Most/Least

Hi Professor,

I liked the usefulness of this class the most.  I was able to take some lessons I was already using and modify them in a more differentiated way.  I appreciate having time set aside for that kind of modification so I have a handful of lessons that are ready to go better than they were before.


I felt like it would have been easier if all of the due dates were the same.  I was confused sometimes about when things were due because there were conflicting dates and I was already pretty worried I was going to miss something.  

Differentiating Content, Delivery and Assessment -

As I have mentioned before, writing instruction is where I am putting most of my time and energy in regards to curriculum development.  I teach at a continuation high school and many of my students, for one reason or another, have never written an essay, EVER.  I know that for many of my students I am the last English teacher they will ever have and that feels like a huge responsibility to carry around.  I want them to know how to write.  After a couple of years of trial and error, I finally figured out a successful sequence that supports my students in writing.   Over the last 4-5 years I have seen a steady increase in the number of students who submit a final draft process papers.  This year 23 out of 25 students in my 5th period class submitted a passing final essay.  The sequencing is continually getting longer as I add more supports based on new ideas or the ever changing readiness of my students.  

I will be addressing the 11-12 grade Common Core writing standard 1a, specifically, in the following teaching plan.  This standard includes writing a clear claim and logically sequencing your claim, counterclaims, refutes, reasons and evidence.  As a department we made the decision to teach argument writing exclusively since changing genres of writing was very difficult for our students.  We decided that if they were seeing the same type of organization and getting to practice an argument essay in all of their English classes, (and social science classes now too) then they really have a chance at mastering this skill.  Then I began working on how I was going to teach my class how to write an argument paragraph that will eventually turn into an argument paper.

3rd quarter my class studies the concept of juvenile justice.  The first assignment I give them is their essay packet with a prompt that states To what extent to do you agree with the current law that juveniles can be tried as adults and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.    The students understand they will have to put together a minimum of a 5 paragraph essay to respond to that topic.  They have all sat in classes where the teacher hands out the prompt and tells them to get going writing their essay.  I reassure them this in not the case here and from there I can begin my writing instruction.  They have a greater incentive to pay attention because they know they have to eventually write an essay.  

I generally start with a paragraph pre-test and ask them to write 8 sentences.  I want them to submit what they would consider a very organized paragraph, on either why it is good to have a law in place that will sentence violent juvenile killers as adults or they can write one paragraph about why it is not good to have a law that can result in juveniles getting life sentences with no chance of parole.  I just give them a paper with the prompt at the top and blank lines on which to write.  I do not build in any supports because I need to see what they can do on their own.  This is my pretest or pre-evaluation.  From the results of this paragraph writing, I can determine where I need to begin with my instruction.  

I initially deliver my basic essay instruction through the use of PowerPoint.  I like that it’s visual and it allows me to include YouTube videos and extra little interesting supplementary information.  On my PowerPoint I have definitions and examples of each piece of an argument paragraph.  The students take notes on the definitions of words like, claim, reason, evidence, analysis, counterargument,refute and concluding sentence.  I have a paragraph organizer that I typically use for any struggling writer that has boxes with the names of the pieces of the paragraph and empty space for the students to write in each of those pieces  of a paragraph.  On that paper are the titles of the pieces on the left hand side of the paper, the students write in the descriptions of the pieces.  I usually have a picture, cartoon, or video to go with each piece, and finally a sample that the students copy down into the larger boxes of empty space.  When this lesson is finished, each of my students has a clear description of the pieces of their paragraph, a suggested order, and a sample paragraph I wrote for them.  Now, it is also made perfectly clear that the organization is flexible and might make sense to kids to organize differently.  That is perfectly fine with me.  Some writers prefer to begin their paragraphs with the counter reason and I agree that that is an effective way to construct an argument so the students have some freedom, which allows my stronger writers a chance to break out of the mold and develop their own style, but the organizer supports students who are not sure how to get started or what comes next when writing.

I usually have the students read the paragraph aloud a couple of times with their A/B partners so the structure can be reinforced on a deeper level.  The students will have the conceptual redundancy of reading the words from the PowerPoint, they will have written the sentences down, and they now will have a chance to read the sentences a few times.  I like one partner to read the claim, reason, evidence, analysis, refute and concluding sentence and the other partner to read the counterargument.   Getting the students to understand that the counter is the other side’s position and not theirs is one of the greatest challenges and I find that if the students can read the paragraph out loud it helps to hear one voice on the other side.  It also helps them understand that the counter and the refute need to be tied together, which is another serious challenge.  

This process normally takes two days and on the third day of instruction I put the students into groups of two which will eventually combine into groups of 4.  I usually have 24 ish students in my class so I typically use  6 groups of 4.  I have three sample paragraphs that I have laminated and cut up into strips.  I mix up the strips for one paragraph and put them in an envelope.  Each pair gets one envelope.  Eight pairs will get paragraph 1, 8 pairs will get paragraph 2, and 8 pairs will get paragraph 3.  With their partners I ask them to read the sentence strips and decide together the correct order of the sentences.  I can pair stronger students with developing students to make sure the conversation is beneficial for both.  Part of the assignment is to have a rationale for why each piece is placed where they placed it. Once the pair thinks they have a logical order, I put them into groups of 4 and when the group of 4 agrees I put them into groups of 8 who all have the same paragraph  and ask them to all agree on the best order.  The conversations this assignment yields are amazing. Students argue about transitions and are using the language we have been working on and ironically enough, are sharpening their persuasive skills all at the same time.   I like the strip assignment because it appeals to the kinesthetic learners and that is a challenge in an English class.  Students can activate a different part of their brain when trying to make sense of someone else’s writing.  It is almost like learning to grade writing.  I became a much better writer after I was tasked with grading essays.  This assignment works for my verbal learners, my interpersonal learners, it supports my language learners and special education students, and as previously mentioned, it supports my advanced students who are taking the time to explain to another student why a sentence needs to be place in a certain order.  When all 8 students agree I will finally take a look at what they have done and I can ask questions and call on students to answer why they put certain sentences where they did.  This is another informal assessment I can use to continue to develop supports for students who may need them.  

Now that I feel my students are ready to branch out on their own, I create three different writing prompt/organizers.  The more challenging prompt mirrors the essay prompt:  Write one paragraph arguing The extent to which  you agree with the judge’s decision in the Savannah Dietrich case?  My advanced students will get this more open prompt with blank lines underneath.  My emerging level students will get an organizer, like the one we worked with the first day, to help them organize their paragraph.  Their prompt will ask them to: Write one paragraph in which you fully agree or disagree with the judge’s decision in the Savannah Dietrich case.  Even though the wording of the prompt is different, I will be able to know how ready the students are in terms of organizing their thoughts and persuasiveness. Some of my special education students, depending on their accommodations and my assessment of their readiness, will get the same prompt as above and a paragraph frame.  I have had some students who begin developing their writing by simply filling in the blanks of a paragraph I have already set up for them.  I provide sentence starters and transitions to get them writing something.   A lot of what needs to be changed in these cases is attitudes about writing.  With the right supports all students can feel successful which will result in even greater learning.  

Once the students have their prompts, I hand out a differentiated reading passage on Savannah Dietrich, a rape victim.  Her attackers were juveniles who admitted what they did after video footage emerged of their actions.  The judge ordered Savannah to keep the names of her attackers private.  Many people were outraged by the judge’s order.  All three reading selections are about the same article, but they are at different reading levels.  One article is straight out of the newspaper.  One article has the definitions or pictures of difficult or important words in the article integrated into the passage.  The third article is one I usually edit and modify to fit the needs of the struggling readers in my class.  Now that everyone has the appropriate reading passage and writing support they are ready to go.

The assessment piece of the plan is the paragraph the students produce on their own.  I have an argument paragraph rubric and will spend more time later on asking the students to read, grade, and discuss sample paragraphs so they can better understand what the rubric is asking them to do.  The students may revise/edit these initial paragraphs 2 or 3 times if necessary to move forward one level on a 6 point rubric.  I need them to be very clear on what they need to do to earn a higher score the next time they write.  

3B Assignment PBL

Project-Based Learning and Problem-Based Learning is an amazing way to create energy in your classroom and light a fire in your students.  I tried a new assignment this fall when I came back to school to find the revised school calendar included Columbus Day as a holiday.   Our district hasn’t recognized this day as a student free day in over 15 years and I was shocked that we would return to honoring such a controversial day off.  So, luckily for me, the problem fell right into my lap.

My English III team and I teach Native American literature first quarter and I thought this topic fit perfectly with our quarter goals.  We presented the problem of celebrating Columbus Day to the students.  We accessed their background knowledge and initiated a discussion about Columbus and why we have the day off in the first place.  That led to a really involved discussion comparing Columbus with other figures we get the day off to celebrate.  We showed them an interview with a political activist who was discussing how many Native Americans in the United States feel about celebrating Christopher Columbus.  We asked the students to decide how they felt about the issue, and asked them to create a product designed to convince others in our community to agree with them.  The students took the assignment further than we could have imagined.

We grouped the class homogeneously with other students who were arguing on the same side.  We provided some research materials articles on both sides to all of the students, but they were responsible to research in their small groups and share what they found out with each other.   We also regrouped the class to have two students on either side of the issue so they could inform one another about the counter arguments that exist.  Including the other side’s opinion in their product was one of the requirements of the assignment.   Many of the students wrote an argument letter to our new Superintendent of schools sharing their position on Columbus Day.  Some students wrote to the Board Members.  Other students wrote to local legislators asking for legal change.  One student created a public service announcement he shared with the class arguing that Columbus Day should be renamed to “Indigenous Peoples Day.”  Originally, we asked the students to write an argument letter to the Superintendent, but they asked for more options and we agreed.  The assignment ended up being both Project-Based and Problem-Based.

This assignment allowed for students to create a project that appealed to them as opposed to simply writing the letter to the superintendent.   The project options allowed for differentiation of the assignment.   I appreciated the power point lectures that were turned in, as well as the presentations designed for the Board to hear.  One student asked the principal if he could give his presentation to other students in a variety of other elective classes.   I was surprised how proud the students were of their work and how willing they were to share what they created.  We sent out a few letters to the Superintendent, to the Board, and one student was recognized by a local newspaper for the op-ed piece she submitted.   One student wanted to create a presentation for elementary school children because she felt her teachers didn’t “teach her the history correctly.”    My team and I never thought the lesson would yield so many different outcomes or the passion that some of our students expressed.   

Not only did the project options allow for differentiation, the varied grouping options supported differentiation as well.  The groups were large enough that there was feeling of safety for some of my struggling students and the groups of four that debated were deliberately chosen to match varied levels of students.  When we were finished with the research phase of the assignment, every student had something persuasive to say about Columbus Day.   

The research process appealed to different types of learners as well due to the varied nature of the research itself.  Students opted to read articles, watch interviews, watch documentaries or listen to audio recordings of radio shows.  The students had a research handout to help them take notes and cite their resources properly in order to insure accountability.  There were various checks during the research phase of the assignment.   By the time the students were put into their groups of four to debate, they were using argument generators to keep track of points the other side was making.  The support handouts helped make sure students were on task during their research and during their group work. 

My plan is to work on adding more PBL assignments  in a more deliberate way for the future.

Least/Low

My least favorite thing about the first two weeks of class is APA.  I am not familiar with formatting and citing this way and I felt like I needed to communicate what I know in different ways, and essay writing is a strength, but messed around with the formatting for almost longer than the writing part of the assignment.  I know its important to cite your resources, but its my least favorite thing to do.

Meagan Blied

Most/High

I love to play the game high / low with my children at the end of the day.  I ask about the best thing that happened to them and the worst thing that happened to them.  I learn a lot about what is going on with them this way :)

My favorite thing about the last two weeks was the time your assignments gave me to critically reflect on what I am currently doing in my classroom and time to add to or improve those assignments.  I feel like the reflection and improvement piece is hard to make happen because teachers are so busy with the work that is immediate.  Because of that, we often don't get to go back and fix, change improve a unit or lesson when we finish. I love that this class is giving me the time to tweek and make needed adjustment to my classroom lessons.  I don't feel like my time is being wasted and I really appreciate that.

Meagan Blied

Assignment 2B: Beginning Differentiation

Every week for six weeks I introduce five new academic vocabulary words that connect to the material we are studying for the quarter.  I first present the new words through a PowerPoint presentation in which I provide the words, parts-of-speech, and definitions of the words.  I want all of the students using the same definitions and definitions that actually define the word so I provide all of that.  On the PowerPoint slide I include a visual to help explain or illustrate what the words mean in context and I use the word in a sentence for the class.  The students have a handout with all six word lists stapled together with places for them to write down the information on the slide, including the sample sentence.   The visual and the model sentences help support my special education students and my language learners in understanding what the words means and how to use them properly.  If they do not have any prior knowledge with the word, the visual and the sample sentence can begin to provide them with a background on which to build a new understanding of the word.  I try to use visuals and sentences that have very common meanings that students can connect to personally.

I realized early on that some of my students needed to have a copy of the power point notes directly in front of them because looking up at the power point and back to their paper caused them to lose their place.  I noticed that a small number of my students were not taking down all of the notes and I figured out that this was the cause.  Once the students had the notes right there in front of them, they were able to stay on track and keep up with the class.  This is something I offer all of my special education students at the beginning of the quarter and some of them take advantage of this accommodation, while others don't need it and don't ask for the handout.

Once everyone in the class has all of the information from the slides on their paper, we discuss what the words mean in A/B partners.  With their table partners, the students talk about whatever personal connection they have with the word.  My students are specifically placed next to a student who I feel can help them or who needs the support of a stronger student during partner work.  Allowing the students to discuss the meanings of the words (and we discuss one at a time) they begin to have more interactions with the words and start to become more familiar with the words and how to use them correctly in context.  For added support, I will write a sentence frame on the board for students to use to get the conversation started.  I feel it is important for them to say the word and the partner discussions helps them relate personally to the word.  The personal connection to the word can help the students remember what the word means long term.  Once the pairs have discussed, I will ask for volunteers to share what was discussed in the pairs so the entire class can benefit from the experiences of their peers.

The next step is to generate a synonym and antonym list for the weekly words.  At this point, it is very easy for the class to come up with these words and I ask my students who are initially fluent in another language to share or write down on their papers synonyms and antonyms from their first language to help them relate to the words.  The entire class benefits from hearing the words spoken in other languages and this process also helps my language learners acquire new words in English.

Once the class and I have repeated that process and reviewed all five words for the week, the students begin the learning activity that goes with the presentation.  I have two options available and multiple modifications for the assignments as well.   One option designed for my more advanced students is a mini-story.   Students have the option to write a short story that has a minimum of two characters, a setting, and a conflict.  They have to use all five of the words in their story in a cohesive manner. Some students provide a resolution each week, and others leave me with a cliff hanger and I have to wait until the 6th assignment to find out how the conflict ultimately gets resolved.  Many of my students have an app on their phones that allow them to speak into the phone and it will write out the story like a paragraph.  I find many of my special education students prefer to "type" their work this way and and this technology helps them in completing the higher level homework option if that is what they chose to do.  A very similar app to this one is a translator app that will do the same thing, but change what is spoken, or typed, from whatever language into English.  From that point, there is always some minor editing required; but that support aids the language learners in the class in completing this learning activity.

The second option for a learning activity is a four square.  This is a classic activity to aid in vocabulary development.  I have a handout already created for students with four boxes for five words and all they have to do is fill in the four boxes for each word.   In one box students write down the word, definition, and part-of-speech, which I provide for them.  In the second box, they write the synonyms and antonyms we discussed in a word web with the word synonym in the center of one web and the word antonym in the center of the second web.  In the third box, the students write a sentence demonstrating that they understand what the word means and how to use it in context.  One way to make this assignment more challenging is to ask the students to relate ALL of their sentences to the material we are studying.   For my students who struggle with writing original sentences, they have my sample sentence to help them.  They write a sentence following my model, but with their own words inserted.  Using the model sentence helps students who lack confidence with writing feel more assured that their sentence is written correctly.  Another way to accommodate a student who is having a difficult time writing his/her own sentence is to ask them to write a sentence or two about what the word means to them; rather than asking them to use the word correctly in a sentence.  I want them to demonstrate that they understand the word, and the word doesn't need to be in the sentence for a student to communicate that they understand what it means.  The fourth box of the activity is for a visual.  Just like I showed them a cartoon, or a visual to make the meaning of the word more clear, they students needs to do this as well.  As stated above, I can challenge students by asking that their sentence and their visual connect.  Some of my students draw very well and can communicate what the word means through a hand drawn picture.   Other students prefer to use google images in order to show what the word means.  Some of my students draw their images using graphic design software because they are very interested in computers.

In today's classroom, students enter at all different levels of readiness and with many different learning needs.  The supports in this vocabulary assignment don't really require me to have three different lessons running at any given time, but they allow for the students to get the support they need to complete the assignment at a very high level.  That is what differentiation really is, helping all students achieve and learn at the very highest level possible.  This assignment models all the pieces the students are asked to do beforehand.  This assignment supports students in building background knowledge around five words a week before asking them to do anything with it individually.  This assignment offers options to be creative through a written mini-story and utilizes technology to support language learners or students who do not type very well to access the mini-story option.  This assignment offers students different ways to write their sentences based on their personal needs as learners, and a variety of different ways to create their visuals.

Foggiest Point

Good Afternoon,

I think the hardest thing for me and the thing I am still trying to get used to is the blackboard and where all the information actually is.   It felt like I spent forever trying to locate directions and links and power points.  I felt like information was everywhere and I didn't have a system to organize everything.  My anxiety over when things were do and what exactly I was supposed to do created most of the fog for me last week.  To be honest, I am still not sure I am doing anything the way that I am supposed to :)  I am forging ahead in an effort not to drive myself crazy and hope that the time I have spent working on the assignments is enough.

Surprise

Good Afternoon,

The biggest surprise for me week one was really a confidence check.  I didn't expect to feel so nervous and insecure about the work I was submitting.  I usually think of myself as a confident and experienced teacher.  I was supposed to realize how worried I was about how I was doing and if I was turning in work that is at the expected level.  

Meagan Blied

Differentiated Teaching and Learning Activities

Hi Everyone, 

My name is Meagan Blied and I am looking to further my education and continue refining the craft of teaching through online classes at National. I earned my teaching credential through National University in 1998.  It has been almost that long since I took an official class as a student, so bear with me as I am still getting my footing here.  I have been a high school English teacher for almost 18 (16 more days to go) years and taught at a comprehensive high school and now am teaching in a continuation high school.  I love my job and am excited about working with other teachers outside of my site and district.

I am going to share a few different teaching activities I use with my students to differentiate the material; in what I hope is an interesting and unique way.  One of the most useful types of differentiation I have incorporated into my classroom is focused on the skill of writing. Writing is the most difficult and challenging skill for my students.  I find they require a whole variety of supports. My school is teaching the argument essay repeatedly until our students can demonstrate mastery.  So, we have a variety of prompts available to our students to help make the curriculum more accessible. Some of our students get a very open-ended prompt like "To what degree do you agree/disagree with schools disciplining students for bullying or fighting off campus or outside of school hours."  Those students who are near mastery might not require much technical guidance at all and will take the reading materials we have studied and run with it.  Other students may require a more specifically worded prompt like, "Write an argument essay either agreeing, or disagreeing with schools involving themselves in student activity that happen outside of school hours and off campus."  The students using the second prompt may get paragraph frames to help support them through the writing process.
It is not unusual for me to write a sort of fill-in-the-blank first body paragraph for some students so they can get a feel for the structure of a paragraph.  From there, I would expect that student to use a very specific writing organizer that prompted the writers as to the order of information within the paragraph.  It would ask them to write a counter and provide a sentence starter, and would also provide a sentence starter for the refute.  Some writers will drop the organizer by the third body paragraph, others will use the organizer as long as they feel they need to.  Some writers cling to the organizer beyond what they really need and then I can encourage them to go ahead and write on their own.  Within the assignment of an essay, there are many different types of differentiation and supports available to my students based on their needs.  What I find is that with the added supports my students are not frustrated beyond what they can do and they are more willing to work hard to get their essays completed.  Their usual coping method is to not attend school or to simply avoid the assignment altogether if they feel it is too difficult.  In my most extreme experience, I had a student verbally relay what she knew about the subject in-lieu of writing it out.  Her writing skills were so low and we did not have a class that was appropriate for her readiness, so based on that particular student's needs, an oral report was sufficient for her to communicate her position on the issue.

As far as learning activities go, I think being a parent has really made me aware of how differently kids process directions and information.  A long time ago I gave up thinking there is only one correct answer or only one correct way to communicate understanding.  It has been a joy to be relieved of trying to force all students into one tiny educational box.  It is so interesting to hear, if given a choice, how students can communicate what they know.  Most assignments have options for writing out answers, drawing out answers, or using single word ideas to demonstrate an understanding of a concept.  Just giving students the option does wonders for engagement.  Not only do they feel empowered by the options, but I believe their engagement increases.  They look forward to seeing and hearing how others have processed the material and are paying closer attention to what their classmates are sharing.  They begin to feel more self worth because their peers are interested in what they are saying and I watch them begin to take real risks in the classrooms.  As the teacher, I provide my students with appropriate options; like choose any poem they are interested in to analyze and share with the class.  Their presentation options are varied as well.  Some students like to present live, others record their presentation without a live audience and sit outside while it runs.  these different differentiated learning activities help make the classroom a more engaging environment for everyone.  

This is just a little glimpse into my classroom.  Have a great day!