Agency - It's Not Just for Students

Digilit Sunday

Today I am participating in Digital Learning Sunday with Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche.  This week Margaret has encouraged us to write about agency.

It is funny how when a topic is chosen, it seems to turn up in my teaching life.  Or maybe it is because I am more open to looking for the topic of discussion.

Yesterday I had the privilege of watching two live sessions of The Edcollab Gathering. The first was Katherine Bomer's session about writing essays, the topic of her new book, The Journey is Everything.  She talked about giving students space to think about what matters to them.  

The second session was Kim Yaris and Jan Burkins, the authors of "Who's Doing the Work?"  One part of the discussion was about how work such as confirming and crosschecking while reading, needs to be the work of the reader, not the teacher.  

Both of these sessions were about student agency or when students become their own teachers.  Research shows that students learn better when they take charge in their own learning.  Agency empowers students to believe they have the capacity to learn.  During Kim and Jan's presentation, they showed how easy it is for teachers to "do the work" for students.  I am guilty of this. Sometimes it is much easier and quicker to step in.

These two sessions led me to reflect about agency in my classroom.

How am I creating space, time and opportunities for my students to be agents in their own learning?   

How am I lessening my role in the classroom so I am not promoting learned helplessness?

I am also reading Visible Learning for Teachers by John Hattie for a book study.  This book has me thinking about teacher agency.  

The big idea throughout Hattie's book is that we, as teachers, need to see our primary role as the evaluator of our effect on learning, not the evaluator of our teaching.  

As teachers, we often dwell on why students can't learn.  Is it because of their backgrounds, their lack of motivation, their learning styles, their inattentiveness, their refusal to take medication, or the lack of supportive parents?  

Hattie implies that focusing on these explanations is the root of deficit thinking, and we cannot change them.  Could this be learned helplessness?  

Instead, we must think of ourselves as positive change agents.  Hattie stresses that "teachers' beliefs and commitments are the greatest influences on student achievement over which we have some control" (25).

If I am to believe that these changes are within my power as a teacher, I need to ask myself these questions from Hattie's book:

How am I creating an optimal classroom climate for learning?

How am I monitoring learning and providing feedback?

How am I organizing content so students have a deep understanding of the content?

How am I setting expectations for all students to reach success?

How am I setting challenging student goals instead of "do your best" goals?

If student agency is a way of empowering students, then isn't teacher agency just as important?  The more students become teachers and teachers become learners, then the more successful are our classrooms.

Holding On - Celebrate #19

Each week Ruth Ayres extends an invitation to share and celebrate events, big or small, from our week.

As I read Ruth's post today about this community holding on in her absence, I am reminded of the importance of holding on.  Although we linger with the past and turn toward tomorrow, sometimes it is holding on that allows us to celebrate the today.

Today I am celebrating the things I have held on to this week.

memories

my children's futures

my husband's heart

dreams

the last days of summer

patience

words

hope

Bits of Tradition

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for creating this space for me to share my corner of the world.

It's that time of year.  Pumpkins on porches, falling leaves, sweater-weather days, and Friday night football games.

It is also a time for homecoming, and in my hometown, homecoming is huge.  It is so big, one year we had CNN arrive on our doorsteps to film a documentary.

Hundreds of people return to share laughs, stories and memories.  Students build floats, and classes from every five years come back to ride in the parade.  Alumni from 50-60 years back come home to rejoin and celebrate the traditions.  One year we had a gentleman representing 75 years. Now, THAT is tradition.

When my friends (the EJDs) and I turned 50, we had this picture taken in front of the building.

Later that year, our old high school was tore down.  We learned we must embrace change and progress while holding tradition in our hearts. 

Bit by bit, 

brick by brick, 

the building came down.  

Photo courtesy of Travis Connor

Photo courtesy of Travis Connor

Even amidst the ruble, tradition lives on.

On my mantle sits a jar of bits.  Bits of laughter.  Bits of memories.  Bits of stories. Bits of tradition that I will always hold dear.

Revision - The Misunderstood Step

Digilit Sunday

Today I am participating in Digital Learning Sunday with Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche.  This week Margaret has encouraged us to write about revision.

For many of my students, revision is the most misunderstood step in the writing process.  Many students confuse editing with revising.  And many students just rewrite exactly what they already have written and turn it in.  

Digital literacy, through the use of Google docs, has made revision moves easier to point out to my students.  They can scan back through the revision history and easily see the changes they have made.  However, students seem to avoid the needed steps to revision when writing is done with paper and pencil.  

But this step in the process still needs to be taught.  Because many teachers do not write themselves, they are not strong revisers, therefore lack a deep understanding of the skill and craft of revision.

