Category Archives: Miranda Cozzone

Want to join me Monday at lunch to debrief the Game of Thrones finale?? Please???

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Is anybody down for a Game of Thrones Season 8 debrief at lunch on Monday??

I love Games of Thrones and have been invested in this show longer than I have been teaching. I have shamelessly bummed HBO Go passwords from people when I had no money and signed up all of my various email accounts for free HBO trials. Now that I am a sophisticated adult I get to enjoy the show legally from my own living room and am SO sad that this show is ending.

This show has even more relevance to me now teaching history, because while the show is purely fictional, it deals with
the complicated nature of human relationships, explores power and prejudice,
and creates empathy even for the most unlikable characters. Especially teaching young women it reminds me of the ways that women can be strong and major players in history.

I know that many of you also watch it and I am sure can make countless connections to your own teaching practice/content area, current events, and maybe even your own life.
Anyone want to get together Monday at lunch to talk and mourn the loss of a favorite show??
Image result for jon snow
Here is a picture of Jon Snow. You’re welcome. 

The Carondelet Prison Experiment & The 4Cs In action

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The Carondelet Prison
Experiment & The 4Cs In action
In Ethics last month we explored Restorative Justice (shout out to Carrie and Caitlin for coming in to intro that for us!) in
relation to various social issues including the School to Prison Pipeline, Policing
in the United States, and alternatives to the death penalty and incarceration for
non-violent criminals.
I asked students to get into groups and create a 30 minute
experience for their classmates that explored one of these issues from an
ethical perspective using technology and student interaction (i.e. don’t just
make a freaking Kahoot! please).
 If you are already feeling uncomfortable and
uncertain – it’s ok I was too – these are really serious topics and I really was committed to making sure they weren’t satirized or trivialized.  
At the same time I was thinking about the 4C’s – Critical
Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity – something that I had learned about while
getting my credential and something that was a looming Alludo task. In order to
really try this out I felt like I needed to give up some of the normal control
and interference I run while working with students on group projects so I made it a point to have each of these 4 components critical to the group’s successes – hence the
Carondelet Prison Experiment was born….
A group
of students took the US prison population (by race, gender, and crime) and put
it into proportion of the 25 students in the class. They then created a their
own version of Hedbanz where each student had a card taped to their head
representing their crime and gave the class ten minutes to walk around and guess what
their own crime was by the way other people treated them. As you can imagine things
got weird, rowdy, and slightly uncomfy as someone who was a “murder” was
avoided by the class and someone who had abused a child was put in the corner,
literally.
here they are with their Hedbanz cards on their heads waiting for instructions……
The ten
minutes were slightly anxiety provoking for me – I was not in control and was
worried something would be said that would hurt someone or a joke would be made
that would derail the whole thing. I was wrong. The simulation didn’t go perfectly
but the discussion that we had after was so great. 

I have often thought that
some topics could not lend themselves to creativity because of their serious
nature. In retrospect this project worked because students were given full ownership of the project (there were vague instructions) and they were allowed to integrate things that were familiar to them (in this case a game that they played: Hedbanz) and consequently the engagement from the rest of the class was high because of the novelty of the idea and because the class overall seemed to want to help each other succeed. 

Giving students autonomy and keeping the 4C’s in mind really helped me to realize that I do not have the best answers/ideas – my students do, especially when they can authentically work together.  I just need to give them the creative space to help them create something amazing. 

Death, Sex, & Money Podcast– When a Banker was Called to the Convent

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I recently listened to an episode from the Death, Sex, &
Money podcast that featured an interview with Sister Josephine Garrett who recently
took her final vows with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. It was a
super moving/honest look at one women’s journey from the finance world to the
convent – and yes I am recommending this everyone, not just religion teachers.
So much of the recent stuff out there about Catholic Sisters
are super dated and un-relatable, super scandalous (aka the gambling CSJs in
Southern California), super irreverent (The
Little Hours –Netflix) or so brutally sad (The Innocents – Netflix) that nuns almost become caricatures instead of people. This podcast was a breath of fresh
air.
Teaching about religious vocations is already so obscure to
so many of our students who can’t imagine why anyone would choose the religious
life – I think what makes it even cooler is the fact that a non-religious host
brought so much respect and dignity to a lifestyle misunderstood by so many.  I cant wait to share with my juniors.
It’s a super easy listen for the drive home or while doing
stuff around the house – if anyone ends up listening let me know!

