Exemplars

I will never forget when I was about 6, my brother 11, and my sister 9, and our parents asked us to pull out the pea plants in the garden (for they had already been picked). So we set out to work (per the parents’ request) pulling out plant after plant. We had done great work... fantastic work... work we thought was so great... until our parents returned. They informed us that not only had we pulled out the pea plants, but the bean plants as well. And as you may have guessed, the beans had not yet been picked. And as you also may have guessed, we were ecstatic... because we did not like beans (unfortunately my parents would feed us frozen beans, which were way worse).

As with most anything in life, showing somebody how to do something, or showing them exactly what is being asked of them, is beneficial to the process. The model or showcase to strive for in education is the exemplar. For assignments, assessments, and evaluations, it is imperative that students are given examples of what is expected of them. These exemplars can be created by the teacher, or by students from previous years. Equally as important, is to show the student a variety of exemplars that show how the same assignment can be done successfully in different ways. Going a step further, it is advantageous for teachers to show level 1, 2, 3, & 4 exemplars (and the reasons why those exemplars fall into each category). Usually this process is performed with an accompanying rubric. I have utilized exemplars both effectively and ineffectively in my (brief) experience in the classroom. As a first year teacher in 2008, I was in the midst of teaching curriculum that was foreign to me, in a position that I had never held before. Some of the assessments I used were passed down to me by my co-workers. I re-worked them to fit my class, but I failed to provide students with a concrete example of what I wanted. I thought that the instructions I had given them would lead to the finished product I had constructed in my head. And for some this (kind of) happened... but for others... not so much. It was a big eye-opener, and I ended up not counting it for much of anything, but rather adapting my final assessment to include some of the things I wanted previously. Optimistically, I like to think this process bettered me as a teacher (my first students may or may not agree). That semester I rarely did anything significant without an exemplar... even if I was up till 3am creating one.

The Ontario Curriculum Guides offer teachers (and parents and students) examples of what is expected from students at different grade levels. The exemplars that I am going to examine (I use that term a bit loosely given the amount of space I am expected to use) come from The Ontario Curriculum – Exemplars Grade 5 & 6 document http://www.ontla.on.ca/library/repository/mon/3000/10303844.pdf. Specifically I am going to look at grade six exemplars – which should coincide nicely with our module 8 group assignment.

First and foremost, it is nice to know, after reading the first few pages, that the performance tasks and scoring scales (rubrics) – depicted in the document – were used in classrooms, given changes to, and marks provided, resulting in  actual student work being used as exemplars (for all levels) in this document. This tells me that a large amount of time was spent with these documents, encompassing a large group of people (which is very encouraging, and demonstrates that an authentic process has taken place). The exemplar documents show two examples of student work for each achievement level (1, 2, 3, &4), for an assignment in each course strand (in this case Early Civilizations). This gives teachers an artillery worth of exemplars to draw from in the classroom. In addition, the teacher package is something that first year teachers (who may not have a lot to draw from – especially in subjects that may not be their strong-suits) can utilize, and experienced teachers can build on and liken other tasks to.

Unfortunately though, these documents are difficult to find, and not as easily available in a school setting (in my experience) as one would expect. If a set of these exemplar documents were found in each classroom (maybe that is unrealistic), teachers could show these more efficiently. That being said if each classroom had a Smart-board or a projector, we could just beam the examples to the head of the classroom. Now that would be ultra effective. In any event, having the chance to use these documents more practically would have been extremely beneficial for me as a first-year teacher (and beyond). The thoroughness of these documents gives students no excuse for achievement fogginess – if the documents are shown to them properly. Additionally, there is a substantial amount of information here for students and teachers to grasp. A quick look through its pages shows a variety of graphs, bullet points, charts, rubrics, etc. There is a lot going on. Even teachers can be quickly over-whelmed by the content. The specific exemplars of student work on pages 40-58 from the task for Ancient Civilizations grade six are quite convoluted – even in level one. While the information following each exemplar gives first year teachers a good idea of what they should be noting (e.g. understanding of concepts, communication of required knowledge, application, comments / next steps), and the type of assignments they can provide to students, the information overall seems quite daunting. Furthermore, it is unclear if the specific tasks are the golden standard that teachers should be holding all of their tasks up to. Perhaps some of the tasks provided in the exemplars will not, a) work for my students, or b) work for me. If this is the case, does it reflect negatively on me?

Moving on, the Ontario Curriculum Exemplar Documents are not just designed for teachers (and consequently students). Parents should also eat this information up (Sorry, I realize the preceding sounded incredibly informal). The document acknowledges that, “the samples in the document provide parents with examples of student work to help them monitor their child’s progress” (Ontario Document p.3). Communication between teachers and parents can also be fostered through this process. Parents can look through the document to give them a better understanding of the type of work their child should be striving for.  And while I believe that these documents are difficult for parents to peruse, if given the opportunity to look through (and perhaps are made more readily available), these documents can educate parents with the “here and now”, regarding current assessment tools, expectations, and achievement charts that are being used in Ontario’s classrooms and learning institutions. Through this document parents can be given (some of) the knowledge to better help their child progress and reach the appropriate achievement levels. A much better summery is given in bullet points on page nine of the document.

Finally, principals also share an invested interest in these documents. They should use these documents as guides to help ensure their teachers are using the appropriate measures provided within. Principals can use these documents to help ensure that their teachers are following similar methods of assessment, especially in larger schools where multiple teachers are teaching the same grades. I believe that schools should have a variety of teaching personalities within its walls – teachers with unique skills and strengths that give the building character. I find a school can truly thrive if constructed with an approach of this nature. But I also think there needs to be a level of accountability... a level of similarity and conformity. The Ontario Curriculum Documents and Exemplar Guides help facilitate this desire.

Thank you.

The teacher's role in the writing process

Writing is something I am very fond of. Truthfully though, rarely do I have anything of value to write that anyone else would want to read. However, some of my life goals involve writing. I want to write a book (still molding my ideas), and I want to write a comedy movie script (I’m more close to writing the script than the book). In fact I enjoy writing more than I enjoy reading (major works especially), which probably doesn’t make a ton of sense. But I enjoy the process of creating a picture – so to speak – using words. I’m not sure where I picked up this interest, but I suspect that over the years the education system has fed this interest. The joy for writing that I have incurred comes as a result of an inner urge/desire to improve it. If I had this same desire towards other things (perhaps cooking or learning to fix a car), major improvements to my home life could be made.

After teaching English at the intermediate and senior levels, I completely understand the value of writing in the classroom. The only negative – as far as I could see – was the increase in my marking load (tongue in cheek). I believe the focus on writing literacy has increased significantly since my days as a student. That being said, from what I experienced in the classroom, I think there is room for improvement. Students need to develop a joy for writing, and to do that they need to be taught (and given more time to practice) how to maximize their writing abilities. Learning the writing process is integral to this idea. Tompkins’ text identifies the writing process as “a process that involves recurring cycles” that focuses on “what students think and do as they write” (Tompkins p. 136). There are five stages in the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. It is important to remember that just because these stages are labeled and ordered, does not mean that the process is linear. Instead it is a revolving process; when writing is performed properly, these stages will be touched on multiple times. Teachers must play an integral role in this process. The teachers’ role in the writing process is to, a). Give students many authentic opportunities through a variety of assignments, to explore their writing abilities and improve on them, and b). “Serve as a model in the writing process by writing class collaborations” and by teaching minilessons that look at the procedures, concepts, strategies, and skills of the writing process. Much in the same way teachers need to be enthusiastic about reading, we must also express an eagerness to write, and to do so frequently in the classroom using a modeled and collaborative approach. The junior level is the time for teachers to instill in students a sense of “writing pride”, and fine-tune the skills and strategies for effective writing.

I am going to talk about the five stages more thoroughly in time, but before doing so I want to highlight ‘editing’ as a source of frustration in my teaching career. From students’ perspectives, I can understand some of the reasons why the editing stage is ignored. First, some students just want to be done with an assignment. The last period signals the end – it can be submitted and forgotten. Second, I imagine some students might be embarrassed by their work. I’ve heard a few students hand something to me – already shaking their heads, muttering “it’s bad” under their breath. I suppose the “great reflector” that I am must take some responsibility here. That being said, one of my strongest attributes was helping students take the work they hand in – and help them to turn it into something more special. I am encouraged by what I experienced in the classroom in this regard, and am eager to use these skills at the junior level.

Module 7-1 gave us an example of a grade six student’s work titled ‘Mummification’, and asked how I would help edit this piece. One teaching strategy that I found to work successfully was pulling students’ sentence errors from their work, and taking them up as a class. One day I might work on sentence fragments, the next run-on sentences. At the junior level I would include minilessons on capitalization and comma use as well. Editing checklists are also imperative. Checklists give students reminders of what they need to be looking for during the editing process. Figure 4-6 in Tompkins’ text provides a good guideline for a checklist, but I also would be inclined to add more boxes that should be checked after I have edited their work. Too often I found that students wouldn’t review my edits – and would either stuff it back in their notes, or perhaps put in the special filing cabinet they labelled “waste-paper basket”. By adding categories such as, “I have fixed all comma errors” they would expected to correct their work and then resubmit it. That being said, for this “Mummification” assignment, I might have been more inclined to assess their work from a research perspective, and just read this paragraph for enjoyment! I have to admit it is pretty interesting – if not a bit morbid (beeswax in the nose?!?).

Mythology has never been my strong suit, and don’t get me started on Clash of the Titans. However having students write myths as part of a theme cycle about Ancient Greece is an interesting place to discuss the teacher’s role in all five stages of the writing process. This will be fairly brief, only because this will be a grand generalization. I suspect my role in the writing process could vary significantly from student-to-student and from year-to-year.

1.       Prewriting: It is important to give students the opportunity for choice in their writing. Not complete freedom perhaps, but allow them to choose the style of writing, or choose from one of four or five culminating tasks. For this assignment it is important to give students the choice of their topics from ancient Greece. But the more often students have the opportunity to choose what they want to write about, the more successful writing (and learning) opportunities will be. In addition, it is the teacher’s job to instill a sense of value for brainstorming in the classroom. Students need a framework or a roadmap in order to gather their thoughts and plant their ideas. I have written before about the importance of organization, and this stage is where that begins. Teachers can model several graphic organizers for students along the way – giving them options to use the ones that work best.

2.       Drafting: I have seen far too many (and embarrassingly have done it myself) times where students write one draft and hand it in. A second, third, or fourth draft can improve an assignment immensely. Teachers encourage ‘drafting’ by forcing students through the process. Force may sound like a harsh word, but drafting needs to become habit-forming. Teachers must acknowledge when drafts have been written. Additionally, it is important not to emphasize spelling and grammar during this stage; the content and organization of ideas should be the main focus.

3.       Revising: This stage is multi-faceted. The more eyes that view the paper prior to, and during the revising stage, the better. The teacher’s role is to be the last set of eyes, and (especially during major works) hold conferences with individual students to help them “make choices and define directions for revision” (p.143). It is important to keep in mind that conferences work best when the students speak first, when questions (rather than answers) are posed to the students, and ask students to identify the revisions to be made that were discussed during the conference.

4.       Editing: As much as I like being redundant, I kindly ask those reading to refer above for information relating to the teacher’s role during the editing stage (and yes this sentence was edited for excessive sarcasm).

5.       Publishing: The most important thing a teacher can do at this stage is to provide opportunities for students to be proud of their work. Tompkins highlights a number of relatively easy ways for teachers to do this: 1. Making books, 2. Sharing writing orally or by putting published work in the library, 3. Produce videos of the work, 4. Help students create a classroom blog, etc. I think all of these could be beneficial for a myth-writing assignment. I think creating some sort of mythological haven somewhere in the school to support the writing would be huge! The advantages of sharing work can really have a positive impact on a student’s psyche. Teachers can also create genuine audiences that know how to respond to their classmates, by modeling this behaviour when students perform in class.

The final necessity of this reflection piece before I can call it a completed draft (and this follows several drafts & revisions, plenty of peer- and self-editing processes, and a whole case of RedBull) is to acknowledge the importance of providing a variety of writing options in the classroom and differentiating between forms of writing. Common errors occur in the classroom when teachers fail to distinguish between informational (or expository texts) and narratives. Both forms of writing can be a joy to read – each should be essential bookmark holders in a junior student’s knapsack – and both can be a joy to explore in writing.

Thank you.

Lifelong Learning

I wanted to share a few thoughts on Lifelong Learning before diving into Tompkins’ Language Arts text. In this way I can show how out of touch I am, and then consequently spend a few paragraphs having to change my way of thinking (hopefully not though)!