Because of this lack of knowledge, revision is sometimes the step in the writing process that receives the most neglect.  I am guilty.  We are great at brainstorming topics, drafting, editing with a checklist, and publishing, but for me as a teacher of writing, revising is the one I hurry through.  Although as I write in my own life, revising is the one step in the process in which I take the most time.  

I have caught myself quickly saying to students, "You need to add more details."  

But what does that exactly mean to a young writer?

Last spring I watched The Educator Collaborative Gathering, and Roz Linder had a segment about her new book, The Big Book of Details:  46 Moves for Teaching Writers to Elaborate.

I was hesitant about buying it because I was afraid it would be geared more toward younger writers and narrative writing, which we don't do as much of in middle school. 

But I was so wrong, and I am so glad I purchased this book.

The Big Book of Details is great resource for teaching revision in all areas of writing: narrative, opinion and argumentative, and also informational.  

Each section contains an if/then chart with "If you see this in student's writing...try this..." which will help guide teachers to move their students forward.

Each lesson contains:

"What does this move look like in writing"
"When writers make this move" 
"How I introduce this move"
"Guided writing practice ideas"

I know revision is an area of teaching which I need to "revise", and I think this book just may be the answer.

"Those" Students - Celebrate #18

Each week Ruth Ayres extends an invitation to share and celebrate events, big or small, from our week.

Many students come to us with labels - reading labels, cognitive labels, behavior labels, economic labels.  Many times those labels are categorized as "those" students.

I have one of "those" students this year.  "B" has become my challenge, my goal, my celebration.  "B" doesn't like school, hates teachers, and does very little to keep that a secret during the school day.  I told "B" on the first day of school that my goal for this year was to keep him school.  That goal is in jeopardy.  

Building relationships with "those" students is even more important.  Each teacher in our school was asked to choose a student to focus on this year, and we are to document how we are making that extra effort with them.  

The day I chose "B" my colleagues just looked at me.  They know how difficult this task will be.

If not me, then who?  If I don't try, if I don't believe in "B,"  then once again, "B" loses because another adult has given up on him.

I have learned from Ruth the importance of loving "those" kids, the ones who are difficult, the ones who come from hard lives, the ones who don't feel loved.

I have learned from Ruth to celebrate those small moments, those moments which give us hope, those moments which give us joy.  We cling to these moments so that believing in "those" students becomes easier.

Today I celebrate one of those moments.  

We had an on-demand writing this week.  I sat down beside "B" and asked him to give me his best.  I told him I thought he could do this work, but he had to show me that he could.  My last words to him were, "I believe in you."

This is what he gave me.  This is what I celebrate.  It gives me hope.

Flashback 1982

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for creating this space for me to share my corner of the world.

Eight jelly donuts.  To all of you these three words have no importance or significance whatsoever.  You may not even like jelly donuts.

For me, these three little words hold so much laughter and so many memories.  You may think that is quite odd.  I would too.

Eight jelly donuts, or more affectionately called the EJDs, are my high school group of friends.  Yes, there is a story behind that name, and when I told some of my colleagues about how we arrived at the name, they were shocked.  They couldn't believe that I would do something like that.

The eight of us were behind many pranks using jelly donuts.  My favorite memory is making a banner for our homecoming game that said, "EJDs say smear 'em!"  That pretty much explains it all.

Several weeks ago, we had a reunion of sorts.  The eight of us got together for a weekend, as we do every couple of years.  

We laughed until we cried, and then laughed some more.  

We ate until we were stuffed, and then ate some more.

We stayed up late, and got up early.  

We soaked in every single minute of our time together.

The best part of these weekends together is that time seems to stand still.  We always pick up right where we left off.  The only thing that really changes is the topic of some of our conversations.  We have gone from having babies, to busy mom schedules, to needing reading glasses, to sending kids off to college, to being grandmas, to colonoscopies and menopause!

This time, two of my friends decided it would be fun to recreate our senior prom picture.  They gathered up prom dresses from their own girls and from friends of theirs.  Can you just imagine 50-something year olds trying on prom dresses that really belong on 16-18 year old young ladies?  

This is one of the many times where we laughed until we cried, but we had so much fun trying to zip up those dresses!  

So may I present to you Prom Night 1982 in the year of 2016!

Reflection

Digilit Sunday

Today I am participating in Digital Learning Sunday with Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche.  This week Margaret has encouraged us to write about reflection.

Today, September 11th, seems to be the perfect day for reflection.  I, as I am sure all of you, remember exactly what I was doing the day of the terrorist attack.  I was a stay-at-home mom at the time.  Megan was a 3rd grader, and Ethan was in pre-school. My sister-in-law was staying at my in-laws who lived next door.  She came running over, telling me to turn on the television.  And I was glued to it the rest of the day and into the night.

Our world has been forever changed.  During those next few days, months, and even years, many people reflected on our country's patriotism and our faith in each other, our country and our God.  Reflection came to the forefront through this tragedy.

As a teacher, reflection is as routine as planning lessons.  It is a part of the daily process.  As a writer, reflection is a common thread woven throughout my writing.  It's what I do.

These beginning weeks of school, I have come to realize that many of my students do not know what true reflection is.  Many of them can write opinions, can summarize text and answer text based questions, but writing how they are affected or what they learned through an experience or by reading a text, escapes some of them.  

I have to ask myself, is this a product of the testing culture?  Are we stifling students' ability to connect with a text? Are we giving them a chance to express emotions when reading a text or to write how this reading has affected them?  Are we asking them to think beyond the evidence?  Is prompt writing so ingrained in them, that reflection is foreign to them?

Or have we, as teachers, not taught them how to reflect and given them the opportunity to try it out.

These are questions I am reflecting on as I learn more about my students as writers.  But I don't want to wait for a tragedy to create reflective writers.

I assign an article of the week each week.  Part of the assignment is some type of writing, mostly standard-based. This week after reading and studying examples, they are to write a reflection paragraph (we are starting slow).  This will be their first one, so I have to keep in mind this piece is a benchmark and my goal is to see them grow as writers.

I plan to move into digital reflection through blogging, Padlet, and Google Slides.  Finding an outlet for reflection that meets their needs will be a key part in motivating them. 

I know I have lots of teaching and modeling to do, and I know they need lots of practice.  

I hope to use my own reflections from reading Katherine Bomer's new book, The Journey is Everything to help them become writers who better understand themselves, each other, and the world in which we live.  

To me, that is the essence of reflection.
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Blessings - Celebrate #17

Each week Ruth Ayres extends an invitation to share and celebrate events, big or small, from our week.

A person is blessed when they have an abundance of celebrations.

I am blessed to work in a school with a team of teachers who make me laugh. Every. Single. Day.

I am blessed to have administrators who treat teachers with respect when they voice their concerns.

I am blessed to have people who believe in me and in my writing. 

I am blessed to work in a school who lets me share my literacy life on our weekly morning show.

I am blessed to have a son who is thinking...just thinking...about a major.

I am blessed to have a daughter who experiences the joy of being a teacher.

I am blessed!

A 1971 Writer's Notebook

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for creating this space for me to share my corner of the world.

Last week a former student walked into my room and said, "Mrs. Eck, I know you like old things, and I thought you might like this."  She handed me an old journal.

"Where did you get this?"  I asked her.

"I found it in an old abandoned house in my neighborhood."

Upon further inspection, I noticed the pages, brown and brittle with the passage of time, but on each page, the writer captured the finest details of his day, recorded with neat penmanship and written with a black marker.  Every single day was recorded.

Anyone who blogs, especially those who slice, knows the power of a story.  We know that stories are all around us, and we know everyone has a story to tell.  

As I read through the pages, I began to wonder what stories this journal held.  

I found out his name was Chauncey Carr, and he lived in Louisville, Kentucky and here in Vincennes, Indiana.  

I believe he had a close relationship with his mother because he frequently wrote letters to her, and on Mother's Day he sent her $5.00.  She must have lived in my hometown, yet he traveled quite extensively - many trips to Louisville, Evansville, Cincinnati, Terre Haute, and New York City.  Again, recording all of his travels and collecting artifacts and ephemera which were carefully glued into the journal.

At some point he lived at the YMCA and "sunbathed on the rooftop."  He spoke about his quiet evenings in his room and the people who came to visit with him.

He listed his meals - what he ate, with whom he ate, and where he ate.  I assume that because he lived at the YMCA, he ate most of his meals out because he listed the cafeterias and the restaurants.  

His mother regularly sent food with him because when he would return from a trip home, he mentioned that he had a "quiet meal, food from home, in my room".  I know he enjoyed a "Big Boy (whatever that is) and pecan pie at Frisch's", and he must have made a mean Italian meatloaf when he visited home.

He was a reader!  He recorded when he finished books in the daily pages and kept a running list in the back.  He favored Agatha Christie and shopped frequently at used book stores.

To many people, this journal would be considered junk or trash.  I consider it a treasure.  He must have been a disciplined writer to record his life each and every day.

In one entry, he mentions a family that I knew from my childhood.  He says he took James "Digger" Foster to a department store and bought him a cap.  He also mentions James' sister, Rhonda on her 5th birthday.  James and I went to elementary school together, and we would have been seven years old at the time.

I would love to find out more about Chauncey.  I imagine the two of us sitting on a porch, he telling the stories in a voice like Morgan Freeman, and I listening to his every word.

He never mentions any family other than his mother.  I wonder how old he was when he lived here?  Did he pass away here?  Is he buried here?

I have always said I am a notebook wanna-be.  Seeing this notebook is simply inspirational.