Time for a Change

In the coming days, you'll see some changes taking place. I'm tired of the tree design as it no longer fits as a metaphor for my online spaces. So I'm trying out some new, cleaner designs for this blog, my class Ning and wiki sites, as well as for my Twitter site. If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them. And stay tuned for changes.

You'll See More Soon...No, Really, You Will!

So all my plans for my maternity leave this past school year are still just that...plans. I wanted to update my resume. Update my blog. Update my websites. I didn't. I haven't. But I definitely haven't simply let the year slip by. I became a fellow in the National Writing Project. I'm working on a grant through the National Writing Project. I'm teaching my first graduate class to teachers. I started a business. And I've been writing (sorry, that it hasn't been here). So instead of planning, I've been doing.

But you'll see me returning more in the next few weeks as I plan and teach my first graduate course with the PA Writing and Literature Project on Reading and Writing in Digital Spaces. I'm currently trying to narrow down the tons and tons of videos and articles and books and blogs that I could use in this type of course. I certainly have way more than what I need. And in the process of narrowing down my resources I ran across this TED Talk video from Will Richardson. I think this might be an interesting place for me to start our study. What do you think?

Inspiring

Said so much better than I ever could, Sarah Kay expresses why I am passionate about teaching high school writers. We all have stories to tell.

Learn with Me: Blogging Basics

^{cross-posted at Babee Crafts}

I've been blogging for a while...okay, not as regularly on this blog since starting my maternity leave this past fall, but you will find me blogging about my adventures in mommyhood over at Babee Crafts. That said, although I've been writing online for a number of years, I've always used sparse, pre-designed templates. I'm excited to have stumbled across a couple of really great resources this past week for expanding my blogging know-how and hopefully adding some professional punch to my blogging endeavors.

First, you have to check out the amazing collection of resources posted just last week over at Tip Junkie. Her post "Blog 101: How to Start, Make It Cute, and Succeed Blogging" is fantastic! I'm looking forward to really digging into all the resources and links she has posted. Whether you are using Blogger or Wordpress, she has a wealth of specific links for customizing your blog whatever platform you happen to be using.

And Heidi over at Sew. Craft. Create. started a new series today which will go through a number of questions she's received recently about blog design. So, if you're looking to punch up your blog's impact, be sure to follow along! She'll be going through how to add links into your header, create your own grab buttons, and so much more.

All that said, watch for changes here! You should start to notice some subtle (and not so subtle) changes with my blog design in the near future...and hopefully a few more posts as well!

Why Twitter is Awesome...and why I need to check in more regularly

I haven't been using my @jenniferward Twitter account as regularly as I have in the past. As I'm on maternity leave, I find it a bit more difficult to carve out the time that I would like to read and respond to all the great teachers and resources that my Twitter PLN forwards my way. And, as I've been trying to build my brand/business with Babee Crafts, I've found myself using my @babeecrafts account more and more. But here's why I really should be checking in on @jenniferward more frequently:

PBS New Hour Extra likes me.

I discovered yesterday a tweet from @NewsHourExtra that mine was one of nine education blogs that they follow. I was included on a list with David Warlick and Vicki Davis. I idolize these guys! I realize this might sound silly, that a very specialized group of teachers and educational technology enthusiasts know who David Warlick and Cool Cat Teacher are, but seriously, they're celebrities! I can't believe I'm on a Twitter list with these folks. So thank you PBS News Hour Extra. I will certain try harder to live up to this honor.

This Much I Know...

We began our conversation last night with two things we know for certain. Gathered around a conference table were our two PA Writing and Literature Institute instructors and five practicing teachers, myself included. We've each been pursuing our own teacher research on areas related to teaching writing. As I posted earlier, I'm looking into how the principles of mastery learning and grading might help to improve student writing. Specifically, I've been looking at how feedback on writing assessments differs between teachers who use a more traditional, cumulative grading system versus those who subscribe to the ideas of mastery learning.

We were inspired by Dorthy Allison's quote about her Aunt Dot:

"Lord, girl, there's only two or three things I know for sure." She put her head back, grinned, and made a small impatient noise. Her eyes glittered as bright as a sun reflecting off the scales of a cottonmouth's back. She spat once and shrugged. "Only two or three things. That's right," she said. "Of course it's never the same things, and I'm never as sure as I'd like to be."

So, here's what I know so far from my research:

Progress in student writing depends, in part, on doing something with feedback. If you've taken the time to grade a student's work, if you've written comments on it, or made suggestions for improvements, you must give students time to do something with that feedback. If you don't, you have wasted a great deal of your time grading the piece and wasted the student's time by asking them to write it. If you're not going to do something with the feedback, then don't give feedback.

This is not a new thought. A great many writers and teachers of writing have been saying this for years. But, it was interesting for me to see it echoed through the interviews and surveys that I've been doing with both teachers and students. Students admit to stuffing graded papers to the bottom of their backpacks with only a cursory glance at the percentage or letter grade at the top, and teachers admit to not giving time in class for students to read, reflect, respond, and revise based on the feedback they've given. And both teachers and students responded that they continued to see the same feedback time and time again. And no wonder. If a student doesn't have an opportunity to reflect and respond to a teacher's feedback about a his poorly written thesis statement, he's going to continue to write bad thesis statements.

What was most interesting to me about this is that many of the teachers I interviewed talked at length about times when they were able to really connect with a student and help that student make progress. Each example recounted a time when a teacher was able to help a student specifically identify a writing skill to work on, and then work with the student over time on various writing assignments to improve in that area. The student had multiple opportunities to receive focused feedback and respond to it, revising and reflecting on that skill area in order to make progress. Hmmm...isn't this working toward mastery? Identify specific skills, practice that skill, both teacher and student reflect on the student's progress, make adjustments, and repeat.

Which leads to the no-duh moment for me, the other thing I know for certain: our curriculums must clearly articulate the skills students are working toward and not simply the texts that they will read. In talking with teachers and in survey responses from teachers not just in my district but from all over the country, I have learned that many English teachers are simply picking for themselves the skills they will help students in their specific classes develop. One ninth grade teacher will choose to help her students develop clear organizational strategies in their writing, while the ninth grade teacher across the hall is working with his students on commas. And although both items are listed in the state's standards for writing, there is little consistency from class to class, let alone from year to year. I'm not suggesting that English teachers sit down to rewrite curriculums by creating page upon page of skill lists. But we need a starting point, a common ground and a common language. And by articulating the skills that we want our students to work on, we will help students develop as better writers overall, and not simply as better writers of literary analysis essays in response to a specific text.

Calling All English Teachers

If you are a high school English teacher, I would love your help! I'm currently doing some research on what works when it comes to feedback and assessment of student writing. If you have a few minutes, could you please complete the survey below? Thanks!

CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY