Noun Is Adjective

1, 2, 3

2011-03-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

Three Guiding Principles When Confronting Hate | Not in Our Town

Study Rethinks Importance of Kindergarten Teachers

2011-01-26T10:42:00.000-08:00

It turns out good kindergarten teachers can have a major impact on their students' success as adults.

I had really great kindergarten teachers. Can I put that on my resumé?

the weeks

2011-01-26T10:32:00.000-08:00

There's not much going on in my teaching career, which is why there hasn't been much going on at this blog for a while.

Even substituting has produced few results so far. I feel a little like a spectator at a baseball game; every so often a fly ball comes arcing toward the stands and we all jump to our feet. Then the ball descends with a thunk into the glove of someone a few rows down and the rest of us sink back into our seats, thinking, "maybe next time."

One day I caught the ball and ended up substituting for another sub, with a herd of third-graders tripping over themselves trying to help me figure out what to do. I was late due to a last-minute call, so the situation was maligned from the start. Then I was presented with a stack of incomprehensible lesson plans, most of which were not much more than a list of drills. Presumably the original substitute had been instructed on the procedure for conducting these activities, but I had no clue what to do.

The teachers in the adjoining rooms were quite sympathetic and even praised my handling of a crisis situation, a crazed 9-year-old provoking other students with the comment "all black people are slaves," then darting around the room in terror because "everyone wants to kill me!" I took him to the hall to cool off, and we were joined by the fourth-grade teacher, who kindly offered to let him hang out in her room and "get a sneak preview." No, he insisted in panic, because "they're going to kill me too!" (Cut to room full of silent fourth-graders waiting patiently for their teacher to return.)

"Allright," I told him, "Why don't you just take a couple of minutes out here, and when you feel safer you can come on back in." It couldn't have been more than two minutes before he came skipping back into the room as if nothing had happened and asked if he could give me a hug -- "a long hug."

So that was my first -- and so far, only -- substitute teaching experience. Afterwards I began immediately to apply for contracted positions.

In the meantime, I have been taking advantage of my unoccupied days to get up-to-date with Newsweek, The Week, National Geographic, and the Funny Times. I am finally reading "The Audacity of Hope," which has been on my bookshelf since before Obama was inaugurated. And I have even had time to organize all of the documents on my computer, clear out my email inbox, and mop my entire house. Underemployment, although unprofitable, has at least given me time for personal productivity!

a new year

2011-01-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Goodreads, I can report that I read 53 books in 2010, up from 35 books in 2009. This is not as much of an improvement as it might imply, however. I was more selective about my reading in 2010 and deemed several books not worth finishing ("The Memory Keeper's Daughter," "Suite Francaise"), but still included them in my list in order to remember that I had picked them up and read at least 100 pages. I also increased my consumption of young adult books during the past year. Although several of them ("The Book Thief," "Octavian Nothing") were quite impressive, they do tend to go more quickly.

Right now I am in the middle of Nam Le's "The Boat," which is fantastic and makes me want to write short stories. I am also perpetually in the middle of Calvino's "Numbers in the Dark" and Zinn's "Voices from A People's History." Both of these are marvelous as perpetual reads and I have no intention of finishing either of them any time soon.

I will be on call as a substitute starting Monday and will probably have many more educational insights after that.

mama duck

2010-12-06T19:19:00.000-08:00

Today I got to nominate a student of the month. Students who are nominated get to bring their parents to a breakfast ceremony where we give them a certificate. Most of the kids got their invitations today, but my nomination will get his tomorrow because Mr. Teacher forgot to ask for my nomination in time.

The student I picked walked into class right after I sent off the email explaining why I picked him. (This info will get printed on the back of his certificate.) Mr. Teacher's pick had also just walked in and discovered her invitation on her desk. As she got excited, my pick burst out, "aw, I never get stuff like that!" Then to me, "You know, Miss, in eight years, I've never gotten student of the month, student of the week, nothing."

I can't wait for him to get his invitation tomorrow! Proud face.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

2010-11-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

-- from Tech & Learning

due dates

2010-11-19T17:21:00.000-08:00

I just read a post on homework at The History 2.0 Classroom that sort of blew me away. The author says he has tried to find a homework solution that leaves students "less concerned with what letter will appear next to their name." I wish my students would be more concerned about their grades, especially considering how many are failing!

