Category: Writing

Hugo House and Writing Communities

This summer I read Why They Can’t Write by John Warner and attended a Hugo House event called Write-O-Rama. Often the most valuable professional development include those we do for ourselves, not necessarily as teachers but for our identities and passions that sustain us outside of the classroom, too.

I have been wanted to dismantle/disrupt the five-paragraph essay for some time now--look for other formats/mediums for students to consider instead of the strict, unresponsive format of the five paragraph essay. As Warner states:

The worst of those training wheels is the five-paragraph essay. If you do not know the form, ask the closest school-aged child or, indeed, anyone who has been through school in the past twenty or so years:

  1. Paragraph of introduction ending in a thesis statement that previews the body paragraphs.
  2. 2–4.  Body paragraphs of evidence supporting the thesis.
  3. Conclusion that restates the thesis, almost always starting with, “In conclusion.”
    Warner, John. Why They Can’t Write (Kindle Locations 121-127). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition.

I’ll share what others offered during the Write-O-Rama. There are so many great ideas provided by Hugo House: if you have a resource like this in your area, I strongly recommend attending some sessions. We all want to be better teachers of writing, and oftentimes we’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. We feel inadequate about our own writing, and writing is, a lot. A lot a lot.

Write-O-Rama at Hugo House has different conference rooms and times so you can attend several of the sessions, but usually not all. Copyright Hugo House.
The class descriptions give a preview so one can choose. Copyright Hugo House
Background on the instructors: and what a great writing exercise for students! To write their own bios and expertise!

I attended these five:

  • Character Development
  • Dialogue Tricks
  • Plotting with Index Cards
  • Better Sentences
  • Write Your Novel Now

I took notes on each class using Evernote. Just re-reading them, in this moment, my note-taking skills need to improve. But I’ll attempt to give the gist of each session:

  • Character Development: study characters in mentor texts and describe what makes them memorable, and keep them centered in the plot.
  • Dialogue Tricks: no exposition in dialogue: “when writing dialogue keep in mind to have the the conflict sustained quickly” – in other words, no adverbs in dialogue
  • Plotting with Index Cards: use index cards to storyboard a piece of writing. Each card is an atom.
My random notes on plotting with index cards

Here are a few more images from the session:

Novel writing
Novel Writing
Sentence Writing
Sentence Writing

If you want to brainstorm or think of applications of these ideas in your classroom please do not hesitate to contact me. These have direct writing instruction for ourselves and our students of writing. We can go far beyond the five-paragraph essay.

Writers’ Workshop

A quick overview and resources from writing workshop via @writingproject and my work with the Puget Sound Writing Project. I attended the PSWP in 2009 and 2015, and have taken these methods and practices to my classroom and helped others, too. After reading Why They Can’t Write by John Warner this summer, and attending a Hugo House workshop (more to follow on this), I am more convinced and determined that writing will be at the core of my ELL instruction next year. Everything I’ve done here I’ve done with adults in a learning space, and then with students, side by side.

This tweet inspired me to revise and update (and more importantly remind myself):

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Protocols:

  • Determining student writing groups takes some practice and emotional intelligence (something I need to practice): anonymously ask writers what kinds of working conditions and feedback levels they wish to receive, and put like-minded personalities together as much as possible. Change as necessary. Groups should be no larger than four students.
  • Explain the procedure of feedback:
  • *First read: nothing in the listener’s hands. No feedback form, pen, etc.
  • *Second read: listen and fill out feedback form
  • *Writer’s role: after receiving the verbal and written feedback, just say “thank you.”
  • This is key: remind the writers in the room they have the agency and power to control their writing–they can accept or dismiss the feedback as they see fit. Oftentimes we feel defensive and overly self-critical of our work: the process of just saying “thank you” allows the writer to value the time the listener took while still maintaining control and agency of their work.
  • The feedback forms are located under resources. They take some time to practice with them, and usually model my own writing with a student volunteer.

