The Writers' Cafe: Literacy goes public...with coffee!

Each semester, my Forensics club and our Creative Writing class put on a Writers’ Cafe on our campus.  It’s the closest thing to a hip, cool coffee house that my small town of Tulare has.  

We book the faculty lounge and transform it into a artists’ haven complete with twinkle lights, indie music, Starbucks coffee, homemade oreo pops, cheesecake bars, and brownies.

The students sign up to perform.  Last night we had 22 kids...the list always grows as the night progresses with brave teens being drawn to the scuffed oak lectern.  The pieces range from poems about sisters without makeup to family road trips in a big red van to original songs via acoustic guitar.  This is true literacy.

The “L” word:  Literacy.  Anyone who works in education knows that buzz words come and go in our industry and “literacy,” though legit, is buzzin’.  When I interviewed to be our school’s new Literacy Coach this semester, I was hesitant.  I’m a teacher and have been for 13 years.  It’s all I know and can be broken down into equal parts comfort and passion.  Literacy Coach, though only half time, is a mystery.  I’ll be working with my colleagues in a different way:  how can we deepen and strengthen literacy across our campus in all areas?  

It hit me that events like the Writers’ Cafe do just that:  they allow the kids a venue to make their art public, to take the words that live in their heads or their crumpled Mead notebooks and expose them to 100 of their classmates.  Last night, we had honors students, drop outs, football stars, and kids who live on the fringe of campus life performing side by side, sharing their words and their hearts with equal weight.  One of my colleagues brought her 10 year old daughter and by the time the night was over, she had written two poems in prep for “when she is in high school.”  

Writing for a public event intensifies your work: now you need just the right word, the perfect image, the most creative thought.  It’s not simply being turned in for a grade by your English teacher, the work is coming to life, shining and sparkling in front of a captive, sugar-induced, caffeine-laden audience.  

Our Creative Writing class on campus publishes our literary magazine filled with student work,

“The Mission Oak Review,” three to four times a year. This is not an overly complicated book, simply word processed and bound with a table top binding press. The kids GO CRAZY.  In a world of digitized communication, you wouldn’t think they would care about old-fashioned paper, but they love to see their work and their name in a “real book.”  Since space is limited, they all scramble to perfect their poems, short stories, plays, and autobiographical pieces.  They want just the right word and ask for writing conferences...they are not getting a grade for it...they just want to be a “published author.”  

I feel that this similar vibe could be achieved in all classrooms...not that you need a “real book” or a huge event with blueberry scones, but simply posting a “Best in Show” in your Google Classroom or creating a gallery space on the wall of your classroom.  How about lining the walls of your building with student work so it leaves the confines of your room.  We need to find ways for the students’ voices to be celebrated and maybe a bit more public.  

As we were packing up the stray oreos and vanilla-caramel creamer last night, one of my quietest students came up to me and whispered, “when is the next one?”  I told her November and asked if she may want to perform.  She responded:  “I’m going to start working on some pieces now and see how they turn out.”  A teenager is going to start on some writing SEVEN MONTHS AHEAD OF TIME.  

I think literacy has has won.

Spring Snowball Fight: Liven up Learning

Snowing in spring...why not?  This community builder doubles as a cool (pun intended) review session or skills practice lesson for any subject. In the clips below, you can see how a lesson on prefixes and suffixes in my freshman English class immediately takes on new life with the introduction of this game.

Video clips of some actual classroom “snowball fights”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-UuYKAONWo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5AMN_1-xUc

Directions:

• Each student writes his or her name on a piece of scratch paper and then crushes it into a ball.  
• Count 1-2-3 and yell, “Snowball fight” and have the kids throw their snowballs across the room.  
• Kids pick up the nearest snowball and find that person.  
• They have to find out one piece of information they didn’t know about that person.  
• You can continue the snowball fight for as long as you would like.  
• To end the game, I like to bring my three garbage cans to the center of the room and close out with a game of “trashketball.”  You can even have a competition between two sides of the room to see how many can make a basket!  They love this.
• This game also easily lends itself to curriculum games in any subject.  Defining vocabulary, discussion questions, equations for the board or anything else that needs to be discussed, studied, or talked about.

So start saving all of that scratch paper and get ready for the blizzard of knowledge!

I Still Get Nervous: Teachers On Stage

I still get nervous.

After 13 years in the classroom, I still get a little nervous. You know those butterflies that tickle your stomach right before “going on stage.” It’s a mellow version of that. When my students in Speech class suffer from nerves before going up to the lectern, I always respond with, “Good! That means you care. Apathy would not result in nerves.”  

So, I guess I care.  If you are an educator who doesn’t think they feel “nervous,”  think back to the relaxation that overtook your body on your last Professional Development day or your last teacher work day with no kids. “What? I get to talk to my colleagues, do some planning and grade for 7-8 hours?” Teachers consider these days (days without students) “days off.”  

Yes, we are still at work, but it’s not work - it’s so easy compared to teaching. Ironically, this for many professionals is an average work day. Spending time in an office, working on paperwork, discussing issues, and solving problems with colleagues.  But, to teachers, these days are equated with a day at the beach. Why? Because our most precious commodity is not there:  the kids.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my students as do many, many educators, but this doesn’t make the job “easy.” Managing the energy of youth is taxing and, I believe, is what makes keeping new teachers in the profession so very difficult.

We are on stage every day.  We cannot be late, even by a few minutes or we have 35 kids “homeless” outside of our door.  We cannot use the restroom when our body begs us to, or we are leaving students unattended.  We cannot eat a little snack when our tummies growl...must wait for the bell!  It is a very odd profession.  In Teach LIke a Champion 2.0, Doug Lemov compares teachers to artists stating, “Mastery of tools does not just allow creation; it informs it.  The process is often far from glamorous; an artist’s life is a tradesman’s life, really, characterized by calluses and stone dust, requiring diligence and humility, but its rewards are immense.  It is a worthy life’s work.” (2015, p. 2)

We are artists as much as we are tradesmen and this is why the work is taxing.  Mix in the fact that we care and boy, here come the butterflies.  

So, when I meet people for the first time and tell them I’m a teacher and they respond with, “Man, I could NEVER do that,”  I smile and think to myself…”No, you probably couldn’t.”

Cheating Yourself: Then why do I feel bad?

Last Friday, four kids in my class cheated.  ALL ON THE SAME DAY.  

My seniors in my Speech Communications class have been wrestling with the dreaded commencement speech for the Class of 2015’s graduation. We spend a few weeks on this assignment each year, breaking it down into manageable chunks that (I thought) allow the kids oodles of time to process and be creative.

We meditate on the last four years, we brainstorm on both collective and personal memories, and we talk about what high school means to us. We discuss extended metaphors that are both cheesy and powerful and the symbolism behind our mascots, a bird and a tree, that can quickly become cliche. Then we even go into the computer lab and specifically look up canned graduation speeches and discuss how we can be inspired by others yet NOT STEAL THEM. Well, they stole them.  In fact, two students in one class STOLE THE SAME ONE and then were scheduled to perform them BACK TO BACK. How is that for karma?

Is it the kids’ fault, though?  Being born in 1969, I am far from being a “digital native.”  We throw this term around often for our teens, but it is true.  They were born with technology in their hands...why wouldn’t you just look something up and take it?  

This obvious bout of plagiarism shook me up:  what am I doing wrong?  I have been teaching for 13 years, but as all educators know the job redefines itself every day, every month, every year. Your students lead your way to both victories and failures on a daily basis, but what steps can I take to lead my students to creative thinking and execution of their own thoughts?  I am their advocate and their guide...I need to do a better job.

First, I really feel that more on demand writing needs to happen in class, not at home.  In class writing allows me to control the environment:  soft instrumental music that I choose, cell phones parked, and a timer.  Toggling between timed silence and conferencing with students allows the kids a safe place to struggle and, hopefully, chip away at the writers’ block that many insist they have.  “Writers’ block” for the 21st century kid actually comes down to navigating through a world of distraction.  Vine clips, Netflix binge watching, and Snapchat are far more seductive than a blinking cursor taunting you on a blank Google Doc.

Also, writing is one of the most complex cognitive tasks...why do you think most students dread it? You are creating something that has never existed before and that is hard.  Please, can we just have a fill-in-the-blank worksheet?  Conversely, it can also be one of the most fulfilling activities a student undertakes. There is a certain pride one feels when they complete a page of their own prose:  you don’t get this from a word search.

So, I thank my rascally kids who cut and pasted off of the internet. This was a needed spring wake up call to force me into deep reflection.  The only way to strengthen my pedagogical techniques in class is to listen to my clients and respond accordingly.  This is not always pretty but just like a bathroom remodel, it’s got to get messy before it becomes beautiful.

Good Teacher vs. Bad Teacher

Good Teacher vs. Bad Teacher:  Man, are these two titles slung around or what?  Especially...the latter.

But, what are the ingredients that make up both? Are they consistent? Are they definable?  Or are they a matter of personal taste?  What are the elements that are found in a good teacher versus a bad one?  Is it black and white or a big mush of valley-fog gray?

In Doug Lemov’s book, Teach Like a Champion, he states that it is “better to have a good teacher in a bad school than a bad teacher in a good school.”  Is this true?  Can one little human make the difference in a kid’s life?  Fortunately, for us...they can.  

Before I write anymore, I decided to go directly to the source:  62 teenagers from the Central Valley answered these questions:  What makes a teacher good?  and What makes a teacher bad? Here is what they said (direct quotes in an anonymous survey).

Good Teacher:

-smile

-greets us at the door

-interacts with students

-understands what they are teaching

-don’t give up on us

-listens

-don’t lecture all the time

-happy and caring

-involves everyone in class

-understands their students

-no homework

-fun

-unpredictable

-connects with students

-tells kids they will succeed

-not boring

-no talking the whole period

-sweet

-funny

-loves us

-talks to us

-gets to know us

-gives us time to work together

-guides us

-asks us how we are doing

-tells us what we are doing right and wrong

-answers questions we have

-understands that we don’t understand it the first time we hear it

-active

-excited with what they are doing

-no packets

-adjusts to different ways kids learn

-lets students collaborate

-lets us debate

-upbeat

Bad Teachers:

-yell at us

-have monotone voices

-talk too much

-give us all book work

-play movies constantly

-don’t know your name

-don’t know what period you are in

-show favoritism

-don’t talk to you

-are rude if you ask a question

-give work without teaching you first

-allow kids to speak to them disrespectfully

-use book too much

-don’t teach

-worksheets

-is never there

-expect us to pick up something quickly that we have never learned

-are lazy

-don’t care about us

-make us memorize but not think

-give you dirty looks

-stay on their phone

-give us packets

-sit down and tell us what to do

-are on their computer the whole class

-make inappropriate comments

-eat in class

-yell too much

-throw chairs

-too strict

-throw markers

-ignore us

-can’t manage their class

There it is...out of the mouths of babes.  The End.

Silly Sculptures: Literally BUILDING Classroom Community

My seniors are stressed.  Some for good reasons:  choosing between college admittances, touring campuses for final decisions, and solidifying rooming situations.  Others are attending Saturday school to make up credits so they can graduation.  All are victim to “Spring fever” and their detachment process towards high school is in full effect:  although healthy, every senior teacher knows the challenges of engaging 12th graders in spring.  

So, this week we stole 10 minutes of precious instructional minutes and built a silly sculpture. For 10 minutes, we were not worried about grades, graduation, or the future.  We were just allowed to be creative and, most importantly, laugh.  

In “Silly Sculpture” the kids are challenged to create a sculpture that symbolizes the team. The trick is, they are only allowed to use items found on them or in their backpack, binder, or purses.  This activity is three-fold:  you learn about your classmates by the items they carry (and how!), you see which kids emerge as leaders and which as followers, and finally they have to talk to each other to create one piece of art

Directions:

1. Place kids in groups of 3-6 kids each
2. Have groups squish desks together so there are no spaces or gaps in between.  This is their platform.
3. Have everyone empty out their “stuff” on to the desks.  This may be the most entertaining part of all.  The stories that come with the items have the kids cracking up.  One girl had a small plastic walrus in her purse...seriously!
4. Now give the kids 9 minutes on the timer to create their sculpture, decide what all of the items stand for and nominate one spokesperson per group to guide the class through their piece of art.
5. Once sculpture is made, direct the groups to discuss WHY their sculpture represents their group.  Spokesperson may want to jot down notes.
6. Spokesperson for each group stands and delivers an explanation of why their sculpture represents their group.

Some memorable explanations today:

• Glasses for us to see the future clearly
• asthma inhaler so we may breathe in life
• earbuds to represent listening to each other
• money shows we crave security
• even a tampon to represent equality between the sexes!