I'd say there are about five students in every class who would actually do homework if we assigned it. Maybe five more are the type who come in during lunch when they get back a progress report and find out they're missing work.

The rest of them? No way, jose. The majority of them are just sort of coasting with a "C." They do their assignments, but they don't finish because they'd rather socialize while they work. They do okay with low-level questions, but if you give them a higher-level assignment, they refuse to try.

It is extremely difficult for me to put myself inside these students' heads. Here I am trying to challenge them and foster high expectations and make curriculum interesting by sparing them from reading the textbook, and they want nothing to do with it. They have no interest in doing a good job.

Over the summer I was completely enamored with "Lies My Teacher Told Me." I still am, to some extent. But now I understand why teachers tell "lies": because seeing the truth requires critical thinking, and most students would rather stare into space than attempt to realign their brain cells that way.

As for weekly homework packets, I actually considered that idea for about a second today before I realized it would be impossible. I have many students who cannot do anything without me holding their hands. In every class there are a few who will watch me give directions, sit silent while I take questions, and then wait for me to come to them so they can ask "what do I do?" Some of them may not understand the language well enough to follow verbal directions, and I get that. But others of them have learned to be helpless. Others are just too lazy to listen (or do anything).

Whatever the case, I guarantee you they wouldn't do homework. They would decide they had better things to do. Or they would try but not be able to understand the directions. Or they would not comprehend the text well enough to find the answers. Or they would try their darndest, but they would be distracted by a screaming baby and yelling parents and no one in the house would speak enough English to help them focus.

I HATE to say these things because I want so badly to see my students as capable and growing thinkers (and many of them are!) but every single teacher I have worked with in the last two years has told me not to bother with homework because the kids just won't do it. I'll have to see for myself, I guess.

against the code

2010-11-15T17:07:00.000-08:00

Perhaps this is a sign of the times: Six weeks into my (unpaid) career, I have encountered my first instance of plagiarism.

It arrived in the form of a "newspaper article" copied almost word-for-word from Wikipedia. It was not hard to spot. The first tip-off was the accurate capitalization. I only had to read a couple of sentences before I was fairly convinced. Not even the smartest 8th-graders would use the term "preventive actions." I probably wouldn't use the term "preventive actions."

The weird thing is, the culprit is a smart 8th-grader. One of the top students in the class, academically if not behaviorally. So part of me is wondering if the student really didn't know any better. Here's how it plays out in my mind:

The student did not paraphrase at all, whereas I would expect a cheating student to try to disguise the work from looking copied.
The assignment was turned in early. This was not a last-minute effort from a slacker desperate to earn points.
The student is not stupid, and definitely not stupid enough to think I would believe this is written by an 8th-grader.
The "newspaper article" had the same title as the Wikipedia article (plus an exclamation mark).

But...

Has no one ever told them not to plagiarize before? Isn't there a code of conduct that includes a clause against cheating?
Has the state of education really deteriorated to the point that I have to tell students "don't cheat on this assignment"? Is that not implied when you walk onto campus?
Even if the student didn't know about plagiarism, not knowing a law is not necessarily a valid excuse for not acting lawfully.

I wonder what compelled the student to hand in copied work. Even assuming the best-case scenario -- that these kids haven't ever been lectured on plagiarism or forced to sign an integrity form -- what is the thought process that leads a high-level thinker to expect credit for copying someone else's work?

In first grade, I copied an A.A.Milne poem into my writer's workshop notebook. Then I felt guilty.

That's all I'm saying.

listen up

2010-11-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

When I give a direction like "open your book to page 678," I should not have to repeat myself eleven times.

Tomorrow I will only give each direction once. Period.

beet this!

2010-11-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

I am happy to report that what I thought was swiss chard (raised bed #2) may in fact be a congregation of beets. My attempts at thinning revealed fuchsia-toned roots that smell beet-like.

The problem is that beets and chard turn out to be very close relatives. My internet research reveals that the only difference is that beet roots are edible (duh), while chard roots are not. They seem to look pretty much the same, especially when they're young. To further complicate matters, my swiss chard came in a variety pack, meaning that any variation in the mystery patch could signify chard and beets growing together or just a few types of chard.

Always remember, kids: keep track of what you plant and where you plant it. Also, don't get impatient and plant new seeds if your first efforts don't come up right away. Ahem.

If anyone has any advice on this dilemma, I'd appreciate it. If it matters, the beets are of the chioggia (candy cane striped!) variety.

japanese postcards

2010-11-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

Visualizing Cultures: Not particularly useful for my lesson, but very cool to look at.

problematic

2010-11-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

Every resource says "teach technology," "integrate technology," "open their minds with technology." But there is only one lab with out-of-date computers and the kids barely know how to type. They know how to use the smartboard well enough, but building interactive activities takes more time than I can afford. Even then, they can only look at the smartboard for so long before I lose them.
One of the "Teach Like A Champion " methods that I was most excited to use was "cold call": calling on kids with no warning and holding them accountable for an answer. But the first couple of times I tried, I managed to inadvertently call on a kid who is still mastering English, then a kid with a learning disability. Oops. Now I realize it's impossible to have the same high expectations for every student, and I'm wondering how (or if) the Uncommon Schools contend with special ed and ADHD.
My supervising teacher says I have to be careful not to incorporate too many resources because I could overwhelm the kids. Part of me agrees. But my gut says excitement is infectious and that if I find a resource fascinating, the kids will too.
The kids all have expensive full-color planners that the school bought them at the beginning of the year. Miraculously, almost everyone brings these to class every day -- but not to write in them. They rarely get homework, so they wouldn't write due dates, and none of them have anything else to write. We are supposed to sign a kid's planner whenever they need a hall pass, so I've seen plenty of pages that are entirely blank except for the "social studies" column, where we make them write a daily objective as their "bell work." This pretty much defeats the purpose of bell work, which is supposed to snag the students' attention and get them focused by the time the bell rings. Instead, they avoid sitting down, take as long as possible to write the objective, and chatter away the whole time. I can't really say I blame them; copying objectives verbatim is a menial task that won't serve them at all in the long run. They get points for doing it, but they don't care much about points to begin with. It's difficult to rein them in while they finish and frustrating to waste the first five minutes of class waiting for them to write something they will never look at again.

That's all I got for now.

in bloom

2010-11-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

zucchini blossoms, 9 days ago

pumpkin blossom

pepper -- now sporting purple streaks

bush bean. ready to eat?
I can't wait to try this recipe!

herbs: peppermint, basil, parsley and rosemary
(these are some of the only plants that survived the summer)

watermelon, bougainvillea, lavendar (background: pumpkin & potted pineapple)

raised bed no. 2: mostly bok choy, swiss chard and cilantro

happy sunshine kitten

speaking of responsibilities

2010-11-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

Our government test last week asked the students to list two duties and two responsibilities of U.S. citizens. These should have been drawn straight from a chart that listed four of each, but for some reason several of the kids made up their own, including:

"use the crosswalk"

"follow rules"

"be good as a sitessin"

I really enjoy it when the kids' spelling is phonetically accurate and completely wrong.

It was also interesting to see students' responses to the question "Which political party do you favor?" Some said they agree with the Democrats that government should help people by providing education and assistance for the poor, but they would be Republicans because they support lower taxes and freedoms for businesses. (Almost sweet in their naivety.) A few, however, declared with vitriol that the Republicans are "greedy."

Unsurprisingly, most students supported the Democrats' positions on immigration and the war. They seemed torn over the abortion issue, though. Quite a few said they would support the Democrats even though they think abortion is wrong. But some students declared themselves pro-choice, and not always the ones I expected. One boy wrote, "I think a woman should have the right to choose. I will probably be active the future because I am interested in these issues."

rules

2010-10-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

Some school rules that have recently been implemented:

No silly bands.
No selling candy.
No wearing hoods. (Hoodies are ok if the hood is down.)
No cell phones. (This one isn't new, but I didn't know how strict it is.)
No walking in "packs." Groups of more than 3 students will be broken up.
For Halloween: No costumes above the neck. No makeup, masks, or hats.

That's an average of about one rule per week so far. I wonder if they'll keep it up.

A Look at Collaborative Planning

2010-10-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

Watch this video from Stop Trying to Inspire Me. It is absolutely brilliant.

"You need to ask open-ended questions, so they have to give you the right answer." Priceless.

This is not a knock on the administration at my school; I actually have a lot of respect for what they are doing, and I enjoy professional development a lot.

In fact I totally lucked out yesterday. The principal walked in on us during a unit test, so the kids were all dead silent and bent over their desks in concentration. Not such a bad first impression, if you ask me!

why just teachers?

2010-10-28T19:46:00.001-07:00

I haven't seen "Waiting For Superman" yet, so I can't put in my 2 cents on that.

But in response to all the other teachers who have been freaking out about accountability lately, I have to say it does not seem like the worst idea to me. I am not opposed to a system that holds the teacher responsible when a student doesn't learn.

But let's not stop there. How about we hold parents accountable too? And preschool teachers. And legislators who divert money away from pre-kindergarten programs.

I'm not sure what the title of the film refers to, but it seems to me like the system is waiting for super-teachers who can reverse the effects of abuse, neglect, malnutrition, disrespect for authority, poor academic preparation, language deficits, attention disorders, and learning disabilities, in the same classroom and all at once. Add the social factors -- gender roles, hormones, overcrowding, bullying, gang influences, peer pressure -- and it's a wonder our kids learn anything at all.

ovation

2010-10-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

Don't hate me. I've been grading papers and writing lesson plans and carving pumpkins for the last two weeks.

Last Sunday I went to breakfast with some friends who happen to work on a trail crew, and at some point they started discussing diet and its effect on bowel movements. This is apparently a normal topic when you live and work in the woods. But as the conversation progressed, I found myself getting more and more annoyed until I was squirming with irritation. Thank goodness they moved to another topic, because I was getting ready to pour coffee on someone.

I am not a particularly patient person, and I believe that even the most saintly individual would feel somewhat harried after spending six hours per day in the company of 13-year-olds. This is my justification for feeling so irritable over my blueberry pancakes that day. When you spend a significant amount of time around people who snicker disruptively every time you say the word "duty" (which is going to be fairly often during a unit on the duties and responsibilities of citizenship), you appreciate the weekend for being the time of the week when conversations are not usually about poop.

But since it's only Thursday: One of the kids begged us to let her go out into the hall so she could fart. Within seconds of her exit, Mr. Teacher had whispered directions so that when she came back in, the entire class rose to their feet in applause. If she's going to be a drama queen, she may as well get some recognition.

week 1 play-by-play highlights

2010-10-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

(names changed, of course)

Monday: Frankie repeatedly crushes his pencil tip so he can hit Pat on the way to the pencil sharpener. Students are disappointed that I am not Mr. Teacher's wife or daughter and continue to insist that we look related.
Tuesday: Pat sprays cologne all over himself, some friends, and the back half of the classroom. Throughout class, he periodically delivers another spritz to the inside of his pocket.
Wednesday: Elena tells Mr. Teacher she is about to throw up so she can go to the bathroom. A few minutes later I find her and a friend fixing their hair. When I blow my nose, the tissue smells like cologne.
Thursday: Roberto asks if I really went to the university and we talk about how pretty campus is. He says, "I've really only been to the library. I used to skateboard there, but they always kicked us out." A few minutes later, Isaac tells me, "You smell like skittles."
Friday: Mr. Teacher asks the kids why they think Supreme Court justices serve a life term. Nate suggests, "because they did really well in college?"

surprise surprise

2010-10-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Day Two of student teaching.

I am informed that nearly 50 percent of the student body is designated special ed by a teacher who jokes "maybe next year we'll officially become the special ed magnet." Un-PC, certainly, but better to joke than to let that bring you down, when it doesn't even include students with ADHD.

I believe it's to my credit that my response (to the comment and the day in general) was not despairing. Instead, I thought something to the tune of "what the hell is wrong with this system?!" and then dug in my heels and helped a difficult kid make some connections.

