Thinking About Peer Feedback

I haven’t gotten too far past researching and thinking in terms of my inquiry project.  This is my response to Jillian on the discussion page for our group.  I think it’s an important foundation for where I will be going with this project:

I think in terms of determining what your goal is (and I’m saying this for my benefit), it is important to think about what you consider effective peer feedback to be?  Personally, I think it has to do with equipping our students with the language and strategies of critical writers and then showing them how they can use this to give each other peer feedback.  Ultimately, though, why is peer feedback important? What do we want our students to glean from such feedback?  I guess in my mind, I see peer feedback as a way to ensure that our students have a real audience as well as the chance to think critically about writing outside of their own–and ultimately we want them to be able to transfer this critical eye to their own writing.  I feel like this is a chicken and the egg question.  Do students need to become critical of their own writing before they can be critical of others–or vice versa?  I suppose the two things are…reciprocal.

Some of the strategies I have tried previously have included peer feedback circles where I provided a guide for them to follow as they read each others’ drafts, using blogs and comments as a way to encourage more holistic responses, and workshopping on peer feedback after finding that there was a deficit in students responses.  Looking back on these things, I think what I lacked was a focus on revision and how to use feedback to revise as well as showing students how peer feedback can help them to think critically about their own writing.  I also think that I need to equip my students with the right language to use as well as to provide additional models of what being critical of writing looks like.  Some of the things I’m thinking about include using outside model essays to analyze for strengths and weaknesses and to give feedback as a group–and then to revise together, possibly showing one of those Annenberg (sp?) videos of educators and students in action, one-on-one conferencing as well as group conferencing (where I’m involved–providing feedback in one-on-one and then facilitating in groups), and modeling how to use feedback to revise writing (which I think I would try to intertwine into my one-on-one conferences as well as model in a mini-lesson using a model essay I wrote for the assignment).  I think these practices will be shaky during this essay writing sequence since it will be the first time using them, but am hoping to build off of for our upcoming research paper at the end of March/beginning of April.

In terms of my writing sequence, I am thinking that I will moving through the following steps:

Day 1:   Essay intro; brainstorming ideas; reading essays as arguments and dissecting for process; discussing elements and applying to collaborative essay; thesis and graphic organizer for individual essay due next class

Day 2:  Thesis workshop; library day to draft; one-on-one conferencing to review game plans; begin drafting for next class

Day 3:  Library day to draft and continue one-on-one conferences; continue drafting for next class

Day 4:  Group conferencing to review drafts and continue drafting

Day 5: Peer feedback mini-lesson; fishbowl for peer feedback; peer feedback circles

Day 6: Revising workshop; library time to revise and edit; optional conferences

Day 7: Publication day–post to blog and receive audience responses (two stars and a wish?)

Ch. 1: Conferences Are Conversations (How’s It Going by Carl Anderson)

Ch. 1: Conferences Are Conversations

• “I see conferences as a means to get to know students and as a powerful way of teaching them to be better writers” (6).
• “I’ve held onto the word conversations because the word suggests so many things about the way I believe we should talk with students about their writing…it’s intimate, personal, shared” (6-7).
• “I also use the word conversation because event though in a conference we are teachers talking with students, we are also writers talking to writers” (7).
• According to Don Murray, “[Conferences] are not mini-lectures but the working talk of fellow writers sharing their experience with the writing process.  At times, of course, they will be teacher and student, master and apprentice, if you want, but most of the time they will be remarkably close to peers, because each writer, no matter how experiences, begins again with each draft” (qtd. in Anderson 7).
• Conferences have a point to them:
  • According to Calkins, “We are teaching the writer and not the writing.  Our decisions must be guided by ;what might help this writer” rather than “what might help this writing.”  If the piece of writing gets better but the writer has learned nothing that will help him or her another day on another piece, then the conference was a waste of everyone’s time.  It may even have done more harm than good, for such conferences teach students not to trust their own reactions” (qtd. in Andersen 8).
  • Do’s
    • Teach strategies and techniques we use
    • Teach students to teach themselves
    • Teach students to be reflective
    • Be able to name what it is we did to help student become better writer
  • Don’t's
    • Don’t get preoccupied with the topic
    • Don’t overcorrect
    • Don’t turn into therapy session
    • Don’t make it yours
• Conferences have a predictable structure
  • Just as conversations have a predictable structure, so should writing conferences; this leads to efficient use of time.
    • Part 1: Conversation about the work the child is doing as a writer.
    • Part 2: Conversation about how the child can become a better writer.
• In conferences, we pursue lines of thinking with students.
  • Develop thinking about specific subject; may be grounded in first part of conversation; should be an area for potential growth.
    • Multiple possibilities; may come from previous knowledge of student, whole-class teaching, etc.
• Roles
  • Student begins in lead role, setting agenda
    Teacher assumes lead–asking about pla, giving feedback, teaching strategy/technique
• Show care
  • interested in subject–but more so, student
  • It’s not just about meeting standards and test scores
  • Listen
  • Affirm

