Articles of the Week" where students read about a current event, while practicing close reading.

The last two years, I have had great intentions of doing an article each week for my students to stay current on what is happening in the news, but I keep moving away from it because I run out of time. This is something I need to commit to and stay consistent with in the future.

Instructional idea: Gallagher's site really kills two birds with one stone: practicing close reading strategies, while learning about what is happening in the world. 

Don't teach like this...

4. Short Passage from Novels

For years, I spent my time "teaching" as nothing more than a human Cliff's Notes, laboring through the plot and characters of novels. My quizzes and tests were filled with questions about which character said a particular quotation or what color of hat Holdyn wears in The Catcher in the Rye. It was boring for me, and I felt like I was working harder than my students.

I began to ask myself, "In 10 years, does it really matter that a student remembers the color of Holdyn's hat?" 

Honestly, I would argue that it is irrelevant and a waste of time.

Let me be clear: I believe it is important for students to be exposed to a variety of texts, including the "classics." However, I also believe that my job is to teach students how to dissect those works so they can extract meaning from them and then be able to apply those skills to other complex texts for the rest of their lives.

Instructional idea: I made the switch to teaching "excerpts" from the typical class novels, rather than the entire plot of a novel. 

For example, read this post to see how I changed my approach to Julius Caesar by focusing on the rhetoric of the speeches.

For Fahrenheit 451, students read the entire book on their own, but did close readings of specific passages. For example, we closely examined the first four pages for the imagery and figurative language that Bradbury used. We also looked at the argument between Captain Beatty and Montag, and analyzed the rhetorical strategies that Beatty employed. 

I know... it is a radical way of thinking about teaching novels. Trust me. Students will dig far deeper into the novel and have a better understanding of the book than if you just plow through and answer questions about plot.

Final thoughts

My teaching style has been revolutionized by the Common Core. In my previous teaching life, students were only swimming at the surface level of a book. Now, we are diving in to the deep end of the reading pool. These are great places to go in order to get started with close reading.

What are other resources you go to in order to find close reading passages? Please post in the comments below.

Three ways to make your CLASSROOM more efficient

I believe that in order to be a great coach, you must be a great teacher. The two skills are really the same.

When I am coaching football, my classroom is 100 yards long, and I am managing 100+ student-athletes. When I am teaching Sophomore English, my classroom is about 15 yards long, with 25+ students. The skills needed to instruct on the playing field and in the classroom are really the same, even though the size of the classroom and number of students may be very different.

Last week, I wrote a post called “Three ways to make your practice more efficient.” As I thought about it, those three components really extend to the classroom as well: have a plan, go on the clock, and create competition.

Have a plan

This really goes without saying. However, there are multiple types of plans I believe you should have in the classroom: daily, weekly, unit, and yearly.

I still keep an old-fashioned plan book where I write down what we did each day in class. At the end of the day, I use any extra space to reflect on how the lesson went, and what I would change for next year. This is very valuable to me as I reflect back on the year, and when I prepare to teach the same unit or lesson next year.

When planning ahead, I have learned not to write anything in ink. Instead, I use small Post-It notes to write lesson plans on. I have found that it is easier to move those Post-It notes around in case there is a snow day, fire drill, or some other distraction that throws off your entire schedule. On the day of the lesson, I write down the objective, lesson, and my reflection in the book.

Go on the clock

Much like using a clock during practice to keep yourself on pace, I have found that using an egg timer is extremely valuable during class. It keeps me from getting too long-winded, but also gives students time to fully write or discuss a topic. I use it several ways:

• Timing the first 10-minutes of Silent Sustained Reading at the start of the hour.
• Giving students 5-10 minutes to “Quick Write” where I ask them to write and keep their pen or pencil moving the entire time.
• Providing students with one minute to discuss a topic with their shoulder-partner.
• Holding myself to a certain amount of time when delivering a mini-lesson so that I do not speak too long.
• Keeping track during a time-write assessment.

I would be lost now without my egg timer. It is a simple thing to use, but it really helps to keep my lesson on pace each day.

Create competition (with yourself)

A few years ago, I went in a radical new direction with the “3PGrading System.” I have modified this system some, but one of the key components is factoring in how much a student improves throughout the year. This creates competition within the student: motivation to improve.

As I wrote about with my outside reading project, I ask mystudents to read 20 books in one school year. For some students, they have never read more than one or two books, if any. To think about reading 20 books seems like a huge stretch, so I ask them to compete within themselves to do it. If I have a student who only read one or two books last year, but reads 10 books in my class, I call that a huge win.

My students also keep writing portfolios. At the end of the year, I ask them to reflect back on their writing from the start of the year until May. I challenge them to identify areas where they have improved, whether it is organization, ideas and content, embedding quotations… something. This drives our end-of-the-year conferences where we look at their reading and writing and how much improvement they have made.

These are three simple things I do in my classroom that parallel what we as coaches do on the football field. What are some other strategies that you bring from the classroom to the athletic field?

Introducing Macbeth: Common Core-Style

Which of the following do you believe is the most creative interpretation for the opening scene from Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth?

• Three old hags burying items on a lonely beach.

• Witches, dressed as Catholic school girls, destroying a cemetery.

• The witches disguised as nurses in Nazi Germany ripping the heart out of a soldier on a gurney.

With the new Common Core State Standards assessment looming on the horizon, teachers across the country are looking for ways to modify what they are doing in order to fit the increased rigor that the standards demand.

Previously, I wrote about how I changed my approach to teaching Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Instead of listening to and reading the entire play, I broke it down and did a close reading and analysis of specific speeches from the play.

When I used to teach Macbeth, I would just read the first scene, discuss it briefly, and move on. This year, I wanted to change my "old" way of teaching Macbeth by first looking at how different filmmakers directed their versions of the Scottish Play.

I found the following clip online already edited together featuring the opening scene from the following directors: Roman Polanski (1971), Geoffrey Wright (2006) and Rupert Goold (2010):



I posed the following question to my students:
"Which filmmaker's version is the most creative in terms of ______________________?"

The blank space should be one aspect of each version. As a class, we brainstormed aspects such as: costumes, setting, casting, props, music, sound effects, and camera work. Students were to pick one aspect, and collect evidence from each version using the following graphic organizer from all three versions.

View the graphic organizer here.

After taking notes, students developed an argument in answer to the question above. We used the following template from They Say, I Say in order to introduce an ongoing debate, and culminate with the student's main claim, or thesis statement:

Template for introducing ongoing discussion:
In discussions of _____, one controversial issues has been _________________. On the one hand, ____________ argues _________________. On the other hand, _____________ contends ______________. Others even maintain ________________. My own view is _________________.

First, I wrote in front of my students. I chose to do an unrelated topic, but one that I hold dear to my heart: Star Wars. In about five minutes, I used the template above to create an opening paragraph and thesis statement:

In discussions of the Star Wars films, one controversial issue has been the introduction of new characters to the film's universe. On the one hand, some critics argue that the Ewoks are essential because they ultimately helped destroy the Death Star. On the other hand, some people contend that Darth Maul was a ferocious Sith, and the only highlight in The Phantom Menace. Others even maintain that Boba Fett's introduction  (and subsequent death) added a bit of mystery to the series. My own view is that Yoda was, in fact, the most essential introduction to the Star Wars universe because he ultimately trained Luke Skywalker, and guided his development as a Jedi Knight.

It isn't perfect, and I would edit many things; the important thing is that my students saw me write in front of them.

Then, it was their turn to write. They went back to their notes, and reflected on each director's version, and chose which version was the most creative in one specific aspect. The template above served as a guide to get the students writing. Here is an example from one student:

In discussions of the various film versions of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, one controversial issue has been the costumes of the witches. Shakespeare purists favor Roman Polanski's traditional portrayal of witches that are frumpy older ladies with long noses. Others prefer Rupert Goold's ironic portrayal of the witches with a very eerie demeanor and a nurse facade. I prefer Geoffrey Wright's witches who are contemporary teenagers in schoolgirl uniforms, but still have an apparent edge to their character.

After this initial paragraph, students developed the rest of their argument using the argument writing models discussed in Kelly Gallagher's book Write Like This. They were required to pull in evidence from all three versions to support their claim: both as examples and evidence that addressed the opposition.

This lesson moved far beyond my standard way of teaching the opening scene: listening to a CD and briefly discussing what the witches are saying and doing. Now, students were forced to analyze the director's decisions in dramatizing the play for film. It went into much deeper analysis than I ever had asked students to do before with the play.

What are some ways you are making Shakespeare fit the new demands of the Common Core State Standards?

Tackling Readicide: Five tips to get started

Guilty confession: For the first eight years of my teaching career, I was clueless about teaching literature. By the way... I'm an English teacher.

In college I took several literature courses ABOUT literature, but we never had instruction on how to TEACH literature. My experience in college went something like this: we would read a book each week, then sit around in a circle discussing it... usually from a Freudian perspective. Then write an essay. That's it.

When I started teaching, I tried the same technique. The problem was, my students didn't care about the symbolism of the ducks in The Catcher in the Rye or the green light in The Great Gatsby. I quickly realized that I was merely a human Cliff's Notes, delivering the plot and basically having a discussion with the handful of students who actually read the book. 