Here's the problem, in all its glorious facets: There are too many kids who need more attention than the teacher can give, so they're not learning. But they're not satisfied with sitting around not learning; they're full of energy and hormones and they want to do something. So they hit each other and flirt and gossip and break the points of their pencils so they can get up to sharpen them again. To complicate matters, plenty of these kids are sitting in the back row of the classroom, not because their teacher wants them there but because the front rows are filled up with kids who have visual impairments or need to receive preferential seating for some other reason. And the class is so overcrowded that two students don't have desks because there's nowhere to put them. Worst of all, there are a few bright, respectful kids left who have, incredibly, not given up hope in all this chaos, and they are diligently trying to get their work done while their teacher is too busy disciplining to teach and their classmates are chattering around them and things are getting jostled and thrown and dropped in the background.

It would take a master disciplinarian to handle this situation. Unfortunately, there aren't too many of them around. Instead, teacher ed programs keep busy persuading teachers to communicate high expectations without ever quite explaining how that's supposed to be done.

This is no one person's fault. It is everyone's fault. I truly fear for this country if parents and teachers and administrators and legislators and taxpayers are going to allow things to continue in this state.

But I don't have much of a say about that. All I can do is give it a go, and either succeed or fail miserably. I've seen plenty of opportunities to apply the techniques I learned in Teach Like A Champion, but I have no idea whether they will be effective. The kids seem to like me so far, which gives me an advantage. Another advantage is that I've coaxed a few of them to finish worksheets that they had no honest intention of looking at, so I know that they're capable of more than they're giving. My biggest advantage is probably youth. Most of them think I'm somewhere around 20 (one even guessed 19), which might spare me some of the disrespect they seem to reserve for adults they perceive as too grown up and out of touch.

I have to iterate that as bitter and disillusioned as I sound here, things are great. The kids are great: sweet and goofy and sometimes unpredictably brilliant. Their eyes light up whenever something clicks, even if it takes some effort to get them there. As long as that keeps up, I won't allow myself to worry.

reparations finally paid off

2010-09-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Few people probably realized that this hadn't happened already, but Spiegel International made a big announcement on Tuesday: Germany Closes Book on World War I With Final Reparations Payment.

two thumbs up!

2010-09-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

And now presenting...

Shakespeare at Your Fingertips! (via the New Yorker.)

The creative potential of this ingenious gimmick is enormous. I'm envisioning a reenactment of the Constitutional Convention, complete with "John Hancock" signed in finger paint. What else would be well-suited to digit-al re-creation?

good food takes time

2010-09-26T17:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Brain Pickings, here's a snazzy video from the RSA and popular science writer Steven Johnson on spaces that generate good ideas.

In Johnson's take, the internet facilitates collaboration in a similar manner to the Paris salons and coffee house literary circles:

The great driver of scientific innovation and technological innovation has been the historic increase in connectivity and our ability to reach out and exchange ideas with other people and to borrow other people's hunches and combine them with our hunches and turn them into something new.

Besides the obvious applications to education (create a culture of collaboration, use the internet as a two-way street), I'm intrigued by Johnson's notion that someone can go for years with half a good idea before someone or something comes along to provide completion. I recognize this intrinsically, and yet I feel our education system values quick, decisive thinking. So I'm curious: How can educators encourage students to think on a broad scale -- across units, semesters, or even years -- without abandoning deadlines or the ever-present necessity to continue onward and upward through the curriculum?

useful links

2010-09-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

If you need information or just need to burn some time, The New York Times Newsroom Navigator is an incredibly useful resource for locating, well... resources. Even ones you didn't know you were looking for.

growing things

2010-09-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

I have been spending a lot of time in my garden lately. There isn't much work to do yet, as none of the plants are producing anything edible. But I find myself drawn into an inspection of every cluster of seedlings, enthralled by the growth that seems to take place by the hour.

Because I got excited and planted a ton of seeds about two weeks ago, plants are sprouting like crazy. It seems like just about every time I look, something new has emerged from the earth. And although I planted a lot of varieties that I've never tried before, I can already distinguish many of the sprouts by their appearance and rate of growth. Kale sprouts are frilly and eager to grow. Swiss chard sprouts have delicate, candy-pink stems. Snow pea sprouts are tender and hesitant to unfurl.

