What’s Your Name? (This Year’s First ‘Virtual’ Assignment)

August 5, 2020June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

What’s In A Name?

In Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, Juliet laments that she cannot be with Romeo largely because of their last names. Their families are enemies and neither would ever accept the other into their homes. Standing on her balcony, unaware that he’s listening, she rejects the idea that names could be so important. Why should it matter what you’re called if you’re as awesome as Romeo – at least in Juliet’s eyes?

Still, sometimes our names do matter. It varies from century to century, family to family, and culture to culture, but sometimes your name means more than others might realize. Maybe it was given to you for a specific reason, or maybe it’s influenced how people react to you or what they assume about you. If nothing else, it usually (but not always) reflects the family into which you were born. Sometimes a major religious conversion prompts a name change. Many women still take the name of their husbands when they marry. Best friends sometimes have nicknames for each other which only they use. Couples often call one another by names that no one outside the couple can use without causing problems.

Or maybe your name is just a name and its meaning is only what you give it by being you. That’s OK, too.

The Importance of Communication

One of the primary goals of any English class is to improve our communication skills. While there are an endless number of ways humans communicate with one another, two of the most important and most universal are (a) speaking and (b) writing. We’re going to work on both this semester.

Please note that it’s never my goal to embarrass you or put you on the spot or push you to share anything you don’t wish to share. If you don’t want to say it or write it, then DON’T. I won’t be fact-checking you on anything unless there’s some specific reason I should. Our goal is to get better at communicating our own thoughts and ideas and understanding the thoughts and ideas of others. What your thoughts and ideas ARE is your business. Share them or not as you choose.

The Name Video Assignment (Due ____________)

You’re going to make a brief video (60 – 90 seconds) talking about your name and share it with me by uploading it to Student ‘Name’ Videos {linklinklink}. Your video can be as simple or as involved as you like, as long as it meets a few basic guidelines.

1) Your video should be at least 60 seconds but no longer than 90 seconds.

2) It should begin with you introducing yourself with your full name.

3) For the rest of your brief introductory video, talk about your name or some part of your name – were you named after someone? Does one or more of your names have a particular meaning? Is your name common? Rare? Often misunderstood? How does your name reflect you and/or how has having this name shaped your life a little bit? (You don’t have to cover all of this. These are just starting places and ideas. Talk about whatever you wish in conjunction with your name.)

Click Here For My Sample ‘Name Video’

The Technical Stuff (How To Make It Work)

Use Chromebooks or phones or whatever you wish.

If you’re unsure how to record video on your Chromebook, there are a few quick ‘How To’ guides posted along with this assignment on Google Classroom.

If you’re not sure how to upload your video, click the link for Student ‘Name’ Videos {linklinklink}. Then choose the ‘+ New’ near the top left of the screen, and ‘File Upload’.

If for some reason you can’t upload your video using these instructions (for example, you don’t have a working Chromebook and you’re doing all of this on another device or something), try sharing it with me some other way – email a link, etc. MAKE SURE YOU LET ME KNOW, however, so I don’t miss it and think you simply didn’t do it.

Email me with questions or problems – {email address}

This, pretty much, is my opening day assignment this year. The links will be different (the only one that actually works here is to the sample ‘name video’ – and even that will look different for students), but otherwise, this is how we’re starting off.

I borrowed this lesson from Barrett Doke, who teaches 8th Grade American History in the Houston area. We taught a series of virtual workshops together this summer, and I loved his approach to technology in the classroom, even when ‘in person’ school was still a thing back in the day. He’s done it successfully for years, although I’ve dressed it up a bit differently (anything you don’t like is probably me).

Why This?

Some of my motivation I covered in the actual directions. I won’t see my kids in person for at least nine weeks, and that’s going to make it difficult to form that there ‘rapport’ we always talk about. And honestly, while my pedagogy is fine, my strength has always been the face-to-face. Obviously, that’s out for a while.

I also believe the part about communication being an essential skill and all that. In fact, the second assignment is a short personal essay which builds on the “let’s talk about YOU” idea. Yes, it’s partly about trying to establish connection, but the ability to talk about ourselves coherently is an essential academic and professional skill. (You won’t get through many college admissions officers or job interviews if you can’t handle “so tell me about yourself a bit” decently.)

On a related front, if much of this year is going to be done long-distance, we’d better start getting comfortable using the technology – both students and teachers. If I’m going to ask them to eventually submit video summaries of what they’ve read or otherwise express themselves using this format, we’d better practice it with something easy first.

Finally, there’s an additional, somewhat awkward motivation as well. I’m an old white guy whose hearing isn’t what it used to be. I genuinely want to learn my students’ names and say them correctly, but there are more each year that I never seem to quite get comfortable with. At the same time, it feels more important than ever that I demonstrate at least that much attention and respect to those whose names are most likely to give me trouble. With this assigment, I’ll have a reference as often as I need it to exactly how they want their name pronounced – because they’re the ones saying it.

These instructions clearly take an ELA approach, but that’s not essential. When I taught American history we’d always discuss the power of names, usually in relation to slaves and slave-owners. I’m not even sure you’d need a justification for it if you’re interested. It’s your class, and you have to start somewhere.

If you want to give it a shot, all I ask is that you NOT use my sample “name video” or Barrett’s. Obviously you’d want to make your own anyway, right? Also, I’d love to hear how it goes – seriously.

Here are my instructions (pretty much the same as the first half of this post) as a Google Doc if you’d rather edit them than start from scratch. You’re also welcome to the follow up personal essay instructions. I should probably note that while I’m definitely using these this year, I haven’t yet. I honestly have no idea how it will go.

But then, that’s often the case – even with things I’ve used for years. We wouldn’t want it to get too easy or boring, would we?

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The Docs Heard ‘Round The World

July 12, 2020June 12, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

From History.com:

On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops set off from Boston toward Concord, Massachusetts, in order to seize weapons and ammunition stockpiled there by American colonists. Early the next morning, the British reached Lexington, where approximately 70 minutemen had gathered on the village green. Someone suddenly fired a shot—it’s uncertain which side—and a melee ensued. When the brief clash ended, eight Americans lay dead and at least an equal amount were injured, while one redcoat was wounded…
The British continued on to nearby Concord, where that same day they encountered armed resistance from a group of patriots at the town’s North Bridge. Gunfire was exchanged, leaving two colonists and three redcoats dead. The British retreated back to Boston, skirmishing with colonial militiamen along the way and suffering a number of casualties; the Revolutionary War had begun.
The incident at the North Bridge later was memorialized by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his 1837 poem “Concord Hymn.” The opening stanza is: “By the rude bridge that arched the flood/Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled/Here once the embattled farmers stood/And fired the shot heard round the world.”

The first shots were fired at Lexington, but the first documented occasion on which colonial minutemen were ordered to fire upon British soldiers (and did) was on the North Bridge at Concord. That was what many would point to as the first official act of outright treason committed by the colonists and marked the beginning of open, violent rebellion in Massachusetts.

Your job is to read through the available primary sources and determine exactly what happened at Lexington and Concord. Who fired first? How do you know? And how do you explain any sources which don’t support your conclusions?

One of the most crushing things about doing summer training online this year was having to sacrifice some of my favorite and most effective activities. I haven’t found a meaningful way to do Causes, Triggers, Events, and Results in a long-distance format, nor did my “Oh No, Not Another Reading Strategy!” small group introduction to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass pan out. I was especially distraught that there was no practical way to do any of the document activities of which I’m so proud and which have been so successful in class as well as with educators. I’m not saying none of these are possible, but I was unable to figure out a way to make them work in the time I had available.

(I know, you all feel so horrible for me right now. Clearly, my straight white male life is far more difficult and filled with suffering than others could even imagine. Boo, plus hoo.)

Still, I wanted to try to capture SOME of the benefits of a good document activity. I remembered references in some teacher book I’d read a few years ago to something similar involving the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World.” I did some poking around and found about a dozen variations of the activity, none of which quite fit what I wanted to do. The National Park Service has several of the better iterations for free on their website; the two I found most useful are available as PDF downloads from https://www.nps.gov/mima/learn/education/curriculummaterials.htm.

By way of introduction and skill-rehearsal, I added a “football game” document activity I lifted with only minor edits from an amazing AP World teacher and consultant named Jonathan Henderson. Several of his versions are posted to his website. I appreciate him not suing me for incorporating them; I think they set up the ‘legit’ part of the activity quite effectively. That’s no surprise – pretty much everything he shares is brilliant.

Because of time constrictions, I was only able to try the activity with one group, but they were amazing. I haven’t used this version with students yet, and this one won’t fit my current assignment anytime soon. So, if you decide to give this one a shot (no pun intended) as is or after making your own modifications, I’d love to hear what you did and how it went. I’ve intentionally decided not to offer too much else by way of “how” to run the activity, let alone offer a list of steps. As with any activity, how you use it depends less on knowing how I do and more on your style, your class, your goals, etc.

You should be able to easily make a copy for yourself which you can then edit as you see fit. I’d love to know how it goes.

The Docs Heard ‘Round The World (Google Slides Link)

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Holy Pedagogical Days (A Lesson In Progress)

November 2, 2017June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 2 Comments

I’m teaching AP World History for the first time this year, and it’s been… a fascinating challenge.

Fortunately, I’ve been in and around the world of AP and Pre-AP for nearly two decades, and I’m blessed to know several amazing APWH teachers and consultants – all of whom share generously and encourage unceasingly. There’s more of a learning curve than I care to admit, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it immensely.

Most days.

I have 93 students spread out over four sections. (I know, right? Fewer than a hundred kids on my roster – I didn’t think such things were possible.) I’m surrounded by experienced teachers who are supportive but see little reason to tiptoe when it comes to asking questions or making observations – my kinda people. My district has been struggling, at least according to those widely publicized test scores the state keeps pushing, but I see its heart and the talent gathered here, and I am at home.

Takin’ It To Dilemma

It’s in that context that I periodically find myself in something of a philosophical dilemma. See, AP is by design a more-or-less college level course. It certainly moves at a ridiculous pace, and students are responsible for an insane amount of information – most of which they’re expected to read, view, or otherwise digest on their own so we can focus on critical thinking, document analysis, and other essential skills in class. That’s without a doubt been the number one challenge for both them and me – keeping up with the content. It feels some weeks like I’ve left them to learn the material all on their own while I torture them in class with things like making good inferences or identifying points of view.

For most of them, this is their first AP class of any kind. I have a handful of juniors and seniors, but the bulk of my darlings are freshmen and sophomores. Many are strong enough students coming in, but plenty of others signed up primarily to qualify for one of the eleventeen different flavors of high school diploma the state delineates; several require advanced coursework to get the shiny sticker at the bottom. There’s no Pre-AP program here to speak of – yet – so this is in many ways a whole new world for them.

That gives us something in common, at least.

Thus my philosophical dilemma. Yes, – it’s a college-level course. Yes, there’s a big ol’ scary AP Exam coming up sooner than it seems. I absolutely want to do everything in my power to push them to their lil’ limits, prepare them for the exam, and lay the groundwork for them to do well in subsequent AP or other advanced classes, and in college, and in life. It is without a doubt time to don their big kid panties and suck it up – we’re in HIGH. SCHOOL. NOW.

But see, that’s just it – they’re in high school now. Not college, not a career, not the post-secondary something or other for which we’re trying to prepare them. High school. Getting ready for those things, but not yet doing those things.

Therein lies the dilemma. Every teacher faces it in some form or another – sometimes daily. How much do I push, and how much do I bend? When do I draw hard lines, figuring that’s what’s best for my little cherubs in the long run, and when do I adjust based on the situation, the need, the individual, hesitating to put the rules ahead of the relationships?

It’s tricky even if we set aside the touchy-feely stuff. Sure, I love them dearly most days, and that’s part of the gig, but the answers don’t suddenly become clear when we prioritize the purely academic aspects of the equation. I know they need to practice independent reading and note-taking skills; they beg for questions, outlines, or something I can give them on paper so they’ll know what content matters most. I organize interactive small-group discussions and activities, which work well enough; they want me to lecture more and insist it helps them understand stuff when they’re later reading on their own.

We’re starting formal written arguments in a few weeks, but we’ve also colored. We’re still digging through primary source texts, but today we watched a musical parody video about the Black Death as a self-check on content (if you understand all of the references, you’re probably good to go on the Plague; if not, you might need to brush up). I have no idea if I’m doing it all “right,” but I’m genuinely trying to balance the demands and guiding purpose of the course with the dynamics and practical limitations of my kids – and sometimes myself.

And that’s OK. It has to be. (Whatever you’re doing is too, by the way. Those folks on the tweeter-blogs making sweeping pronouncements about what should or shouldn’t be done in every classroom for every kid in every situation can kiss my curriculum. Lay off the pompous teacher-shaming and go flip your classroom or something. Sorry, do I sound bitter?)

The Mayans and Groundhog Day

It’s in that spirit that I’m trying something stupid this week. Or brilliant. Maybe both. I finally snagged a classroom set of laptops for classroom use, and we’re going to break up the routine for a few days.

I’m giving my students a list of major and semi-major holidays from which to choose, and an organizational table to complete as they research each. While a few are uniquely American, most have roots much further back in history and have evolved over the centuries. Students will explore those roots and that evolution, zoom in on some of the rituals or customs associated with each, and – here’s the World History Part – try to make sense of it all in relation to the cultures from whence they sprang,

If the AP gods smile upon us, they’ll also be able to trace how some of these rituals and customs have evolved from century to century and place to place. Presumably those changes reflect aspects of the times and places in which they occur. A secondary goal is to determine the reliability of various online sources for this sort of thing – holiday legends tend to be ripe with after-the-fact sentimentality and artificial OMG.

I know, I know – it sounds a little elementary on the surface. I’m hoping I’ve structured it enough so that it’s not. It has the potential to be ultra-productive – both in terms of engagement and in making connections between customs and cultures, between history and traditions. Not to go all crazy or anything, but what if they’re able to identify change and continuity over time, similarities and differences between cultures, or other baby steps towards legit historical skills and AP-level thinking?! LET THE LEARNING BEGIN!!!

Or, this might very well waste two hours of their lives they’ll never get back. That’s also a very real possibility.

On Day Two, they’ll be given the option to compare and contrast two of the holidays in terms of the information they’ve gathered in some yet-to-be-determined format, OR to compose for publication an article / blog post about one of their chosen holidays. I may offer a third option of simply adding a few more holidays for students who may not have more than that to give at this point; just between you and me, I’m waiting to see how Day One goes before finalizing that part.

I’m hoping many of them try the blog post / article. Like with the initial tables, there are guidelines and requirements and hoops through which to jump, but I’ve tried to leave them some creative freedom on exactly how to do it. I realize that edu-bloggers far more popular than I would insist in stuffy tones that I shouldn’t crush students’ personal learning journeys with things like word counts or formatting expectations, but I’ve met them and with all due respect, sometimes fences often set us free.

Assuming it actually happens, my plan is to then post the results for you and anyone else I can virtually round up to read and offer comments – good stuff, bad stuff, thoughts and suggestions, etc. I’m pretty sure that’s a trendy edu-thing to do these days – “authentic audiences” and all that – but mostly I just think it would be nifty keen and get them a better variety of feedback than I could provide alone.

Thanks in advance for helping with that, by the way. I’ll let you know when they’re posted.

Reflections

I have no idea what to expect. As I type this, I should already be showering and on my way. With my writing time so limited these days, I’m often trading pithy commentary for pedagogical transparency and personal reflection. Hopefully some of you will find my periodic bewilderment and perpetual self-doubt either comforting or amusing in some way.

I certainly do.

I’ll post the actual instructions soon and let you know how it goes. In the meantime, Comments are always welcome below – except for you bots at the essay-writing service or selling the Russian sex dolls. Seriously, people – I don’t have time to monitor that stuff right now!

On that note, go change the world. Thanks for staying with me on this ride. You are needed, now more than ever.

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Let’s Get Pedagogical

April 24, 2015June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 2 Comments

I started blogging in March 2014, when the thoughts I had regarding the then-upcoming #oklaed rally demanded the world’s attention. (You see this wit and wisdom as a gift; I alone understand they are my burden to carry.)

A few months later I was halfway ‘round the world in a wrap-up session for a teacher workshop with which I’d been privileged to assist, and wishing there were a workable way to preserve or share some of the strategies, materials, and other ideas we’d discussed that week – something more than a notebook or a flash drive or even the miracle that is Dropbox.

I’ve visited lesson plan websites before, and most of them… well, they don’t do much for me. This may simply be because I’m a teacher snob, or because those busy being amazing educators have little time to walk me through their mysterious ways. They may even have lives after school – better things to do than this.

Maybe I’m just not looking correctly. For all I know, there are dozens of great secondary History/ELA sites which I’m simply too clueless to have discovered. I’ll probably get links to all of them in response to this post – for which I’ll be legitimately grateful.

Or maybe it just doesn’t work that way. I have zero concern public school teachers can ever be replaced by computers on a meaningful scale, for example, because the human interaction, connection, and persuasion is simply too major a factor in dragging these little darlings into the light – if only for those brief moments. And if fancy software can’t teach my kids as effectively as a minimally competent nose-breather with a bachelor’s degree, how can a website become any more useful a resource than those ancillaries we used to get so excited about at new textbook time? (May the edu-gods forgive us for the decisions we made based on transparencies and test-maker discs.)

But maybe the only way to talk about teaching is to be physically together, TALKING about TEACHING.

Besides, most lesson plan sites are elementary and early middle school heavy – which I totally get. We expect teachers at that level to cover everything in every possible style with all kids for the entire day. There are a few sites heavy on the Powerpoints or educational video clips, etc., which have been useful for starting ideas from time to time. I’m absolutely NOT knocking anyone’s site or resources. They just weren’t doing anything for me.

But despite all that, the vanity of even considering… I mean… seriously? A teacher resource site?

Blogging is one thing – it’s challenging enough, and the time it takes, and never really knowing if it matters, and yet there are your innards, time-stamped and misspelled, for all the world to browse without comment or to ignore while you pretend not to care because you’re not doing it for that, dammit!

At least I’ve heard that’s what it’s like for others. It’s brought me nothing but admiration and adoration across the edu-blogosphere. But I do so try to stay in tune with the little people.

To begin posting 15 years of my favorite lessons, materials, ideas – most borrowed from sources I don’t even remember and modified on the fly no matter how many times I use them – is insane, right? Much of the flavor has to be lost in translation. Too much explaining is limiting, and insulting to teachers perfectly capable of figuring out how to make an idea work in their reality; too little explaining leaves new teachers or those looking to try new things without enough to go on.

Most people already do this stuff anyway, right? Or if they don’t, maybe it’s because there are so many better ways to do it. Or this other reason, or that factor over there, and what about – ?

The reasons it’s a horrible idea are legion. But I moved from a blog to an actual website to allow for the possibility, and for a year now I’ve done only minimal work on that part of things while focusing on wowing the world with my insights, charm, and general lack of decency or shame once I’m riled about something.

But it’s time.

The feeling won’t go away – the gut desire to try it. To go big or go home. Time to put some of those favorite platitudes to the test:

“The Learning Happens in the Struggle”
“Better to be Wrong than to be Afraid”

and

“Irresponsibility: No Single Raindrop Believes It Is To Blame for the Flood”

(That last one is on the wall of my classroom next to several other Demotivational posters I find to be far more true and thus far more useful than the traditional pablum involving bicyclists silhouetted on mountain tops.)

So, as the #11FF have already noticed, I’ve been slightly less active on the tweeter thing and somewhat less prolific in the bloggery as I wrestle with what and how in regards to waxing pedagogical. But it’s gradually being built, and pushed out there.

Help yourself. If there’s something you already know, or already do better, skip it. If there’s anything you like or find interesting, help yourself. If there’s anything you want, it doesn’t hurt to ask. If I have it, I’ll see what I can do. If not, I may know a guy who knows a guy… The plan is to keep adding things as time allows and inspiration dictates. Right now it’s rather minimal – but if I wait until it’s “done” to push it out, well… you know the rest.

If you’re not particularly hard up for the basics, but need something engaging and low-stress to do during or after testing, I’m pretty proud of these document activities.

My only request is that if you use something and it works particularly well, or if you change it in some way that makes it better, or even if you discover a fatal flaw not anticipated by the materials or the instructions, drop me a line. It’s not personal at this point – it’s really just an effort to put some things out there for people to use if and when it’s helpful.

Because how cool would that be?