Category Archives: Kate Cutright

I Feel Like I’m Living in an Amanda Jain Blog

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Students in my English 3 have been tasked with a project that I named, “Where Were Your People in the 1920s.” It’s a mini-research project, and I hope it will be engaging, reinforce some research skills students have, and illustrate that not everyone in the 1920s was spending their days/nights at glamorous parties; we’re reading The Great Gatsby. The project directions are pretty simple: interview a relative, find a primary source specific to your family (like an old photo), and research a world event inspired by your interview. Then, create a visual component using Adobe Spark that incorporates the research, interview, and primary source piece. I have never used Adobe Spark, but it receives great reviews regarding how user friendly it is.


When I introduced this project, the students did not budge. They were super reluctant to even begin, and when I asked them about this, they essentially said that it was too much work, there was too much ambiguity, and there were too many decisions to be made. They were reluctant to even open up the Adobe Spark app, which is free. I then asked if they would prefer reading questions, and they said yes.

I think that this response is normal, however. Whenever I have to learn something new or do something new or even start a new novel, I experience a desire to avoid the learning curve. Getting through the uncomfortableness of a beginning is tricky. So, I gave up on the project and gave them reading questions.

Just kidding! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Lisa Xavier and Kate Cutright @ iNacol, Nashville

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What an eye opening experience this event was for us. 3000 innovative educators (mostly administrators and CEOs) gathered in Nashville to discuss best practices for school change. Prior to this conference, we had heard words buzzing all around Carondelet and to be honest, we had vague notions of their meanings. 
iNACOL cleared up a lot of ideas, reinforced best practices we already use and changed our minds on some of our more stubborn notions. Here is a quick list of highlights:
  1. There are different definitions for buzz words like “student-centered,” “project-based,” “student agency,” “PBL,” etc. It is really important that everyone in the community has a shared definition for these terms.
  2. Early, focused success, when transitioning from old to new, breeds more success and buy-in from all stakeholders. 
  3. Various spaces for students to work in different configurations are required and should be available.
  4.  A ton of adults need to be accessible to students working as “learning experience designers” (LED), mentors, coaches, advisors, and supervisors.
  5. Students must learn procedures on how to behave, transition, and work both collaboratively and independently.
  6. Students must be allowed to make several choices regarding what/how they study. 
  7. Traditional classroom setting where there are 30+ kids and one teacher is antiquated and ineffective for too many kids.

Also, we got to meet up with two De La Salle teachers, Alex Stevenson and Donald Van Bromel. Being able to collaborate and laugh with teachers from across the street was definitely a refreshing perk!

The next iNACOL symposium is set for October 2019 in Palm Springs. We highly recommend attendees from CHS be members of Carondelet’s leadership team. Also, enthusiastic teachers who are interested in learning (or revisiting) these educational approaches should attend this symposium in 2019.  
If you would like to hear more or you’re interested in attending next year, please stop by for a chat. Both Lisa and I can tell you more about our experiences.

Reentry Is Rough

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Reentry is rough friends. This is my mantra for the first weeks of school.

1) I think I have such a tricky time with reentry in part because of the artificial lighting in my classroom. All of my classes are in room 21, which I love, but there is no natural light in that room, so it takes me a minute to adjust to the lack of sunlight.

 
This is a picture of my kitchen, my work area at home. Do you see all of the natural light? After spending the majority of summer break at home, spending days without natural light at school takes time to get used to.

2) The second reason reentry is rough is because I always start off feeling less than; I might need to get off Twitter. One day during the first week of school this is what I was met with via Twitter:

The fabulous Carol Jago tragically says, “Students feel unseen, anonymous, until the teacher learns their names.” No pressure, right? Look at the young woman (3rd comment) who brags that she knows all of her students’ names by day 2. Day 2! Well, right there I feel like a failure. Is the self-worth of my students determined by my ability to have a functioning short-term memory? Geez, I hope not.
3) Finally, this year reentry is particularly rough because I’m teaching juniors in English 3 for the first time in seven years and I’m alone. I am creating and planning curriculum for English 3 without a buddy, and I am out of my comfort zone. I’m used to collaborating. In my soul I am a people person, so planning this class has been a little scary and lonely.
I can see the light though. Or, I’m literally getting used to the light, and I mostly know all of the kids’ names. Plus, I’ve got a plan with juniors: keep them writing and engaged. And, I’m happy to report that I’m already sort of killing it with this group.

