TLN Teacher Voices
Teaching Grammar: What Really Works
Amy Benjamin and Joan Berger
Eye on Education, (2010)
Reviewed by Marti Schwartz
Literacy consultant and teacher (DE)
Teacher Leaders Network
Raise your hand if you want your students to be better writers. Good – now raise your hand if you feel, somewhere in your conscience or your gut, that you should be teaching more grammar. Gotcha!
So — how about a book that will allow you to accomplish both goals at once? Teaching Grammar: What Really Works by Amy Benjamin & Joan Berger could be just the solution. Their (combined) experience of 70 years in middle and high school classrooms suggests that these folks truly know what they are talking about.
The authors’ clear explanations of nominal phrases, clauses, coordinating conjunctions and participial phrases helped make many things clear to me. Mind you, I “learned” these lessons back in 7th grade (in Mr. Galuska’s class, where we diagrammed sentences on chalkboards), and then promptly forgot them because they seemed so irrelevant.
Now that I’m teaching high school English to students who hope to become the first in their families to go to college, grammar matters. Raising the quality of their written language is hugely important. What Benjamin and Berger have done is made grammar accessible through some very interesting lessons, detailed explanations, and handy downloads (accessible via a code in the book) which will further help your students and save you the time of creating them.
No longer do I need to puzzle over why Microsoft Word is correcting my ridiculously long sentences; now I know! Using colons and semi-colons has become crystal clear: through examples and activities rather than the dreaded fill-in-the-blank worksheets. How does this translate into better writing? Easily: by naming the function of words, phrases, and clauses, students can identify how to add them in (or remove them) as needed. Here’s an example:
Expanding noun phrases demonstrates to students how to go from: a friend, to a former friend, a former friend who broke my heart, and then a former friend who broke my heart in a million pieces. (54)
Or the idea of embedding a specific number of sentence variations in an assignment (after modeling it in class) and giving students the starting sentence, “The worried mother sat in the waiting room,” which becomes the lead for a paragraph written at home that will include three participial phrases generated from a list of clues describing the woman waiting for news about her sick child. This seems especially effective, as repeatedly urging students to Show, Don’t Tell has, as the authors point out, historically not done the job.
One other aspect I really like in this text is the authors’ inclusion of ways to apply these writing strategies to work outside of the ELA classroom.
Write a paragraph describing a historical problem or period or a science experiment or concept that you discussed during class. In your writing, include and label at least one of the following:
• A compound sentence with a comma and coordinate conjunction
• A compound sentence with a semicolon and hitching word
• A sentence with an adverb clause first
• A sentence with an adverb clause second (119)
And the handout includes both a model paragraph of a historical problem and one of a science experiment, with each of the bulleted items underlined and identified. This is smart teaching!
More good ideas
By mimicking what other writers do well, students can learn to do it, too. Thus students are off collecting examples of sentence types from their reading assignments, and then these sentences are posted as models, alongside student writing.
Techniques such as having students collect all the plurals in an article, or changing all the pronouns to plurals (resulting in massive verb changes), or creating a list of actions such as how to eat pizza, and then rewriting the activity in the past tense — these are all active ways for my students to read real text and yet begin to understand how language functions.
This is huge for the ELL students for whom I am developing oral and written language skills simultaneously. Consistent verb tense is something that troubled many of my sophomores on a recent assignment; Benjamin and Berger take a paragraph of narrative text (from The Watsons Go to Birmingham) and have students rewrite it in the present tense. Bingo! Kids get to see for themselves how it works.
Making charts of verbs and verb tenses isn’t startlingly new practice, but knowing that there are 75 verbs that form the past tense irregularly and then the past participle in a different irregular form is pretty useful stuff! (Think: blow-blew-(has) blown, fly-flew-(has) flown, shake-shook-(has shaken) And by the way, there are only 10 verbs which form their past tense regularly but use an –n ending for the participle (mow/mowed/mown, swell, swelled, (has) swollen). No wonder kids get mixed up! Making this explicit is a sensible strategy so that kids have this skill in their toolkit.
Sure, some of Benjamin and Berger’s ideas are a little offbeat: Villages of Verbs and an Owner’s Manual advising users on how to apply each part of speech seems a little hokey, but if it helps then I’m all for it!
Some other highlights
The first section of the book basically includes all you need to know about the parts of speech with many specific ideas about how to get those concepts across to students.
In the second section, “Guidebook for Embedding Grammar in Writing Instruction,” there is a calendar organizing the authors’ lessons into two full years of teaching. This will make coordinating with my fellow ELA teachers much easier. In addition there are several actual lesson series (with the number of days it will take to accomplish the goal), all designed to embed the grammar WITHIN the writing process, not in isolation. This makes good sense to me and gives me hope that I can and will actually use this little gem!
Honestly, the lessons sound both fun and productive. There are points where the authors point out “the art of teaching” in the lessons, helping novice teachers to explicitly SEE the gradual release of responsibility model which is so artfully crafted into these lessons. Games, movement, group work, and homework assignments are spelled out for six specific concepts: Compound Sentences, Adverb Clauses, Appositives, Adjective Clauses, Participial Phrases, and Absolute Phrases.
The progression of lessons really does ensure that student writing will vastly improve. Explicitly labeling what good writers do, and using the language of grammar, this book and its methods certainly have the potential for students to understand and display good writing craft in a much deeper way.
As a retired elementary teacher called back into high school service,
I’m confident saying the book will be of interest to ELA and literacy
teachers across many grades, from upper elementary through high school. Coupled with two of my other favorites, Everyday Editing by Jeff Anderson and Grammar for High School: A Sentence-Composing Approach, by Don Killgallon and Jenny Killgallon, I feel well-armed and excited about teaching grammar next fall!
Marti Schwartz taught at various levels of elementary school for 30 years, chiefly in Smithfield, RI and now offers professional development workshops in literacy. She is also the creator and co-facilitator of NETWorking (Novice and Experienced Teachers Working Together) at Brown University, and currently serves as Literacy Consultant to an urban charter high school.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teacher Tales
by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor & Amy Newmark with a Foreword by Anthony J. Mullen
Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishers (2010)
Reviewed by Laurie Wasserman, NBCT
Middle School/Learning Disabilities (MA)
Teacher Leaders Network
I love teacher books that inspire, and was longing for a book that could be read in quick bites that would revitalize and nurture my teacher spirit. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teacher Tales - 101 Inspirational Stories from Great Teachers and Appreciative Students is the perfect book to pack in your book bag to read at school with lunch during a stressful day, savor with a cup of tea or coffee on a Sunday morning, or read on a plane.
The foreword is written by Tony Mullen, the 2009 National and Connecticut Teacher of the Year, who articulates why we need this book: These stories will restore our feelings of being valued, respected and appreciated, as well as some energy and passion too.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teacher Tales is divided into several sections, each written by a 2009 state teacher of the year, a former student wanting to publicly thank a special teacher, or a teacher who longed to share a laugh or tribute to a special student. The 11 sections are titled: “Why We Teach,” “First Year Tales, ”Learning From the Kids,” "Great Ideas,” “Thanks, I Needed That,” “That was Embarrassing,” “Touched by a Student,” “The Teacher Who Changed My Life,” “Tough Kids,” “Reconnecting” and “Reflections on Being a Teacher.” The stories are short, averaging just 3 pages each, but they are so articulate, beautifully written and motivating. They will make you laugh, cry and touch your heart. At the end of the book is a mini biography about each contributor, and some have even shared their e-mail addresses, should the reader choose to contact them.
The book includes several classroom tales written by colleagues of mine in the Teacher Leaders Network. In the reflection titled “Springtime Memory,” Cindi Rigsbee, the 2009 North Carolina Teacher of the Year and National TOY finalist, writes about Brian, a student she had in her 4th period class in 1990-1991 who was killed in Iraq. She reminiscences about the grin he always had on his face and how as his teacher, she has learned to look at her students not for who they are, but for what they will be someday, including possibly a hero. In “Going the Distance,” Bob Williams, the 2009 Alaskan Teacher of the Year, shares his thoughts on Cassidy, his angry student, and his difficulty trying to reach her with the assistance of her equally angry mother. He honestly shares his yearlong building of trust not only with Cassidy, but with her mom as well.
Teacher Tales is candid in its stories shared from the classroom. As teachers we often think back to that special student like Patricia Marini’s Kevonna, a frequent visitor to the principal’s office, who made us tear our hair out, but who we loved and wanted to help. Marini’s story will bring tears to your eyes and melt your heart. There’s a lighter side too, with stories like that of Illah Breen, who tells of being overly confident and having a fourth grader remind her of neglecting her spouse’s birthday. Her student, Jason, wrote a note to her spouse, begging forgiveness for her memory lapse and promised she would take him out for a nice birthday dinner. Or the revelation of Sarah Smiley, when she realizes that she is not just a teacher, but also the shocked parent of “The Naughty Kid” – after her 5-year-old son Owen tells her that “I switch tables every day, Mom. Each time I get in trouble the teacher finds me a new seat.”
Although I had never read any of the Chicken Soup books before, after having a wonderful first experience with this book, I look forward to savoring some of the others.
Teaching Content Outrageously: How to Captivate All Students and Accelerate Learning
By Stanley Pogrow
Jossey-Bass (2009)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Stein, NBCT
Special Education Teacher (NY)
Teacher Leaders Network
I was in my third year of college as a psychology major. The first day of the spring semester began and I walked into my sociology 101 class. There were two students who were even earlier than I was. One student was reading and the other sat slouching in his seat with his eyes closed. After a few minutes the classroom filled up. Class was to begin—but where was the professor?
After about five minutes the murmurs became loud complaints from students who said, “Let’s just go—this is crazy.” I sat quietly, reading and occasionally looking up to observe. I noticed the student who was slouching at his seat was still slouching, but keenly looking around the room. He seemed to be interested in the obvious discontent of students who did not want to wait. He only grunted when approached by another student who said, “We should just leave.” After about 15 minutes of waiting a few students walked out. Once they left, the sloucher swiftly stood up and walked to the front of the classroom. He introduced himself as the professor for this class.
Most students just stared in disbelief. He apologized for putting us through that, and briefly explained his reasoning for beginning a class in this manner. After all, this was a class about human behavior within societies. It left quite an impression on many of us, encouraging us to really reflect on our personal responses and behaviors. Stanley Pogrow, author of Teaching Content Outrageously, would describe this as an outrageous lesson.
Pogrow, a professor of Educational Leadership at San Francisco State University, clearly places value on the perspective of students when teaching content area material. He is known for developing the HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) Program for accelerating the learning of under-performing students. His book is all about attempting to engage students at the onset of a lesson as a way to guide their attention and deepen understandings of the content and lesson objectives.
The book is divided into eight chapters, with appendices that provide further resources. Each chapter concludes with a brief summary of some key points.
Pogrow believes that a great way to engage learners is to employ dramatic techniques as an instruction tool. He states:
Dramatizing content instruction has tremendous potential for teaching students who have not been successful learners or are intimidated by a particular subject or type of content, because it taps into their deeply held emotions and beliefs, their imagination…
Some examples of the use of dramatic technique include:
• Expressive Microbursts (the teacher exaggerates the tone of voice or facial expression)
• Changing Persona with Humor and Strangeness (this involves taking the expressive microburst a step further to create a shift in one’s persona)
• Create a Make-Believe Context and Scenario via Role Playing and Simulations (I believe my college professor would fall into this category when he changed his role as professor to student.)
Pogrow says that an "outrageous" lesson plan incorporates the following components:
• The element of surprise at the onset to “hook” the learners
• A storyline or scenario with a dilemma, fantasy, and humor
• Disguises and props (both costume and voice) as the teacher depicts characters
• A setting that incorporates as many media and senses as appropriate
• Eliciting emotional responses from the students
• Transition to the learning activity
• Debriefing with the students to review the content and the lesson objective.
Pogrow feels that introducing some lessons (definitely not all) in an unconventional manner helps to develop a stronger student-teacher relationship, as students become comfortable enough to participate and therefore learn. Pogrow also contends that incorporating dramatic technique helps to maintain discipline.
As a special education teacher, I can connect my own practice to some of what the author is saying. I often insert humor and use my voice as a means to engage students in the learning process. It's effective. As I use such techniques with students who have learning disabilities, they display a sense of comfort and relaxed emotional stance that adds to their level of attention, participation, and understanding.
As I read through the book, I felt as though the author were right there speaking. It was written in a very relaxed manner—in some cases, too relaxed. At times, it felt more like reading a first draft still scattered
with repetitive language and redundant ideas and in need of a good editor. But Pogrow's overall message for teachers to shake things up a bit did resonate with me. Students need to find ways to make the content meaningful. They need to find ways to connect to the content so that they can make sense of it, and, ultimately, transfer it.
For the most part, the examples the author shared were created by student teachers to indicate that if they can do this then anyone can. I found myself wondering if the author knew of examples from veteran teachers (other than the two shared lessons he created). Pogrow concedes that there is as yet no substantive research to support that dramatic technique improves learning. He does, however, provide his anecdotal observations to share his belief that there is a place for dramatic technique in the learning process.
Although I easily grasped Pogrow’s core contentions, I had a more difficult time with his instructional tactics and the lesson examples of his student teachers. They did not feel in sync with my own practice. While I cannot heartily recommend this book, I will say that it encouraged me to think about my teaching style and the specific techniques I use to liven up the learning environment for my students. In that sense, the author’s mission was accomplished.
A timely blog post by 2010 national teacher of the year finalist Kelly Kovacic – “Thank You Notes” – celebrates California's Day of the Teacher on May 12 by thanking teachers who were very important in her life and career. Kovacic got the idea after receiving a two-page letter from a student she had in advisory for seven years. "She attached a short note to the letter," explains Kovacic, "saying that, after all the letters of recommendation I wrote for her, she wanted to write one for me because 'you can never have too many letters of recommendation'."
Inspired by Kovacic's example, members of the Teacher Leaders Network daily discussion group set about writing thank-you notes and letters of recommendation of their own. A selection will appear today at the Teacher Magazine website. The rest, which we are sharing here, will be linked to the Teacher article. We encourage you to offer a thank you or recommendation letter of your own!
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Tayor Ross is a young first grade teacher in Birmingham, Alabama. She serves on the Governor’s Teacher Quality Commission and is featured in multimedia that demonstrates state teaching quality standards.
Dear Mrs. Gaffney-Hsu,
When I entered your English class in ninth grade, it was like a dream come true. You were intelligent, thought-provoking, and interesting. You asked us questions that forced us to consider opinions and beliefs outside of ourselves. You helped me recognize a deep appreciation for writing that I didn't know existed. On a personal level, you began to invest in me as a student and friend. Your commitment to my learning, my confidence, and my overall well-being was a testament to your character. So much, in fact, that I remained a student of yours in the Theatre Department for two more years, choosing to stay behind the curtain with props and directing.
I will never forget the many hours we spent after school and on weekends in rehearals and preparations, but mostly I remember how most of us were dedicated because it meant we could share more time with you. You encouraged me to always expect more from myself, to be honest and compassionate when dealing with others, and to use my gifts and talents to make the world a better place. As a student in your classroom, I never dreamed I would end up in the same profession as you..but in all honesty, I don't think I would have if you hadn't shown me the impact one teacher can have. Thank you for being the teacher you are -- and were -- to students who needed you the most.
Cossondra George teaches seventh grade mathematics and social studies in rural Michigan. Her article for new teachers, “Taming the Dragon of Classroom Chaos,” is a perennial favorite at Teacher Magazine.
Kelly Kovacic inspired me to write this "letter of recommendation" for Mrs. Fair, my own 7th grade math teacher. During my years of school, I had many wonderful teachers who touched me in personal ways, serving to create the “me” of today who now teaches middle school. However, of all those teachers, Mrs. Fair stands out as the one who made the most significant difference in my life. When she came to our junior high -- young, pretty, in her impeccable clothes -- all of the girls looked up to her, wanting to be like her some day. She always looked the part of the perfect teacher, and best of all, she smelled wonderful! We were entranced from the start.
Once we got past being mesmerized by her picture perfect appearance, we discovered this wonderful, soft spoken, caring, kind, patient, guiding person who pushed us further than we'd ever been pushed before. Math had always been mundane, something I had done with rote patience, a task to be completed. But with Mrs Fair, math became exciting, engaging, a subject that made my mind twist and turn, thinking about concepts in a new way. I was hooked, forever hooked on math!
Even when I was struggling, she encouraged me. When I was confused, she believed in me. When I wanted to give up, she pushed me harder. Seventh grade was a turning point for me. I learned how to be a student, how to experience success through unconditional teaching. Mrs. Fair was the reason. And the reason I would someday stand in front of 7th graders, trying to impart the same skills to them in the way she did to me.
Bill Ivey a teacher and middle school leader at all-girl Stoneleigh-Burnham School in western Massachusetts. He writes about practice, policy and the teaching life at both the SBS middle school bloghis blog at the Independent School Educators Network. and
It's not particularly hard to identify the most influential teachers in my life as I think about them time and time again, year after year. Miss Dmytryk (5th grade), with her inexplicably frequent reminders that "Patience is a virtue we must all strive to possess," and who once commented, "I think you're going to be a writer some day - or a comedian!" (...) However, realizing this is "Day of the Teacher" and wanting to play by the rules, and recognizing it would be cheating to pick my wife, I want to write my letter of recommendation for one teacher only. I choose Mark Springer. (read more...)
Middle grades teacher Bill Ferriter teaches language arts and social studies in North Carolina, where he was a regional teacher of the year. His second book, Teaching the iGeneration, will be published by Solution Tree this fall.
Thank You, Mrs. Morosini, for being one of the most challenging teachers that I ever had the chance to learn from. I've got to say that when I walked into your fifth grade classroom as an active 10 year old boy, I was scared to death! I'd heard rumors about how strict you were from everyone in my neighborhood, and those rumors were confirmed on the first day of school when you yelled at me for whispering to Karen Swiderski!
"Billy," you said, "Is that REALLY the impression you want to make on the first day of school!"
I wilted under your glare, but that was a pattern that repeated itself about a thousand times from August to June too, wasn't it? There was something about being in a class with all of my buddies that made an already distractable kid even more distracted! Whether I was talking out of turn to Brian Bushcowski, letting Karen cheat off of my math papers, or whipping up fart juice with Paul Pfluger, I had to be more than an handful, huh?
And you were definitely the hammer of justice! If we could go back and dig up my discipline records from your classroom, they'd make a great read today. It's kind of surprising that we both survived, actually----especially after Battlestar Galactica left Paul and I inspired enough to shout regularly about the chocolate covered Cylons coming out of our butts while coming in from recess each day.
Somewhere in the thousand "warm conversations" that you and I shared, you said something that has defined who I am as a person, though. You said, "Bill, it takes a long time to earn someone's trust and respect and only one stupid mistake to lose it all."
That made sense to my tweenage brain----and it has served as a constant reminder to me in every relationship since. I can even hear your voice when I'm standing on the edge of a tricky decision that could change what others think of me and MOST of the time, I choose to avoid the stupid mistakes that defined me as a child.
Kind of wild, isn't it? You were the teacher that was the hardest on me as a child. I can honestly say that I'm not sure I enjoyed a moment of your class while I was living it. But you're also one of the teachers who has shaped who I am as a man. For that, I owe you one!
After a long career as an elementary educator and adjunct instructor at Brown University, Marti Schwartz returned to the classroom this year as a literacy teacher in a high needs Rhode Island high school.
Dear Miss Gloria DelPapa: This is long overdue. There are so many things I never told you. First: you were the teacher who felt like you knew me and cared about me...which was especially important during my senior year, when I felt like all of my anchors had been set adrift. My mother had remarried and moved out of state, a close friend had been killed in a car accident, and I felt I had no connections left with high school. But you cared. You let us see your human side. We knew that your "beau" had been killed in Vietnam, which made our strong protests against the war a bit gentler in your presence, as the war had a human face.
You let us write poetry that expressed the teenage angst we needed to let out, and you wrote warm, encouraging comments on our work. It is because of you that this year, 40 years out of high school, I had my own students read Spoon River Anthology poems aloud and write their own. When I recently located the one I wrote (way back then) it was dreadful - but I remember the power that finding my own voice gave me, and it was a joy to give it to my current students. Yes, it's because of you that I am a teacher. Thanks.
David B. Cohen is a National Board-certified English teacher in Palo Alto, California. He is a co-founder of Accomplished California Teachers and writes for their group blog, InterACT.
In the fall of 1986, my senior class at Harvard High School in North Hollywood, CA, arrived at school to find a new administrator sitting in the office of the Head of Upper School. John Butler had come to us from the East Coast, with his wife and two young children, and he immediately became a part of our family as well. He had a warm voice and a gracious smile, and a brightness in his eyes that I can still see almost 24 years later.
At some point early in the year, he encouraged us to drop into his office to introduce ourselves and visit with him. I was the kind of student who would take up an offer like that, and it became a habit in no time, to stop into Mr. Butler's office when I was passing by his open door and had a moment to spare. I wish I could recall the content of some of our conversations, but at the same time, I'm sure that what mattered more was having such a kind and friendly educator who took an interest in me, and would sometimes set aside his work just to chat with a student.
In the spring of 1987, we were devastated to learn that Mr. Butler had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Our senior year would turn out to be Mr. Butler's only year at Harvard. I understand that he returned to the East Coast, and I don't know much more than that. But during our graduation ceremonies, there was a moment I'll never forget. Another faculty member on the stage asked us to acknowledge Mr. Butler, and our class stood in perfect unison to applaud and honor him. I wished that ovation could have lasted long enough to convey the depth of my feelings of thankfulness and sorrow. I was moved to tears then, and even writing this now stirs those old emotions. He became to me a model for how to embrace new situations with open enthusiasm, how to welcome new people into your life, how to treat young people with sincere interest and respect, and how to confront tragedy with bravery and grace.
I wish to God I could have said these things to him and to his family back then. John Butler was not my teacher in a classroom, but the lessons I learned from him made me a better man.
Finding Mrs. Warnecke: The Difference Teachers Make
by Cindi Rigsbee
(Jossey-Bass, 2010)
Reviewed by Gail Tillery, NBCT
High School English & Literacy (GA)
Teacher Leaders Network
Every day in this country, it seems that teachers are being bashed somewhere. Budget cuts are affecting every school system in the country. A Georgia leader was recently quoted as saying, “Teachers will have to make the sacrifice” as the state legislature fought to balance the budget. Entire faculties are being fired in the name of not achieving “adequate yearly progress.” Across the nation, it seems that teachers are being blamed for all the ills of public education. As a result, morale is hitting an all-time low as we struggle to maintain our positive attitude and continue to persevere and do what’s best for kids. Increasingly, we feel powerless—as if our voices are going unheard and our needs and those of our students are being ignored.
In the midst of the angst, a refreshing book has arrived which reminds its readers of the true power and magic of what we do every day. Cindi Rigsbee’s new memoir, Finding Mrs. Warnecke, is a lovely little book which sends a message of the positive power which every teacher can tap into—if only we can learn to find it.
Rigsbee’s story reads like a movie. She went from scoring at “below standard” on an early teacher evaluation to becoming a finalist for National Teacher of the Year in 2009. As a child, after a dismal beginning in first grade, she was rescued from a cold, militant teacher when the principal removed her and several other children from the classroom, one month into the school year. She and her classmates followed her principal to a dank, dark, basement classroom, where she met Mrs. Warnecke, the teacher who would transform her life and inspire her for years to come.
Besides describing her “magical” year with Mrs. Warnecke, Rigsbee also recounts her early career as a teacher. In her first school, she was given five class preparations and three coaching/sponsoring assignments. While this should not surprise any veteran teacher, it still qualifies as teacher abuse. At the end of that year, facing a forced transfer, she resigned and did not return to teaching for seven years. When she did return as a sub, her first class literally left the room and ran away. When she got her own classroom in February, she was the fourth teacher in that position in a year’s time. It would be an understatement to say that she got off to a rough start.
Rigsbee’s determination and perseverance, however, proved invaluable. She writes more than once, “I asked for help.” She tried different methods and lesson plans; she looked for ways to connect with her students, and over time her practice began to bloom. She began to receive accolades (she was twice named a regional North Carolina Teacher of the Year), and she continued to work with students to help them achieve their full potential.