Why do I get anxious for finals? I’m not the one taking them.

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Every time I sit down to grade finals I have a mild panic
attack. Granted – I am prone to over thinking and anxiety anyway – but I don’t
have this with grading at any other point in the year. 
      Questions swirling around
my head;

  •       Was my final good enough? What makes a final a
    final anyway??
  •       If my students didn’t stress out over my final
    did I even do my job?
  •       Why didn’t I write a better rubric? Why didn’t I
    foresee the glitches?
  •       How much should this assessment impact my student’s grade this late in the semester?
  •       How would another (better) teacher grade this?
    Do I really know what I am doing?
  •       Did I grade too hard? Was I way too soft? –
    Probably the latter honestly.
  •       Are my grades too high? I really am happy with
    the work have done but shouldn’t my grades be more like a bell curve than a Nike
    swoosh?
  •       How does someone go to summer school for religion
    anyway??
  •        Should I let students know that the grades are in in
    case they want to see them before Christmas Would that just be chaos?
  •      Ah.

Anyway – my grades are in. Per my usual I went over
everything 10 times to make sure there were no surprises. Is this a new teacher
thing? Is this a crazy person thing? Does anyone else question the heck out of
themselves before submitting grades?

Food Vlogging – When Food Network meets YouTuber meets Jesus

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I made a commitment this year in my religion classes that I would not give any tests/quizzes. I have been doing Youth Ministry or teaching religion since 2010 and I have not seen a single teen have a true conversion experience by making sure they were adequately tested on the Hypostatic Union or what it means for Jesus to be Consubstantial with the Father. I finally gave myself permission to put that aside and focus on lived experimental faith. #yasinnovation

So this year when I was teaching the Eucharist I knew I needed to mix it up. I see so many of my students watching and sharing YouTubers and Vloggers (James Charles?) that I decided that over Thanksgiving Break I would have my students make their own cooking vlog (this was also selfishly motivated by my deep desire to teach Home Ec.)

Here’s what the project was (in a nutshell):
They needed to document the following in a 10 minute video:
– Cook with someone (or a group of people) that they loved and felt comfortable talking about their faith with
-They could cook whatever they liked as long as it was made from scratch (more or less)
-They then needed to share the food/meal together
-They could work with classmates if they wanted
– Finally they sat down either by themselves or with their loved one and reflected about what they did. They were asked to talk about how their experience informed their understanding of Sacrificial Love and to speculate about why Jesus, on his last night on Earth, would choose to share Himself through a meal with his best friends. While Mass feels dead and boring to so many of them I asked them to think about Jesus’ original intention when He instituted the Eucharist in hopes that they would understand the way in which God wants to be connected to us.

What made this project SO great:
– Oh my gosh! I got to see my students in an entirely different light. Getting to see them learn to make Pancit with their mom for the first time was so special. Watching 3 students mess up a pie because they didnt know there was a difference between regular milk and condensed milk was HILARIOUS. During one student’s clip her 10 year old brother stopped to tell her how happy he was that she included him in the project and asked why they didnt cook together more. I could go on and on with stories…PURE JOY! Our students are SO creative.
– Their reflections were actually good! Often times religion teachers get canned answers to questions related to faith because they have been “doing religion” for 10 years plus. Having them speak from the heart definitely elicited more genuine responses than I am used to getting.
-I got to grade at the gym! Literally my life this semester consists of multitasking as much as possible. I got to watch videos on the treadmill for an hour before I started class tonight.
-They learned new skills in the Google Drive since they had to upload, share, and link their videos to a Google Form. Many did this for the first time.
-Students getting 2 extra days at home to work over break also elevated the quality of these projects I think

Drawbacks:
-Watching 10 minutes of footage per student is a lot – it can’t be graded fast. I am not even half way done.
– SO MANY TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES – so if flexibility isn’t your gift it’s probably not for you

I am looking forward to learning new ways to promote experimental learning – inspired by this project I am creating a “Choose you own adventure final” that I can’t wait to try out. More on that later, off to class.

Teaming….we have to teach HOW to give feedback before we can team.

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The Big History team was STOKED to work with Rachel Dzombak
on teaming strategies with our freshmen for their first group project: The Big
Bang Infographic. But this week Joanie, Gaeby, and I had to make the hard
decision NOT to share the feedback that our freshman gave to each other after reading
what our students wrote about one another.   
We learned something major: Students have to learn HOW to give feedback before we can let them do
that candidly and anonymously with their peers.

 Much of the feedback was either not clear (i.e. “try to be
more helpful”), not charitable (i.e. “try not to need to control everything”),
or completely unhelpful and un-actionable (i.e. “try not to be sick next time”)
and it dawned on me that in order for feedback to be helpful students need to
know how to give feedback. Students are so used to RECEIVING feedback, so how
do we teach them to GIVE honest and constructive feedback??

 As teachers we think about the feedback we give to students,
how they will take it, how much they have
grown, what their tolerance level is for critique, etc. so I think that it was
a false assumption on our part that this is a skill that every 14 year old has
(no duh!). While we are eager to continue to work with our teaming people from
Cal we also realized that these surveys are designed for college aged young
adults to take – not young adolescence.
It was a hard decision not to give our girls the raw
feedback from Rachel; she put in a lot of time into compiling a lot of data and
we do think that students need to be aware about how their work ethic is
perceived by others, but it also has to be done in a way that is not
demoralizing and continues to support the growth mindset that we are all on
board with promoting.
Of course Rachel totally got this. Our next steps are two
fold;
·     
Today we will talk to our girls about giving
honest, clear, relevant, and constructive feedback to their sisters – with the
intention that even in our critiques of one another we are ALL trying to lift each
other up and help each girl become the best version of herself.
·     
We are going back to the drawing board with
Rachel – we will try this again but we will probably need to tweak the surveying
method a bit.
Here is a helpful article I found last night just trying to
look for solutions to giving feedback. It is from the Cult of Pedagogy and is
called “Moving From Feedback to Feedforward.”

Parents as Allies??

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Parents as Allies??


In my first year and a half of teaching I avoided parent contact in the same way that I avoided chaperoning school dances; “By any means necessary”.


Image result for teacher parent meme
Why?? Well I guess for a lot of reasons. I was worried to get a kid in trouble.  I remember when my grades slipped and my parents caught wind I got the inevitable speech about how much they were sacrificing to send me to private school, all the vacations they didn’t get to take, all the things they could have done to their house… blah, blah, blah.  

Image result for guilt trip meme


The thought of me being the catalyst for that kind of conversation at home for some poor kid was nothing I wanted a part of. Probably the bigger  reason though, if I am being honest, is that as a new “teacher” with no actual teaching experience, I was scared to death that a parent would actually realize that I had no idea what I was doing.  Like any fear or thing you avoid, the more I hid from it, the bigger of a monster it became.  


Image result for teacher calling home memeImage result for teacher parent meme

That is until the end of last semester at St. Mary’s.  We were supposed to keep a log of our contacts home.  A minimum of eight.  I did one; which was only an awkward email home about a bizarre encounter on Urban Plunge.  I had a choice.  Make a fake log or actually reach out to seven parents.  Yuck.  Im not going to lie and say that I never considered faking the log, but I really respected the professor who assigned this project and remembered all the times she drove home the importance of making connections with families.  

So I did it.  Two days before the due date in late April I reached out to seven families to tell them about how great their kids were and how I saw them grow over the course of the year. I picked students who I knew struggled either academically or with religion. I couldn’t believe the responses I got back from parents almost immediately.  Six out of seven wrote me back to tell me how much the email meant. I really cherished these conversations (cheesy, I know, but for real) and felt full of joy as the end of the school year came to a close.

This afternoon I decided to send a quick email home to my freshmen parents introducing myself and just letting them know that I was looking forward to meeting their kid and am hoping that this transition into high school is a great one.  Within two hours eight parents responded with kind words, offers of help for the year, and insights to issues and fears that their kids are having starting out the year.  I wish I had come to this realization sooner. Of course there are those parents who are a pain, but by and large parents are our biggest allies.

This year I am challenging myself to reach out to parents three times a week; I want to touch base, get insights, share growth, and treat them like the assets they are. I also want my students to know that I DO call home and thats not a big bad scary thing. 

Image result for teacher calling home meme


If you’re like me and avoid parents I challenge you to try reaching out this year.  If you reach out a lot for grade and behavior issues call sometimes and just share the good stuff.  I am excited to start this year.  I feel so lucky teach in a school so rich in cultural assets and I cant wait to make new connections with people and see how that informs my teaching practice. 

Gratitude Photo Journals & Faculty/Staff Shout Outs

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Over the last 3 weeks my students and I have been keeping a gratitude journal, but instead of writing things down on paper we post pictures on to a Schoology album and caption them in 140 characters or less.  They post all week and Friday we share.  We look forward to it, as soon as they walk in the door on Friday they remind me that we have to look at the class journal.  We scroll through pictures, some funny and some serious, and share moments and memories that mean a lot to them.

Gratitude Photo(video) Journal from 1st Period Church History 

I think that this exercise helps me to remember the little things that matter; every day I walk into our doors I feel like I’m home.  Every day I walk into my classroom and it’s clean despite the fact that I know I didn’t necessarily leave it that way makes me SO grateful.  Over hearing students talking about teachers and by and large it’s POSITIVE is an awesome thing!

I see my girls more aware of the little things too.  After Corazon my students were writing thank yous to Sister Joann, Sister AB, and their leaders.  One girl said out loud that she wished she could thank our crossing guard because she’s so nice.  Everyone instantly agreed, and that was that.  They made a poster.

 The road in the poster is full of #hashtags describing all the ways Alisha makes their day better and keeps them safe.

The girls brought it to Alisha right before lunch.  It was such a fun and meaningful moment.  We really do have an awesome staff.  Afterwards girls shared other people they wanted to thank and we decided that as a class that we would create a project during Lent to recognize people in the school who have a huge impact on them who are not their teachers.

It got me thinking… could we make a gratitude photo journal as a staff and faculty?  I can’t believe how much I got to learn about my girls from getting to see glimpses into their lives at home, with their friends, and on their teams.

Could we start faculty meetings from now on by taking 5 minutes for anyone to recognize a colleague for something awesome that they see them doing around campus?

What do you think? Do you have any other ideas or input about creating small opportunities to share gratitude? Tell me in the comments. 

Bringing Story Corp to Symbols and Ethics

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Symbols & Storytelling 
Right now my students are working on a project inspired by Dave Isay’s TED Talk “Everyone Around You Has A Story the World Needs to Hear” (check out the link to the talk below….it’s worth the watch I promise)
Dave began photographing and interviewing men who lived in flophouses in New York City.  These were guys on the fringe socially and economically.  He recalls what it was like to bring his published piece to the guys to show them that their words and faces were forever in print.  Dave recalled one man grabbing the book from his hands and running down the hall with it shouting “I exist!” 
Damn. Isn’t that how we feel like we exist; when we are seen by another person? When we have a chance to tell our own story and be heard?
Inspired by these events Dave started Story Corp which brings people face to face to have intimate conversations that are recorded and preserved forever.  It just so happens that I was checking this talk about at the same time as I was prepping my Symbols and Ethics class and I knew I had to do something with it. 

What if instead of lecturing about rituals, traditions, and symbols we had our students take their iPads out of the classroom and interview their friends, and parents, and grandparents about their own lives;
I wanted to give my students the opportunity to learn about what their grandparents did for the holidays growing up and what their parents taught them about God, the food that came from the family’s country of origin, the family heirlooms that are in their home that maybe they have never ask about, the trips their parents took as kids every year, the memories and traditions of their friends.  But it was a 2 for one deal really, because while they are learning about the power of symbol and ritual they also are giving someone else a cool gift; they are creating a space for someone else to tell their story.  One on one, face to face. 
So we watched the TED Talk together and this weekend they are taking their ipads out into their worlds to record the stories of the people that they love.  They have to interview at least 3 people; one has to be 15 years older than them, one 25 years older, and one 35 years older.
Im guessing for some this project will be awkward (face to face conversation with an adult can be sometimes), for some funny, for some moving, and for some a grab bag a different things. 
I am looking forward to hearing their thoughts and what they learned.  If they thought that the project was valuable and whether or not they will keep these recordings; especially of their older relatives whose voices won’t be around forever.

https://storycorps.org