I just keep telling myself that I’ve got this. But, I’m not going to lie. Reentry is rough!

Art and Literature in Real Life

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Art and Literature in Real Life

Kate and I collaborated on English I outside reading during the Fall Semester–Book Folder Reports.
As part of the assignment students created a marketing tool for each book they read–this was a colored folder that was decorated with cover art and included information on the book characters, plot and read-alikes.
For the cover art, students could print out or reproduce the cover on the book they read or they could create their own unique cover.
One student, Eunice Casa, was really attracted to this aspect of the assignment and came up with a unique cover for the book: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zapia.
Original Bookcover
Even better than that, after the assignment was completed, Eunice continued to work on her art and eventually came up with a new version which she posted to Instagram (tagging the author).
Eunice with her Book Folder Project and the revised artwork post on Instagram.
Last week, Eunice came bouncing into the library with Kate to tell us that the author had seen her post and commented how much she “loved it”. This week Eunice came bouncing in again to tell us that the author had even re-posted Eunice’s artwork on her own account.
This intersection of art, literature and real life really made this student come alive this is why we do what we do. To have our students come alive–to further their studies on their own after being sparked by something in our classrooms.

The Shame of the Scantron

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So, I was running my Scantrons through the machine in the faculty workroom, and a colleague came in and sarcastically said “You still give Scantron tests?” What I should have said was “Obviously. You see me running Scantrons through the machine. Don’t you?” But, I didn’t say that; instead, I started defending all of the reasons that I continue to assess student learning using this format. This blog is me, an English teacher, defending why I continue to test reading and reading comprehension using the Scantron.

Once the go to format for testing, multiple choice/matching/true and false type questioning is clearly frowned upon in the world of 20th century learning. I get it. There’s no need to test facts when students can easily Google anything they want to know. Further, it can seem ridiculous to test  students about details of a novel, especially since the essence of a novel is not found in mere details.  My initial response to this argument is that some students do really well on a multiple choice/true and false/matching type test. I have had many many students over the years earn Bs on their essay assessments, but they earn As and even 100%s on Scantron reading comprehension tests. For the students who are really good at letting me know what they know by using this format, I hate to take it away. It’s just like when I assign an art centered project as an assessment for reading comprehension. Some of the more creative students do really well on this type of assessment, and they may not excel at other types of assessments. I want to give as many students as I can the opportunity to show me what they know using the format that they like. Also, I believe in assessing students in multiple ways for every unit.

There’s more to it than that though. Giving a Scantron test is an efficient way to keep students accountable. English students are regularly assigned pages of reading, much of which needs to be done outside of class on their own time. News Flash: reading homework is regularly low man on the totem pole. Ask any student what two subjects’ homework they work on first, and they’ll admit that the STEM classes get top billing. Our society is currently pushing STEM. You don’t see us actively raising funds for a new humanities building, do you? This trend in education trickles down to student understanding of what class’s homework is most (and least) important to work on, especially when their time is limited. And with novel reading homework, students have an easy out. They can Spark Note or Schmoop the summary of any given novel we teach, and in no time they will get the gist of the assigned reading. This is where the Scantron test works. Students are questioned about details from novels, which can not be easily answered by reading online summaries of the books. Futhermore, many types of Scantron type questions that are asked require students to have read the novels closely. This means that students who know the novels well, have not only read quickly, they’ve read without simultaneously Snapchatting, and they’ve annotated the text for ideas and for passages that they love. We continuously promote annotating as a skill, because we know that in order to really know something and to write about it, first one must have a relationship with what they’ve read. The best way to create a relationship with a text is through not only reading it, but annotating it well also. I know what you’re thinking: Grade the students on their annotations then. I do that from time to time too. As a matter of fact, I give multiple formative and summative assessments throughout a unit. The Scantron test is not the only tool in my toolbox. But one main reason I continue to give a Scantron type reading comprehension test is that it keeps students accountable for the reading.

Finally and I feel ashamed to admit this, giving a Scantron test is quick. I can give the test in one period and by the end of the day the scores are in the grade book. I shouldn’t feel too much guilt about this though. I grade about 1100 writing pieces a year. That’s about right. I have approximately 135 students this year, down about 15 from last year, and each of those 135 students writes 8 formal pieces for me over the school year. That doesn’t include short answer reading comprehension quizzes, class blogs or reflective work. So, I don’t feel so bad giving an assessment that takes me only one hour to grade, analyze and input. Also, students are used to instant gratification. Where it might take me up to two weeks to read, comment on and assess an essay, a Scantron test allows the students to see how they’ve done almost immediately.

It should be noted that in the English department, we weight our grades and the most heavily weighted category is the writing category, because we believe that learning how to write is the most important skill that students work on in our classes. The reading category (where the Scantron test scores go) is weighted at a lesser percentage than writing by 20 percentage points. Therefore, the Scantron reading comprehension test is mostly equivalent to two smaller formative reading assessments like a cartoon strip or a short answer reading quiz; it’s equivalent to two homework assignments.

Circling back to the colleague who inspired this blog. This person was mostly kidding me, and I really wasn’t offended. I think it’s fun to mess with colleagues from time to time too. Also, they (purposeful neutral pronoun) only said what I’d been thinking about for quite some time. But here are my questions to you: Do you still give Scantron tests and if not or if so, have you thought about its pros and cons as much as I have? Do you want to add to this conversation?

Stressing the Point

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“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 🙂

Doodle note taking

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Last semester Joan talked to me about the idea of student doodling. If I remember the conversation right, she meant that students should be able to doodle during class, and that contrary to traditional opinion, people can simultaneously doodle and pay attention. This idea shouldn’t have been revolutionary to me, but it kind of was.

I decided to take the doodle idea a step further from what I believe Joan initially meant. I had my English Honors 1 students doodle in class while we read Pygmalion. The objective was that the doodles would represent details of the play. Since there are five acts in Pygmalion, I asked students to organize their notes into five sections. I really didn’t give a lot of rules. I actually didn’t give a rubric or a grade sheet at all, and I probably wouldn’t have graded these doodles except that I wanted to acknowledge their commitment, so I ended up giving some points for this assignment. What I eventually told the students was that I would assess their doodle notes based on two criteria: effort and comprehension. The doodles needed to be thorough and by looking at the doodles, I wanted to easily ascertain that they had comprehended the play.

I was pretty pleased with the results. Here are a couple of examples of student doodles. As you can see, students organized their doodles in ways that were logical to them. Some used color; some didn’t. These examples show that students did indeed put effort into this assignment and they comprehended the text. 

One reason this assignment worked was because students read the play in class. The problem with the assignment arose when students needed to read a part in the play and they wanted to doodle at the same time. They would lose their place in the play and when their lines came up, there would be an annoying pause until the student realized it was their turn to speak.

Since I felt that this assignment was a little innovative, the students enjoyed it and it helped with engagement and comprehension, I thought I would try it with my English 1 students also. However, this doodle note taking is kind of bombing with my regular students. I don’t think it’s the students, however. I think it’s the reading. We’re reading Of Mice and Men, and the novel is not being read solely in class nor out loud, so students have to read themselves, annotate the text, doodle and answer questions. There are too many components to this unit. It’s overkill. If we listened to an audio of Of Mice and Men together, and their only assignment was to doodle during that time, the doodling would be more successful. As it is now, doodling feels for them and for me like one more thing to do.

“Where I’m From” Reflection

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About a year ago my enthusiastic friend Ellen introduced me to the “Where I’m From” phenomenon that has spread across academia over the last several years. “Where I’m From” is a poem written by Ms. George Ella Lyon, a celebrated writer and educator. This is her poem, the original “Where I’m From” poem:

While Ellen and I had a robust and fulfilling conversation about using the “Where I’m From” poem as a community building activity in the classroom, I set this conversation and idea aside, because I didn’t have time to do it. 
I spent a lot of time last year thinking about what is the most important thing I do in the classroom. And, I came to the conclusion that, at least at the beginning of the year, my most important job is making sure the students feel connected to Carondelet. Remember that I teach all freshmen and that these girls come from 50 different feeder schools. I believe that their ability to feel a part of this community as quickly as possible directly affects their success at CHS, thus the success of Carondelet in general.
So, in late July when Tiz and I were collaborating and discussing community building activities, I remembered my conversation with Ellen and proposed having students create their own “Where I’m From” poems, while teaching the writing process (two for one). The result has been wonderful. The students who really worked the writing process and spent time on their poems love their work. They’ve been invited to read the poems out loud, and while only a few girls from each class take advantage of sharing their poems, when they do, I’m deeply moved.  
The following poem is an original “Where I’m From” poem written and shared with permission by freshman, Gabriella Pattillo: