After thinking a bit....

I didn't have time to do this earlier.....

First of all, if the following constructive criticism is dismissed as negativity or not being a team player, then why am I writing this.....?  If a program can't take constructive criticism, how can it move forward?

My comments are specific to the showcase.....I felt it was a hurried affair, slapped together in a way that felt like it was something we had to do to show we did something as opposed to having the chance to really communicate about our findings.  Who had time to work on it?  Was that honestly a thing to expect me to produce?

It felt like a school science fair, not a professional endeavor.  When a group of people walk around with a sheet to fill out, the listening quotient plummets....the task is to fill out the sheet.

I WATCHED people do this, nodding, writing notes, moving on.  I also know I'm really GOOD at listening, and I was not engaged b/c it was such a superficial setting.  If I'm interested in something I want time to talk about it, and if it's something I did work at and would like to explain, I don't want people nodding and passively listening and being enthusiastic about how great I am.

I don't understand the purpose of the showcase other than some perverted means of proving (to whom?) that we did something.

"Look what I made in my PLC." 

I know that's sarcastic, but I really don't care.  This was kind of a slap to my professional face. 

In all honesty it feels like it was a sideways attempt to get people to stay in the building at meetings they were supposed to be in anyway.....put us on the spot to prove we did something.

If someone isn't going to a meeting, go talk to them about it, don't make me slap together a display that no one really thinks about.

I do stuff, all day, every day.  A lot of us do.  If I've done some interesting work, create a time when people who are curious about it can sit down and have an earnest discussion.  Content areas shouldn't be sidelined as a result.

And here's another aspect of this....I'm honest about how I feel, I think criticism is healthy, but I know I'm also comfortable being forthright where most people aren't.  There are a lot of teachers who won't say anything b/c they see the cheer-leading, and they think they have to be super positive or they'll get in trouble.  So while everyone is dutifully posting on the blog, I don't think anything useful is gained by reading what people think you want to hear.


And that's how I feel about the showcase.

We liked the chance to give some feedback on what to do with the abundance of information we received.  For beginning ESL students, we think the mini-interviews were a good idea.  We would like to learn more about Quizlet - but not enough time to experiment with all the new ideas.

At the end of a semester, when we are working to wrap up our classes, the showcase took up key time we could have used on our classroom work.  It felt too much like a science fair and not a professional level of engagement.  It appeared the showcase was for district to see what we have been discussing, but little time for staff to take away and implement.

If we were able to spend more time working on things that interested us, rather than showing what we find, the learning would be more practical.

We need more time to utilize the various strategies, implement them and see if they work.  We would like to include time to meet with our content PLCs again.  This time was very useful.

Carlson, McGinty, Postlewait, Simpson, and Simons

Showcase Supplies??

I don't see a request for any supplies for the Showcase.  If something comes up, please see Mr. Rivera by November 30th.

Here is a a website to practice paragraph corrections among other grammar items.  It would be good for bell work. http://www.englishmaven.org/Articulate/Beginning%20Paragraph%20Correction%201%20-%20Quizmaker%20output/quiz.html

PLC Showcase

At the end of our semester of work, all PLCs will be showcasing their work at the Wyandotte High School PLC Showcase on Wednesday, December 12th in the Social Hall.  The showcase will be a public demonstration of our learning, collaboration, and results.  Each PLC will showcase work that reflects how your learning and collaboration has impacted student learning.  Each PLC is encouraged to be creative and innovative in their demonstration (student examples would be highly encouraged); however, please be sure the following are addressed through your presentation -
    PLC Focus

Collaborative Actions   

Summary of PLC Learning

Impact on Student Learning

Connections to Future Teaching and Learning

In addition, all staff will have an opportunity to visit each demonstration during the Showcase.  Many outside guests will also be in attendance.  

If your PLC requires any kind of additional resources, please submit any requests for those materials via the comment section to this blog entry by NOVEMBER 9th. You will receive these materials by or before your November 28th meeting, so you will have AT LEAST two weeks to work on organizing your demonstration.

I brought some writing samples today from my students and asked for ideas on how to continue with helping the students learn to write.  Mary gave me some great suggestions, and the idea of working from a picture that the student draws of the event that they are describing.  I will try her suggestions with my students.

Beginning to look at where we are with what kind of writing happens in the classroom and how often.

What audience there is for the writing.

What are 3 biggest problems with student writing.


Then - identify places where we can try specific strategies (from ttms.org pdf on Writing Strategies), try them out, what were the results.


Then - build a recommended model to increase opportunities for writing/strategies for types of writing based on what's worked so far.

30 ideas for teaching writing

These ideas originated as full-length articles in NWP publications (a link to the full article accompanies each idea below).

30 Ideas for Teaching Writing

http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922

When I walked into our PLC meeting today, I commented to Ms. McGinty that I would like some more ideas on how to help ESL students become better writers.  She must have mental telepathy as she had already run off copies of "The Writing Teacher's Strategy Guide."  It is a simplified guide to teaching writing with many examples and prompts.  I think it will be very useful for me and for my students.  I particularly like the parts on "I don't know what to write about," "Great Beginnings," and "Happy Endings."

Random creative writing  prompt generator:   I use the link for Serendipity prompts with Write Hard.....

http://writingfix.com/right_brain.htm

1. Examine Writing Across the Curriculum taking note of different strategies we could use in our classrooms.
2. Working on students' ability to create a strong beginning or lead-in for a personal essay.
3. Check in with students around their personal essay introductions.

Teaching That Makes Sense
http://ttms.org/

A site with free pdfs on writing strategies and WAC (where I got the handout "You want me to teach writing now, too?")

A good starting point for reflecting on how you have students write now, and potential ways to increase those opportunities in ways that suit your content.

I like the simplified approach to getting started.....all the venn diagrams and web outlines and so many of the handouts I've seen kids with I find intimidating...and I don't have any trouble getting started.  I think it's overload/overkill/buzzkill to fill out endless charts before you can even get started.

If we want to find ways to remove barriers to writing, then I think it's worth looking for methods that are actually SIMPLE....for the kids and the teacher.

Sept. 5th, PLC

Mary downloaded an article on Writing Across the Curriculum by Steve Peha that was interesting and informative.  It gives me some ideas to try with my students that are a little different and easier for ESL students.  I will have to observe if the new techniques help the students to remember what they have learned so they can preform better on tests.  That is how I will measure the impact of the new writing techniques.

Identifying barriers

I think there's a distinction to be drawn in tackling a reluctance to write.  One barrier is the construction of writing -- organizing thoughts, explaining ideas.  The other is an attitude -- reluctance to reveal inner thoughts, embarrassment, the belief that it's somehow soft or touchy-feely.  They can happen independent of each other, and they can conspire together to create a non-writer.

Over the next week, I am going to continue to check out NWP.org for writing ideas and resources that would be useful in my classroom.  I am hoping to find ideas to help my ESL students become more interested in writing.  This will be measured by the production of student writing.

Are You Ready for College Writing? - National Writing Project

Are You Ready for College Writing? - National Writing Project
This is really interesting about "unteaching" students who write the 5-paragraph essay.  This is not how they need to write in college.

I like the suggestions under "Supporting Good Writing Instruction." I think they are very practical.

National Writing Project:  Resource Topics

http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/doc/resources/topics.csp