This I Believe NOW about Assessments

I have read a lot of research and reflected about the topic of assessments since my last podcast.  For the most part, what I believed to be true about assessments was reaffirmed; however, I was enlightened by some new concepts.  

And with that, I present to you my revamped This I Believe Now about Assessments podcast:

The Value of Student Feedback on Blogs

The concept of blogging has become rapidly interesting to me, and when I become very interested in something, I spend hours researching and reading about it.  The countless reading I have done about blogging convinced me that I should integrate blogging into my curriculum because of its many benefits:

- empowers students
- enables students to have a voice that they can't find during classroom hours
- promotes creativity (with writing style and the pictures and links they can add)
- builds stronger writers because their writing is being published
- students can help each other grow as writers because of the commenting feature
- allows for reflection (**ahem- something I learned long after my students had been blogging)

After a few months of student blogging, I decided to categorize my data and conceptualize my findings so that I could make blogging more beneficial for my students and help other teachers who decide to incorporate blogging into their curriculum.  

Here is my research in a presentation format using both prezi and present.me: 
The Value of Student Feedback

Now I'm A Believer...(Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)...In E-Portfolios!

I was once taught that a portfolio is a collection of one's work.  When you think about it, that's true but also so limiting.  Portfolios must be capable of much more than just showcasing one's work.  Why else would we, as professionals, create one or even have our students create one.  There's got to be much more significance attached to the intent of a portfolio - I just never knew what the significance was.  It was not until I watched Hellen Barret's presentation about the possibilities and benefits of student portfolios that I became an instant believer.  Every single young adult and adult should create a portfolio for two simple reasons: we all have a unique story to tell, and we should all participate in reflection.  

In her video "E-Portfolios: Digital Stories of Deep Learning", Barret reveals the limitless potential of not just ordinary, paper-based portfolios, but electronic portfolios.  After all, we are amidst an era in which technology is an integral part of our everyday lives; so it makes sense that our students no longer create paper portfolios, and, instead, create what's called e-portfolios that are done online.  In retiring paper portfolios, we are exposing our students to more opportunities.  Students create more than essays and paper projects; they also create websites and videos and many more media based mediums.  Those forms for media literacies should also be a part of our students portfolios, because our students are creative, well-rounded beings, and they should reflect on all the materials they produce - paper and technology based.

Since our students are unique individuals that have their own story to tell, we need to make sure that, as teachers, we are allowing our students the opportunity to have choice and voice when they create their portfolios.  If we mandate what to include, where to include it, and what to say about it, students will lose their individual identity and they won't be making authentic meaning.  Barret quotes Paulson & Paulson when she says: "A portfolio tells a story.  It is a story of knowing.  Knowing about things...Knowing about oneself...Knowing an audience...Portfolios are students' own stories of what they know, why they believe they know it, and why others should be of the same opinion."  What students know and how they perceive what they know differs from student to student.  What students have also experienced in their lives differs from student to student.  And how students write or create differs from student to student.  As you can see, each student's portfolio should contain different material, and all around look different from their peers' portfolios, because they are all unique individuals.  Just like we differentiate instruction to meet the needs of individual students, our students portfolios should also be differentiated.

Barret suggests that perhaps the most important element of creating a portfolio is the reflection that should take place once students have choice and voice about what goes into their portfolio.  Barret calls reflection the "heart and soul" of e-portfolios because they help our students "think about thinking".  As a result, we should guide our students to view e-portfolios more as a conversation than a presentation.  What does our work say about us?  What do we have to say about our work?  How might our audience perceive our work?  Reflection is ideal and sounds great in theory, but how do we get students to reflect on what they include in the portfolio instead of just uploading artifacts?  Barret suggests having students reflect on their portfolio through blogging.  In this case, the blog should serve as a reflective journal where students can write about their authorial decisions, what they learned, their strengths and weakness, make goals, etc.  Barret maintains that there are really two elements to a portfolio: a working element (where work is viewed as a process and reflection takes place) and a presentation element (where work is showcased).  If you look at a portfolio as just a presentation element, learning does not take place.  John Dewey once said, "We learn from reflecting on experience."  True effort and higher order thinking skills come into play when we ask our students to view the creation of their portfolio as a process that doesn't stop after they hit upload.  Students need to see themselves as an author that has an online presence that communicates their passions.  And the only way our students will see themselves as such is if we have them reflect.  Through their reflection, they will grow as a writer, creator, critical thinker, analyzer, synthesizer, problem solver, etc.  Ultimately, the work students upload to their e-portfolio will undoubtedly become richer because their reflection will push them into new learning territories.

New Media: The Elephant in the Classroom We Shouldn't Fear

The phrase new media is becoming increasingly common.  Administrators, teachers, parents, and society all want our young people to be new media capable.  And they should, as it is a current demand; it is our reality.  Technology is a major part of our world, and if we want our young people to be able to thrive in our world and continue to make changes that better our nation, they should be new media literate.

Because new media is so, well, new (and broad!), it can be quite intimidating.  I say, embrace the unknown; the world is at our fingertips (literally with the internet), and we are therefore capable of learning virtually anything.  Therefore, teachers should embrace new media - research it, learn it, explore it, share it.

New media offers another realm to our students that may just help them learn better than they would with traditional print.  It essentially allows for differentiation, because it enables students to work within a new medium for which they can prove mastery.  Some students really struggle with print; therefore, new media can be the gateway that allows those students to view material differently and create, analyze, or synthesize more effectively.  Imagine this: picture collages or picture videos; podcast or screen cast productions; webpage design; nationwide discussions; blogging; Glogster.  Those are just a few opportunities that new media can provide for our students.

Sure, we have students who love putting pen to paper or holding a book, and that's OK, but what if we could get those same students to love using those same skills but in a different way by using new media?  I think those students may take their learning to a whole new level. Not all students may love using new media.  But the fact of the matter is we need to expose our students to various forms of new media, and allow them to practice and create so that they gain experience.  As students gain experience with new media, they will get more comfortable with that form of media and may even learn to appreciate it, if they don't already.  Ultimately, teachers need to strike a balance between print and new media; both forms provide different opportunities for our students and both are equally important.

Since it's clear new media needs to be an integral part of the classroom like print has been all these years, how do we assess it?  It's vastly different than print, because it has abstract pictures or hyperlinks or new forms of organization, to name a few.  This medium, like print, can be viewed as a work of art.  For example, take a look at this Glogster:



It incorporates text, images, video, color schemes, etc.  How should a teacher assess that?  I imagine another student's Glogster on the Bubonic Plague in the class looks very different than the one pictured.  Doesn't that make assessing the Glogster kind of tricky?  Well, I'd like us to think about an analytical essay or a personal memoir that our students may write.  Doesn't each look different from one another, too?  And aren't those as equally challenging to assess, much like this Glogster?  The fact of the matter here is assessing is tricky business, no matter what you are assessing.

With that said, I'd like to borrow the idea from Madeleine Sorapure that when assessing new media, we must consider some of the same elements we would use when assessing print texts (Between Modes: Assessing Student New Media Compositions).  There needs to be a merge between what we would expect of our students when they write a print text and what we expect of our students in the new medium of media literacy.  There is no magic way to assess new media, and it greatly depends on the medium they are creating.  This link provides basic elements for teachers to consider when assessing new media; I find it to be a good starting place.  I think it should be shared with students, too.  Both teachers and students can use it to start a discussion about the form of new media they will be creating.  Furthermore, it's important to juxtapose that criteria with many examples so that discussion can take place for what makes each effective/ineffective.  That kind of discussion will show students that each decision, like color scheme and layout, is purposeful.  Teachers may even want students to write out a rationale that explains each decision on the form of new media they created.  In doing so, students will make sure there is purpose behind every decision, and it will help you assess their work because it might help clarify.  Eventually, as both you and your students get comfortable assessing and creating new media, the rationales may no longer be necessary.

Teachers Cannot Grade Effort, But They Can Teach Reflection

Assessing a student's effort put forth on an assignment seems justifiable.  Teachers want to ensure their students are working to their fullest potential.  But, is it actually justifiable?  How does a teacher measure one's effort?  Is it even possible?  The answer is no.  A teacher simply cannot objectively measure effort; it is much too subjective.  Rick Wormeli writes that "[w]e don't have a commonly acceptable, legally justifiable, nonsubjective method for measuring how hard or sincerely someone is working.  We can provide anecdotal evidence and list the amount of time and resources students spend on a task, but identifying personal effort levels objectively eludes us" (Fair Isn't Always Equal 108).  

For example, let's consider a classroom scenario: Students are given a journal prompt to complete by the end of class, and their response must be a full page.  Just because one student is only able to write just a couple of sentences while another student is able to write a full page response, does not necessarily mean the student who wrote significantly less exerted less effort.  That student could have taken a while to fully understand the writing prompt, brainstorm, or map out a response.  Or maybe that student chose to daydream about what they were going to be doing after school.  It's impossible to step inside our students' brains and really know what's going on in their head; thus, there is no way to tell just how much effort our students put forth.  Likewise, just because the student who wrote a full page response in a class period does not mean they used their best effort.  Instead, their writing could be superficial, unorganized, unfocused, or underdeveloped, to name a few errors.  Or, maybe despite those errors, that student did put their best effort forth.  Say that student normally writes with ease and does so well, but bombs this journal response because of an aforementioned error, does that mean they didn't exert much effort?  Maybe or maybe not.  Perhaps that student couldn't relate to the prompt or there is something upsetting going on currently in their life.  So, to that student, that was their best effort at the time.  Phew - that's a lot of what ifs!  As you can see, it is impossible for a teacher to really know just how much effort a student exerts when they complete an assignment; there are just too many variables to consider, variables that will never directly tell us an honest answer.

Since effort cannot be objectively graded, how does a teacher hold their students accountable for the effort they put into completing assignments?  Effort is undeniably important. Students should always work hard and try their best, and parents and teachers try their very best to teach those positive behaviors. The answer is to simply teach your students to reflect, a suggestion that Wormeli makes in his book Fair Isn't Always Equal.  Teachers need to help students "reflect on their use of time and the resultant quality of their work" (110).  You can teach your students to reflect through writing or student-teacher conferences, or both.  After an assignment, I think there is much worth in asking students to reflect on the methods they used to complete the assignment; what they can do next time to be more successful; what their strengths and weaknesses were; and set time management goals (or any goals for that matter) or methods they can use to better complete assignments.  Some students just don't realize how little effort they really do put into completely assignments, until they step back and recount the ways in which they completed the assignment.  In having little to write about, some students may realize that they aren't using much effort.  In times when you don't have your students write a reflection of their effort and performance, you can conference with them one on one instead.  Students should be able to hold their head up high and proudly describe their effort to their teacher; it should be their chance to brag.  However, in writing and speaking, there may not be truth to your students' words.  Remember that assessing effort is subjective, even if it isn't worth points.  The whole point of having students reflect is because (a) reflection is a good practice that everyone should do and (b) it helps students to truly realize what they are doing to complete assignments and what they can do to do an even better job - it can help students to keep reaching for better.  And a way to push your students' effort is through discussion, modeling, and constant, helpful feedback.  While grading effort isn't actually justifiable, it can still be taught!

Getting to Know Your Students: The First Step in Differentiating Instruction

Classroom Differentiation is a buzz word often heard in the education world.  It's not a new concept; in fact, most teachers differentiate their instruction without even knowing they are doing it.  Rick Wormeli provides many basic examples of how teachers differentiate - tactics many people probably overlook as being differentiation.  He says: "If your teacher ever rephrased a question; extended a deadline; provided a few extra examples in order to help you understand something; stood next to you to keep your attention focused on the lesson; regrouped the class according to student interest, readiness, or the way students best learned; gave you a choice among assignments based on something she knew about you; or let you redo a test or project if at first you didn't succeed, she differentiated instruction" (Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom 1).  As you can see, all teachers can differentiate instruction, and do, but to what extent are teachers differentiating their instruction to provide optimal educational output for their students?

Tonya R. Moon suggests that differentiating classroom instruction is becoming more important than ever.  She says, "All students must have not only knowledge and understanding of content, but also the capacity to think critically, analyze, synthesize, and make inferences" (The Role of Assessment in Differentiation 227).  

Knowing that, how does a teacher differentiate their instruction to meet the needs of students with varying "readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles" (Moon 227)?  

The first step is knowing your students.  That's a purposefully broad statement.  You should know each of your students academic capability, likes/dislikes, strengths/weaknesses, home life, etc.  Knowing as much as you can about your students helps teachers tailor their instruction to best suit the individual. The more you learn about your student, the more effectively you can differentiate instruction, and that, I've concluded is an evolving process.  I have noticed how I differentiate instruction from the first to second marking period is vastly different.  At the beginning of the year, I use whole class, broad ways of differentiating instruction, such as assignment choice.  Once I learn more about my class and the students that comprise it, I then take steps to meeting the needs of individual students.  For example, how I assess their assignments may differ, or the tools I provide to help students grasp the content being taught may be different from other students.  I am only able to do that once I learn about my students, which is why I am unable to do that at the very beginning of the school year.

The next step to differentiating instruction is going to be unique to each class period and individual student.  So, unfortunately, there is no systematic next step.  Instead, a teacher must take what they learn about their class and individual students and take strides to better meeting the needs of their students.  That may seem daunting, but there are many resources to help a teacher effectively differentiate their instruction.  For example, simply talk to the at-risk student.  Ask them: How do you like to learn?  What has been confusing you in class and why?  Teachers can even talk to former teachers of particular students; use the insight and data they collected last year to help the student be successful this year.  And, finally, utilize your school's literacy coach, reading specialist, and special education department.  More than likely, those instructors know about your student who is struggling in your class and can help you map out a plan to help them succeed.  They may even be able to attend your class for a couple of days to observe and help you put a plan in place.

Remember, it's one thing to provide basic differentiation in our classroom, but it's another thing to really tailor instruction to meet the needs of your individual students. That, I believe, is where the art of teaching comes into play.  Teachers have to have a way of accessing their students so that they can learn about them and effectively plan to meet their needs.  Today's world demands that our young people have the ability to analyze, synthesize, and create, so it's our duty as teachers to ensure all of our students are capable of doing just that upon graduation.

Tie that Red String around Your Finger: This is Something to Remember!

With budget cuts and consolidations taking place, English teachers are forced to have well over 100 students, sometimes even close to 150 students.  If you are unsure of how to react to that number, let me tell you: overwhelmed!  Sure, teachers are granted the opportunity to have many more students (than usual) touch their lives within a single year, but are teachers able to touch the lives of all of their students like they should?  As it is, a teacher's time is thin, and the more students that are added, the less time teachers will have to properly devote to each student.  

You may be wondering why I am specifically targeting English teachers.  Well, I am an English teacher, so I'm speaking from experience, but I also know that English teachers assess student writing more often, and differently, than other content area teachers.  Writing in English class isn't just about providing an accurate account of something or a solid analysis.  It's also about finding your own style as a writer and developing a strong voice, which is all done through experimentation.  In order to develop as a writer, you need to practice -  often.  English teachers who have well over 100 students  have to provide quick and thoughtful feedback -  often - so that their students progress as writers.  It's no wonder many English teachers feel overwhelmed; they are have to treat their students' writing like objects on an assembly line.

So, what's the cure?  Well, duh!  Reduce class size! I know, I know.  That is wishful thinking, isn't it? Well, what do English teachers who suffer from large class sizes do in the meantime?

The answer is simple: namaste.  For some, that is a familiar term that you may have heard during a yoga session.  The word namaste simply means a spiritual greeting.  Christopher Cotton reminds his teacher readers to take a deep breath, relax, and properly greet each student's writing before they begin assessing it in his essay "Namaste: A Spiritual Approach to Grading".  Cotton says, "With grading, the trick is to acquire that attitude that makes it energy-producing."  Before he assesses his students' essays, he says namaste, and with that he bows to each student and is thus able to give them the genuine attention they deserve.  It's easy to overlook and forget that is what our students need from us, a genuine response.  We can't treat them like objects on an assembly line, even if we are pressed for time.  We must remember - and here is where you should put a red string on your finger and remember this - that it is an honor and a privileged to read the words of our students.  When they write to us, many times they are baring their souls, telling a story they have never told before, and our response to what they shared can be life changing.  So, fellow English teachers, when you are feeling bogged down with far too many papers to assess and not enough time to assess them, take a moment to breathe and remind yourself to be thankful - your students have invited you into their private worlds.  Learn from your students and empower them by simply giving them the genuine attention they deserve.  I promise you will gain just as much knowledge from doing so as your students will, and it will definitely make grading your stack of essays much more enjoyable.

Mental Note: I've Been Inspired

This week I read a book by Mark Overmeyer called What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop.  And I was inspired, truly moved to experiment with some of the strategies and ideas Overmeyer suggests, but I can't.  Well, at least I can't right now, but I will some day, when I get a new teaching job! (The search for a new job in my new town is not working out in my favor, but, alas, I must never give up hope!)  Since I can't try out the new "hot stuff" I learned from Overmeyer, I thought I would make a list to serve as a reminder for me and hopefully to inspire some change in your classrooms too!

1)  Assessment should be used all throughout the writing process, whether it's graded or not.  Learning targets need to be made continuously clear, instruction needs to be scaffolded to meet the needs of all students, student growth needs to be monitored, and students need to learn to self-assess.  All of that can take place using formative assessment.  Remember, writing is a process, and students can only move through the process if they get constant and encouraging feedback.  Overmeyer says, "Assessment, when used correctly in a formative way, can empower students and teachers not only to improve but, better yet, to believe in themselves as writers and teachers of writing.  And once students believe they are writers and you believe you are a teacher of writing, any barrier, no matter how imposing, begins to crumble" (7).

2)  Teachers need to set the state for students so that they can succeed.  Each student has an individual stage that needs to be set, and it's up to the teacher to know their students and plan to meet their needs.  We need to "teach the writer, not the writing," and that can be done "if we read their writing because we want to learn and not just grade" (11).  

3)  Overmeyer suggests that "[i]f students have a compelling reason to write, then they tend to write more effectively" (12).  Many students write just for school, and, therefore, they  have a narrow audience and purpose, which is primarily to get a passing grade.  As a result, no passion goes into the writing.  We need to ask ourselves why we are asking our students to write?  How can we broaden their audience and richen their purpose for writing?  Overmeyer gives the example of teaching students how to write persuasively so that they are meeting Standard 5 of NCTE.  The students of his workshop recently got a new school principal.  Students had to write persuasively to their new school principal about something they would like to change about their school.  Students were motivated because they had a strong purpose and an audience other than their teacher, the school principal.  Yes, the principal did receive the letters, and that really excited students because they saw a reason for their writing.  Their purpose for writing went beyond just completing a school assignment and getting a grade; they were writing to make a change.

4)  This seems like a no-brainer, but teach to your current students.  Just because a writing assignment or lesson to teach part of the writing process was successful in the past, doesn't mean it will now.  That doesn't mean you have to recreate all new materials each year; it simply means you need to consider if the assignment or how you plan to teach the assignment will reach your current group of young people.  What was good for one group of young people does not mean it will be good for this group of young people.  Overmeyer suggests three things that we might adjust each year as we give writing instruction: time, topic choice, and talk.
Time: Students can be successful in writing for short periods of time.  Try quickwrites--timed, free-choice, or prompted writings.  They can be used at the start of a lesson to prompt thought, during the middle of a lesson to practice, and at the end of a lesson to reflect.  
Topic Choice: Let students select their own writing topic, or give students a "framed" choice.  A framed choice is one single prompt for which there are many possibilities; students can take the general idea and twist the create their own details so that the writing is still tailored to meet their needs/interests.  
Talk: Engage your students in meaningful talk.  The topics for meaningful discussions will change each year, because you will have new interests and new needs to address in discussion.  The key here is to let students talk it out; you get to know your students, as a result, too.  As you talk about writing, keep a list of what you note as a class (strong leads, strong diction that creates imagery, active verbs, figurative language, etc.).  Ask students what they noticed about what you read as a class. Let them come to terms with what impressed them about the writing.  In doing so, you are teaching your students to assess writing so that they can learn to implement such strategies in their own writing and assess their own writing, too.  You can also formatively assess your students as they discuss writing and provide more direct instruction based on their needs. 

5)  In place of a rubric, try a writing checklist.  Sometimes students will look at a rubric and complete the bare minimum to get a passing grade, but if you use a general checklist, it holds all students accountable for that single component.  Either they have it or they don't, and if they do, they can place a check next to it to signify they have it.  It's also a way of teaching students to self-assess.

6)  Use rubrics meaningfully.  Don't use them just to get a score for a grade book; use them to guide instruction so that students move forward with their writing.  

7)  Allow students to be a part of the rubric-creating process.  Overmeyer suggests that a teacher create a rubric, using detail and language that is suitable for the assignment and their students, then present it to their class, followed by an open discussion.  Allow students to voice their opinions about the rubric--what confuses them, what they like, what they would like to change or add, etc.  In doing so, the expectations become extremely clear for students because they are the creators.

8)  When you read your students work, notice something to praise, look for something to wonder about, and look for teaching points; discuss those points with students individually.  Conferencing with students is hugely  powerful...for students.  Let students talk, and listen to them!  When you listen to your students talk about their writing, you learn about their process, purpose, audience, etc.  If we don't let our students communicate that then how can we help them progress?  We can't.  Verbal conferencing can help clarify a lot so that students are redirected.  It's a form of formative assessment and individualized instruction.

9)  Have students create a "self dictionary", where they keep a running list of words they come across that are new and that they genuinely think they would like to use or could use in their everyday language or writing.  Such a dictionary enriches students vocabulary and makes it meaningful to them.

10)  For each new piece of writing, have students set goals for their writing.  Its OK if they keep some of the same goals as they move on to new pieces of writing.  Overymeyer says, "Goal setting allows students to demonstrate what they know about themselves as writers, and goals aligned with this knowledge can provide opportunities for growth" (58).  Once students have set their writing goals, discuss how they can achieve those goals through individual conferences.  You can even make a general list as a class.  And, to promote reflection, have students write a written reflection on their practice and their achievement. 

11)  This one is simple: not all writing has to be turned in for a grade.  Allow our students enough time to practice.

12)  When students are struggling and are not continuously meeting the standard, share with them what they are doing well, and then make a one improvement goal.  Never label students as unsatisfactory; always convey to them that they are capable.  Eventually, even if the progress is slow, students who are not meeting the standard will meet the standard.  It just takes time, praise, and individualized goal setting to help students succeed.  Don't ever give up on them or write them of as incapable.

13)  Don't just assess students when they reach a standard; assess them as they make strides to meet the standard.  Overmeyer says it best:  "I believe that we can justify passing grades if students are making progress toward a standard--we do not have to just wait until they get there" (87).

14)  Allow your students many, many opportunities to write.  Grade student work according to one or two standards.  If a student doesn't do well on a particular writing assignment, let them provide you with another piece of writing they have done (from the many writing opportunities that you provide) to replace the writing assignment with an unsatisfactory score.  

15)  Teach students that the improve the quality of their writing is more important than the grade.  Again, Overmeyer says it best: "I believe one key to deemphasizing grades is in monitoring the talk in the classroom: If the talk is consistently about writing and the qualities of strong writing, then our message to students is about quality, not grades.  If I choose to repeatedly remind my students how to raise a grade instead of how to improve the writing, then I am asking them to work for the grade and not for the quality" (91).

16)  Establish support in your classroom, a support system that students can seek out when they hit a roadblock in the writing process.  The support can take the form of students or teachers.  Teach your students how to ask each other questions and communicate constructive feedback. 

17)  Read to admire students' work.  In doing so you will pick up individual strengths, topics to begin an individual conference, and the possibility of student work as a model for class instruction.

I Just Don't Know.

You got that right: I just don't know.  That's right, this teacher, the bearer of knowledge, just doesn't know what to think about rubrics.  And, to be honest, up until this week, I never really thought twice about using a rubric in my classroom.  For all I knew, rubrics were sophisticated; I have spent hours in the past crafting rubrics that were organized and specific, yet loose enough for optimal student success.  I was holding myself and my students accountable.  I was showing my students what I expected of them--no secrets.  I was trying to set parameters so that my students felt like they had direction.  All of that sounds really great, right?

Well, herein lies my serious internal conflict.  I read a text this week called Rethinking Rubrics by Maja Wilson who forced me to do exactly what the title of her books says: rethink rubrics.  Go figure!  I literally held the book eagerly in my hands, mouth agape (maybe a bit of drool), as I turned the page in amazement, shock, and agreement.  Wilson reveals to her readers the birth of the rubric, which just so happened to be because of ranking in colleges.  Students needed to be quickly assessed to see how they stacked up to one another for college admission.  That concept was adopted by the creators of the SATs and then the creators of state exams.  Here, the rubric was used to be objective, quick, and, quite frankly, impersonal.  If that's the case then, why do teachers use them in their classrooms?  Yes, we prepare our students to take all of the exams just mentioned, but we're not administering those exams, so why do we use rubrics that push us to rank our students?  Wilson suggests one reason we do is to save time.  Let's face it, English teachers have to grade sometimes up to 150 papers.  And with that many students can also come many battles, from students themselves, parents, administrators.  But, if a teacher uses a rubric that clearly lays out what is expected of students, there is less room to argue.  Right?  Well, that's another idea Wilson proposes.  Wilson also suggests: "All writing teachers grapple with what we value in student writing.  We think we know it when we see it, but how do we articulate our knowing to students?  The rubric attempts to articulate this knowing, and even when we give an overall impression grade, we rely on the rubric to provide a kind of working list of what good writing is...However we map it out, we believe that these lists keep us focused on what we value" (33).  in other words, using rubrics helps to keep teachers focused on what should be assessed and accountable for that content.  Moreover, it stabilizes teachers reactions to student writing so that they are consistent and less subjective.

If those are some reasons why teachers use rubric--some of which may not sound bad to you at all--why is Wilson questioning their use or impact on students?  Simply put: they unnecessarily and unfairly rank students, as well as hold them back.  Wilson suggests that students' writing style cannot be standardized; what each student is capable of is different, and how they present their ideas will also be different.  So how can there be one rubric that can be used for all students?  Just because one student decides to take a risk with unique organization and play with literary devices that may make their writing intent a little less obvious, should they be penalized?  Can they even be compared to the writer that has perfect organization and detail clarity?  What makes one better over the other?  Inevitably, the student who has great organization and detail clarity will score well, because that is what teachers want of their students and what will probably appear on the rubric.  So what happens to the student that took a chance and perhaps had a more sophisticated writing style?  They fail.  Now, is that fair?  While I subconsciously considered that quandary when writing my own rubrics, I never broke it down in such though.  Thus I was stumped when Wilson broke it down for me.  Have I been unfair all of these years?  Have I stunted my students' writing growth?  Did I try to make my students fit a mold?  Of course my first reactions were sheer horror, embarrassment, shame.

Is there a way to make a rubric loose enough to allow for such risks? I think so, and Wilson's counterpart, Vicki Spandel thinks so too.  Herein lies part II of my internal conflict: Spandel is in defense of using rubrics, and I really find value in what she has to say about their use.  So, while I agree with Wilson and value her viewpoints, I feel the exact same way for Spandel, putting me smack-dab in the middle of the good ol' rubric debate.  Spandel says that not all rubrics are alike.  In fact, "Some are vaguely written, shrouded in jargon, more accusatory than helpful.  Some emphasize a formuliac approach to writing or focus on trivia at the expense of substance, and to the extent they influence instruction, this can have devastating ramifications" ("In Defense of Rubrics" 19).  That "sketchy" kind of rubric just described are for the teachers whose primary concern is to score someone's work, according to Spandel.  But there can be instructionally friendly rubrics, rubrics that help students learn about their writing and drive instruction.  Such rubrics teach students to read their work and revise.  Spandel asserts, "Writing is revision, after all.  If we cannot teach students to revise, we cannot, in the truest sense, teach them to write" (20).  If a rubric, however, has students question their clarity, voice, audience, etc., then students are being pushed to write with purpose and skill.  And that can look different for every student.  So perhaps what Spandel is calling a rubric is really a writing guide that urges students to revisit their work and strengthen it.  For Spandel, reading student work and using a rubric is far from impersonal: "Far from becoming robotlike in their response, good readers use criteria as reminders, then look diligently for the tiniest sparks of voice, an unexpected phrase or connection, the trail of the writer's thinking" (20).  To me, that does not sound objective, quick, and impersonal; rather, it sounds subjective, thought-provoking, which may take more time, and personal.

So, have I made strides in solidifying my pedagogical practices this week?  No.  But have I been enlightened and prompted to reflect and reconsider my pedagogical practices?  Absolutely.  While I may not have all the answers, I do know one thing for sure: a teacher that takes the time to consider multiple viewpoints, a teacher that reflects, and a teacher that is constantly revising is a teacher that puts her students first.  I don't think there is one right answer here to whether or not teachers use rubrics.  I think the most important things to consider here are: Are we putting our students first?  Are we allowing them room for individual growth in their writing?

Power = Insight

Give your students power.  Yes, that's right, power.  As a teacher, that may sound a little scary, as any number of things could happen as a result.  But I dare you to give your students power regardless.  Power to write.  Power to reflect.  Power to collaborate.  Power to revise.  When students gain power, they possess ownership over their writing and become intrinsically motivated.  Such ownership and motivation leads to a continued appreciation and involvement in writing.

This week, I learned the key to student empowerment is to let students speak.  Allowing students the chance to speak is a simple task teachers may overlook.  It is simple, but it is also invaluable.  Don Murray, professor and author, writes about the benefit of holding one on one student/teacher conferences in his essay "The Listening Eye".  According to Murray, when he conferences with his students one on one, he is teaching them to be evaluators of their own writing so that they continue to write well beyond their school years.  He wants to teach his students how to read "evolving writing", because writing is a process after all.  During his student conferences, Murray says he listens before he speaks; he allows his students to share their ideas, ask questions, and come to conclusions all on their own before he interjects any commentary.  Murray even goes so far as to say that his students do most of the work during their conferencing time, and he feels sort of guilty as a result.  But I would like to suggest that is a good thing.  Students should take ownership over their learning, that way it is more authentic to them and they are thus intrinsically motivated.  

Let's take a step back, though.  In order to train his students to be critical assessors of their own writing, Murray starts off the year of conferencing with guiding questions that teach students how to question or analyze their writing.  I find these questions to be especially helpful, even though they are simple, and perhaps you will too:

"What did you learn from this piece of writing?"
"What do you intend to do in the next draft?"
"What surprised you in the draft?"
"Where is this piece of writing taking you?"
"What do you like best in the piece of writing?"
"What questions do you have of me?" 

Murray even goes so far as to suggest that conferencing with your students can be the substitute for whole class instruction.  Now that may not be feasible in all classrooms; Murray is a college professor, however.  Then, how can middle/high school English teachers use the power of frequent conferencing in their classroom where there is so little time in a school day?  That question was posed to me, and some solutions were also suggested.  The solutions sounded like no-brainers once I heard them, and I immediately thought: Why didn't I think of that myself?!  So, let me share those solutions with you so that you can help to empower your students.  

(1)  Let students pair up and conference with each other.  I mean, most students do love to talk to each other.  Therefore, having students talk about the strengths/weaknesses/questions they may have of their own paper with each other allows students to have a focused discussion.  It also promotes collaboration, which is an invaluable skill to have in the real world.  Once students have conferenced with each other, individually invite pairs to see you to report what they have discussed.  Doing so holds students accountable for the time they spent discussing their writing.  As students report back about their conversation, you as the teacher can help problem solve any issues that your two students couldn't figure out together.  Ultimately a student paired conference allows for student collaboration and time cut in half with teacher conferencing.  Essentially you are teaching your students how to ask each other questions and partake in a discussion that would be very similar to the one you may have with a student one on one.  Win!

(2)  As you are reading student writing, write questions that prompt students to think more critically or consider an alternative, for example.  I'm sure most teachers do that already.  But here is something new to try: Have students answer your questions in a written response.  Then students' written responses can be used to help them revise their draft.  In having your students write a written response to your questions, you know they are considering the questions and working toward enhancing their writing.  As always, if your guiding questions, which are questions you would ask during a one on one conference, throughout your students' writing promotes confusion, while students are writing in class, you can pose one on one conferences with students who need extra support or clarification.

(3)  While students are spending time writing or revising in class, call one student up at a time for individualized conferencing time.  As students are busy working, you can give individualized attention.  What I have done in the past is review my student's paper rather quickly and have them read a paragraph or two aloud.  We then discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the excerpt, and what questions they may have.  I even extend the conversation to discuss what is the purpose of their writing and who is their intended audience and whether or not that comes across as clear and how to then improve it if not.


Now that I've suggested some ways to incorporate conferencing into your classroom, what are some ideas you have?  What strategies have you used that have proven to be successful?

Is There Such a Thing as too Much Writing?

The question is: how much writing should students be doing in school?  I think the simple answer is: a lot.  Based on my own beliefs and the beliefs of Linda Rief, teacher and author of Inside the Writer's-Reader's Notebook: A Workshop Essential, writing teaches students about themselves and enlightens them about the world around them.  So if writing is a portal for such knowledge, then why should it be limited?  

I questioned this week if it's a good idea for students to keep a W-RN notebook in all subject areas.  At first, I thought students may be overwhelmed by all the writing they would have to do in all content areas and begin to hate writing, if they didn't already in the first place.  After some contemplation, I realized that it really wouldn't be overwhelming for students, because how each content area teacher uses the W-RN would be different.  Rief suggests that the notebook can be used for "recording data, collecting facts and questions, making predictions, sketching observations, planning labs for experiments and solving problems, conducting interviews, researching issues for an inquiry project, working out cause and effect, and gathering evidence and researching conclusions" (26).  As you can see, how the W-RN can be used is universal; and what's great is that the suggestions Rief provides are just her own ideas for how other content area teachers can use a W-RN.  I would be really curious to see how each department and each grade level within each department would utilize such a notebook in their classroom.  Based on the evidence Rief provides, students begin to notice the world, make connections, ask questions, and participate by thinking as a result of using the W-RN (35).  Isn't that at least part of the goal for each class a student takes in school?  

After I determined that writing should be done as often as possible, and in every class, I then thought about how that would impact teachers.  I know for a fact that some teachers do not assign much writing in their class for the simple fact that they cannot grade it all.  While teachers want to put their students needs first by assigning a lot of writing, if a teacher cannot turn those writing assignments around quickly and hand them back to students for them to self-assess and grow as readers, writers, thinkers, then that is really not putting students first.  If anyone has taught before, they will know that there are simply not enough hours in a day to accomplish what a teacher needs to accomplish.  Grading writing assignments frequently is next to impossible.  Or so teachers may think.  Rief thinks otherwise, though she does admit that she is only human and can grade only so much in a day.  As a result, Rief created a solution to grading over 100 W-RNs.  Since the writing done in W-RN is first-draft thinking, a teacher should not spend time correcting every single error they notice in their students' writing.  That is a task that takes up a lot of time and is unnecessary for the kind of writing done in a W-RN.  Instead, Rief suggests nudging students' thinking through comments, suggestions, and questions.  In fact, in reviewing samples of her students' W-RNs, Rief uses a mix of symbols and written comments.  She uses checks and pluses to show students when their thinking is especially profound or interesting.  Sometimes a simple symbol is all students need in order to know how to progress, and using symbols certainly does make reading and grading student writing go much faster.    Another strategy Rief uses when grading her students' W-RN is not grading them every day or even every week.  Rief collects her students' W-RN every two weeks.  She assesses each student's notebook based on quantity (did they submit an entry every day and add to their vocabulary bank) and quality (thoughtfulness and thoroughness of an entry.  However, Rief asks her students to pick one entry that they want her to grade for quality work.  Rief maintains that in asking students to read over their own work and select the entry they are most proud of, she is taking them how to self-evaluate.  I love this idea!  Students should be able to assess their own work and determine what is strong and what isn't and why.  Plus, it slightly removes the subjectivity of quality grading because (a) students are selecting it and (b) they are selecting it because it's something they did really well.  Now, I do have one problem or question with that method.  Since students know that only one entry of their W-RN is graded for quality every two weeks, what about those students who don't put much effort into the other entries because they know they only have to select one to be graded?  Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the notebook?  I feel that is a kink I will need to work out when I implement the notebook in my classroom.  

Ultimately, I love the purpose of a W-RN.  Rief notes that W-RN "give students a place to be personal, individual, and real as they take notice of their world...it [also] allows them choice, time, and practice with regard to writing and reading" (3).  I really appreciate how the W-RN is differentiated and individualized.  Each student of ours is different-different experiences, likes/dislikes, views, etc., and each student can capitalize on their own interests.  Choice is powerful for students.  As a result, all areas of discipline in a school should find a way to utilize a W-RN in their classroom.  The first step is collaboration!

Each School's Curriculum Needs to be Made Rich with Authentic Assessments

This week I really contemplated the following questions: 

Does "teaching to the test" ruin the integrity of education?  But what about schools who don't teach to the test- are those students prepared to take the state test that dictates the rest of their schooling career or if they can even graduate?  What is the difference between instruction that teaches to the test versus instruction that does not teach to the test? 

These questions are just a few droplets of water from the monsoon that came barreling in this week- shaking me up, weathering me, breaking me down- so that I could thinking more clearly about the difference between authentic and objective assessments.  

What did I learn as a result of my research?  Objective assessments have no place in a Language Arts classroom.  I realize that is a bold statement, and some may disagree with my assertion, but let me explain why I feel confident enough in making that claim.

For starters, every teacher should read Authentic Assessments for the English Classroom by Dolgin, Kelly, and Zekha, because it contains a few really good ideas for how to implement authentic assessment in the classroom.  Though it only contains a few ideas, each idea is thoughtfully developed with explanations, reactions, examples, and materials to get teachers started.  Furthermore, the ideas present in this text serve as starting points, or forms of inspiration, for which educators can create their own unique, authentic forms of assessments.  Really, that's the whole point of this text: to enlighten and inspire.  And this text did just that for me.

"We want better for our students.  We do not want our students to be known simply as a level on a state exam- we want them to be more, and we believe in the research and theories that argue alternative and authentic assessments lead to high standards" (Authentic Assessments 77).  That statement gives me goosebumps.  As a teacher, my students will never be just a number or a label, and I will always strive to have my student meet high standards through a curriculum that is rigorous and applicable to their lives.  Throughout my experience as a teacher, I have yet to see how the state exam is real-world applicable for students or how it's even an accurate measure of student knowledge.  State exams predominately have multiple choice type of questions where there is only one right answer.  Well, not all students can choose the best- the one- right answer because they can argue for more than one answer.  And why exactly is that a bad thing?  It's not.  When a student wants to argue for more than one right answer that means they have a voice, and when students have a voice in class and on their assessments they are reaching higher standards.  In the real world, people need to have a strong voice that is active with convictions.  To me, having a strong voice that is filled with reason helps to determine one's knowledge.  As a result, the state tests do not accurately measure student knowledge, as I've said in past blog posts, because not all students can take objective assessments well.  Just because a student does not test well on a state exam does not mean they are a poor reader or that they are truly below basic or basic; it could simply mean that in order for that student to thrive, they need to be given an authentic form of assessment, one where they an use their voice.  

As I have already alluded to, administering objective assessments remove students' voice, and, as a result, students lose the ability to critically reason.  Wow.  Taking a multiple choice test seems too easy, almost like little effort goes into it, unlike writing an essay or giving a speech or creating a Glog or putting on a drama skit.  It's no wonder many students would rather take an objective assessment.  Education, with the state exam and teaching to the test, has taught students to become lazy.  Our students do not care to have a voice, and they probably feel that way because they do not know what they are missing.  

It's obvious that state exams aren't going to be abolished anytime soon, so what can we do to rectify the disaster they have created for our students and in the classroom?  For starters, get rid of objective assessments in the Language Arts classroom and create authentic forms of assessment instead.  Teachers need to convey to their students that learning is much more than learning how to take a test.  Teachers need to ignite a passion for learning and help students find all of their lost voices.  Teachers need to help prepare students to become active members in society.  Teachers can do all of that by not teaching to the test and including authentic forms of assessment.  And for those of you who are still skeptical about whether or not our students will pass the state exam if we don't teach to the test, don't worry.  The state exams are not rigorous.  If teachers help students find their voice and prepare them to be active members in society through other varied, authentic forms of assessment, students will undoubtedly pass the state exam because they are going beyond the standards of the exam.  

Authentic assessments are assessments that are varied and ask for student interpretation and voice.  Because authentic assessments are varied, that means they can take many different forms.  The text Authentic Assessments, as already stated, offers a few ideas to help teachers get started with creating authentic assessments in their classroom.  I really liked how on pages 65-68, the text outlines how East Side High School administers an end-of-the-year assessment.  Most teachers give an objective assessment that is cumulative.  However, East Side has students use what they have learned all throughout the year, using various concepts, themes, and texts, and apply it to their grade level's end goal: "to have students feel empowered to use their own voices to write and speak about the world around them" (65).  The phrase "end goal" is key here.  Authentic Assessments introduces the concept of backwards planning.  Consequently, East Side created their end-of-the-year assessment first, and then planned for how they are going to get students to reach that end goal.  What I love most about their end-of-the-year assessment is that students have a choice.  Students can do any of the following: write a short story that focuses on a community leader; choose a genre (tv show, poem, song, letter) to create a revolutionary message that targets an issue; write a persuasive speech about injustice; create an enact a theatrical performance; or partake in a testimonial project.  In order to complete any one of those assessments, students have to use information from the texts they have read throughout the year, consider the concepts learned, and reflect back on class discussions or projects.  Students can illustrate their mastery of the knowledge without having to answer a multiple choice test.  Instead, they can choose how they want to express their knowledge that best suits their abilities.  Now that's authentic and differentiated.

Now I end this post with questions for you to consider:  

What is your subject and grade level end goal?  Does it help prepare students to become active members in society?  If so, how?  How are you going to get your students to achieve that end goal?  How can you incorporate authentic assessments into your instruction so that students are challenged and form their own voice as a unique individual?

Are School Districts Using Formative Assessments Correctly?

I kind of always knew, but had recently reaffirmed, that formative and summative assessments work well together...you know...like pb&j (sorry for the cliche).  In all seriousness, that cliche is very applicable. Some teachers only eat peanut butter on their sandwich.  If we apply that to assessments, we can say that teachers that only apply peanut butter to their instruction create a learning environment that is too sticky and suffocating for students, meaning they only use a series of summative assessments in their classroom.  Teachers really need to add the jelly in order to balance out the stickiness so that students don't feel trapped, unable to move forward.  

Let's back up a bit.  What is the difference between formative and summative assessments?  How teachers use the results from the assessments they give in class determines if the assessment they assigned is formative or summative (Chappius 15).  Formative assessments are used to help prepare students for summative assessments; they are used during the instructional process to help all students build knowledge.  According to Laura Greenstein, teachers should use formative assessments to adapt instruction, track student achievement, challenge appropriately, promote student improvement, and enable students to self-assess (16).  Summative assessments, on the other hand, determine how much learning has occurred and whether or not a student has mastered the material; they help issue a student a grade for which the student will receive on the assignment.  You can view summative assessments as an assessment of the learning (Chappius 15).  

There is so much value in formative assessments, and they should not be left out of instruction.  Formative assessments help convey to students that perfection is not always expected, and it specifically show students where their weaknesses lie so they can map out a plan of action for improvement.  Probably the most important element of formative assessments is that it is student centered; they are mostly helpful for students (not just teachers) because students are tracking their progress and reflecting on it so that more learning can take place.  If teachers did not build in formative assessments in their instruction, I'm not sure students would be granted the ability to self-reflect and goal set, and don't teachers want our students to do those things?

But what I would like to ask is, does the state of Pennsylvania and its schools use formative and summative assessments correctly?  Many districts administer tests, such as benchmarks, to gather data and help students prepare for the Keystone exam, which they consider to be formative assessments.  But are they really formative assessments?  Are teachers being given the data right away to help drive instruction and help students to create individual goals for improvement?  I'm sure some districts can answer yes, but certainly not all.  For the districts that answer no, what is the point in administering such a test?  Are they using it just to expose students to a test similar to the Keystone test?  What is the benefit of that?  Since the Keystone tests are not going away, teachers need to use those test prep tests formatively.  Students need to see value in those assessments; they need to see that they account for something and really do have a part in their learning process.; they need to ultimately know that those tests are not a waste of their time.  The power of correctly  using formative assessments with test prep is in the district's hands, so it is up to them to help their teachers use the data from those tests to drive instruction and help our students succeed.

Are We Putting Our Students First?

It is common practice for most teachers to ask themselves the following: What skill(s) do I want to teach my students, how do I want to teach it, and, then, how do I assess it?  Answering those questions is part of the planning process, a process in which students should definitely be involved.  In a recent article I read called "Knowing Your Learning Target" by Moss, Brookhart, and Long, it suggests that "unless all students see, recognize, and understand the learning target from the very beginning of the lesson, one factor will remain constant: The teacher will always be the one providing the direction, focusing on getting students to meet the instructional objectives" (66).  If the teacher is the one always providing direction, then students aren't actively involved, and thus aren't learning, because they are just focusing on the words of their teacher and are too busy figuring out what they are learning and why they are learning it.  As I was partaking in discussion this week, it was suggested that to really involve students in their learning, there should be whole class learning targets for which the teacher creates and shares with their students and then student created learning targets that specialize learning even more for them.  In order to have students create their own learning targets, they first need to really understand the teachers, so that is where open dialogue is really key.  Teachers need to explain to their students why what they are learning is important and how it can help them in the real world.

While I and many others can attest to the fact that no two students are alike and deserve varied learning targets, instruction, and assessment, the state of Pennsylvania does not seem to be on board.  The Keystone exam does not embrace students as individuals; rather, it is one form of assessment that assesses the same standards for every student.  I have recently learned that, that kind of assessment is an industrial/behaviorist (i/b) model of learning an assessment from the article entitled "The Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture" by Lorrie Shepard.  According to Shepard, with that kind of assessment, students are given specific standards for which they must master at a given level with each student taking the same kind of test.  Well, that just seems unrealistic and unproductive, and the results of the assessment would be seriously flawed.  In today's society, people engage in discussion, they create and design, they problem-solve.  How can the state give our students an assessment that does not (a) align to students individual learning abilities and (b) does not align to the real world?

As a result, education needs to move beyond an i/b form of assessment and, instead, embrace a social-constructivist (s/c) model of learning and assessment.   With an s/c model of learning, learning is "authentic and connected to the world outside of school" which makes learning more interesting and applicable for students, as well as motivate them to use the skills they are learning in real world settings (Shepard 7).  In order for teachers to impart s/c type of learning in their classroom, they must create assessments in which students are illustrating higher order thinking skills and are problem-solving.  And a good way to get students to the point where they are critical thinking and problem-solving is to engage them in discussion.  There is tremendous power behind socialization.  Students need to "become accustomed to explaining their reasoning and offering and receiving feedback about their developing competence" (Shepard 10).  When students socialize with each other, they develop strong convictions due to their critical analyses; they learn how to defend their own beliefs and challenge others;  and they learn when challenging others beliefs how to provide solutions to the problems they deem present with their peer's beliefs.  This form of learning is authentic and real world applicable, which is nothing like the Keystone assessment.  So the question is, how should the Keystone assessment be altered to embrace an s/c model?  Should the test be abolished altogether and leave the learning and assessment up to each school and their teachers?  To help drive our answers, we need to think about what's best for our students, and I can't help but think that right now, the state of Pennsylvania is not putting our students first.

This I Believe about Assessments

I was recently asked to produce an NPR "This I Believe" podcast about assessments, and I thought I would post it here to share with everyone.

Enjoy :-)

A Formal Introduction

While I have had this blog running for a few months now, I have never formally introduced myself, aside from the information in the "About Me" section and what you could muster about me in my blog posts.  So, let me tell you a little more about me:

My name is Laura Wood, and I currently live in Warren, PA and teach at Bradford Area High School; however, I will only be teaching there for two more weeks, as my husband's job has relocated us to the Hermitage/Grove City area.  We just closed on a new home in Cortland, OH yesterday, as a matter for fact! The very act of resigning from my job was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life thus far; I loved my job and district, despite the many annoyances (most of which are with public education in general).  January 20th is my last day as a Sophomore English and AP Language & Composition teacher at Bradford Area High School, and as of January 24th, I will officially live in Ohio (very close to the PA border).  Please bare with me, everyone, as this will be an emotional time for me.  The thought of not seeing young people every day, interacting with them, teaching just tears me apart inside.  I hope and I pray that I land another teaching job in the near future...or even again (yes, I realize that is me being dramatic!).

To back up a little bit, I started off as an English major at Penn State in 2004 and graduated from that University in 2007 with a B.A. in English.  I then moved back home to the Pittsburgh area and enrolled in the PY program for English Education so that I could become certified to teach English.  Much to my surprise, I got hired immediately at Bradford High, which was great because my then boyfriend, now husband, had just gotten a job near Bradford.  Everything was bliss, fate even.  I have been teaching at Bradford Area High School for over four years, and throughout my time as a teacher there, I rewrote the Sophomore English curriculum and created and implemented a new AP course for my school district, AP Language & Composition (as well as direct a few school plays and participate in other various extra curricular activities).  Creating that new course was one of the most challenging tasks I endured, but it was all so worth it.  I am so proud of my students and myself for what we have accomplished in the two and a half years I have taught that class.  I am also proud to say that my students score above the national average overall on the AP exam, especially in writing.  My AP students and I become a tight-knit family that really pushes and supports each other to succeed and be/do better, which is why we have done so well in the past.  I will truly miss that baby I birthed at Bradford High!  I just hope that I can deliver a new AP baby at another school district some day.  

I had always wanted to obtain my MEd in English Education, but getting hired as an English teacher right away and then creating a new course at my school district stunted that plan.  I rarely had "me" time, and I'm the kind of student that must give 110%.  It was not until this fall that I felt like I could pick up and finish my MEd.  I will officially have my MEd this summer- yay!  I love setting and accomplishing goals; it feels so good!  Since I no longer live in Pittsburgh, I will be completing my MEd online, which has been a pleasant experience thus far.  I like being able to complete each weekly module at my own time and at my own pace, instead of meeting at a specific time each week.  And the dialogue between students is still as rich as what you would find in a real-life classroom.  All it takes to create a fruitful discussion are people who care, both professors and students, about being life-long learners.

I value being a life-long learner.  Even after I finish my MEd, I will not be done with school.  Well, being a teacher means you sign up for a life of life-long learning because you must continuously master content.  But, aside from that my future plans my include obtaining another masters or my PhD, or maybe I will just take classes here and there or educate myself.  I just really value learning.  And because I value learning so much, I read- a lot- and I love to travel.  

I also value the small things in life.  I am your stereotypical girl that loves fashion: jewelry, shoes, clothes, handbags.  It kind of drives my husband nuts.  He sees me online shopping often.  When I moved from Pittsburgh to Warren, PA, shopping at malls immediately stopped because there just weren't any malls in Warren, PA.  If I wanted to shop, I had to drive over an hour to Erie or Buffalo.  That just wasn't always practical.  As a result, I became a really good online shopper.  Seriously.  I often wonder if I could make it as a personal shopper.  Don't worry, people, there is much more to me than just shopping!  I also enjoy many outdoor activities- hiking, biking, kayaking- because staying physically fit is very important to me.  My husband and I also love to renovate our home; and since we just bought a new one, that means we have a whole slew of new projects to complete!  We envision completely remodeling the deck and kitchen, putting in new floors, adding crown molding, etc.  We also love gardening together.  My husband's parents were a golf course Superintendent and Master Gardner, so we've picked up those skills from them.  I can't wait to redesign the interior and exterior of our new home.  

While my husband and I do not have any children yet- we're hoping to be blessed with them some day; it just hasn't happened for us yet- we do have two cats that we absolutely adore and view as our children.  Levi is a male ginger, and Abby is a female calico.  You will see Levi as my profile picture.  He is SO photogenic!  I feel bad that most of my pictures consist of Levi and not Abby.  Abby moves too much and just doesn't like to pose for the camera.  Despite that, she is such a sweet cat. I mean it.  She doesn't have a mean bone on her body!  To catch a bug, she will calmly lift her paw and gently place it on top of the bug, not even killing it.  And she doesn't catch mice either; she plays with them...like hide-and-go-seek kind of playing!  Our cats are special creatures.  My husband has taught Levi to sing with him and say Mama.  We both grew up with dogs, and we never thought we would love our cats as much as we love dogs.  Our cats make it easy though, because they are so personable, and, quite frankly, they act like dogs!  They always greet us when we get home, they come when called, and they follow us are incessantly.  Needless to say, those two cats are the apple of our eyes!

I'm sure you have gained some insight about me from my previous post, and I'm sure you have an even better idea of who I am now.  I will continue to share more about me and how I feel with each new blog post.  Enjoy! :)