Lifelong learning is a goal that educators may have difficulty imposing on others because – I believe for the most part – we have an innate drive to continue developing ourselves and bettering ourselves as teachers, communicators, and in a perfect world bettering ourselves as people. This innate drive is not carried by everyone, including many students that live in the moment and may not see the benefits of working hard in the classroom, let alone putting themselves in positions to learn outside of it. Therefore, I believe that it is our job to provide students with transferable learning strategies that can be engrained (and retained). As a result these strategies become – in essence – skills that can be kept in their “toolboxes” for future use. All that being said, if students aren’t interested in things the desire to learn is suppressed. Generally, people take part in activities, seek employment in, and surround themselves with things that interest them. Thus, our secondary goal must be to create interest in a wide variety of subject areas and topics. Not artificial interest either, rather genuine interest in exploring topics that are both familiar and foreign. Perhaps the single most important avenue to create this interest is to encourage, create a passion for reading: lifelong reading.

                Guided reading is one strategy – that when used effectively and with purpose – has been found to instill a strong reading desire and positive reading skills for/to students. Guided reading brings readers with similar reading ability together to help “meet the varied needs of all students” (Tompkins p. 122). Texts that are slightly above student’s ability to read independently are used with guided instructional support designed to build reading strategies and increase independence. Through this approach teachers are able to more close monitor and assess students’ progress. In smaller groups with students working at or near the same level, they have opportunities to more clearly demonstrate their reading strategies, and teachers can more easily (and effectively) clarify misunderstandings, point out key words, and provide a stronger foundation for students to improve reading and grow their passion for language arts. In the text, a six step process is revealed.

1.       Teachers choose a book or selection for a group based on their reading abilities.

2.       Books are introduced with pre-reading strategies (more on this). These strategies are designed to set a purpose for reading.  Predictions are made.

3.       Guided reading is beneficial because teachers can more easily observe students’ reading. Anecdotal notes are written to pave the way for more direct instructional teaching later.

4.       Assistance is given while students are reading to aid in comprehension and word identification.

5.       Students talk about the selection. In smaller groups students can investigate the text – and what they have learned – with (ideally) a stronger urge to share and explore what has been found.

6.       Teachers continue to instruct after reading. Minilessons are used to review/practice/introduce skills and strategies. These lessons can be developed and introduced prior to reading or be developed following the observations made during reading.

The text suggests that Guided Reading is best used when students are learning to read or when developing new reading strategies.  However I believe that guided reading is important at all levels and in a variety of settings. I have experienced forms of guided reading (perhaps the strategy component was not explicit focused on) during university, in work related sessions, and in the 90+ division in the nursing home (I wish!). More importantly I have observed and attempted to introduce Guided Reading at the Junior, Intermediate, and Senior levels. I found smaller groups worked quite effectively while teaching grade eleven university preparation English. The Great Gatsby is a difficult text – especially for ESL learners. In smaller groups though I could more easily teach strategies designed to battle the difficult words that F. Scott Fitzgerald used to paint his work. While students still found it difficult to wrap their heads around the novel – I found some improvement by the end of the novel (crazy Daisy Buchanan).

                One aspect of Guided Reading that I can focus on more closely to in the future is providing activities during the pre-reading stage that excite students prior to reading. Here are some strategies that I have discovered and some activities that can encourage each.

1.       Activate prior knowledge –

Mind Maps, as individual or group activities, can be used to help trigger prior knowledge concerning ideas that the text will present. This might work better in groups because students combine their knowledge. In instances where one student knows something that others do not (prior to reading), that student can teach the other what he or she knows. As the students begin reading, the mind map can be continued. 

2.       Make Predictions –

Anticipation Guides can be used to encourage students to make predictions about what they are about to read. Students can anticipate based on the text’s cover, title, a small passage, or even a few keywords.

Book Boxes can be used as a form of Anticipation Guide (Tompkins p. 131). Teachers select a group of objects that relate to the text’s characters and themes. Students can explore the box and predict what the objects have in common and how they might come together in the text.

3.       Preview the text –

Students can read reviews of the text or supporting texts that allude specifically to the one being used for Guided Reading. Obviously positive reviews or works that paint the text in an encouraging light are imperative.

4.       Connect to prior personal and literary experience –

Think-Pair-Share activities combine other strategies (including writing strategies) to encourage students to make connections. Teachers must provide texts leading up to the one being used for Guided Reading, that have similar themes, or like-minded characters in order for students to be able to attach to. Teachers can prompt students to think about these literary connections, and perhaps even personal experiences by means of some type of a thinking exercise. After students have the opportunity to find their connections (genuine or not), they pair with another student to share their findings.

5.       Set purposes for reading –

The KWL strategy can be used to set purposes for learning (it should be used throughout the reading process). Students are informed about topics and themes the text presents. They make notes about what they already Know about the topics and What they Want to learn about them. In this way they take ownership of their learning and it encourages them to seek answers that the text may not address. When this occurs they can go outside the text to get the information.  

                Guided Reading and guided viewing are necessary in the classroom as an aid to help develop the skills students need to perform lifelong reading and lifelong learning.

Thank you

Listening and Talking in the Classroom

Reading Reflection Number Five asks us to dive into the idea of students’ learning, viewing, and listening skills. As Tompkins alludes to in detail throughout the chapters, viewing and listening skills are often taken for granted in the classroom. These skills (and quite often we forget they are skills) need to be developed and nourished in a learning environment so that they can allow further understanding in the classroom and in the “real world”. For this posting I want to stay away from educational jargon, and avoid simply restating what the text presents more brilliantly and clearly then I could ever imagine. Instead, I want to reflect how the ideas presented in the chapters and in module 5, and whether they are being used effectively or ineffectively at Columbia International College’s Learn English and Explore Canada Summer Camp.

Note: Full Disclosure – I am the camp’s Assistant Camp Director...so I have some familiarity with the institution – and perhaps some bias as well!

And as any good writer would do, I need to begin with some hypocrisy...some of that educational jargon that I wanted to avoid must be explicitly drawn forth in order o provide a foundation and basis for my thoughts. Please bear with me.

Aesthetic Listening: This type of listening is performed when individuals listen for enjoyment. That seems relatively simply – something that we can wrap our heads around, because it would seem we do this pretty much all the time. It is only when we dive into other types of listening that we discover the depths of “listening skills”. Moving forward...

Efferent Listening: This type of listening is used to understand a message. Now the example I am about to give borders (and probably infringes) more extensively on viewing skills, but it remains valid. It is very possible to listen and view the movie Inception for the wonderful action scenes and cinematography. This is suspect would fall into the Aesthetic Category. But to try and understand the movie – to listen for comprehension – to understand the complexities of the dream-world – to discover Leonardo’s plan to plant an idea into one man’s mind – this I suspect would fall into the Efferent Category.

And if we can agree that Critical Listening is designed to aid (encourage) the evaluation of a message, then we can utilize critical listening to help figure out if anything in Inception, actually has any form of impact on our social world (that being said I still don’t know).

I look at the summer campers that we have at Columbia – and I wonder how these listening skills are being used, how effectively the activities and lessons created for them are even improving these different listening skills.

In a classroom we can teach aesthetic, efferent, and critical learning skills by means of different classroom activities and assessments – and we can do this overtly and covertly. For example we can encourage development of these learning skills by (fig. 8.2):

Aesthetic: encouraging the use of listening centres, watching students perform a play (or readers theatre), and by encouraging guided conversation.

Efferent: listen to oral oral reports, book talks, participate in writers groups, perform mini-lessons specifically on the types of listening, and having students share their projects.

Critical: Listen to debates and political speeches, view commercials and other advertisements, and by evaluating the themes and arguments in different types of literature.

