As a new teacher, you will be expected to understand and join school-wide initiatives that are meant to support the learning of all students. Our talk with Colleen Pringle, data coach at Haslett Middle School, was an awesome introduction to those practices as they exist in our host school.
MTSS, which stands for Multi-Tiered System of Support, is a system meant to track progress for all students--but with particular attention to those students who have traditionally fallen through the cracks. As this article explains, MTSS is "the practice of providing high-quality instruction and interventions matched to student need, monitoring progress frequently to make decisions about changes in instruction or goals, and applying child response data to important educational decisions."
MTSS has both an academic component and a behavioral or social component. On its academic side, it has incorporated a movement called RTI (Response to Intervention). On its behavioral side, it has incorporated a movement called PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports).
On the academic side, MTSS' most fundamental characteristic, and the one that most departs from past school practices, is universal screening. What we mean by this is that the progress of every child is monitored, mainly in the key areas of literacy and numeracy. We saw that HMS does this three times a year. Depending on how a child performs, there are various levels of intervention that will take place.
On the behavioral side, MTSS has encouraged schools to adopt uniform procedures for school life: school codes that set up expectations for how classroom routines will play out, for what a responsible learner and citizen looks like, and for how teachers will gain student attention ("clap if you hear me") or regulate student talk ("voice levels").
If a child is more-or-less on grade level in terms of their academics, and is not struggling behaviorally, they are in tier one. Tier one is thought of as normal classroom instruction. However, "normal" here does not mean business as usual, but rather as the embracing of certain school-wide instructional norms: the use of bellringers and exit tickets as powerful formative assessment strategies as well as consistent use of constructivist literacy strategies, such as "talk to the text." Every teacher plays a role in tier one strategies--especially social studies teachers, who do so much with informational text.
Tier two is where we target particular groups of students to help bring them up to grade level. At HMS, this happens when students are encouraged/advised to take reading or math support classes as an elective--one that is in addition to their core class (in that way, avoiding blatant tracking).
Tier three is for those students experiencing the greatest troubles in school. Often, this means a combination of behavioral and academic struggles. Here is where administrative attention is focused on bringing teachers, parents, and other support staff together to talk with and about the child, to search for strategies that might most benefit the child. The whole school works as a team to support the child.
The move away from marking periods and grades is a good thing. We need to help students formulate goals and help them keep in constant sight how they are doing as they reach for those goals.
The downside here is that we start valuing only what we assess rather than assessing what we value. MTSS has focused on literacy and numeracy as important skills in a child's life. PBIS gets us toward a shared culture of behavioral norms. But we are far from helping kids set goals that go beyond academics and helping to cultivate their individual talents and gifts.
We have made a good start. It will be to the next generation of teachers to keep it going.
PS: To think more about what role data plays in today's schools, you might check out this podcast I made as I talked to a teacher, a parent, an administrator, and a comparative educational researcher about this issue.
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Monday, February 26, 2018
National Student Walkout
As I’m sure you might have heard by now, a number of marches and protests are being planned in response to the recent school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Perhaps the one receiving the most attention is Women’s March Youth EMPOWER’s call “for students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout for 17 minutes at 10am across every time zone on March 14, 2018 to protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.”
Some schools have responded by saying they will suspend students who participate in any such activities during school hours.
What should the job of the social studies educator be in such a situation?
First, I would recommend you check with your mentor teacher and school administrators about how they plan to respond to any student walkouts. If your school has not had any discussions about their approach, perhaps you can suggest that the school be pro-active and organize initial discussions among the teaching faculty. Perhaps teach-ins for interested students might follow.
Second, I would have you consider what opportunities are available in your existing curriculum to discuss and study gun violence, gun control, and student protest. Where appropriate, consider studying the Parkland shooting, the media coverage, and responses from various social and political groups.
Finally, I would recommend that you view your own role, through all of this, as guardians of the democratic process. Of course, you are a citizen and have a right to form and share opinions (as do your students and colleagues). But as a social educator, I would argue that your main role is to assist students as they make up their own minds about the issues, in general, and the walkout, in particular.
A student can walk out of school for the wrong reasons—out of unthinking conformity or simply to get a day off. A student can stay in class for the wrong reasons—out of fear of suspension or unthinking conformity. As social studies teachers, our job is to help students reason about their course of action.
In short, while I think it is very appropriate for teachers to stand in solidarity with the victims of the shooting and to join the walkout on March 14, I think it essential that we preserve a thoughtful and free space where reasoned disagreement and peaceful protest have a space to (co)exist.
Perhaps the one receiving the most attention is Women’s March Youth EMPOWER’s call “for students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout for 17 minutes at 10am across every time zone on March 14, 2018 to protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.”
Some schools have responded by saying they will suspend students who participate in any such activities during school hours.
What should the job of the social studies educator be in such a situation?
First, I would recommend you check with your mentor teacher and school administrators about how they plan to respond to any student walkouts. If your school has not had any discussions about their approach, perhaps you can suggest that the school be pro-active and organize initial discussions among the teaching faculty. Perhaps teach-ins for interested students might follow.
Second, I would have you consider what opportunities are available in your existing curriculum to discuss and study gun violence, gun control, and student protest. Where appropriate, consider studying the Parkland shooting, the media coverage, and responses from various social and political groups.
Finally, I would recommend that you view your own role, through all of this, as guardians of the democratic process. Of course, you are a citizen and have a right to form and share opinions (as do your students and colleagues). But as a social educator, I would argue that your main role is to assist students as they make up their own minds about the issues, in general, and the walkout, in particular.
A student can walk out of school for the wrong reasons—out of unthinking conformity or simply to get a day off. A student can stay in class for the wrong reasons—out of fear of suspension or unthinking conformity. As social studies teachers, our job is to help students reason about their course of action.
In short, while I think it is very appropriate for teachers to stand in solidarity with the victims of the shooting and to join the walkout on March 14, I think it essential that we preserve a thoughtful and free space where reasoned disagreement and peaceful protest have a space to (co)exist.
Friday, September 8, 2017
Challenging How We Remember the Past
I thought today's discussion about Hamilton was rich--though I wished a few more people felt comfortable jumping in. Thanks to everyone who spoke! (And sorry if any of you felt lost through parts of it! I'll do better on that in the future.)
What today's discussion boiled down to for me was that the musical Hamilton challenges how our society popularly remembers Hamilton--as an old, white-haired, "Founding Father"--who must therefore be dignified, stoic, selfless, and the like.
Instead, the musical portrays a "bastard, orphan, son of whore," an immigrant who, "just like [his] country," is "young, scrappy, and hungry." He drinks with his bros, he shoots off his mouth, he gets into duels, and he womanizes.
Is this what you thought of when you saw a ten-dollar bill?
Showing you the Tony performance of Battle of Yorktown was meant to complicate things further. You don't just hear the music and lyrics, but you see Black actors inhabiting white, slave-owner roles. Truly, the "world turned upside down!"
My question was whether we should embrace this or be careful with it? Is this redefining the traditional American narrative or confirming it? Are we led to think differently about women's and African Americans' roles in the Revolutionary period?
I don't think there is a clear answer to that question.
This leads me to your popular memory lesson plan assignment. As you think about your popular memory lesson, here are a few things to consider:
1) What form should your lesson plan take? Does it need to be elaborate?
My answer: It's up to you, but I think a formal lesson plan is best. If your school has a way to do official lesson plans, use that. If not, use the format we used last year. Create a "show-stopper" lesson plan, with all the bells and whistles, that you can use for the job search.
2) Should I critique how an event is normally remembered by Americans?
Yes, I think so. A really easy way to plan interesting history lessons is to take the "popular" or "Hollywood" version of a historical event and see what is changed, what is emphasized, and what is downplayed. Downright inaccuracies are interesting too!
If popular memory of the Holocaust is Germans = aggressor, Jews = victims, then a movie like Defiance, which shows the Jews actively resisting Germans, challenges us. If popular memory of the Holocaust is Germans = bad, Jews = good, movie like Schindler's List, which shows a German war profiteer coming to care about Jewish victims and working to save them, challenges us.
3) Can I use a non-written text?
Yes! Movie or movie clips are probably the best for this. But so are photos, or museum exhibits, or memorial plaques. Remember the past is all around us. So take a place where the past is commemorated or explained for the public and start to think about it with your students!
4) Anything else?
Yes. As I was thinking about it, you probably want to get student input as you start the lesson. Ask them to create a timeline, narrative or story about what happened and who was involved. It can be short and quick. That raw input lets you see how students remember the past and what differences exist in the class.
The point of this assignment is to help students challenge how we (however "we" is defined) remember the past and to ask how particular versions of the past reinforce stereotypes or benefit certain groups at the expense of others.
I think this is something that interests most people, so I'm hoping your students will find it interesting and you will have a successful lesson.
I really look forward to continuing this topic through viewing the film, Detroit, and discussing the complications involved in understanding the 1967 Detroit riots (disturbances? uprising? freedom fight?) and what it means for us today.
What today's discussion boiled down to for me was that the musical Hamilton challenges how our society popularly remembers Hamilton--as an old, white-haired, "Founding Father"--who must therefore be dignified, stoic, selfless, and the like.
Instead, the musical portrays a "bastard, orphan, son of whore," an immigrant who, "just like [his] country," is "young, scrappy, and hungry." He drinks with his bros, he shoots off his mouth, he gets into duels, and he womanizes.
Is this what you thought of when you saw a ten-dollar bill?
Showing you the Tony performance of Battle of Yorktown was meant to complicate things further. You don't just hear the music and lyrics, but you see Black actors inhabiting white, slave-owner roles. Truly, the "world turned upside down!"
My question was whether we should embrace this or be careful with it? Is this redefining the traditional American narrative or confirming it? Are we led to think differently about women's and African Americans' roles in the Revolutionary period?
I don't think there is a clear answer to that question.
This leads me to your popular memory lesson plan assignment. As you think about your popular memory lesson, here are a few things to consider:
1) What form should your lesson plan take? Does it need to be elaborate?
My answer: It's up to you, but I think a formal lesson plan is best. If your school has a way to do official lesson plans, use that. If not, use the format we used last year. Create a "show-stopper" lesson plan, with all the bells and whistles, that you can use for the job search.
2) Should I critique how an event is normally remembered by Americans?
Yes, I think so. A really easy way to plan interesting history lessons is to take the "popular" or "Hollywood" version of a historical event and see what is changed, what is emphasized, and what is downplayed. Downright inaccuracies are interesting too!
If popular memory of the Holocaust is Germans = aggressor, Jews = victims, then a movie like Defiance, which shows the Jews actively resisting Germans, challenges us. If popular memory of the Holocaust is Germans = bad, Jews = good, movie like Schindler's List, which shows a German war profiteer coming to care about Jewish victims and working to save them, challenges us.
3) Can I use a non-written text?
Yes! Movie or movie clips are probably the best for this. But so are photos, or museum exhibits, or memorial plaques. Remember the past is all around us. So take a place where the past is commemorated or explained for the public and start to think about it with your students!
4) Anything else?
Yes. As I was thinking about it, you probably want to get student input as you start the lesson. Ask them to create a timeline, narrative or story about what happened and who was involved. It can be short and quick. That raw input lets you see how students remember the past and what differences exist in the class.
The point of this assignment is to help students challenge how we (however "we" is defined) remember the past and to ask how particular versions of the past reinforce stereotypes or benefit certain groups at the expense of others.
I think this is something that interests most people, so I'm hoping your students will find it interesting and you will have a successful lesson.
I really look forward to continuing this topic through viewing the film, Detroit, and discussing the complications involved in understanding the 1967 Detroit riots (disturbances? uprising? freedom fight?) and what it means for us today.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Curiousity and Teaching!
One of my all-time favorite commercials reminds us to, "stay curious, my friends!" Especially good advice for teachers.
This week, I asked you to figure out how your school community voted in the last presidential election and how that might impact your teaching. I thought it was a wonderful conversation. One thing that surprised me, though, was how hard this task was going to be for some of you.
For East Lansing, it was somewhat easy. The boundaries for the East Lansing School District overlap nicely with the city borders. This is not the case for many of you, that have school districts that draw from diverse townships and counties! Of course, even in East Lansing, with schools of choice, there are many students attending from outside the city borders. So defining who is in the East Lansing School District community is not so easy after all!
While information on Ingham County is easy to find, the city of East Lansing was a bit harder. Nonetheless, I could pretty easily find a chart of precinct reporting and do some easy math!
But some of you were going to have a harder time, with precincts spread across diverse political boundaries. It took some searching, but finding this map with the national precinct results--put together by a graduate student at Washington State University--was well worth my time spent looking around. What a great resource to use with our students!
There is a lesson here. As teachers, our own questions can drive our search for resources, which we can then share with our students! We never stop learning!
I look forward to talking about Hamilton and the power of collective memory over the coming weeks!
This week, I asked you to figure out how your school community voted in the last presidential election and how that might impact your teaching. I thought it was a wonderful conversation. One thing that surprised me, though, was how hard this task was going to be for some of you.
For East Lansing, it was somewhat easy. The boundaries for the East Lansing School District overlap nicely with the city borders. This is not the case for many of you, that have school districts that draw from diverse townships and counties! Of course, even in East Lansing, with schools of choice, there are many students attending from outside the city borders. So defining who is in the East Lansing School District community is not so easy after all!
While information on Ingham County is easy to find, the city of East Lansing was a bit harder. Nonetheless, I could pretty easily find a chart of precinct reporting and do some easy math!
But some of you were going to have a harder time, with precincts spread across diverse political boundaries. It took some searching, but finding this map with the national precinct results--put together by a graduate student at Washington State University--was well worth my time spent looking around. What a great resource to use with our students!
There is a lesson here. As teachers, our own questions can drive our search for resources, which we can then share with our students! We never stop learning!
I look forward to talking about Hamilton and the power of collective memory over the coming weeks!
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Dialogue Poems
Here's a link to the Honeybees Poem. Dialogue poems are a great activity for ending up a unit or applying some work you've done to explore multiple perspectives.
Friday, March 31, 2017
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
The Office of Citizen in our Republic
Our unit on civics was quick, but hopefully you got some great ideas
about how we can teach about government, the "office of the citizen,"
how deliberation fits into this all ("what should we do?"), and what the
Michigan civics course looks like.
Note that while our unit focused in particular on mock trial, we can imagine doing mock townhall assemblies, legislatures, senate committee hearings, model UN, moot courts, and presidential cabinet meetings (Atomic Bomb, Cuban Missile Crisis, etc.). We'll get some more great ideas from each other as we go through our microteaching next week.
Here is the mini mock trail manual from which I am pulling our course--it's a great resource, so you will want to keep it handy.
Note that while our unit focused in particular on mock trial, we can imagine doing mock townhall assemblies, legislatures, senate committee hearings, model UN, moot courts, and presidential cabinet meetings (Atomic Bomb, Cuban Missile Crisis, etc.). We'll get some more great ideas from each other as we go through our microteaching next week.
Here is the mini mock trail manual from which I am pulling our course--it's a great resource, so you will want to keep it handy.
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