Mr. Clean

CLEAN DESKS MATTER! 

We started writing this morning and as I walked around the classroom, I could sense that something was amiss.  Normally, my students are hard workers, but today, it just felt different. They were moving and shaking--their squirming was audible. I thought to myself, "What in tarnation is going on here?" as I paced around the room. 

And then it hit me.

No really. A folder from someone's desk hit my foot on its fall from grace. I stopped to inspect what could have been a scene from Hoarders, Junior Edition. This desk was so overstuffed that my mere presence created enough of a wind current to send its contents flying. I looked around and almost every desk looked the same way. 

Uh, helloooo? Where have I been? 

How could I let these desks get so messy?

Well, for starters, it isn't always high on my list of priorities. We move so fast and cover so much each day that we don't always have time to keep things organized and neat in our desks. Also, I'm not too strict on desk organization--if they know where items are and can located them quickly, I'm okay with that. 

But TODAY was another story. I stopped the entire class and called for an emergency desk intervention. We spent 15 minutes purging our desks, ridding them of unwanted scraps, graded papers that should have gone home weeks ago, and god-awful pencil shavings.  

I tell you what, after those 15 minutes of organized chaos, it felt so different in my classroom. We got back to work--you could have heard a pin drop. 

Never underestimate the power of cleaning. 

Agent of Change

I came across this article today:

Judge rules Paterson, N.J. teacher Jennifer O'Brien can be fired for Facebook comments

Before I dig in, I have a small problem with O'Brien posting negative things about her school/students/career on a social media site. Next time she should write it down in her journal instead of assaulting my eyeballs with her negative viewpoints about our noble profession.

Now to the BIG point:

At first, I was indignant about her comment that she was a "warden for future criminals." I thought, How could she limit her students like that? But honestly, after I got to thinking about it, I realized the only person she was limiting was herself. I almost feel sorry for teachers with that mindset.

And trust me, I came across my fair share of teachers (during my first year of teaching) who think the same way as Ms. O'Brien. It's not exactly an isolated opinion.

I mean, just think about it. How pointless would your job seem if you believed that your students' futures were already decided? You couldn't be an agent of change. I've felt like an agent of change in every single school and classroom I've taught in, no matter the demographic. But that's because I believe in the students. I trust that they have an exciting and unexpected journey ahead of them. Of course, it's fun to guess their future profession (I once imagined that one of my first graders would be a t.v. meteorologist--he was such a snappy dresser), but I leave it at that.

I was pleased to learn--in later reports--that the aforementioned teacher was dismissed from her position as a first grade teacher.

Give me an A!

Okay, here's the down and dirty truth:

I loathe grading. 

EEEEEEK! I can just hear the over-achievers (especially those that attended MU with me) start to stir and cry: 

"But [insert my first name here], you're supposed to love grading so much that you brag about how late you stay up each night marking your students' work with precise and constructive feedback!"

Well, dear friends, that's just not the case. I've developed an anecdotal record-keeping system that helps me assess my students' progress, determine what my next instructional steps will be, and assign grades for each quarter. Personally, I think the formative assessment style is much more effective when it comes to student growth. Using anecdotal notes, I can identify a weakness and attack the academic problem long before it becomes a poor habit (i.e. only using the beginning sounds to decode a word). 

The problem I have with grading is that by the time I sit down to grade something, the student already moved on to something else and already forgot about the assignment I'm grading. Many times it's my fault--I wait too long to grade something. Hours, days, weeks, they just move so quickly when I have a stack of ungraded papers on my desk. I'll pick one up and think: "YIKES! How did I let an entire week pass and I haven't even touched these with a red pen yet?" Other times, the assignment was completely snooze-worthy and no one--not me, not my students--are chomping at the bit to assign or receive a grade. 

Now, before you mentally assign me a "horrible teacher" grade because of this particular post, hear me out. 

Over the years, I'm realizing a few things about grading: 

• Summative assessments (the kind you receive grades or written feedback over) are important and useful. They can help you assess your students as well as your performance as a teacher. 
• Grading is more effective and timely when your assignment comes with a scoring guide. Your students  can approach the assignment with more direction and you can be more deliberate and focused with your grading. 
• When you spend your time creating interesting assignments (and corresponding scoring guides), you won't mind grading them quite as much. Create assignments that allow for your students' personalities and talents to shine through--you might even look forward to assessing the final product!

Okay, so my suggestions are totally cliche and expected, but here's the final (and most important) piece: 

• Start small. Think about the one assignment that gives you trouble each week. (For me, it was the weekly book report. Totally snooze-worthy after 5 months of the same format.) Change up the format of the assignment. Create a rubric. Make the assignment more open-ended but then place higher/stricter expectations so it doesn't backfire. 

Ultimately, my goal is to have a nice balance between summative and formative assessments in the the classroom. My new book report assignment and scoring guide, which I started today--is just a step in the right direction.