A lesson from the flu

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Elizabeth Chaponot

This past February, I missed three days of school because of the flu. During this time, I used Screencastify to go over instructions for a new lesson for my 4th period Frosh Creation class. Thinking about how the lesson had gone with 3rd period, I was pretty nervous since so many students needed individual help. However, much to my surprise, the projects created by my 4th period class were right on track and quite impressive. To be honest, I think the projects from my 4th period class were, as a whole, better than 3rd period. I learned a few things from this experience:

My class will be ok without me (I have a really hard time being absent because I worry so much).
Sometimes not being there to help, and hand-hold, students will learn more because they are forced to think, try things out, ask other classmates, or Google it.
I am sometimes too nice. I want to help my students and feel bad turning them away. However, I can’t sit with every student and walk them through the lesson (even if I’m making sure not to do the work for them).
Creating screencasts are an easy way to save time – especially when many students are absent for the original lesson.
Screencasts allow students to watch, pause, or replay the video as many times as they need and whenever they need.
Students see a step-by-step through a simulation.
Screencasting allows me to “be there” without really being there. This is especially helpful on days when I am absent.
Screencastify is a great app, but you can’t download your screencast in a file format that is easily used (or accepted by the College Board for the AP test 😕). Other alternatives that allow you to save the file in an mp4 format would be screencast-o-matic and Loom.

Here is an example of one of the animation projects created in the class. (I can’t embed the project because Scratch 3.0 doesn’t support that feature at the moment.)

This is only a test…

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Elizabeth Chaponot

By Denelson83 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1067498

I don’t like tests. As a student, they gave me a lot of anxiety since I’m not a good test taker. Now, as a teacher, they still give me anxiety since I feel for the students who are like me and I worry that I’ve created a good/fair test. So what do I do? For my AP Computer Science Principles course, I must give tests in order to give them the practice they need for their AP test in May. Although preparing for the AP exam is a great goal, most of all I want my students to be curious, feel confident, and use failure as a guide (not an end).

Thinking about the types of “tests” we have in our lives outside of school, I realize that it’s seldom/never that we have to solve a problem without any resources (other people, the internet, books, etc.). So, twice last semester, I gave my students a test and allowed/encouraged them to use whatever resources they had available. Oh how I wish I would have filmed what happened during this class period. My students had no option but to be fully engaged. They began by looking through the questions and seeing what they could answer on their own, then they collaborated with others to come up with what they believed to be the correct answer. One would think that some students would just fish for answers; however, this was not the case. Students were using the whiteboards to share their thought process and in some cases teach the other students.

Giving this type of test allowed me to challenge my students with more difficult questions. As I walked around the classroom, I could interact with students – asking them why they selected a specific answer and having them practice their confidence when I questioned their decision.

As I’m writing this, I realize I should have created a survey to gather student feedback on their experiences with our “open-book” tests. Luckily I have next semester…

Am I doing my students a disservice?

Posted on September 9, 2018 by Elizabeth Chaponot

I’m not an “AP teacher”; however, I currently teach four AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) courses. Is this just a case of imposter syndrome? Should I even be saying (writing) this out loud? What do I mean?

As we know, the College Board AP Exam is a standardized test. For AP CSP, students have two performance tasks (that we do in class) and a 74 question multiple choice test. (Can I tell you that it really bothers me that it’s not 75 questions?) The test is set for Friday, May 10. There are no opportunities for extensions, and no second chances, this is a one-shot-deal.

What’s the problem? This in not how I teach/run my class. We practice AP test questions and students take multiple choice unit tests, but I do let them re-take their tests. (That doesn’t feel very “AP” of me.) Does this mean I’m doing my students a disservice? Am I not holding them to the standards that I “should”? I’m not doing this to save myself time (it usually makes for more work, actually), or win some popularity contest. I do this because my primary goal of this course is for my students to learn, and I feel like, in this instance, they are learning more by facing their mistakes and re-taking a test rather than walking away and trying to “make up” the points in some other way. Honestly, I don’t care about the points – I just want them to learn. Facing their mistakes and grappling with a concept is learning – shame, beating themselves up, negative self-talk, and/or ignoring the mistakes is not learning.

Will they all get 5’s on the AP exam? Probably not. If they perform like my students did last year, over 80% will pass. I’m happy with that (because I know it’s important to them). However, I am confident that all of them will leave AP CSP knowing more than they do today, and many of them will want to explore more computer science classes in the future. Aside from curriculum, I also hope they leave with more willingness/courage to figure things out and to try something new. And, I hope they will also know that I really cared and that I was “on their side”.

(Are you, too, suffering from Imposter Syndrome? Check out this TEDtalk by Lou Solomon. Believe it or not, even Maya Angelou felt like an imposter, “I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.”)

I feel another blog post coming on …

Sometimes, I teach through modeling

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Elizabeth Chaponot

I work at Carondelet but I like a spartan gradebook.

Recently, I was cleaning up my Powerteacher grade book and entering some makeup grades. Typically, I head directly to a class through the Powerschool menu but today was a maintenance check all of my classes. This means that I would sequentially navigate through classes using the top drop-down menu. I was quickly in berserker mode and quickly making progress. In my manner, I equate simplicity with clarity, clarity with effectiveness. I occasionally tweak things to align them simpler.

I started at period 1, added a few late score entries and started moving down through the list. When I moved on to 3rd period, I noticed that some details were wrong on the only assignment visible. I thought that was odd, wrong and not aligned with how I set up other assignments in other classes. I also thought that I have made other mistakes at times. I set out to make changes. I did not think that the numerous errors were a sign of anything except my previous inattention.

I summarily ignored the blaring siren and waving red flags were trying to get my attention. I proceeded to change Points Possible to 1 and hit save. A window popped up to warn me that the scores would need to be adjusted to fit the new parameter. In my stubbornness, I ignored another round of interior red flags and clicked the Go Ahead and Make this Mess Larger button.

I slowly started to consider that I made a lot more mistakes than usual when I set up this particular assignment. That’s not problem, I was in a fixing mood. Pondering some more, I then remembered I told the students that it was not going to be worth any points. So I erased all of the entered scores so I could bulk fill them with ‘collected’ checks. Some had zeros but I thought I could just look at Schoology submissions to get the names for a clean start. I was getting closer to that lean, sleek gradebook that I prefer. Wisely, I carefully saved the now blanked column at this moment, so I wouldn’t lose all the work I had just done. Only at this point did I realize that I was making a lot of significant changes to my grade book. I paused to confirm some facts. I scanned up, it my class name. I looked at the column heading, it was my assignment. My eyes finally looked left to the student names.

Who were those strangers?!

I had just nuked someone else’s class.

Now I know that forgiving Christina currently has the first section of Period 3 TMS, the one that follows my second period class on the Powerteacher/Powerschool menu. Happily in that course we are teaching the gift of a failure as the opportunity to improve. I failed. I need to improve. Now I have become aware of the ease of grade book trespassing as well as my own need to slow down and think a bit more or just to start thinking at all.

I do want to suggest to all of teachers with these new freshmen megaclasses that each of us have a method of backing up our online books.

“I Expect You to Fail”

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Elizabeth Chaponot

I consider myself to be a very encouraging, patient, and understanding person who genuinely cares about my students. However, yesterday I did something that may, at first, seem a bit harsh and out of character. I told my four AP Computer Science Principles classes that I expect them to fail…. and not just once either… I told them that I expect them to fail repeatedly.

You should have seen their faces and felt the energy in the room. I think I could feel their hearts sink and their stomachs tighten. I let them sit with that for a second, and then proceeded to tell them that I also expect them to keep going once they fail. That every failure is just a “First Attempt In Learning”.

If they are failing, they’re trying something that is challenging them. They are learning something new. They are growing! I fail every day, sometimes more miserably than others, but I keep going. They will see me fail – and that’s ok. I am human. They are human. We would never expect that someone master a sport, instrument, etc. in the first try – nor will I expect this from them and they shouldn’t expect it from themselves either. What I will do is push them to keep going. Be there for them when they need to talk through a problem (which they oftentimes solve themselves, but then thank me for – so I remind them that they did it themselves). Rather than tell them what to do, I try to make sure to ask my students repeatedly is “What do you think?” My goal here is for them to be active in their own learning.

So, let’s embrace failing. Failure is a guaranteed part of learning and we learn just as much, if not more, from our failures than our successes. Now we will see how this goes over when I tell all the parents at Back-to-School Night that I expect their students to fail.

The accidental blog post

Posted on April 19, 2018 by Elizabeth Chaponot

3,715,200+ seconds, 61,920+ minutes, 1,032 hours, 43 days, 6 weeks and 1 day, or 11.78% of 2018. This is the amount of time that has passed since I last blogged. Blogging has not slipped my mind; rather, a lot of my time is spent thinking about that I should be blogging. The problem is though, that I have trouble getting started. Where do I start? What if I sound stupid? What will people think of me? What do I even have to say?!

When I finally click the “new post” button*, my mind goes blank. I see my mind as a great big room with thoughts floating around and whenever I try to put those thoughts to paper, the words all vanish and I’m left in this cool (as in cold) steel grey/blue room.

Now, without the pressure of having to actually create any worthwhile posts, I figured I could share the beginnings of the ideas that I do have:

starting when you’re stuck
feedforward is the new feedback
using canva, adobe spark, or wix to ignite creativity
value of notebooks/composition books in a digital class

Ok… time is up, I have to go teach. I realize I didn’t even get to what I wanted this blog to be about. I started this post wanting to relate back to my students and how I (try to) help them when they are stuck.

*I skipped over the part of logging into blogger because the blogger tab has been open and staring at me every day. Guilt!

Through the looking glass

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Elizabeth Chaponot

As we approach the end of 3rd quarter, I have been thinking a lot about how different this year of teaching has been from the five years I taught English. Although this has been a very tough year with most nights and weekends spent learning computer science, I do feel that this has been one of my best teaching years. That brings me to the question, why? Is it because I’m older? Is it the subject matter? Is it because my students are AP? I don’t have an answer and this blog post will likely just generate more questions than answers.

