"...and Not to Yield": Explorations in English Education

As I work to assess my students more appropriate in my workshop environment, I have continually shifted how my rubrics are formatted . After hearing Dr. Connie Moss from Duquesne University ( @DUSchoolofEd ) speak on Learning Targets again at a recent in-service, I began to see how her concept of “student Look-Fors” could better articulate our learning goals in class. “Look-Fors” are the aspects in a learning experience that students can look for in their own work to see if they are on-target to demonstrate their learning. In earlier iterations, I had written Learning Targets with accompanying Performances of Understanding (POU) for each lesson. For example, here is one of my Learning Target and Performance of Understanding from two years ago: I know I can discuss text structure when I categorize examples from the myth of Theseus into the aspects of the Hero’s Journey . The first portion (“ I know I can discuss text structure ”) is the learning target, while the proof (“...

From Workshop to Standards-Based Scoring After establishing a workshop model last year in my 9 th and 10 th grade English classes, I want to move closer to standards-based grading this year. For me, establishing an instructional model that more closely works with standards-based learning was an important first step. Please refer to this post for a summary. Now, I can continue my exploration. In this blog post, I will walk through the steps I took to establish the eight standards I will assess my students on in Academic English 9: Standard 1 : Analyzing Literary Elements & Devices Standard 2 : Analyzing Nonfiction Elements & Concepts Standard 3 : Evaluating Text Genre, Form, and Structure Standard 4 : Utilizing Evidence & Research Standard 5 : Crafting Focus, Organization, and Style Standard 6 : Composing Narratives Standard 7 : Expanding Vocabulary Standard 8 : Developing Speaking Skills Step 1: Prioritizing Standards Last year, I revi...

Where I am with Workshops Kelly Gallagher (@KellyGToGo) and Penny Kittle (@pennykittle) have plenty to say on engaging students with writing, and many others have much more to say on secondary workshops than I can (see @AmyRass and threeteacherstalk.wordpress.com). However, my focus here is the journey: a transition from a more traditional English classroom to one that engages with a reading-writing workshop. As my new semester (on an intensified block schedule) approaches this Thursday, I have hurriedly been working to rework my procedures and syllabus. This past December, I jumped into workshopping my sophomore English class. To do this, I took two or three larger writing tasks, assigned them up front, and settled into what would become a new schedule: ·          15 minutes of independent reading, ·          20 minutes of direct instruction, and ·       ...