I tried quizzes. I gave tests. I assigned projects. I showed movies.

My students simply weren't reading the books I was assigning.

Then, my teaching world was rocked. Two years ago, I read two books about teaching reading: Readicide by Kelly Gallagher and The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller.

After reading these books, I slowly began to implement the strategies from the books. This blog post will be the first in a series about how I set-up and run our outside reading assignment. It is a work in progress, but I am confident it is much more effective than the "Human Cliff's Notes" way of teaching reading.

Five rules to get started:

1. Allow students to choose what they read

This is a huge paradigm shift for many teachers. I will admit that I am a control freak in many ways. I believed that I was the paid professional, so I should control what students read and write. However, I have discovered that it is much more powerful when students get to choose and have ownership over the books they are reading.

When I look across the room at the books my students are reading, I see a wide variety of books. Some students are reading The Hunger Games series. Some are reading graphic novels. I even have students reading classics such as A Tale of Two Cities and Pride and Prejudice. Whoda thunk?!

The kicker? They are actually reading! Does it really matter that all students read the same book at the same time? I would argue no. As long as they are reading, that is what matters the most. Allowing students to have choice in their reading selections is far more powerful than force feeding "classics" like Jane Eyre down the throat of a 16-year-old sophomore.

2. Give up control

Repeat after me: "This is not about you."

We have already established that I am a control freak. Giving up control is scary, and this kind of shift forces the teacher to give up a great deal of control in the classroom. It is scary... and that is kind of cool.

I am not proposing that you let this turn into total chaos. There needs to be guidelines in place (which I will discuss in another blog post), but the teacher must be willing to turn control over to the students: selection of books, pacing, "abandoning books" when the student isn't digging it, etc...

This should be very individualized for each student. I set a goal for my students to read 20 books in one year. However, through individual conferences if a student tells me she read one book last year, and has read eight books this year, how can that be anything but a win for everyone? 

Giving up that control that EVERY student has to read the same books at the same time is scary, but also exhilarating.

3. Give students time to read

If you are going to make a commitment to reading, students need time to actually READ in class. I used to think of "reading" time as filler or a time-waster, but I have found huge value in providing SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) time to my students. The ONLY way students can become better readers is to actually READ.

We start each hour with 10 minutes of SSR. Once everyone has settled down (usually within the first 30 seconds after the bell), I start a timer and the students know they have 10 minutes to read. This does not change. It is the procedure for how we start the class each day.

I also ask my students to read 20 minutes five days a week outside of class. That time could be in another class during the school day, on the bus on the way home, or in bed before they fall asleep. I don't care, as long as they get in another 20 minutes during the day. This builds stamina. Just like a runner needs to invest time in running, readers need to invest time in reading. 

My classes meet four times a week. If you do the math, students should read 40 minutes a week in class, plus 100 minutes outside of class. That is 140 minutes of reading a week. If they can read one page a minute, they should be able to read a 300-page book in approximately two weeks. 

4. Model reading for students

Kelly Gallagher asserts in Write Like This that the teacher is the best writer in the room; therefore students need to see the teacher writing in front of them. The same logic applies to reading. 

Students need to visually see their teacher reading books along with them. 

During those 10 minutes of SSR time, I sit at my desk and read a book. I have been trying to read books that my students are reading (I am currently reading The Maze Runner, for example), but I also have been working through my own personal reading list. 

I would venture to guess that many students do not regularly see an adult reading books. You may be the only adult in their life that they can see actually reading books. That is a powerful responsibility. If they can see you as the teacher taking part in the same reading experience as them, it makes it a shared experience that you can discuss and talk about with your students, not an "assignment" where the teacher doesn't take an active role. 

5. Do not be a fun-sucker

Let me be clear: If you are not careful, you are going to suck all of the fun out of this:

• Do not get bogged down in how you are going to grade it.
• Do not worry about how you are going to keep track of everything.
• Do not stress about students who are not keeping up with the pace.
• Do not get upset with the students who are "gaming" you on the number of books they have read.
• Do not force students to read things they don't want to read.

This should be an enjoyable experience for everyone. If you implement too many rules and guidelines, you are going to make it a dreadful experience. Some students will "game" you. There is no good way to grade this. Things will fall through the cracks.

Keep some guidelines in place, but the focus should be on reading enjoyable books. 

These are some simple guidelines I started out with when we started outside reading in my sophomore English class. What are some tips you have for getting started with outside reading?

Intro to Rhetorical Analysis: Common Core-Style

In today's era of the Common Core State Standards, teachers all across the country are having to rethink how we deliver instruction to our students. The CCSS asks students to dig deeper into texts through close reading, written analysis and discussion. 

Our sophomore Pre-AP English team has worked to meet the expectations of the Common Core, while preparing our students for AP Language & Composition their junior year. Previously, I outlined how we introduce students to close reading and aligned our Julius Caesar unit with the CCSS.

We have developed a three day introduction to rhetoric that asks students to closely analyze a TV commercial:

Day #1:

When it came time to introduce rhetorical analysis in our Pre-AP Sophomore English class, we began by introducing the basics of rhetoric: the rhetorical triangle, appeals and fallacies. Check it out:



Day #2: 

We handed out the following graphic organizer that we adapted from Kelly Gallagher's fantastic new book Write Like This.  (If you have not purchased his book yet, go immediately to that link and buy it. It is a must-read for all Language Arts teachers serious about writing instruction.)

We performed a multimedia rhetorical analysis of this Chevrolet "My Truck" advertisement:



The first time students watched it to get a general sense of the commercial. After the initial viewing, each time we asked students to focus on specific aspects of the commercial:

1. Imagery
2. Printed Words
3. Spoken Words
4. Music

In other words, on the second viewing students only focused on the images on the screen. On the third viewing, they only focused on the printed words, and so on. By the end, they had closely read this "text" FIVE times. This forced the students to dig below the surface and develop a clear understanding of what the author was doing in the advertisement.

Note: As a modification, you can also turn off the sound for the first two viewings, so students are not distracted by the music or spoken words. For the last two viewings, turn off the video so students only focus on what they are hearing.

After each viewing, we asked the students to fill out each row, starting with the middle "Notes" column. We applied the close reading strategies that we employ when reading a written text, outlined in this blog post. 

In the left-hand margin, students summarized what the author was SAYING through the images, printed words, spoken words and music. In their own words, they summarized what each element was trying to accomplish.

In the right-hand margin, students analyzed what the author was DOING for each element. This is where we applied the appeals and fallacies from the notes over rhetoric. Students had to really dig in to get a full understanding of what the author was doing - how they were appealing to and manipulating their audience.

Day #3: 

Students analyzed the Chevy Truck ad using a rhetorical precis writing template.

I know what you may be thinking: template writing is rudimentary; nothing more than "Mad Libs" for English class.

While it may appear to be simplistic, these template are actually quite challenging to complete. We use these template often, especially when introducing new types of analysis to our sophomores. As the year progresses, we begin to take the templates away, but it is an essential part of our writing instruction at the beginning of a unit.

Student Example:
Click here to see a completed sample of the graphic organizer and rhetorical precis from a student.

Follow-Up Lesson:

As a follow up to this lesson, we asked students to analyze a political advertisement. However, this political ad had a twist: it was a biting satire of President Obama. At first glance, it appears to be a pro-Obama ad. Only close observers will begin to pick up on the fact that it is very critical of his presidency. The images and words say very different things. This sparked a great conversation about how the authors of this ad used images, printed words, music and spoken words to create a very specific message for their intended audience.


Final thoughts:

This three-day introduction to rhetoric served as a fantastic gateway to the rigorous analysis that students will be asked to do in AP Language & Composition, while integrating many of the Common Core State Standards for reading, writing and speaking. Students were asked to closely read the "text" multiple times, think about how the author used rhetorical appeals and fallacies, and analyze the text using specific evidence.

Please leave suggestions for how you introduce your students to rhetorical analysis now that we are in the era of Common Core.

Five close reading strategies to support the Common Core

I walked in to my first college class, Political Science 101, eager to learn. For my inaugural college assignment, my professor asked the class to read the first three chapters of the textbook for the next class period. 

That night, I returned to my dorm room, determined to learn everything I could in those three chapters. I pulled out my textbook and highlighter. Growing up, that is what I always saw the “older kids” using when they read a textbook. In my naïve 18-year-old mind, I believed that highlighters must have some magical power that transports the words on the page directly to your brain. I assumed that if I just figured out the right words to highlight, then it would be easy for me to remember what I read.

However, when I opened my textbook it was unlike anything I had read in high school.  Where were the pictures? Where were the definitions for words in the margins? Where was the chapter summary at the end of each chapter? All of the things I relied on in high school to get me through a text were missing.

I shrugged, pulled out my highlighter and started highlighting. That is what college kids did to study… right? But, what was I supposed to highlight? The bold words? The headings? “Important” information? I wasn’t sure. I started highlighting everything that looked important on the page. Before long, the page looked something like this:

I quickly realized that I had no real game plan for reading this complicated textbook. I didn’t know what to highlight or how to find the important information to study. The text simply overwhelmed me.

Flash forward to my first few years of teaching. I taught senior English, and I was determined to provide my students help when it came to annotating texts. We practiced annotations throughout the year, and my instructions went something like: “Mark it up! Underline important information! Write in the margins!”

While this method may have been slightly more effective than what I used that first day of college, it was still too vague and ambiguous for my students. They had no direction for reading, especially when it was a complicated text they did not understand.

Last fall, I attended an AVID workshop about critical reading strategies. To be honest, it completely changed the way I teach reading. I learned many simple strategies to help my students attack a text. After the conference, our department began adapting the strategies to all of the types of texts that we teach. Here are five simple strategies to help teach students how to critically read complex texts. The best part? Highlighters are not required.

1. Number the paragraphs

The Common Core asks students to be able to cite and refer to the text. One simple way to do this is by numbering each paragraph, section or stanza in the left hand margin. When students refer to the text, I require them to state which paragraph they are referring to. The rest of the class will be able to quickly find the line being referred to. 

2. Chunk the text.

When faced with a full page of text, reading it can quickly become overwhelming for students. Breaking up the text into smaller sections (or chunks) makes the page much more manageable for students. Students do this by drawing a horizontal line between paragraphs to divide the page into smaller sections.

At the beginning of the year, I group the paragraphs into chunks before I hand out the assignment. In the directions I will say, “Chunk paragraphs 1-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.” I look at the paragraphs to see where natural chunks occur. Paragraphs 1-3 may be the hook and thesis statement, while 6-8 may be the paragraphs where the author addresses the opposition. It is important to understand that there is no right or wrong way to chunk the text, as long as you can justify why you grouped certain paragraphs together.

By the end of the year, I begin to let go of that responsibility and ask my students to chunk the text on their own. They number the paragraphs then must make decisions about what paragraphs will be grouped together. Usually, most of the class is very similar in the way they chunked the text.

3. Underline and circle… with a purpose.

Telling students to simply underline “the important stuff” is too vague. “Stuff” is not a concrete thing that students can identify. Instead, direct students to underline and circle very specific things. Think about what information you want students to take from the text, and ask them to look for those elements. What you have students circle and underline may change depending on the text type.

For example, when studying an argument, ask students to underline “claims”. We identify claims as belief statements that the author is making. Students will quickly discover that the author makes multiple claims throughout the argument.

When studying poetry, students could underline the imagery they find throughout the poem.

Circling specific items is also an effective close reading strategy. I often have my students circle “Key terms” in the text. I define key terms as words that: 1. Are defined. 2. Are repeated throughout the text. 3. If you only circled five key terms in the entire text, you would have a pretty good idea about what the entire text is about.

I have also asked students to circle the names of sources, power verbs, or figurative language.

Providing students with a specific thing you want them to underline or circle will focus their attention on that area much better than “underlining important information”.

4. Left margin: What is the author SAYING?

It isn’t enough to ask students to “write in the margins”. We must be very specific and give students a game plan for what they will write. This is where the chunking comes into play.

In the left margin, I ask my students to summarize each chunk. I demonstrate how to write summaries in 10-words or less. The chunking allows the students to look at the text in smaller segments, and summarize what the author is saying in just that small, specific chunk.

5. Right margin: Dig deeper into the text  

In the right-hand margin, I again direct my students to complete a specific task for each chunk. This may include:

·     Use a power verb to describe what the author is DOING. (For example: Describing, illustrating, arguing, etc..) Note: It isn’t enough for students to write “Comparing” and be done. What is the author comparing? A better answer might be: “Comparing the character of Montag to Captain Beatty”.

·     Represent the information with a picture. This is a good way for students to be creative to visually represent the chunk with a drawing.

·     Ask questions. I have found this to be a struggle for many students, as they often say they don’t have any questions to ask. When modeled, students can begin to learn how to ask questions that dig deeper into the text. I often use these questions as the conversation driver in Socratic Seminar.

There are many other things students can write in the margins. However, we must model and teach these strategies so that students will have an idea of what to write when they are on their own.

Here is what a completed Article of the Week might look like after a student has performed a close read of it:

To ensure our students are college and career ready, we must teach them critical reading strategies in order for them to independently attack a text. They must learn how to own a text, rather than letting the text own them. After following these steps, students have read the text at least five times and they are actively interacting with the text. This is a much different experience than skimming through a text one time with a highlighter in hand.

What strategies do you teach students in order for them to critically read complex texts? Please leave your ideas in the comments below!

3P Grading System Interview

I was recently interviewed by Steve Peha about his 3P grading system that I implemented this year. You can read my blog post "Five Reasons Why You Should Stop Grading" to learn more about it. 

I thought my responses would be great for a blog post. Here is the interview:

1. Overall, how would you describe the results you achieved switching from traditional grading to The 3P Grading System?

Honestly, I did not know what real teaching and learning meant until I switched to the 3P system. After implementing the 3Ps, I saw students step up their games like never before, and achieve more than they did with the traditional grading system. 

I don't have to worry about "How much is this worth?" or "Is this for a grade?" We just focus on learning, and it has made a huge difference. I saw students taking chances, and putting themselves out there by sharing their writing, answering questions, researching things outside of class. The 3P system pushes students beyond their comfort zone, and engages them in a higher level of thinking.

2. How would you describe the task of switching from traditional grading to The 3P Grading system? Was it easy? Hard? Confusing? Exhilarating? What were your biggest challenges? Your biggest surprises?

At first, it was the scariest thing I have ever tried as a teacher. I was terrified to give up control of the classroom. I worried that students would just stop doing their work since they weren't being graded for it. I was worried that students wouldn't try as hard, or they would blow things off.

I found the exact opposite to be true. 

Even though I didn't grade things, students still did the work, and they pushed themselves like never before. Making the switch to focusing on feedback DURING the learning was the key. I used to just give feedback AFTER the assignment was turned in, which makes absolutely no sense to me now that I think back on it. I used to spend hours grading student's work, even though I knew they weren't doing anything with the information. That was just the way my teachers always graded, so it had to be the right way. I could never go back to doing that.

For example, while students are writing I am constantly circling the room and having mini-conferences with each student. I ask them to read me what they wrote, and I am constantly giving them verbal and written feedback. It makes so much sense to me now, but I never did that before. That shift in mentality has made a huge difference because students are learning while they are working.

It also takes a complete shift in mentality by the students and parents. They have the traditional form of grading so ingrained in their brains, that this system blows their mind when you first talk to them about it. It took until the first grade conference for them to get it, but now they understand how it works and they prefer it to the old system.

3. What personal beliefs or professional concerns did you have to overcome, both to try the new system and to stick with it long enough to see results?

I worried that my colleagues would view this as the "easy" way out of grading. Many are very intrigued by it, and they wanted me to be the guinea pig for it. They are scared of giving up control, and they can't wrap their minds around it either. 

I am a very concrete, detail-oriented person. This system is very abstract and flexible, and it still freaks me out at times.

I have also learned that to be a good teacher doesn't mean you have to fail a bunch of students to show that you are tough. I would be OK with giving all "As" if that is what they deserved. The goal really should be to give all As, which would have horrified me a couple of years ago. I thought that being a good teacher meant you had to "get" students by tricking them or having super-hard tests and assignments.

You also have to let go of the idea of marking students off for behavior, such as turning in assignments late or not at all. I now look at the entire body of work of a student, not just the last assignment they turned in. For example, I have a rock-star student who has done great work all semester long. She is one of the best writers in my class. When we did a grade conference, she did not complete her last assignment. Normally, she is an "A" student, and my first reaction was to ding her and knock her down to a B. I had to stop myself and look at everything she had done. One missing assignment was not enough to knock her down a letter grade.

4. What do you see as the key positive differences for teachers in using the 3P Grading System?

This system allows you to differentiate for each student and focus on what they need. I have high-flyer students who are already doing great work. This system allows them to push themselves beyond what they would normally be asked to do.

Some of my students started out as weak readers or writers, but have worked very hard to improve this year. This system rewards and recognizes their improvement, where the traditional grading system counts their work in August just the same as what they do in December. The goal should be to see growth and learning take place. The 3P system accounts for that.

The 3P system also creates an environment of collaboration in the classroom. Students are working with each other, and the teacher works closely with the students. Giving constant feedback has made a huge difference. Giving students input into their grades has also made a positive impact, because they now take ownership in their grades, not just sitting back and taking whatever grade I magically assign them.

5. What are the key positive differences for students?

See above. Students are rewarded for growth. They are involved in the grading process. They have more control over their grade, as opposed to me giving them a grade that they have little to no control over.

6. What are the key positive differences for parents?

Communication with parents freaked me out the most. I have always sent out weekly progress reports to parents and students with all of their assignments and grades. The grades were so volatile because one missing assignment could have a huge impact on the grade. If a student was absent or didn't turn in something, it could take their grade from an A to a D in no time. Parents would freak out and see that they dropped three letter grades, and I would have to explain what happened.

On one hand, I loved that parents are involved and want to see where their students stand. On the other hand, it isn't an accurate reflection on the grade because it isn't the end of the learning period.

The 3P system still makes me nervous because I can't have that constant communication with parents. I do grade checks every 4 1/2 weeks, so that will be only four times per semester. In the past, parents told me that they loved the constant communication from me about grades. I am looking at how I can improve the communication next year - either through a newsletter or blog posts about what we are doing in class.

Ideally, this system will open up the lines of communication between parents and their children. This is one area where I need to do more work.

7. Many teachers in the US have successfully implemented the system only to be told by their principals that they are not allowed to use it for one reason or another. How would you handle this situation if your principal came to you and said you could no longer use The 3P Grading System and that you had to return to the same traditional grading approach you were using before?

It would be very difficult for me to go back to any traditional form of grading at this point. I can't believe I did the things I did with grades for so many years. It made no sense now that I look back on it.

I am fortunate to have a very supportive principal and administrative team. I would recommend anyone who is considering this system to dialogue it with your administration. They should be in the loop as to what is happening. Provide them with the guidelines so they know what to expect.

If my principal had concerns about the 3P system, I would invite her to come in and observe class, and see how engaged the students are in the class. I would show her examples of my students' work, and see the improvements they are making. I would discuss the benefits of the system with her, and my rationale for making the change. Students are also huge advocates of this system, so I believe their voices need to be heard.

Ultimately, if I could no longer do the 3P system, I would probably move to a standards-based system of grading, but include many of the principles of the 3P System.

8. Is there anything else you’d like to add about The 3P Grading System, your experience of using it, or any other related issue?

The 3P System has been the best change I have ever implemented as an educator. It is terrifying at first, but it has reinvigorated me this year. I am horrified by how I was grading students one year ago before I learned about the 3P system.

My best advice for anyone considering the 3P system:

1. Read Steve Peha's article about the system.
2. Discuss the concept with your students. Discuss it with fellow teachers. Get feedback on how it might look in class. Troubleshoot issues.
3. Communicate your expectations to parents. Keep them in the loop.
4. Communicate the system to your administrative team. Give your rationale and expectations. Provide them with Steve's article.
5. Take a deep breath and take the plunge! You have to try it before you fully understand how works. Don't worry: Students will still do the work even though they aren't getting a "grade".

Putting the "Art" into "Communication Arts"

Last week, we had an inservice presentation from Carol Jago, the president of NCTE. Ms. Jago spoke with us about the Common Core Standards that will soon be implemented. One of the fears of standardized testing and the budget crunch is that the arts will be pushed to the side in favor of more reading, writing and math. Ms. Jago demonstrated a way we can bring art into Communication Arts classes, and tie it in with deeper reading.

Ms. Jago asked us study a painting. For two minutes. Without speaking. This is the painting she used:

After studying the painting, we were asked to discuss it in our groups. This led to a fantastic discussion in our small groups about what we saw, and our own interpretations of the artwork. It was a great exercise that forced us to make interpretations, guesses, and look at the small details of the painting.

I decided to try this out with my sophomores to see what would happen. I chose a piece of art from Salvador Dali:

I went through the same procedures with my students. They came up to the screen and studied the painting for two minutes, and returned to their groups to discuss what they saw. What happened next blew me away.

Almost with exception, every student was actively discussing, interpreting and debating the painting. Several students were pointing things out to their group, and some even came up to the screen to show their group what they saw. Students who rarely take chances in book discussions were making interpretations. I let the discussion go on for literally 10 minutes, and it did not die down.

After letting students work it out on their own, I asked individual students to share their interpretations of the painting. Virtually every student saw something different. It was fascinating to watch them go beyond the painting to think about what the author meant or intended.

This led to a discussion about what they had to do in order to interpret the painting. It required them to:

• Look at the painting several times
• Study the small details
• Think about symbolism
• Question why the author made the choices he made
• Interpret what they saw
• Reinterpret what they saw

Ultimately, we discussed that these are all the qualities of a good reader. Good readers are constantly:

• Going back to re-read something two, three or more times.
• Studying the small details
• Questioning why the author made specific choices
• Making interpretations of what they read
• Changing or modify their interpretations

This was a great activity to work on getting students to take chances and think deeper about something. I am going to continue doing this activity to help build this skill, and hopefully it carries over to their reading.

Do you have suggestions for other pieces of art for this activity? What are other qualities of a good reader that this activity works to build?

Five tips for blogging with your students

I asked my senior and sophomore English students to begin blogging this semester. I have dabbled with it on small projects in the past, but never on a full scale as I am doing now. After some time working with it, here are five tips I would offer teachers about starting out with student bloggers.

1. If you're gonna walk the walk, you'd better be willing to blog the blog

I have always asked my students to do writing assignments, but I never actually did them myself. I decided that if I am going to ask my students to blog, then I should do it myself. I have found that this is helpful in two ways:

1. Providing a "model" for the students to see before they begin writing.
   
2. It shows the students that we are all in this together, and that I am not going to assign something that I am not willing to complete myself. 

I currently maintain three blogs: this one for my professional writing, an English IV blog for my seniors and an English II blog for my sophomores. I use Edmodo to communicate with my students, so I set up my blog to automatically show up on Edmodo as a news feed. Students only have to log-in to Edmodo to see each time I post, so they don't have to know to check out my blog.

2. Use Google Reader to organize your classes.

I set up folders in Google Reader for all of my classes. This makes it very easy for me to see when students update their blogs, hour-by-hour.

I can also quickly run through the folder at the start of the hour to tell my students which blogs I have updates for.

If you have an iPad, you can add a section for each folder in Flipboard for your Google Reader account. This makes it very easy to read your students' blogs on your iPad. I highly recommend it.

3. Create a weekly award.

I created the Raven Blogger Award for the top blog posts each week.

Each week, I select 1-2 winners of the award from each hour. I create a post with my overall thoughts about what I saw in the blog posts. Then I name the weekly winners, with a short explanation about why they won the award.

This also is a way for my students to see a great example of each writing assignment. I am seeing them stepping up their games to win the award. Several students have asked if I have selected the winners yet, so I know it is important to them.

During parent teacher conferences, I had several parents tell me how excited their students were to win this award. One father told me that his daughter came running down the stairs screaming because she was so excited. It is a small thing, but it shows you how powerful it can be to feature your students' work and give them praise for excellence.

4. Get them writing about SOMETHING. 

I have not done much writing since high school when I wrote for the high school newspaper. I wrote papers in college, but they were purely academic. Blogging, however, has rejuvenated my passion for writing. I have always enjoyed writing, but I had not written about something I was really interested in for a long time.

I am trying to alternate between academic writing (persuasive essays, novel discussion) and writing just for the enjoyment of writing. I borrowed some ideas from Kelly Gallagher's book Teaching Adolescent Writing where he has some prompts that are meaningful for the students.

One prompt from the book that we did was about a snapshot that is meaningful to them. I asked them to post a picture of the photo, and explain what it meaningful about it. From this prompt, I saw some amazing writing because it was MEANINGFUL to them. I believe blogging is a powerful medium that can encourage our students to write in order to explore new ideas, try new writing techniques, take chances, simply have fun with writing.

5. Provide meaningful feedback

I am still working out the logistics of how to give the best feedback. Every method I have tried has positives and negatives.

I have left comments on their posts. This is good for posts where I don't have to necessarily critique their writing. The downside to this is that I don't know when or if they respond to my comment unless I go back through each blog and look for it.

I have sent messages through Edmodo with suggestions and feedback. This method is good, but the comments are not "attached" to the writing as they are when they are at the end of a blog post. If a student asks me about the comments, I have to go back and look at what I wrote on Edmodo, which can become cumbersome.

Turnitin.com is an excellent way to provide feedback to students about their writing. You can use highlighters and "write" directly on their paper. I am considering having them submit to turnitin.com so I can give them feedback before they post to the blog. I think this will be effective, although it will involve them "posting" their paper to turnitin.com and then posting to their blog.


I am really enjoying reading what my students are writing in their blogs. I believe this is a real-world experience where they have a much larger audience for their writing. What are some other tips you have for blogging with students?

Motif Project: Macbeth

My Senior English class just finished studying The Tragedy of Macbeth. We spent a great deal of time analyzing the motifs that show up throughout the play: Blood, light, darkness, sleep, nature, and the theme of deception.

The students were placed into groups of 3-4, and each group was assigned a motif to follow throughout the play. After each act, they recorded instances of their motif in a class wiki. Click here to view an example. This part of the project helped them see how many times Shakespeare included those motifs throughout the play, and they started to see what characters were associated with the different motifs.

That was a great exercise, but the culminating project blew me away.

For the final exam, students came up to the whiteboard one at a time and wrote a motif, character or idea from the play. They then had to connect that items to any other items on the board and explain why they were linked together. This is what it looked like:

 

The class was actively engaged in helping each other make the connections between items. Once we were finished, we had an outstanding discussion about what this play is really about. We also talked about who or what should be at the center of this word web (Power or Macbeth was the consensus). 

I saw REAL learning and understanding taking place during this activity. Many students commented to me that they felt like they actually understood Shakespeare for the first time, beyond just basic plot points. I felt like this assessed student's understanding far better than any multiple-choice or essay test that I could construct.