Engaging Male Students: A Case Study

Here is the beginning of a study I will be doing as part of my TE 803 Common Assignment. I will be focusing on two disengaged African American male students in my first hour–in light of our 803 discussions of cultural capital and 804 discussions of male students and textual lineages.

2 Million Minutes

I feel like this video gets at what we were talking about during the last class–the idea that our students are very different from our generation, preoccupied with an array of other things other than education. I believe that this is indeed a problem–our students are not spending their time wisely if America’s priority is to ensure that our students build an “intellectual foundation” that will keep us competitive with other countries in the world. (And this statement makes me think about why this is such a priority…Not that it isn’t, but I think it’s useful to really examine why this is important since it connects to our purpose in teaching.) Once again I’m taken back to the question that plagued us during class: why are our students so indifferent to education–and why do they seem so different from our generation, which only has five years on them? Previously, I thought that it might have something to do with technology and how it has changed how we learn, how much we have to process in a short amount of time, and our attention spans. But is that the only reason? I know it isn’t; I think that society has gradually pushed against the notion that education is a privilege (perhaps because it is compulsory and free–and therefore we take it for granted). In addition, our students have great pressure on them to be well-rounded in order to be competitive candidates for college. So they have to work and be super involved in extracurricular activities. And then there’s their very natural desire to have social lives. Many of my coworkers at school argue that our students are lazy, but I don’t think the explanation is as simple as that…I would really like to see the whole video…

Reading List

The following is a list of books that I intend to tackle in the near future. Please provide additional suggestions:

Great Grammar (TE 804 Reading – Anderson)

While waiting for this article to load, I was taken back to last fall semester, when I took a class on English Grammar as part of the TESOL program.  While I found the information in the class to be fascinating and useful, all I remember is how BORED I was sitting in the class as the professor lectured–despite her having professed how important it was to make English fun for second language learners.  And this is often students’ experience with grammar.  It’s boring.  How do we change this perception?  Hopefully Jeff Anderson has some good suggestions for me:

“Zooming In and Zooming Out: Putting Grammar in Context into Context” by Jeff Andersen

• What does it mean to teach grammar in context?
  • Grammar doesn’t need to be taught in the context of a whole text.
  • One purpose of teaching grammar is to give students “time to notice what effect the author’s crafting had on the reader–to play around with whatifs, imitation, permutation–they began using those skills in the context of their writing to shape meaning.  So we teach grammar to equip our students’ with tools to be effective authors…
  • I agree–students don’t necessarily need to know the labels for grammatical elements as long as they learn how to effectively manipulate them in their writing.
  • Zoom in and then back out to teach grammatical concepts–part of scaffolding
  • Teach grammar in the context of teaching students to be writers
  • Teach grammar so students take a writers’ stance, not a right or wrong stance.
• Lesson:
  • Ground in one grammatical context.
  • Connect with mentor text to find examples
  • Play with mentor text to discover how the grammar rule can be manipulated–and how to decide what is most effective.
  • Students’ play with another text to examine the rule–like linguists…
  • Students play with their writing using the rule and determine how to manipulate it best in their own writing.