These ideas merely scratch the surface of how to induce these learning skills – but they provide some good starting points. Relating it to my summer camp experience thus far, I first have to ask what I think is an obvious question: Since we only see these students for three or four weeks, can we really access these skills and improve upon them in such a short amount of time? My initial thoughts are...maybe not, but I think we would be doing a disservice to the students if we didn’t give them the opportunity to try. Our program is very diverse in that we offer three hours of ESL lessons in a classroom setting each day. These lessons are loosely based on the Ontario curriculum, and focus more so on developing their conversational English and practicing it in social settings. Students have the opportunity to go into the community and experience conversation with Canadians (at the grocery store, in the park, and while on different excursions). I believe these types of interactions would be examples of Efferent Listening. Aesthetic Listening is encouraged when we take the students to watch a movie or have them listen to English music, poetry, and (some) literature. For these types of activities students can appreciate the English language as a form of communication – they don’t necessarily have to try to understand it in all circumstances – just gain more exposure to its use in our culture. Critical listening may not occur quite as frequently – but it does happen (and often not when we expect it to). I have already had multiple conversations with students concerning discipline – where they are forced to evaluate what I am saying. In addition, I have had conversations with students concerning medical issues, transportation information, and scheduling/procedural instructions – where they must evaluate what I am saying in order to provide an intelligible response – in English!

In the same way we require our students to listen, we also encourage them to talk. Their opportunities to do so are ever-present. We encourage talk in the ESL lessons, during their science/art/sports/computer activities, on their evening trips, and during their excursions to Bark Lake and Eastern Canada – situations where they are off campus and pressed into speaking the English language. While our students may not use the ideas presented for elementary students quite as explicitly or comprehensively as Tompkins discusses, we do encourage it somewhat similarly. For Aesthetic Talk we ask students to: prepare stories to tell, perform reader’s theatre (loosely), read parts of a script, describe objects, and encourage them to use props, facial expressions and gestures, and always seek clarification.  Likewise for Efferent Talk we have students: conduct interviews, participate in debates, explore topics in depth, seek facts and opinions, and attempt to persuade others towards their reasoning. When presenting their ideas students are instructed to rehearse, organize, use note cards, and support their opinions with facts or anecdotes. These activities are performed one-on-one, in small groups, and in front of large audiences. What makes the students’ experiences unique is that while they are doing this, we are looking to see them think in English, which for someone like me – who only speaks one language – is really taken for granted. I am learning so much on a daily basis from these kids. By observing the instructors, and having conversations with students, I am learning good (and not so good) strategies that I can apply as a junior teacher. The 18 dollars an hour suddenly seems worth it!

In chapter ten of the text Tompkins explores the positive connections between Visual Arts and Language Arts. She explores the benefits of learning and teaching language through Drama and the reasons behind it. I discussed Reader’s Theatre in my 5.1 forum post so I won’t rehash those points again; instead I want to use this space to advocate once again for improvisation as a learning tool in the classroom. I am not exaggerating when I say that my one-year education in the Second City Improvisation Program was perhaps the most enjoyable “formal” learning experience of my life (although I shouldn’t call it conventional, but I did pay for it, and we did have instructors, so...). I realize drama and improv are different, but both involve exploring language in front of an audience, and both require performing that encourages students to be active in an uncomfortable (for most) setting. During our online meeting for this course Zoe mentioned discomfort as a positive when learning – this idea really struck me. For some reason I hadn’t thought of this before. In any event, improv can be used in a classroom to unite the students, to explore different genres/tones/moods/expressions, and give students the opportunity to “play” characters that have come up throughout the year – and think like they do, act like they do, be them. I encourage PEOPLE of all ages to get into improv on some level – because I know the benefits – especially to younger students and adolescents – can have lifelong effects.

Thank you.

Readers Theatre

Reader’s theatre is something I tried in earnest, teaching Shakespeare’s work in ENG 2D. I don’t know how successful I was, because after reading the information provided in Module 5.1, and on page #419 of Tompkins’ text, I realize how much more I could have done with it. One of the concepts that I rarely enacted was having students pre-read the material. Sometimes I wonder if I just had them read certain acts just to get them over with. Perhaps I encouraged their lackluster approach to the Twelfth Night by the way I was teaching. Thinking how junior students can benefit from this reading strategy – knowing what I know now, and after completing the Second City Improvisation program – is striking. I think the possibilities for all readers, especially weak readers, are enormous. First, roles are picked by the teacher and are ability driven. In other words, teachers have the chance to put students in positions to succeed, something that might not be possible having them read silently at their desks. Also, audience members have the opportunity to interpret the text in multiple ways: once by reading the text, and then again watching how others interpret it orally. Based on my reading and limited experience, it seems that students really enjoy activities of this nature that one might consider “outside the norm”. It gives students the opportunity to explore their creative sides, by experimenting with different voices and (restrained) gestures. And finally weak readers have the added benefit of practicing their lines beforehand to help ensure their reading fluency and expression.