Potential issues:

  • A writer may not be ready with their work. Then they don’t get to participate that day. No shame, but they can go work a piece while others are in workshop. If the writer is frequently unprepared, it’s time for a conference to help uncover obstacles.
  • Not every piece is sacred: writers determine if they will continue a piece or not.
  • Consider providing a suite of writing at the culmination of workshop: everyone contributes their favorite piece to a collection for the class

Resources:

Feedback form: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lsoFd-UVtsBrpfNY7X6CQCV9vnQWDVPI/view?usp=sharing

Writing Workshop Protocols (made by my mentor/friend, Holly: revised and updated: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jfItyBwAwuKbmmyUn4kPVPk9Ry9EpK6jMykG-uqRa1M/edit?usp=sharing

I’ll follow up this post with the writing workshop classes from Hugo House and others soon!

What I Show to the World

What happens when we pay attention to each other.

Sometimes the inspiration our students need is right there, in real time.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
What Happened When I Went To School With My Hair Out

Sherri Spelnic @edifiedlistener is a wonderful writer and educator, and her poem is beautiful. On Tuesday, I shared it with students and my own shameful experience from several years ago, around 2009. There was a strict rule, and I mean STRICT – no hats, scarves, bandanas, even headbands. We teachers were in charge of policing the hallways for any hoodie, hat, cap, beanie, toque, etc. Hijabs, of course, were fine. I say “of course” but I am certain in some American schools they are misunderstood and targeted. One young Black girl came to class a few days in a row with a red bandana. I told her that the school rule was that type of head covering was against dress code. After three days of her wearing it, I called for support from the office. One of the best admins I’ve ever had, Lavonta Howard, who was an AP at the time, quietly told me to let it go, because her mother had cut her hair in an alcoholic rage, and the relationship between hair and a Black girl is unique. I don’t remember his exact words, but I got it immediately. I was angry at her mother for the pain she caused her daughter, angry at the ridiculous “rules” that put me in a position not to be compassionate, and mostly at myself for not understanding what was at stake. The psychology of cruel authority took over my better judgment, and from that day forward I never let a ‘rule’ interfere with my humanity or deny others the dignity of theirs. I am forever grateful for Lavonta to provide me with grade and understanding.

When I shared that with my current students, they also offered me grace. We walked through our own process of thinking about our physical selves:

  • Hair/face
  • Clothes
  • Weight/height

I modeled that I would take about some things, but didn’t feel like I wanted to talk about my weight. I took that risk and tried to show vulnerability, that we don’t always want to share what we think about ourselves. We don’t want to be mocked.

This process didn’t work for every child in the room — but it allowed a place for many. And for those who shared, and those who didn’t, we all came to a better place of empathy. Some people often make fun of teenagers and selfies, but I get it. I loved self-portraits and looked at myself in the mirror, more than I’d like to admit, as if I would see my identity form and shape in front of my eyes. In a way it did.

From one of my students from Tanzania: “My mom used to say I was a King.”

Thank you to Ms. Spelnic, for your grace. My students needed this–right words, right time.

…the truth is

The cast of characters

This week I am on a rare trip: my in-laws took me and my husband to Hawaii. My husband and I went on our honeymoon 26+ years ago to Maui, and haven’t had a trip since. We’ve been to visit relatives in California and Texas, but for big, magical trips, this is it. I have more to say about this trip, and I know I wrote a poem in my sleep about monk seals, and hope I can capture it from the ethereal realms.

I am worried about my students this week. My husband told me not to, but I am. Friday we had a emotional day. It wasn’t planned. It just was. Perhaps I was feeling the pressure of my current principal and her observations. I haven’t been brave enough to check the PIVOT system to read her evaluation notes from Thursday. We’re working on communication.

So between Thursday and Friday, spring break came in hot and with tears. We all needed a break.