This makes me think that it would be helpful to highlight four or five grammatical features in a unit of study, to integrate them in studying the text and contant writing, and then to focus on that in any extended writing assignments…

Lesson Reflections

I haven’t uploaded my lessons in a while,  so here’s two and a half weeks’ worth:

January 21-25

January 28-February 1

February 4-8

 I will upload some pictures later–wish I had the cord right now!

Thinking Through Assessment Through My Students’ Eyes

In order to make this assignment most useful for me, I decided to twist it to resemble an essay my students will be writing at the end of this month.  They will have the option of choosing between four prompts.  I chose the following:  In your essay, your job is to put Macbeth, Lady Macbeth on trial for the murder of Duncan.  Develop an argument in response to following question: If the main theme of Macbeth is ambition, whose ambition is the driving force of the play—Macbeth’s, Lady Macbeth’s, or both?  Once you determine who is at fault for the murder, act as the prosecuting attorney for the murderer, and prove who they should be convicted of the crime.  Note: Because the answer to this question is not clear cut, you may find it useful to discuss Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship in order to build your argument.  

1. Form an opinion:

While Lady Macbeth fueled Macbeth’s growing ambition to become king of Scotland, ultimately Macbeth’s desire for power was the driving force in the play.  Not only did he share his ambition with his wife and give in to her goading, but he was ultimately responsible for acting against the natural order by committing regicide, thus setting off a chain of unnatural events. 

1.  
   1. Five reasons: Macbeth’s ambition

                                                               i.      He begins to entertain the idea and shares it with Lady Macbeth in I.iii.                                                             ii.      He gives in to Lady Macbeth’s berating (I.vii.).                                                            iii.      He allows Malcolm and Donalbain to be blamed, giving him clear access to the crown.                                                            iv.      He plots to murder Banquo and Fleance in order to overturn the second part of the witches’ prophecy—without his wife’s suggestion.                                                              v.      He commissions the death of Lady MacDuff and her children.                                                            vi.      He leads Scotland into war without any concern for the state of the country or for his suicidal wife.

1.  
   1. Five reasons: Lady Macbeth’s ambition

                                                               i.      She goads Macbeth on in I.vii by calling him less than a man.                                                             ii.      She uses guilt to manipulate Macbeth by saying that she is going to measure his love for her by his willingness to become king (I.vii.38-39).                                                            iii.      She comes up with the plan to murder Duncan and plants the knives on the guards (I.vii.59-72).                                                            iv.      She encourages Macbeth to put on a façade in order to maintain his authority.                                                              v.      She is embarrassed by Macbeth’s behavior at the party. 

1. Audience:

My audience for this essay would be both fictional and real.   In the play, I might be trying to convince the people of Scotland that Macbeth was truly responsible for murdering Duncan—and is definitely not fit to be the king.  I might also be trying to prove the innocence of Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, since they were originally accused of murder, by proving that Macbeth was the real murderer.  Outside of the text, I would be trying to convince my teacher—in order to receive a good grade—as well as my classmates.   

1. Evidence:

My evidence for the people of Scotland would be the dialogue between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as well as Macbeth’s inner thoughts and actions.  Normally, these things would not be as easy to support, but in the case of this essay, that means I will be using textual support.  This evidence will also prove to my teacher that I have developed a well-formed argument based on my familiarity and engagement with the text.  In both cases, I will be looking for textual support that shows how Macbeth’s responsibility for Duncan’s death grew through the play.  For example, I would cite the scene where Lady Macbeth comes up with the murder—but Macbeth actually goes through with it.  I would also cite his the two soliloquies that appear early in the play (1) right after he talks to the witches, and (2) right before he murders Duncan to demonstrate that he had entertained the idea even without Lady Macbeth’s goading.  I would also cite his dramatic change after the murder, particularly his lack of remorse and his other murders to prove that he knew what he wanted and knew how to get it.  All of this things would demonstrate that Macbeth’s heart was set on being king—and knowing the people of Scotland and my teacher, the idea of regicide and murder would be unacceptable.  Ultimately, I need to paint Macbeth in a very dark light.   