I believe that this strategy is beneficial, and appeals to all students. The added bonus is that boys appear to respond positively to this strategy. After teaching high school English, and coaching a variety of age-groups (in a variety of sports), I recognize the importance of grabbing the attention of males early when it comes to evoking a longing for literacy. I think Reader’s Theatre accomplishes this partly because it gets boys to break out of their shell during the learning process. I was perusing a few websites and came across one that presents some information that seems fairly credible -   http://www.freereaderstheater.com/literacy-instruction-for-boys.html. The information - compiled by Dianna Cleveland – alludes to the idea that boys typically enjoy reading activities that are social and reading activities that allow active participation and instruction. In my experience, boys seem to have short attention spans when it comes to literacy. However, some of the strategies/modifications to Reader’s Theatre that Tompkins brings forth should help counteract this. My favourite idea presented is having students position themselves around the room – when it is their time to speak they really have the opportunity to command the room. This strategy keeps the audience alert because they must turn their heads (and bodies) with the flow of the script. There is no excuse for keeping your head on the desk!!!

All that being said, what really brings Reader’s Theatre off the page is the works selected to be used for this strategy. Besides Shakespeare..., I think works that have a variety of characters would be beneficial. Students enjoy the opportunity to ‘play’ someone else – and I believe they would have fun playing characters that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Moreover, I think works that elicit strong tones and moods should be encouraged. I think certain plays, poems, and short stories that provide these attributes would be very effective for reader’s theatre. I would love to hear some specific titles that others in the class have found to work well in Reader’s Theatre.

Thank you.

A Football Alliteration Poem

February Football

On a frosted field in February,

Football fever is found.

Foul fanatics find fantastical fervor;

Fixating on one formidable football.

Foes feasted their focus forward,

The fugitive ball fumbled furiously.

Filthy feet forced it free from feeble fists,

Fitted full-fledged in a fight for its forfeiture.

A fatty fiend found himself in the forefront.

With the football floating frantically

He fluttered face-first to the field...

His fingers fetching the familiar formation.

Fifteen to fourteen – a final finished.

Flashy fests, fiestas, and festivals formed.

The fearsome football, forever remembered,

On that frosted field in February.

Ontario Curriculum Documents

I have a number of different problems in life; some are humorous, others frustrating, and for whatever reason some problems combine together to create incredibly fortunate circumstances (bare with me). The first problem is that I work on a ten inch notebook, and the stigmatisms in my eyes often do not cooperate to produce optimal vision. The second is that I my cousin and his wife have a habit of taking advantage of the fact that I am a single twenty-seven year-old male. I am constantly helping (doing) their yard-work, making errands for them, and am frequently used as a punching bag for their two young children. BUT...they are both elementary teachers. And with that being said I have the fortune of chatting with them on a nightly basis about all things life – and many things relating to education. It has also enabled me to obtain hard copies of The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 guides. As my good friend’s father says, “there is more than one way to skin a cat” (and for the record I do not condone that behaviour...). These circumstances are how I have arrived on my living room floor with six different Ontario Curriculum guides flagging the grade six expectations. Immediately one can observe many similarities that encourage easy and frequent use of these documents, but also the frequent implementation of authentic assessment (we’ll get to that later). Let’s start with the easy-to-observe similarities. The newly revised documents are colour-coded, come with easy-to-identify headings, overall and specific expectations, and different strands that are to be focused on. The benefits of the “easy-to-observe” similarities are fairly obvious for two reasons. First, people work well with anything that is organized. And second (and more specific to education), it provides teachers with guides to break down learning objectives – and does so in a way that encourages organization from the teacher as well.

            A second group of similarities are those which I have yet to give a clever name to. The extraction of specific learning skills from a broader group of overall expectations dominates the documents. The numbered overall expectations break down how subjects are taught and learned, while coinciding specific expectations dive into the learning goals/concepts that pave the way for successful learning attainment (yikes that was a bit wordy). I wonder, since the expectations are laid out so clearly, would it be useful to put the curriculum expectations on the board during lessons for transparency and to highlight to students what they are intended to learn.

The documents also include “helpers” (poor word-choice), such as teacher prompts and guiding questions, that clarify any concerns educators may experience. In addition, subject-specific glossaries are included in the back few pages of the documents. This is helpful to teachers when providing clear and quick definitions to students. I think above all, the curriculum documents are intended to address the needs of students while providing an effective ready-to-implement guide for teachers. On page 23 of the Language curriculum guide it states, “Teachers should ensure that all students have ample opportunities to explore a subject from multiple perspectives by emphasizing cross-curricular learning and integrated learning.” Obviously there is added pressure to link different subjects together at the primary level, more so it seems than at the secondary level. Learning how to create this cross-curricular learning is something I look forward to partaking in and utilizing.

 In order to reach these expectations, teachers must provide authentic assessment that illustrates a students’ learning. There is an ample supply of educational jargon that teachers have added to their arsenals: assessment as, for, and of learning; diagnostic and formative assessments, and evaluations. But how do we know what works for students, versus what works for us? How do we get students to show their learning in ways that mimic real-world contexts: whether it be reading, writing, viewing, mathematics, or otherwise. The following is a list of assessment strategies, some of which I have used, others observed, and others that I have only read about (in no particular order).

Portfolios, conferences (many types), checklists, observations, anecdotal notes, reports, speeches, rubrics, running records, KWL, graphic organizers, standardized testing (EQAO comes to mind for obvious reasons), mind maps, peer editing, self-assessments, case studies, rating scales, oral reports.

Obviously (need to stop using that word), some of the above are the exercises that go along with the assessments, but I still find some value in adding them to the list. For some people all of these may stand out, and for others they could be foreign. The three that I want to examine more closely are ones I suspect to be quite common in Junior Education.

1.     Reports: I have enjoyed success using reports in the classroom because you can utilize a number of different types exercises and assignments that serve as assessments of learning all while exploring the nature of a particular topic. I have used this format predominantly for summative assessments – the clear goal being that the student has had multiple opportunities to show his or her learning previously, and in this final report. The final report was for students to invent a product or service, write a report, create a three minute oral presentation, and investigate marketing strategies for said invention. While I would obviously adapt this model for primary grades – I believe in giving students the opportunity to showcase their knowledge and learning in ways that best suit them. I can use checklists to identify presentation skills, speech patterns, inflection, etc. for the oral component. I can use a rubric (developed with class participation) to assess the report component, and can even use peer assessments throughout the process to show students where their peers think they may be off-track. I believe in exercises that allow students to participate in the entire writing/creative process: research, drafts, referencing, editing, and producing polished finished work. I believe these types of collaborative assessments could work effectively in the Junior Grades.

2.     Portfolios: Unfortunately my use of portfolios at the intermediate and senior level was lacking. It’s not that I didn’t not student improvement, or highlight how far a student had come over time, but I didn’t do this in the explicit way that would be necessary at the Junior level. The section in Tompkins text (pages 165-168) gave some great insight into the usefulness of this assessment strategy. It would be overly redundant to recite her ideas completely, so I will provide my thoughts on what I have seen. While volunteering earlier this year, I was allowed to peruse students’ portfolios. I was intrigued to see what had been selected by the students for entry, and found it quite refreshing to note that not every piece of work had been graded. I believe that a portfolio (while showing obvious signs of strength and areas of weakness unique to each student) should be a collaboration of students’ work that they can be proud of. I believe students may produce greater results when they “know” it could be entered into their portfolio. Finally, I was encouraged to see such a diverse eclectic array of pieces inside the portfolio. And even more encouraged to read figure 4-14 – and note that many of those artifacts were in the portfolios I viewed.

3.     Conferences: I know in writing you are supposed to save the “best for last”, and “leave on a high note”, and “leave the reader craving more”, but I believe in authenticity. And if I didn’t i wouldn’t have written this blurb and instead would have copied and pasted to make this entry fit the clichés. So with that being said, I want to touch again on conferences – something that has been addressed in previous reflections. I want to acknowledge how frequently I have come across this: Tompkins book, in my supplementary readings, and in teaching and observing all grades. It seems that this assessment strategy is applauded for its purity. A teacher interacting with a single student or group of students to find out what they know. I also think it has been found to be so effective for so many because there isn’t one tried and tested type of conference that works best. It is one strategy that a teacher can mold to a form that works best not just for him or herself, but most importantly for the student.

Thank you.