Thursday I planned skits for both TKAM and THUG. First period scholars did a breathtaking job: I put them in groups of 3-4, random count—off and then quick readjustments. They were flexible and marvelous, and except for one girl, didn’t complain about the group they ended up in; and, even the one girl did one of the best performances as the “Tree With A Knothole” and used her hoodie pockets for gum and toys. They rocked it. Not only did they do an amazing job with the TKAM skit strips, they came ALIVE with THUG—we developed a quick list of scenes from the book/movie and the performances were epic. Angie Thomas: thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Fast forward to 5/6th period. My principal came in during 5th and we were trying something new, for them, the Interview a Photograph writing from my NWP/PSWP days (Kim Norton/Holly Stein). The second period scholars (who are the same as first period) did great. Fifth period, not so much. And this is the first time in six…seven years (?) that students didn’t thrive during this writing. I don’t know why, but I was frustrated. The kids in that room struggle getting out of their own way. And being observed two days before break made me a little nervous, too, I think, because the inner voice of teacher doubt crept in to an activity I know is tried and true. Would my principal see it? The other day she hadn’t heard of CERs and said no one else had heard of them either, so it’s hard to have conversations and share when there isn’t a common academic language.

We moved toward sixth, and I asked her to stay so she could see the kids perform the skits. Again, 1/2 periods share common students, and so do 5/6, with the exception of a few kids. Sixth tried, and what was interesting is for the loudest, brashest, and quite frankly bluntest group, when it came to performances sudden and accute stage fright.

Interesting.

At least my principal stayed, and I hope that she saw what I did: that students were trying. They were engaged. And that I care for them deeply.

When we moved to Friday, I shared some simple writing prompts I saw on @jarredamato’s twitter feed:

The truth is…

Due to a funky Friday schedule, I saw my sixth period students first thing in the morning. And I shared a few thoughts. A few angry thoughts, and frustrated thoughts, and worried thoughts. I told them to be aware of their surroundings, to notice when a principal is in the room, and I know how much pressure they’re under. One of my most interesting students spontaneously shared a soliloquy that my only regret is that I didn’t capture it on film. He spoke truth, big truth.

And first period students wrote. I told them they didn’t have to share. I respected their privacy as writers.

And in the next moment, five to six students ripped out their pages and handed them to me to read out loud.

I can’t share what they wrote. We were all in tears. Pages of pain, grief, loss, fear, inadequacy, and shame. Our children are in pain.

Final wish: the truth is, principals are feeling the pressure of districts, districts are terrified of Devos, and teachers are terrified of principals and all that fear points at children.

Enough.

We are going to have to be stronger than ever, louder than before, and keep fighting for what is right for our children. How? Speak the truth. It’s all we’ve got.

Kelly Love, Mermaid MD

How do we encourage and foster creativity in ourselves and others?

“I want to do a series of non-routine tasks, that require social intelligence, complex critical thinking, and creative problem-solving.”

well, well, well…how about we continue the conversation about ‘career and college ready?’ My mental pebble in my Sunday slippers is this concept of training students for ‘jobs that don’t exist yet.’ The jobs exist now. Right now. The problem is companies don’t want to pay for employees to ‘do a series of non-routine tasks.’ They don’t want to pay anyone at all. Wages have been stagnant for decades, and though the job market has grown and unemployment is low, skilled trade workers are hard to find.

My older son is sitting on a double major in Russian and German, with a minor in Math, and is thinking about becoming a teacher. My younger son is attending a community college and working weekends as a custodian for a local school district. I have no idea what the future holds for them because I have no idea what my and my husband’s future holds. It’s been…stressful. The social safety nets are ripped, and the Herculean task of moving toward healthcare uncoupling from jobs seems impossible, no matter what progressive politicians promise. Lobbies and corporate interests are monied monsters. In other words, I don’t know what my sons are going ‘to do’ with their degrees.

So how do I “sell” education’s value to a group of 13 and 14 year olds who are well aware climate change is real and dangerous conspiracy theories become factual lies? When we have a curriculum that teaches the test questions, and not a lot of ‘creative problem solving?’ I am thinking the answer is right in front of my nose: ask them. Just–ask them. Here is what we ‘have” to learn, now let’s seek out why, and how it helps us–and add what we ‘want’ to learn. John Oliver’s quote is going to be my mission statement for teaching and creativity.