It occurred to me this morning that gardening is a complimentary activity to teaching, not only because it is a relatively cost-efficient hobby, but also because a vegetable patch experiences growth not unlike a classroom full of students. When I started this patch a couple of weeks ago, some plants were fully grown and just needed to be transplanted, while others arrived as dry, wrinkled seeds. Within just a couple of weeks, some seeds have sprouted into solid little plants that I am confident will soon be able to care for themselves, while others will need constant tending. Swiss chard and carrots put up similar seedlings, but they will soon develop radically different appearances, with the chard seeking attention with bright stalks while the carrots conceal their colors until someone digs them up.

I could go on forever, but I'm sure you get the picture. Things grow nicely, if you have the time and patience to feed them, weed them, and expose them to a little sun.

raised bed No. 1, complete with shade because there's too much sun

pepper plant with several buds

look at all that green!
(click to zoom in)

the state of the district

2010-09-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

I recently visited a teacher I worked with last spring. She was transferred to a new school this year after eight years at her previous assignment, which she thinks is the district's way of trying to disqualify her from tenure so they can lay her off after this year. She is disappointed with her new placement and is thinking about teaching overseas next year.

It's painful for me to see a good person and good teacher treated so disrespectfully. I'm reminded of my time working in food service at a chain restaurant, an experience that left me feeling utterly dispensable despite knowing that I was good at my job. But although it's difficult to know as a pre-service teacher that others are struggling so much to earn respect in the profession I'm about to enter, I at least can be grateful that I will be in my 20s when I encounter these challenges. I don't have to panic about a retirement fund quite yet. I don't have a mortgage to pay off or a family chaining me to a particular area. If I can't find a job or I get laid off or burnt out, I still have time (and motivation) to go back to school. And, as I keep telling people who have been laid off, or whose spouses have been laid off, or who are afraid of being laid off soon: At least you know it's nothing personal.

new digs

2010-09-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

Hi! Welcome to Noun Is Adjective's new home.

Not a whole lot has changed except the location, and hopefully, the frequency of updates. My decision to switch to Blogger was mainly based on its compatibility with Gmail and Google Reader, the brand new Pages feature, and its support of Goodreads widgets that Wordpress, my previous host, didn't approve of. (See the B is for Books tab for an example!)

I haven't been posting a lot in the last few weeks, partly because I've been busy reorganizing a lot of my resources and links in preparation for student teaching. Ease of access is an enormous consideration for me, as are design aesthetic (I like things streamlined) and customization options.

I've been experimenting with organizing links with Curriki, Microsoft OneNote, and lists on Google Bookmarks (already one of my favorite obscure Google tools). I've been reading blogs and sharing articles using Google Reader, Tumblr, and Feedly, which is a browser extension that makes RSS feeds on my laptop feel almost as slick as they would on an iPad. (For the record, I have no interest whatsoever in owning an iPad, but I do appreciate their shininess.)

I have also spent some time playing with Google Docs, especially forms and spreadsheets. Although forms didn't ultimately work for organizing links (I had to tweak the form template way too often), they were pretty useful in other ways and I can see plenty of potential for using them as an educational tool.

If Blogger continues to work out, I feel that I've found a great assortment of tools to work with; all free, and mostly provided by Google. If only I could abandon Facebook, things would be pretty ideal.

By the way, when is Google going to develop a platform for online courses? My online courses are delivered through a ridiculously outdated version of Blackboard that is indistinguishable from the one I first used 10 years ago in high school. The nested message board and insistently out-of-date "updates" indicators are a far cry from the blogs, wikis, and avatars included in the current release. Needless to say, the geriatric system I've been subjected to is hardly preparing pre-service teachers to use Web 2.0 effectively. (Nor, for that matter, have I seen the term "Web 2.0" used in any of my courses, with the exception of my textbook for Educational Technology.) For example:

the Blackboard discussion interface my class uses.

the Blackboard collaboration interface included in the new release.

See what I mean?

If you miss the old layout, or you missed it the first time around, it's still up at Wordpress.