I would say the entire process took about 16-17 minutes (you do need to go from group to group to “keep them moving”), but after we completed it, I had such a productive remainder of my two hour block.  The kids were energized, connected, feeling positive, and rewarded me with a strong productive writers’ workshop session.

The most important aspect of the day:  we laughed.  We all just laughed, and I for one needed that.

"Just Like Me" A quick classroom "pick me up" that lasts all year.

Continuing on in our spring wiggles energizer series, “Just Like Me” will become one of your most popular activities that will deepen connections between you and the students and the kids themselves while providing a much needed “brain break” from academics.

Video link from a “Just Like Me” game with my students:   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJjSXmFiEBY

Directions:

• The students write down four unique things about themselves on a card.  

• Place all cards in a bowl
• All students stand up  while I pull a card.
• One at a time, I start listing the items written in a general way moving towards a more specific.  For example, if a student wrote "I hate spiders,” I would start with "This person hates something small."  
• If the students agree they yell, “Just like Me” and stay standing; if they disagree, they sit down and stay seated for the rest of the game.
• Continue to get more detailed (ex:  “this person hates something small that can bite you”)
• Keep going until you eventually read the card as is.  There should be one last student standing and that, of course, is their card.  
• If there is more than one, show them the handwriting and comment on how much these last kids have in common!  Twins separated at birth?

For example, I pulled the card of one of our shyest girls in class.  She rarely speaks but written on her card was “I’ve eaten kangaroo meat” and “I’ve eaten green ants.”  She had gone on a trip to Australia the previous summer but we would have never known that had we not given her this opportunity.  The students asked her many questions and she was animated and lively in her responses.  Since that day, she has now started to speak up more in class discussion and become more a part of the group.  This made her feel special and allowed a window into her life that the other kids would not have seen otherwise.  In this case, the kids were intrigued by her because of her unique experiences, but almost more powerful is when they start to understand that they have more in common with each other than they think.  All of a sudden the “gangster” sees that he has similarities to the “cheerleader” across the room.  

The unspoken power of connection makes this game a favorite activity of the students, and they will beg you to do it over and over again...trust me!

Bear-Cowboy-Ninja: Class energizer!

Last week, my classes will resembled a collective episode of the “Walking Dead.”  Yes, it was the first week back from Spring Break and my students were zombies.

Unfortunately, I need my zombies to be productive.  After all, we are heading into testing season and my seniors have a fast pass to graduation in June.  We need to get workin’.

WIth that being said, I also needed to bridge the gap from a sloth-like spring break to an intellectual powerhouse of a classroom.  What’s a girl to do?

Bear-Ninja-Cowboy.

This is a simple energizer that includes the entire class, takes no more than 10 minutes, and will wake everyone up with a little laughter while also reconnecting your kids to one another (need to build that classroom community back up, right?).  It is a take off on ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS, but the kids use their entire body to portray one of the three characters.  It is an elimination game, so you may want to have a little candy treat for your final two kids.

Simple steps:

1. Have everyone stand up and cue some cheesy music of your choice (I used the original soundtrack from the TV show “Glee”).  

2. Kids mill around to the music and when the music stops, so do they.

3. Have them face the person closest to them, shake hands, and then turn so they are back to back.

4. You now countdown (3-2-1-DRAW!)

5. They take three steps away from one another and then flip around on the word “DRAW”!

6. This is where they have three options:

A. BEAR:  Raise hands over head like claws, stand on tip toes, and growl REALLY LOUD!

B. NINJA:  Crouch down, pull one knee up, place hands in front of chest, flat like in a karate chop position.  Make “Ninja sounds” (i.e. hayahhh!)

C. COWBOY:  Stand up straight and tall, have two guns pulled at waist level, make a gun shot shound (bam, bam!).

7. DEATH CODE:

A. Bear KILLS Ninja

B. Ninja KILLS Cowboy

C. Cowboy KILLS Bear

8. Dead person sits down.  If there is a TIE, both people stay alive and continue to mill about the room until they pair up again.

9. Keep going until you have your final two.  Have the whole class circle around them and cheer them on.  

10. Make sure to reward then both for a job well done.

This is silly, takes little to no prep, and can be used anytime your class needs a “pick-me-up” or even when you have the dreaded ten minutes left until the bell at the end of class.

Now we shall see if the bears, ninjas, and cowboys can kill the post Spring Break zombies!  Wish me luck!