Rigsbee is at her strongest when she writes about her love for kids. The theme that permeates her work is to build strong connections and relationships with all students. She writes about the importance of making the kids feel as if everyone is on the same side. She realizes that making kids the enemy will cause her to lose. She has learned that connecting with students keeps her classroom from being a battlefield, and it is obvious that her students over the years have responded to her unconditional love and care for every one of them.
Rigsbee recommends that teachers make their classrooms places where kids want to be—places they come to “willingly.” She uses student work for decorations; she makes sure she calls students by their desired name or gives them a loving nickname; she does cheerleading moves and dances when she feels their attention wavering. She even went so far as to set up a reading tent in her room. The fire marshal nixed that idea, but the concept remains a good one.
I especially liked the idea of mood cards. Rigsbee's students choose these color-coded cards to place on their desks when they enter the classroom. For example, red means, “I’m angry, so leave me alone.” Blue means, “I’m sad,” and so on. In the spirit of student-teacher connection, students asked Rigsbee to indicate her mood to them on the board, and she obliged.
At the end of the book, Rigsbee recounts her efforts to locate Mrs. Warnecke with the help of ABC’s Good Morning America staff. In this moving section, she describes her terror of nerves at appearing on the show and her delight when Mrs. Warnecke arrived on the set, after she’d had been told that her beloved teacher couldn’t be found. These two women have renewed their relationship and now stay in regular touch, and it is evident that Mrs. Warnecke made a lasting impact on Rigsbee both as a teacher and a valued human being. As she tells readers about this connection, Rigsbee encourages her readers to tell the story of their own Mrs. Warnecke by visiting her blog.
In the section titled “Whatever it Takes,” Rigsbee does seem somewhat inclined to uphold the myth of the “super-teacher.” One story she writes is about one of her students, Joey, who told her he was going to kill himself. She ended up accompanying him to the hospital and helping him get help, arranging for her own children to be picked up by someone else. As I read this section, I was reminded of the struggle for balance between work and family that every conscientious teacher must face daily. At the Teacher Leaders Network (Rigsbee is also a member), we have discussed this tension more than once, and I know that it will continue to be a concern even for teachers who work in super-supportive and positive environments.
I also have a different view than Rigsbee of teachers who leave the building as soon as the afternoon bell rings. Rigsbee's perspective seems to be that good teachers must come early and stay late. However, I know many teachers who leave the building with the students, only to go home and work for three or four more hours a night on school work. It’s not necessarily true that, just because teachers leave the building at the last bell, they’re not working as hard as those who stay late.
In spite of these mild criticisms, I loved this book. It’s an easy read, and it’s an inspiring one. Every teacher should read it because it reminds us of the power we have to help children’s lives be better or worse. As I was reading, I was reminded of my own Mrs. Warneckes. I’ve been lucky to have more than one. But I also remember the day I was shamed in front of the entire class by my first grade teacher. Forty-one years ago, I made an innocent mistake, and she yelled at me in front of everyone. I’ll never forget that day as long as I live because I'll never forgot how ashamed and stupid she made me feel.
I never want to make a student feel like I felt that day. Reading this book reminded me of the power of my words, my actions, even my body language. Rigsbee does a beautiful job of pointing out the power every teacher has to make students' lives magical. No teacher should ever feel powerless. No matter what the media and politicians might say, or however they might make us feel, we do have power. We should always use it well.
Gail Tillery teaches at North Forsyth High School in Cumming GA, where she was teacher of the year for 2009-10. Among her many roles there are British literature lead teacher, literary coordinator, and mentoring coordinator. She earned National Board Certification in 2002.
English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work
by Larry Ferlazzo
(Linworth Publishers, 2010)
Reviewed by Jose Vilson
Middle School Math Teacher/Coach (NY, NY)
Teacher Leaders Network
For the last three years, I’ve had the privilege of teaching English Language Learners, a group of students gaining ground in the national discussion about educational equity. While California high school teacher Larry Ferlazzo’s new book English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work pertains to a myriad of English-learning students from many backgrounds, the overwhelming majority of those labeled with ELL status in our public schools are students who speak Spanish and recently immigrated to the United States.
At one point in my own career, I wondered whether my pedagogy would work for these particular students, as I had no experience with this population during my training. Soon, I found that developing good interpersonal relationships with students, accompanying my math lessons with a dramatization or illustrations, and embedding forms of reflection helped students become better students (and better people).
I believe a book like Ferlazzo’s new guide would have expedited this learning. English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies that Work reads less like a stereotypical how-to handbook and more like a leadership/ socio-emotional guide to getting to know students, regardless of their background. From building character and finding oneself through stories to actual action and reflection (my favorite), Ferlazzo’s book is a really nice supplement to whichever curriculum you already have and a solid extension of the work he already does on his ELL resources website.
Chapter 1 immediately starts with building strong relationships with students, a critical piece of anyone's repertoire for getting students of different cultures to a learning place. As is Ferlazzo's habit throughout the book, he integrates research and technology into this chapter, discussing how he built a website, for instance, to collect resources students could use on their own.
The anecdotes that accompany his strategies prove an interesting case study for those who might want to follow in his footsteps. In Ch. 2, he walks the reader through a procedure for how to run a lesson on facts for a whole week, including standards, materials, and assessments for understanding. Every chapter follows a similar format, and thus provides lots of good and readily available materials for anyone who’d like to augment their pedagogy to include things like student leadership and metacognitive skills.
The one criticism I have about the book is that it doesn’t address cultural differences as much as one would hope, particularly with a topic like ELLs. I also see, however, that by not accentuating these differences, teachers who read the book don’t limit the potential of their students. That’s where Ferlazzo’s book can work for any teacher. If you’re stuck on how to become a better ELL teacher beyond the instruction, this book is for you.
Jose Vilson blogs about school and life at The Jose Vilson.
by Laurie Wasserman, NBCT
Learning Disabilities Teacher
Medford, MA
When our TLN moderator wrote a post looking for teachers interested in previewing a voice recognition software program, I jumped at the chance to try Nuance’s Dragon Naturally Speaking software with my learning disabled students. After viewing a webinar demo, I couldn’t wait to learn how to use it and share it with my students. Then everything came to a grinding halt. Our 9-year old school computers didn’t have DVD drives and “the powers that be” wouldn’t install one for me. “If you let a few of your students use it, then everyone will want to use it.” <SIGH>
As I went back and forth begging and pleading for a way to install it in the classroom, I was met with more roadblocks. As a special education teacher of 30 years, I’ve always felt that if “the front door was locked, I’d find a way to go in the back door.” I spoke with 6th grader Derek and his mom about possibly trying it at home and seeing if it would help.