I like charts and tables, so let’s see some comparisons.

Whatever the reason, I am very happy teaching this new computer science course. My students have been great and are a highlight of my day. I learn something new each day and am not afraid to tell my students if I don’t have an answer. In these cases, I either show them my thought process to find an answer or we work together and they find the answer/solution. I think it’s funny that they always thank me … even if all I did was stand there. I point this out to them and remind them that THEY did the work and found the answer. They should be proud of themselves and giving themselves credit.

Blogging to learn and assess

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Elizabeth Chaponot

Inspired by our own faculty blog and wanting to try something new with my unit on Jane Eyre this year, I decided to have me students blog about Charlotte Bronte’s novel as they read it. With support and guidance from Christina Ditzel, my sophomore students launched their own “Jane Eyre” blogs last semester.

My hope was that their blogs – shared with a group of three other students – would be a way for them to engage with the challenging book and make personal connections to the story. I also saw the blog as a substitute to the traditional reading quiz, which can historically be experienced and perceived by students as a stress-inducing “game” to win.

The blogs were successful in many ways. They gave students a platform and audience for their writing, they encouraged students to be reflective and by nature forced students to process what they read, they allowed students to be creative, and they equipped students with some useful digital media skills.

Even though, unfortunately, these blogs were still viewed by some as a chore, most were grateful for the opportunity to show their understanding of the book in their own words and in a new way. They also ultimately found the blogs less stressful than traditional reading quizzes. I will definitely be having by students blog more in the future.

As we move toward a more innovative and progressive curriculum, I feel called to continue to closely look at all of my assessments. Yes, there will always be a place in the classroom for quick, formative, low-stakes assessments. But if they require any significant amount of time, it seems to me that they must be more than just “assessments;” they should be treated as rich learning experiences in and of themselves. Journeys of knowledge, not just products of knowledge. My assessments still need a lot of work.

I also feel called to deepen my engagement with students on their learning journeys. Too often I pay them the longest visit only once they’ve reached the final destination of submitting their work.

The other day, the English education leader Carol Jago tweeted: “The Latin root for assessment is assidere, to sit beside. It’s the best seat in the house for any teacher.” I know that my sophomore bloggers, especially my reluctant and struggling writers, might have had better learning experiences had I made more time to sit beside them.
….
If you want to learn more about my pedagogical rationale and the expectations I established for their writing, you can read about it here in a piece I wrote for the February issue of California English.

Stressing the Point

Posted on December 9, 2017 by Elizabeth Chaponot

“Stressing the Point” by Joel Penner is licensed under CC BY 2.0

My daughters call me the Stress Enhancer, and with good reason. I am a worrier, and I like things done now. Two traits that are not conducive to relaxation.* And traits that held me and a class back recently.

Christina Ditzel and Kate Cutright had invited me to work with them on their project using Scratch, to code interactive scenes from Pride and Prejudice. Christina planned the lessons, but I would lead one section of the class on their journey, because she was teaching her own class. I spent several hours over a few days with Scratch, drawing, uploading, causing movement and interaction and felt comfortable enough with my knowledge to be a demonstrator. My plan, developed under Christina’s guidance, was to demonstrate the basics of creating a stage and sprites and conversation the first day and then let students explore. The 2nd-4th day would be used to show backgrounds, how to share, and allow students to discover on their own the way to switch backgrounds and have sprites move, and create animation/game. Scratch has several elements, but the element react in similar ways, so once you understand one element, you are on your way toward understanding another.

Alas, an emergency came up and I discovered I would only be able to attend 2 days with the class. The first day went fairly smoothly as I introduced the tool, students explored and asked questions. Several students had already used the tool, and were able to act as guides for others. All the students were able to create a sprite, and understood the concept of the stage. On the 2nd day, the not-so- better angels of my nature came forth, and I started panicking that I was setting this class up to fail by demanding too much without grounding them in knowledge first. They needed to know about backgrounds! They needed to understand costumes! They needed to understand the X/Y axis and how movement occurs! They need to know the tricks of saving and sharing! They needed to know sources for costumes and backgrounds! And I only had 45 minutes for all this!

I jumped sternly in. “Listen as I show you this”. “I need to show you this”! Those lovely students soon recognized my stress, and were kind to me as I showed this tool and that tool. They said things like, “That makes sense, Mrs. Tracy” and, “Yes, I see how to do that now”. Kate reassured me several times, and de-escalated some of my panic. But what had I done? I had taken some of the joy of self discovery away. I had enjoyed learning Scratch on my own, with a few sidebars with Christina. I didn’t let that happen with these students.

The worst part of this experience for me was the why. My family emergency was changing the structure of this project. That was a given – I could not be there for 2 crucial days. I decided I, and I alone, needed to fix the structure. I didn’t place my trust in the nature of Scratch, the joy of learning, the students, Christina or Kate – all variables in this project that were NOT changing. I placed too much emphasis on me, and I only had the now. A painful event. Not my best moment as a teacher/librarian, but a lesson learned. Trust is a much better atmosphere for learning. And it will not happen NOW for everyone. Give it the opportunity to happen WHEN.

* My daughters have been saying this for years 🙂

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