1. Using Writing to Persuade:

I need to make sure I’m gradually building my argument.  I need to connect my audience to the essay from the start by showing them why they should care about reading my writing.  I should take a clear cut stand on the issue and should support that issue with three or more strong statements.  I should develop these statements with textual support and additional elaboration.  I should also paint Lady Macbeth in a more appealing light to make her a more sympathetic character; in connection to this, I should also address the counterargument.  Finally I should bring my argument to a close, being sure to come back to my original claim.  Besides following this process, I should also make sure that none of what I say is counter to my original argument.  I should also make sure that I follow proper grammatical and mechanical conventions to demonstrate that I am a reliable writer.  Related to this, I must also cite my textual support to show that I am giving credit to my sources.   

1. Outline:

Thesis Statement: While Lady Macbeth fueled Macbeth’s growing ambition to become king of Scotland, ultimately Macbeth’s desire for power was the driving force in the play.  Not only did he share his ambition with his wife and give in to her goading, but he was ultimately responsible for acting against the natural order by committing regicide, thus setting off a chain of unnatural events.

1.  
   1. Body Paragraph #1: Macbeth originally entertained the idea by giving into the witches’ suggestion, continuing to consider it and then sharing it with his wife. 

                                                               i.      Macbeth’s reaction to the witches’ prophecy (I.iii): 1.       “Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel’s death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.”                                                             ii.      Macbeth undoubtedly desires to be the king (I.iii): 1.       “If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success.”                                                            iii.      Macbeth commits to the suggestion by putting it to paper, sharing it with his wife, calling her his “dearest partner of greatness,” and asking her to consider it (I.v.)

1.  
   1. With full knowledge of the consequences of regicide, Macbeth responds to his wife’s goading and his desire for power by murdering Duncan—rather than following his conscience.

                                                               i.      Macbeth knows that killing Duncan is wrong as demonstrated in his soliloquy at the beginning of I.vii.                                                               ii.      He shares his doubt with his wife, but after she goads him, he decides to prove his manliness and love for his wife—as well as to fulfill his desire for power—but committing to murdering Duncan in the second part of I.vii.                                                            iii.      Macbeth killed Duncan: “I have done the deed” (II.ii.15).

1.  
   1. Rather than demonstrating regret for killing Duncan, Macbeth pursues his quest relentlessly.

                                                               i.      He allows Malcolm and Donalbain to be blamed for the murder, giving him clear access to the throne.                                                             ii.      He plots the murder of Banquo and Fleance in order to get them out of the way, anticipating the fulfillment of the second half of the witches’ prophecy. (III.i).                                                            iii.      He commissions the murder of MacDuff’s family (IV.i).                                                            iv.      He leads Scotland into war in order to protect the throne for himself (V.iii).    

TE 803: Religion and American Education

Even though we will only be giving this a subject a cursory glance in my TE 803 class, I’m glad to have the opportunity to think through it–in part because of my own position as a Christian and in part because of my current placement. Over the past six months, it has been interesting to observe the role Christianity places at Detroit School of Arts. On one occasion, I recall several students commenting on how hard they prayed after studying the night before for a test they had during the day. During another moment, when a student was sharing a personal problem with me and my mentor teacher, Ahna, I was taken back a bit when Ahna said she would pray for the young lady. In class discussions, I have had students reference church and God, and after speaking, other classmates would shout, “Amen!” or “Preach it!” And most recently, at the senior pinning breakfast this past Tuesday morning at school, our principal spoke to the senior class and their parents, urging them to push forward during the rest of the school year and not to let their work be the devil’s work. As a church-going Christian, these occurrences certainly don’t bother me–but they do surprise me. I’m taken back to my junior year of high school when I banded together with a group of other students who were interested in starting a Bible study at school, but were told we couldn’t because of the impact of separation of church and state on public schools. So where is the line? Does it simply depend on the reaction of students and parents? These are my thoughts going into the reading:

“Religion and American Education: Rethinking a National Dilemma” by Warren Vord

“The battle lines of our culture wars run through every community in America, but our dilemma is very much a national dilemma in a more profound way, for it is bound up with the way in which we have constituted ourselves as a nation.”

This reminds me of the fact that often the dilemmas we face in schools is governed by dilemmas outside of schools in terms of culture, belief systems, and identities.

According to Warren, there are alternatives to being polarized–what are they?

“I will argue that students are all but indoctrinated against religion in public schools and universities. But I will also agree with those liberals who claim that it cannot be the purpose of public education to promote religion or allow its practices in public schools and universities.” I think this is a fair argument–let’s see where he goes with it.

“The idea that the sacred and the secular could be separated and that one could know everything true and important about virtually all aspects of the world without knowing anything about God would have struck most people as nonsense.” Indeed. I think I might still agree…

Religion/God is not dead–but many still behave/believe that it is, ignoring that it continues to permeate American society.

It is constitutional to study religion in schools–for the sake of knowing about it, not trying indoctrinate students. This seems fair–there is great value in examining the development of religion throughout history as it provides a great deal of insight into history, literature, art, and more.

“Western civilization has become very secular. Religion, in response, has become increasingly, though not entirely, a private matter, disengaged from the dominant institutions, ideas, and values of modern civilization.”

“What should be taught about religion when we disagree profoundly about the truth?”

Assumption #1: The secular and the sacred can be separated, and the greater part of our world can be understood in purely secular terms.”

Assumption #2: Secular ways of understanding the world are religiously neutral; hence secular education is religiously neutral.

Assumption #3: Critical reason is the ally of modern secular thought, whereas religion lives and dies by irrational faith.

“Now, if the sacred and the secular cannot be disentangled, and if (much) modern, secular thought is in fact hostile to religion (rather than neutral), and if religion can be rational or if secular thought is a matter of ideological commitments or faith, then the conventional wisdom of modern American education is profoundly mistaken.” Well said.

“Public education should be politically liberal (or multicultural) in the sense that it should give voice to various subcultures–religious subcultures included–which currently have little to say in the world of intellectual and educational elites.”

Beginning Macbeth

This past week, I officially started Macbeth with my students. To a certain degree, I feel a great amount of pressure to plow through it since according to the pacing chart, we should have done it back in December–but I can’t do that to my kids. It’s not their fault that testing and snow days and block scheduling and more has slowly eaten away at our class time. And one thing I have definitely taken away from my own education is that often times a depth over breadth approach is much more productive.

But anyway.

I have tried to plan out our unit on Power and Ambition to make it manageable and to ensure that I am really scaffolding students’ learning–and interest-throughout the unit. This past week, our lessons built their general understanding of the plot of Macbeth through a rap song and predicting about the story–as well as by connecting it back to our previous weeks’ discussion of of power in society today and back in the Renaissance.

We also got up on our feet this week with some acting and playing with Shakespearean language (thanks Shakespeare Set Free!). This coming week, we will be moving through Act I, and my intentions are to develop their understanding of the characters, setting and plot. I’m also planning to bring in some of the vocab terms and literary terms, which I will build on the following week. Too much? I hope not…

For the characters and setting, we will establish this together as a class and will construct a character wall showing connections between characters as well as adjectives associated with each character. I’m hoping it will be a useful resource that we can continue building as we move through the play. For the setting, this is fairly straightforward–I can connect it back to our previous discussion of the Middle Ages, show a short clip of the beginning of Macbeth (a little teaser for later), maybe do a quickwrite about what they imagine the setting looks like and feels like, and make sure to emphasize the weather and darkness. I’m really hoping they connect with the imagery in the play since this will make it much easier to visualize and therefore relate to. Out of all of these things, the vocabulary part is the least interesting and most challenging part for me–and to be honest, may well have been neglected had we not discussed it recently with Of Mice and Men. I definitely see the importance of foregrounding new vocab and using it to build reading fluency–and like the fact that I can connect it back to our school’s increased emphasis on test-prep. Here’s what I’m thinking

Reference OMM Lesson: Day 1
Objectives: SW connect new vocabulary words to existing knowledge; SW use vocabulary words in context

1. [continue from yesterday...]
2. QW: What is/are the purposes of learning new vocabulary?
3. discuss their (students’) purposes in learning new vocab – in connecting this to reading a story – in connecting this to writing or speaking -
4. pass out vocabulary list – talk through each word – what does it remind you of? How can we remember it? How is it used in a sentence?
5. Show models of past vocab paragraphs – especially models where past students used words well together
6. Some writing time – use first 8 words in a vocab story or paragraph – due on DAY 3.

I like all of this; for my purposes I intend to adapt this and to do the following as a mini-lesson:

1. QW: What is/are the purposes of learning new vocabulary?
2. Discuss their (students’) purposes in learning new vocab – in connecting this to reading a story – in connecting this to writing or speaking -
3. Pass out vocabulary list – talk through each word – what does it remind you of? How can we remember it? How is it used in a sentence?
4. To build on the acting we did last week in class and that we will continue doing, I will incorporate word charades with words from Act I and II in the same vein as the TE 804 session from a couple weeks ago. Do I want to do this as a whole class activity? Or since I already have group work, have two groups prepare their versions of I.iii while the other groups prepare for charades? And then do the small group question activity with everyone after? Bridge this to a discussion of the rest of Act I. Then the Reading Check Quiz then begin Act II? This could work…

Another idea:

1. act out pages 4-6 (half of room watch Lennie, half watch George – students taking notes on observations of what actors do to bring the characters to life)
2. Discuss what we learn about these characters – what is significant?
3. Act out pages 13-15 – repeat above –
4. create 2 column character chart (character, description) to use as reading guide
5. predict about future –intro chapter 2: why is this chapter going to be important to the book? Why are this chapter’s events going to be important to George and Lennie (possibly tie to imagining yourself entering a new school – you are looking for who may or may not be good friends)

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While I have the two groups performing I.iii, I could have the rest of the class watching Macbeth, Banquo and the witches and creating a list of adjectives to describe them. Prior to this, we could return to a discussion of scenes i and ii and begin constructing a list of adjectives for Duncan and Macbeth. Then after the acting we could post the characters on the wall and then post some of these adjectives around the characters.

OR

 

1. assign key characters (possibly not George or Lennie) to small groups to become experts for: [half page handout: for your assigned character, come up with at least 2 pictures

   ---

I could do the same thing after we move into Act II–we could construct our character wall since the major characters will be introduced by then…So I could save the character wall to aide our analysis of Act II towards the end of this week/beginning of next. My lesson for Mon/Tues could look like this:

1) Students will discuss the following question in their journal: What is/are the purposes of learning new vocabulary?2) As a whole class, we will discuss the students’ purposes in learning new vocab – in connecting this to reading a story – in connecting this to writing or speaking.

3) Pass out vocabulary list for Acts I and II; discuss how knowing this terms will aide their reading; talk through each word – what does it remind you of? How can we remember it? How is it used in a sentence?

4) To build on the acting we did last week in class and that we will continue doing, partners will receive a word from the vocab list and must prepare a short skit to illustrate the word. Everyone will have five minutes to prepare. Then the class will be divided into two halves; each partner set will present their short skit and teams will have a chance to guess the word. After guessing the word, they must justify their reasoning.

5) We will return to Act I with our new knowledge; we will watch beginning clip of Macbeth to discuss setting and what the setting of the play suggests about how the story will unfold.

6) In small groups, students will receive an envelope with instructions. They will either (a) respond to five questions and post their responses on the appropriate butcher paper, or (b) prepare a short skit of I.iii. They will have 15 minutes.

7) We will reconvene as a class to go over the answers to the five questions, using this to build our understanding of Act I.iii. We will also discuss the remaining scenes in Act I.

8) Our acting groups will perform their skits; during their performances, the remaining groups will be responsible for watching an assigned character: Macbeth, Banquo, or the witches. They must focus on two things (a) how their characters are portrayed differently in the two versions, and (b) how they would describe their characters. We will return to this discussion in the next class period.

9) Students will complete Reading Check Quiz I.

10) We will begin listening to/reading Act II in class.

HW: Students will read II.1-2; they must come up with a list of five adjectives for Lady Macbeth.