I’ll share my 99 Problems document, and keep asking ‘What if?’ as if our lives and futures depend on it. (Because it does.)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ccdytPCXW3LoZ2GhJmExp-QWhmYfVcBa2zsFM4LOjzY/edit?usp=sharing

1 of 3: Write: author’s advice

Neil Gaiman spoke at Benaroya Hall on Sunday, November 18–my dear friend Wendy bought us tickets, treated me to dinner, and a lovely book. I can’t say I haven’t been spoiled like that in ages because my sweet friend Sharon put up with my rantings and insanity of two very bad, dark and confusing years.

Going out on a Sunday night in late fall is hazardous for a teacher, especially this teacher who is prone to insomnia and falls blissfully to sleep but wakes early in the wee hours. This is my third time hearing Gaiman speak, and he did not disappoint, and I’m sure he will forgive me if he knew I drifted off during some of his readings. In my defense, I had a bellyful of sourdough paste bolognese and it was warm and dark–and his voice. Oh, that voice of his–the cadence of an English garden–kind, colorful, but untamed and slightly dangerous. Fortunately, my inner writer homunculus took the watch and alerted me whenever he answered a question from the audience or discussed context. Many of the questions were about writing–and he said what I’ve been telling students for many years.

IMG_8712

(Now if I can only tell myself. I don’t have writer’s block as much as writer’s sludge.)

IMG_8711

But here are the big ones:

  1. Write
  2. Editing/Revising: read your work out loud to yourself. Read it with fresh ears/eyes. You will hear what needs to change.
  3. Characters: describe and discover what each character wants. Therein lies the conflicts, and the story.

Use these three for reading, too:

  1. Read
  2. Read out loud and hear the voice of the writer
  3. Characters: what does each character want? How do their desires and needs create conflict?

Life and History (history is life)

A Toy Monkey That Escaped Nazi Germany And Reunited A Family

I began this project I called “dismantling the essay” or “disrupting the essay,” and it continues. Driving home today, I had NPR on, and the introduction to this story almost made me turn on my own music, and thank heavens I didn’t. Not sure what it was about the introduction that seemed kind of weak, but it is a beautiful story–first to listen to the voices on the radio, and then read the article with the accompanying pictures. I didn’t need the photographs to bring it to life, but it added another depth and emotion to Gert Berliner’s story.

_dsc2005_custom-a1719a5f4a7c22f30302fdd6fb3143ffb85756bf-s700-c85
Gert Berliner, from the NPR story about his life

In the wake of a Wisconsin high school where students are photographed before prom (if you want to know more of their rationale or confusion for their jackassery, please click on this Twitter thread–it too is an excellent example of a dismantled essay):

My middle school provides thirty minutes a day for US History. The other thirty minutes is intended for the IRLA program. There is no direct connection between the IRLA prescribed program and US History unless I create one. So in thirty minutes a day, I am to take about 300 years and squeeze it until it bleeds. I am always looking for better, more efficient and ultimately more meaningful ways to use all the senses of students: reading, writing, thinking, discussing, listening–and learning. Learning context. Learning why it matters, and feel confident in their knowledge.

Today a student told me she was in another class and because she had learned the word “genocide” in mine she was confident to participate in a Socratic Seminar and felt like an expert. What we do matters. I am just lucky because she thought to tell me her anecdote about transferred knowledge. I and some other colleagues did a walkabout today, and nowhere on the checklist would have been a space for “student transferred knowledge from one class to another.” We don’t see those moments unless we are very, very lucky like I was today.

I am hoping that my work with helping students understand how essays work, how they support their voice and critical thinking will result from the curated mentor texts.

Some previous blog posts:

https://mrskellylove.com/2018/07/05/summer-series-of-saves-dismantling-the-essay-iii/

https://mrskellylove.com/2017/02/21/structure-series-essays-for-the-21st-century/

Here is the curated list so far.

There is still work to do, of course, and my curated efforts need refinement and reorganization.

However– I invite colleagues to please add to this curated content or make suggestions. The criteria are simple:

  1. Must be an essay in essence (organized, thesis/thematic threads)
  2. Must be presented in a structure that is multidimensional –doesn’t ‘feel’ like a five-paragraph static piece of writing.

Got ideas? Please share!

protecting readers

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved to read. Her mother read her books. When baby sisters came along she read books to herself. Her dad would take her to the library. Her teacher suggested books to her, including Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret when she was in fourth grade. It became her anthem into adolescence. She read Harriet the Spy three times, long before there was a movie adaptation. She learned that some books were too cold, some too hot, but most just right, all without someone telling her. No context clues. No five fingers. No color-coded levels or reading logs. Nothing was forbidden or taboo. When her great-grandmother gave her The Secret Garden, she used her own judgment to put it aside until she connected with it a year or so later. She would read anything and everything. Stories and information fueled her imagination.

My apologies for using third-person point of view: I needed to get outside my own head for a while and look at the bigger landscape. What a pure joy, to develop and cultivate a reading life before it was a “thing.” Of my current 90 students, I have one girl who tears through my #ProjectLit books as if they’re a bag of Takis. She is a reader. She tested far and away the highest ‘level’ IRLA from the American Reading Company can test. She is proud of her reading and her intelligence, as well she should be. Meeting her mother at conferences I thanked her, and her mother said they read at home.

Now another 8th-grade girl said she doesn’t need to read The Hate U Give because she already saw the movie. She said this in a defensive, snotty tone, challenging me to push back on this notion. I didn’t try. And please don’t misunderstand: I am not critical of her: she’s a teenage girl who doesn’t see the value in spending time with the book, with the author’s prose and structure and doesn’t want to think beyond that. She saw the movie, and that’s enough.

(heartbreaking)

 

So we’ve had years of reading logs, and accountable talk, and for what? Now I’m in a district that uses a program called IRLA from the American Reading Company that says it doesn’t level readers, only books. When a representative from the company visited my room, she wanted to demonstrate the program with a student, and I chose a young girl who’s been reading anything scary I have in my classroom library. She was reading Through The Woods. The rep look at her computer screen leveled this book, and immediately told the student the book wasn’t at her level, “she was an orange level” and to go get an orange book. My student did what she was told.

That is a true story.

And what is also true is after the rep and group left my room, I went into damage control. I told her to never, ever worry about what level she or a book is in terms of what she wants to read. Read and talk about whatever she wants.

But I am left with my own accountability for using this program with students, and my evaluation is based on how much growth students show over this year. It’s on my TPEP evaluation goals, which my administrator crafted. I didn’t have a say in what my goals were or should be. Okay. This is the reality thousands of teachers face in schools across the country. I have the screenshots. We are required to teach and use instructional time for this program. The research I’ve done is dominated by the American Reading Company, so it’s difficult to find independent data. I am a solution-oriented person: if this is what I am required to use, then I will also tap into my professional expertise (by reading Donalyn Miller, Kylene Beers, Kelly Gallagher, et al) and make it work. Fortunately, Cult of Pedagogy addressed this issue: What are the best ways to use leveled texts?

And now, for those in the back: READERS ARE NOT LEVELS. BOOKS ARE.

1. LEVELING READERS INSTEAD OF BOOKS

One of the biggest mistakes Serravallo sees is labeling students by text levels. “Levels are meant for books, not for kids,” she explains. “There’s really no point in time when a kid is just a level, just one. There’s a real range, and it depends on a lot of other factors.”

Please: protect your readers. And be transparent about how and why you’re protecting them. You are fighting for their love of reading, but they need to learn how to do this, too, and advocate for their reading lives. 

I’m returning to my Burning Questions unit soon. Not sure I ever stop, actually. Time to flip the script on reading instruction and give authentic and honest hope in our agency.

 

Postscript:

_3__Kris_Hill_-_I_am_sure_there_will_be_people_-_parents_and_teachers___

 

Classroom Library Tip Jar

Please donate so I can replenish my classroom library.

$5.00

Sturdy Structures and Tapestries

Trelawney_ootp

Every time I feel I have my Professor McGonagall-mojo in place, inevitably realize I am only a Trelawney. I want to be firm, peering over the edge of my spectacles, jumping in and of animal bodies with ease and precision (aka going from my awkward projector on the cart to the tiny weird screen, to the tiny space for the doc camera, etc.: the tech in my room is…uncomfortable). If I could shout out with my confident Scottish brogue, “TWENTY POINTS FOR FIRST PERIOD!” with a flick of my wand, oh what wouldn’t I give?

But alas, every day my practice leans toward the Professor Trelawney style, and unfortunately, for the Dolores Umbridge’s of the world (of education) this is –not good. For me. But like Trelawney, I have a few tricks in my sturdy tapestry bag:

  • I know my content area (even if tea leaves and tarot cards are to ELA like potions are to Science: ELA content is confusing for more linear-minded folks)
  • I love my students. And I know it takes time and the small moments that can’t be documented to build relationships and trust. Expecting it to happen overnight doesn’t honor the humanity in teaching.
  • I love my colleagues: and a huge thank you to a mentor in the building who jumped in and helped me with one particular lesson.

Tea_leaves_1
Tessomancy 101: your first draft will not be your best. Pour another cup.

Breaking it down:

In my new district, the first Module is about refugees and reading Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai. 

One of the cumulating assignments (not a project, mind you, an assignment) is a traditional essay. Here is the prompt:

Consider the meaning of the novel’s title, Inside Out and Back Again. How does this title relate to the universal experience of fleeing and finding home, and in what ways is Ha’s experience a specific example of this universal experience?

Essayius Patronus, yo! This is a high cognitive, rigorous and steep prompt. Deconstruct how much it’s asking for the second month of school from 8th-grade students (who are still essentially 7th-grade students): it’s…a lot.

But that’s my job, and what I love doing: how to build a scaffold so that no one falls off, or at least can get back on to meet the requirements.

Remember: this doesn’t happen overnight

  1. Throughout the course of the novel and other readings, we curated quotes and moments

    IMG_8594
    This was one interactive lesson: quote pages and comments.
  2. Provide a graphic organizer that meets two approaches: linear and non-linear. (This isn’t the best, but it was a good start for us.)
  3. Spend a fair amount of time having them just connect concepts to themselves.
  4. We wrote a hook to ease them into the larger prompt about a time they moved or transitioned. This is a human experience. Some have personal stories that are similar to Ha’s: they are indeed, refugees, immigrants, and moving closer to home, many students have encountered big transitions of emotional lives.

And this is where my occasional Professor Trelawney got something right: one of our building mentors who frequents our afternoon classes helped me model the writing: I interviewed him as I tell all students –that’s what writers do–they ask questions for themselves and put the answers–and more questions–on the page.

Mr. Sudon helped me with this:

IMG_8552

We wrote the hook first, then spent a class on the introductory/thesis paragraph (we had talked about thesis prior), and then each day as a class decided what parts to focus on next. Here’s where we landed:

Hook

Introductory/Thesis/Claim paragraph

Body Paragraph: Focus on Ha leaving/fleeing Saigon

Body Paragraph: Focus on a speech about Refugee Transitions by Til Gurung

Body Paragraph: Focus on Ha’s life in the US and how she comes ‘back again’

Concluding Paragraph: used Laura Randazzo’s Concluding Paragraph graphic organizer (which will work great when I teach funnel paragraphs).

Every day I provided sentence starters for the paragraphs (practice and identifying what they are doing as writers helped). Students wrote a little every day, by hand, then typed up what they could in a Google Doc, and submitted what they have done so far.

I know a few fell off the scaffold.

And to get them back on, I’ll put together a paragraph-by-paragraph resource document for them, and they can finish on their own. I’m thinking of doing stations next week

  • Station Ideas:
    • If you still need to type your draft
    • If you still need to write your draft
    • If you are nearly completed with the essay, need to make a few changes, and refer to the rubric
    • Ready to move on: provide enrichment ideas (use my Reading Road Trip blog for this purpose)

I’m now thinking…when can or should I introduce the concept of dismantling an essay? 

Thinking sooner than later, because it’s time to bring some magic into the mix.

 

“You can laugh! But people used to believe there were no such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

PS: This past week was full of Crumple-Horned Snorkbacks, too:

*dog poop tracked in my already smelly room

*someone threw three students’ notebooks in the girls’ bathroom trash (I replaced them all, and am buying cool markers for the students whose notebooks were trashed)

*many confusing schedule changes and rearranging of students without consultation, discussion or teamwork –here’s to that getting better.