Derek is a bright and gregarious young man who has always struggled in school when it came to written assignments and reading. He was diagnosed with dyslexia and receives 1:1 Orton-Gillingham instruction to help remediate his reading disability so eventually he can read anything his classmates can. My goal, first and foremost, has always been to empower my students by educating them about their learning disabilities and discovering ways to compensate for them using their strengths.
After three months, I interviewed 12-year-old Derek about his experience. Here’s what I found out.
Q: Describe how you use Dragon Naturally Speaking.
Derek: I use is a lot for all my projects. I used in science class when we did our MWRA project. I used it for my African American hero project in Social Studies on Frederick Douglass, and I’m using it now in English class to write poetry.
Q: How have things changed for you in terms of completing homework, projects, etc. for school since you started using “The Dragon,” as you call it?
Derek: It’s faster. I can write a paragraph in 10 minutes now; before it would take me 30-40 minutes.
Q: If a student had never used DNS, and was curious about how it would help them what would you tell them?
Derek: It’s easy to download, and it’s fun to use! It recognizes my voice because I had to do a test the first time I used it: Green for go, yellow for too low, red for too high. I like that I reads it back to me so if it sounds funny, I can fix it!
Anthony, one of Derek’s hockey player friends, is a former student of mine. Now in the 7th grade, Anthony has a similar learning disability and wanted to learn how to use DNS as well. He’s now been trained by Derek to “ride the Dragon.”
I’ve been impressed not only with the students’ enthusiasm for the software but the improvements I see in Derek’s work products. These are students who previously dreaded lengthy writing assignments, and can now complete them with ease. At the risk of sounding like a TV spokesmodel, I have to say that Dragon Naturally Speaking has the potential to impact the lives of many LD students immensely.
Also see this full review of DNS by TLN member Karen van Dyun
What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop
by Mark Overmeyer
(Stenhouse, 2009)
Reviewed by Vicky Gilpin
High School English & Drama (IL)
Teacher Leaders Network
Mark Overmeyer’s book, What Student Writing Teaches Us, acts as a nice reminder that assessment does not always need grading and is not always summative. As readers of student work, teachers have a wondrous opportunity to use student artifacts for formative assessment to help students develop toward classroom goals, state and subject-area standards, and personal success. This slim volume makes good use of anecdotes from the author’s classroom observations. Overmeyer visited classes of varying ages and ability to explore ways writing could be used for the students’ benefit.
The work has several positive aspects. One benefit for teachers with hectic lives is the user-friendly format and readability. A person could read this in snippets before school or after doing other activities during a prep period and not lose the concepts developed. For many teachers, the emphasis on the importance of student writing as formative assessment is a necessary reminder: sometimes teachers feel like they and the children are floundering in a sea of constant assessment with no time for growth.
Another important theme Overmeyer stresses is student involvement in the development of their writing as a primary element of student growth (you'll hear their voices throughout the book). His examples of students as consumers and developers of checklists, rubrics, and projects echoes best practices. The author’s integration of his own experiences as a young and adult learner remind the reader not only of the importance of lifelong learning but also the necessity of remembering the student’s point of view.
Finally, the chapter on grades should be enough to spark several days’ worth of conversation in the faculty lounge or at faculty meetings. Overmeyer discusses “admiring” a pile of student work rather than “grading” it. An excellent aspect of the book involves demystifying the rubric. Overmeyer mentions his initial conversion to rubric usage and subsequent desire to use rubrics for everything. He presents ways to develop rubrics with students, how to use rubrics effectively, and how to decide if a rubric is the most appropriate tool for the situation.
Overmeyer’s What Student Writing Teaches Us provides a fresh perspective on the purpose of student writing. His emphasis on starting with the goal in mind fits nicely with standards-aligned classrooms and other current educational approaches. Not only will the work benefit long-term professionals in grades K-8 who want a quick refresher on
writing as formative assessment, it will be an excellent resource for pre-service teachers and recent graduates who are eager to get started “admiring” student papers.
A review of the Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software
Reviewed by Karen Van Duyn
High School English & Drama (IN)
Teacher Leaders Network
What does a teacher do when she starts to feel like an “old” teacher? Why, she finds something new to learn! Lately my lessons have mostly been in the area of technology, as that seems to be an area of constant development and change. In the past couple years, I’ve become dependent upon my LCD projector, gone wireless at home (with some tech support), and scratched the surface of Moodle and online learning (great potential and lots of upfront prep time). Very recently I started my relationship with a Smart Notebook and its many wonders. While I’m adept with most of these devices and do so enjoy using them, I have come to the realization that I truly prefer to be a USER rather than a TECHNICIAN.
Coinciding with this revelation came the opportunity to review a new software program. Of course I couldn’t resist seeing what I could or couldn’t do with it. Dragon Naturally Speaking is voice-recognition software, and I’ll admit, I approached it with some trepidation. I had used other such programs in the past that required hours of “practice” with my speech patterns in order to be able to give dictation and came away with less than satisfactory results. Naturally Speaking, however, produced great results with a minimum of set up and training time.
I’m still learning all the available commands, but the basics can be picked up very quickly. Admittedly, some of the commands are quite techy – like “Listen to me” and “Stop listening.” I know, I know, pretty difficult. The real bonus is that this software does not require its own special word processing software, but works with Microsoft Office products and other such commonly used programs. It can be used not only to dictate text or data, but it also allows the user to navigate the software itself. This requires the use of other high-tech commands such as “File,” “Open,” “Save,” and “Close.”
Kidding aside, I can perform almost any task with the microphone that I can with a mouse, and the dictation is amazingly accurate. My students even asked me to challenge the software with that old favorite, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Naturally Speaking won that challenge.
It's the best I've tried - but a wireless mic would be wonderful
While I found this dictation software to be the best I’ve ever used, there were a couple drawbacks. The microphone that comes with the product is hardwired to the computer and is sensitive enough to provide excellent transcripts; however, both these features also cause some problems. Extraneous sounds will cause errors in translation (so don’t be working with the TV on or while herds of students are tromping down the halls), and being tethered to the computer by a 4-foot cord limits possible uses. What I couldn’t do with a wireless version of this microphone!
I have had brief love affairs with a great many technological products, especially while the representative is presenting all their features and their ease of use. Often the honeymoon has been over quickly. Either the demands of my classroom prevented further experimentation or the lack of “up-front” time kept me from getting the product to work as well as in the demonstration. This has brought me to my two ultimate litmus tests for technology: Can a USER rather than a TECHNICIAN operate it easily? and How quickly can it be available for educational purposes in my classroom? In other words, would it make my life easier enough to use it?
Skepticism nurtured by experience caused me to take what seemed like an inordinate amount of time experimenting with Naturally Speaking before finalizing my evaluation. In that time, however, I discovered real educational uses that help and excite me as well as my students.
Capturing instructions and teaching note-taking
I type rather quickly so simple dictation features don’t really appeal to me. However, when that dictation is made while I’m actually addressing a class with important information about requirements for an upcoming paper – and I’m able to create an exact transcript of what that class was told, saved to a Word document—then I do get a little excited! Without having to exit from the program or use other peripherals, I can upload the transcript to the class web page for later reference by students. And when one of them says, “You didn’t tell us that,” we have a routine way to check the accuracy of their claim. If, right before the due date, there is a need to recheck the criteria to be met, it’s available to everyone. All this without any extra bit of time to create!
And how about this: the dictation utility can be used to teach note-taking skills. Imagine I’m introducing new information and I expect students to take notes. Using the LCD projector, I can have the Naturally Speaking software capture my words as I present the lesson. I can even organize what’s captured, using bullets or tabs, in real time. I’m modeling note-taking skills to the students without any extra preparation. (Warning: today’s cellphone-obsessed students love to watch text appear and could be distracted watching the technology.)
As students improve on their note-taking, lessons can be dictated without the projector (see warning above) and students can later check their work against the transcribed notes posted on the webpage. Those posted notes can be especially helpful with inclusion students. They can use the real-time visual of what is being said and/or benefit because their learning center teachers now have ready access to the lecture and can enhance their tutoring. A wireless microphone would allow me to move around the classroom and check their notes as I present them.
Mixed student reviews on paper-grading
With recent cuts in staff, my paper load as an English teacher has greatly increased—along with the number of students in each class and the number who need extra help. Finding time for conferencing with students on their papers is much more difficult. With Naturally Speaking, I worked on making verbal comments on a student’s paper as I read through it, as if they were sitting with me. Those comments were then saved as a Word document and sent to their student folder on our network for their retrieval at any time. This process isn’t as comfortable as I originally thought it might be because tone of voice isn’t always obvious in the transcribed text—especially when text is the product of an impromptu, stream-of-consciousness type of assessment. The students have given this strategy mixed reviews. They felt the comments are sometimes clearer and more thorough than the paragraphs describing the strengths and needs of their paper that I write on each title page, yet not as effective as one-on-one, face to face discussions.
Overall, this USER is pretty impressed with Dragon Naturally Speaking. It has multiple uses, including replacing keyboards and mice for those who are dexterity-challenged. I have two senior boys who already have this software on their graduation wish list so they won’t have to type their college papers (Mom won’t be there to help).
You might discover other uses for Naturally Speaking that fit your particular teaching needs or style, but the bottom line for me is that it can both enhance my educational strategies easily and keep this “old teacher” learning new things. Now, if I could only find the proper wireless microphone, I could try to...
Karen Van Duyn, a 34-year veteran, teaches English/LA and drama at a rural high school in Indiana, where she also sponsors the Student Council and the National Honor Society. The awards and honors she has received for her teaching are always overshadowed by the experience of seeing the “AHA” in the eyes of her students.
[NOTE: Karen tested Dragon Naturally Speaking (Standard edition) for the PC. The company has recently acquired MacSpeech for Macintosh OS X, but we haven't tested that one. Karen received a review copy of DNS at no cost but was free to judge it completely on its merits.]
The ever-resourceful Larry Ferlazzo joined the Teacher Leaders Network in 2008, to our great benefit. Larry was already well-established as a leading edu-blogger, widely known for his daily outpouring of useful (most often web-based) teaching ideas and resources. Larry entered the blogging arena with a tight focus on English Language Learners – a focus he still maintains – but gradually broadened his output to include many other topics, including one close to his heart: parent and community relationships.
Larry’s “first career” as a community organizer in the labor arena has made him not only a passionate but an authoritative advocate for school programs that work to ENGAGE rather than simply INVOLVE families. His long-time interest led to the publication of his first book, Building Parent Engagement In Schools, co-authored by Lorie Hammond, a former middle school ESL teacher with a special interest in school-community gardens, who is now a professor at California State University-Sacramento.
In support of their book, Larry has developed a new blogging site focused specifically on engaging parents in schools. He teaches Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced English Language Learners (as well as native English speakers) at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. In this interview, we talk about his parent engagement ideas and also learn about his upcoming books — one on teaching strategies that work with English language learners, and another (smiling) on everything else.
— John Norton, TLN co-founder and moderator
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Larry, it's fairly rare in my experience to find a teacher writing a book about working closely with parents. More often I've seen this kind of advocacy coming from reformers in the outside community who believe schools haven't been responsive enough to parents and families. Why did you feel compelled to write it?
Part of the reason I wrote it is because during my 19-year community organizing career prior to becoming a teacher my primary work with schools was through parents — parents who were working to improve their neighborhoods and their local schools. That experience grounded me in believing that "no school is an island" — that in order for schools to be successful they need to be connected to local residents, and for a neighborhood to be successful, it needs to be connected to the local schools.
As a teacher in a challenging inner-city high school, I can understand how many teachers and administrators feel that engaging with parents in a substantial way is just one more thing that they might not have time to do. I wrote the book to illustrate that, in fact, it can be done with less time that they think and get a bigger "pay-off" — for the parents, teachers, and students — than they could imagine.
How did your background shape your own parent interactions as a teacher?
My current perspectives come out of my direct experience as a teacher participating in the initiatives discussed in the book. After doing thousands of home visits as a community organizer, when I changed careers I naturally gravitated to making home visits to parents of my students. While I was doing them, I was able to use my organizing experience to connect to parents and help them use their energy to initiate projects that benefited everybody. For example, in one of my visits with a recent Hmong immigrant family, the father explained how impressed he was with our use of computers to help teach his daughter, and how he wished they could have a computer and the Internet at their home so he could use it to learn English, too. He shared that he couldn't get a drivers license because he needed to read English in order to pass the test, and the local bus system was not very good so it was difficult to attend adult school.
I asked him if he thought other parents would share the same concern and, if so, would he be willing to organize a meeting. He agreed, and out of that we were able to develop a family literacy project that provides computers and home internet access to immigrant families so the entire household can improve their English. Students in the program have averaged improvements in English assessments that are four times greater than those in a control group, and the project was named by the International Reading Association two years ago as the best example of using technology to teach reading — in the entire world.
This whole effort came out of the organizing process of listening to stories; helping people connect to others with the same story; helping them to develop a different interpretation of it and developing a plan to respond to it; and then putting it into action.
Who do you imagine to be good audiences for the book?
I think parents, administrators, teachers, and teachers-in-training might find this book useful. It's designed as a book very busy people can read quickly. I also think the framework of parent involvement versus parent engagement can easily be adapted to other aspects of community, school, and organization work.
You make a clear distinction in the book between what schools (and many PTO members) have traditionally called "parent involvement" and the more powerful descriptor "power engagement." School leaders often complain about the difficulty in achieving "involvement." Might they have more success with "engagement" in your opinion?
Prior to becoming a community organizer, I ran soup kitchens and emergency shelters on Skid Rows. One day, as I was sweeping our front porch, a police officer pulled up and started yelling at me because we weren't controlling things too well — there were lot of complaints from neighbors. One man who had passed out in front of our soup kitchen got up and told the policeman, "Officer, Larry tries. He tries hard. We just don't listen to him!"
We can continue to say what people should be doing (as I was doing back then) and feel frustrated about them not responding (as I often felt back then). In other words, we can continue to be "right." Or, we can look at different ways of doing things and try them out. In other words, we could try to be "effective."
I explain in my response to your next question how I view involvement as different from engagement. I think using the engagement criteria can have far greater results than involvement, and it sure can't be any worse!
You devote several chapters to stories about specific initiatives that model the kind of school-home interaction you favor: The Home Visit Project, the Technology and Family Literacy Project, the Community Gardens effort, and community organizing efforts that connect schools with other local institutions that are working for neighborhood improvement. What key characteristics of these projects make them engagements, rather than involvements?
The dictionary defines "involvement" as "to envelop or enfold — take over." The definition of "engagement" is "to interlock with — mesh." If you look at whose energy drives things, I'd say in involvement, ideas and energy come from the school's "mouth," while in engagement, the energy comes from schools using their "ears" to listen to parent ideas and concerns and to build genuine reciprocal relationships.
In organizing, we talk about the difference between irritation and agitation. In involvement, we tend to irritate more — telling parents that they should do things that the school considers important. In engagement, we agitate by challenging parents to act on the concerns they've voiced in the context of conversations.
In involvement, schools do a lot of one way "communicating" — flyers, computerized phone calls, newsletters. In engagement, there's more of an emphasis on two-way "conversation."
The purpose of parent involvement tends to focus on improving the school. The purpose of parent engagement is to improve the entire community.
Community partnerships that schools develop through parent involvement tend to be "narrow and shallow" — let's have a police officer assigned to the school, let's get the local business partnership to sponsor a scholarship. In parent engagement, they tend to be more "broad and deep" — let's look at neighborhood safety, let's work with businesses and government to provide support so all high school graduates can attend college if they want to.
Schools that emphasize involvement tend to believe that power is a finite pie -- if parents get some, then schools will have less. Parent engagement takes the approach that the more people who participate, the bigger the whole pie gets and the more possibilities for positive change are created.
I'd sum up the difference as saying involvement is more a "doing to" and engagement is a more a "doing with."
I want to emphasize, though, that schools, communities, and the real world is not all this or that. There's a lot of ambiguity out there. Parent involvement is good. I just think parent engagement is better.
In our Teacher Leaders Network conversations, our teacher-members often imagine "hybrid" teacher roles that allow teacher leaders to both teach students and do other important work on behalf of the school and community. Can you imagine a role for teacher leaders that would have them leading parent engagement efforts as part of their job descriptions? And if so, why would that be worth the investment of "teacher units" that might be required?
I mentioned earlier the pay-off our home computer project has had for families. Though I'm an advocate of being "data-informed" and not "data-driven," there is plenty of data that also shows how home visits, school-community gardens, and community organizing have had a direct affect on student academic achievement. In fact, school districts in Texas that were very involved in community organizing in the 1990's and then got away from it in the face of standardized testing pressure are now approaching community organizing groups to request that they work with them again. They see it in their self-interest not only for direct student achievement progress, but as a way to rebuild support for more local school funding after recent bond measures have failed.
It is difficult to fit this kind of work into an already overworked teacher schedule. Officially creating time in a workday schedule, I think, could be a great move for schools.
I understand you have other books in the works. Could you tell us about those?
Linworth Publishing, who has published the parent engagement book, is coming out with my second book next month. It's called "English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work" and shares how I've adapted what I learned in community organizing to teaching ELL's. It focuses on looking at students through a lens of their "assets" and not their "deficits." It's very practical (and research-based) and I think teachers will find it very helpful. Writing it was helpful to me, at least!
My third book will be published by Eye On Education in the spring of 2011, and will share various instructional and classroom management strategies (also research-based) that teachers can effectively use to respond to common challenges in the classroom. Assuming that I can survive writing three books in two years, I might take a break from book-writing after that.
You'll definitely deserve one! Any final thoughts?
I'd like to end this interview, John, as I end most discussions
of parent engagement and parent involvement that I lead. I suggest
that people ask themselves this question:
Do you want to see
yourself as a person who can get parents to help a little bit in
schools; or a person who can help them transform how they see themselves, and how
others seem them, as acting on the world instead of being a bit player
in it?
