Tracking and Writing
I was always a student that wanted to challenge myself with advanced classes. I applied for, and was accepted to, the Honors English program at my high school. This class came with responsibilities but also a lot of advantages. I suppose at the time I only ever focused on the responsibility of summer reading and essays. I never really saw the huge advantage I was given as a writer.
All the way through my education as a writer, being in the advanced classes, I was told I did not need to be taught grammar because I already knew it. Other than learning the basics such as nouns and verbs in elementary school I never had formal lessons on just grammar. I was always encouraged to write my thoughts without much attention to structure and proper grammar.
All of this changed during my sophomore year of high school. I was set to be in the honors class again that year but I had to make a choice with my class schedule. I had to choose between my love of English and my love of music and being in the top band of my school as a sophomore. I chose the band, reasoning that I was taking a creative writing class and I could have my love of writing fulfilled in that way. I was only partially right.
I was the placed into the "regular" English class. In theory we covered the same content in the "regular" class as the honors students did, however the way instruction was delivered varied greatly from the way I was used to. In the non-honors class there was such an emphasis on correct structure, correct conventions, having the rules first before we wrote, when we wrote. We seemed to take more time reading everything aloud than analyzing the literature or writing. We spent time on grammar drills, diagramming sentences. This instruction was saying "you will make these mistakes" I felt judged before I even wrote. My teacher always seemed disappointed in my for my performance in the class. I did not care about diagramming sentences so I didn't work very hard at it. I was constantly not paying attention in class because it was boring to me, there was nothing interesting about it. I started to dislike English, a class that I formerly loved.
After reading through books by Atwell and Christensen I've realized how tracking, particularly the way it was implemented at my school, is unfair to the students that are not in the top track. Students are allowed to connect with the material, it is force-fed because it is "good for them". I wholeheartedly disagree, it is not good for them, it is BAD for them. In one semester I went from A+ honors student to getting Bs in English because I hated the class and its daily diet of grammar force-feeding. If that could happen to a good student, no wonder why teachers lose those that do not have the motivation to learn.
I returned to the honors track my junior year and felt far behind. It took a while to re-acclimate to the honors class. I hadn't had to think about writing, I hadn't been asked to be connected to my writing. It took a while for me to realize my ideas were valid and that if there happened to be an error or something wasn't clear I could edit and revise to make the piece sparkle.
Every student should be an honors student.
All the way through my education as a writer, being in the advanced classes, I was told I did not need to be taught grammar because I already knew it. Other than learning the basics such as nouns and verbs in elementary school I never had formal lessons on just grammar. I was always encouraged to write my thoughts without much attention to structure and proper grammar.
All of this changed during my sophomore year of high school. I was set to be in the honors class again that year but I had to make a choice with my class schedule. I had to choose between my love of English and my love of music and being in the top band of my school as a sophomore. I chose the band, reasoning that I was taking a creative writing class and I could have my love of writing fulfilled in that way. I was only partially right.
I was the placed into the "regular" English class. In theory we covered the same content in the "regular" class as the honors students did, however the way instruction was delivered varied greatly from the way I was used to. In the non-honors class there was such an emphasis on correct structure, correct conventions, having the rules first before we wrote, when we wrote. We seemed to take more time reading everything aloud than analyzing the literature or writing. We spent time on grammar drills, diagramming sentences. This instruction was saying "you will make these mistakes" I felt judged before I even wrote. My teacher always seemed disappointed in my for my performance in the class. I did not care about diagramming sentences so I didn't work very hard at it. I was constantly not paying attention in class because it was boring to me, there was nothing interesting about it. I started to dislike English, a class that I formerly loved.
After reading through books by Atwell and Christensen I've realized how tracking, particularly the way it was implemented at my school, is unfair to the students that are not in the top track. Students are allowed to connect with the material, it is force-fed because it is "good for them". I wholeheartedly disagree, it is not good for them, it is BAD for them. In one semester I went from A+ honors student to getting Bs in English because I hated the class and its daily diet of grammar force-feeding. If that could happen to a good student, no wonder why teachers lose those that do not have the motivation to learn.
I returned to the honors track my junior year and felt far behind. It took a while to re-acclimate to the honors class. I hadn't had to think about writing, I hadn't been asked to be connected to my writing. It took a while for me to realize my ideas were valid and that if there happened to be an error or something wasn't clear I could edit and revise to make the piece sparkle.
Every student should be an honors student.
Color the Blind
How would you describe
The sight of a blue sky
The cool cerulean of the ocean
The deep sapphire eyes
To someone who cannot see it
How could you describe
The look of fresh spring grass
The sweet mint green of a shamrock shake
The tart look of a green apple
To someone who cannot see it
This was an assignment I was given in my creative writing class in high school. We had a student in class, one of my friends from band, that was colorblind. He had never been able to see color. It was such an amazing writing assignment. We were only given the prompt to write so that he could experience what those colors looked like. Our writing could take any form, a poem, an essay, a song... anything. I wasn't writing for my teacher, I was writing for a true audience, one that really needed to hear that message. My classmates and I discovered we had to use the other senses to describe the colors.
This is the type of writing I want my students to do. Something that matters to them. Something with real power, a real audience and real outcomes. Through this assignment my friend was able to experience part of how we see and experience colors. My writing made a difference in the world of someone, outside of being a grade for me on a paper.
The sight of a blue sky
The cool cerulean of the ocean
The deep sapphire eyes
To someone who cannot see it
How could you describe
The look of fresh spring grass
The sweet mint green of a shamrock shake
The tart look of a green apple
To someone who cannot see it
This was an assignment I was given in my creative writing class in high school. We had a student in class, one of my friends from band, that was colorblind. He had never been able to see color. It was such an amazing writing assignment. We were only given the prompt to write so that he could experience what those colors looked like. Our writing could take any form, a poem, an essay, a song... anything. I wasn't writing for my teacher, I was writing for a true audience, one that really needed to hear that message. My classmates and I discovered we had to use the other senses to describe the colors.
This is the type of writing I want my students to do. Something that matters to them. Something with real power, a real audience and real outcomes. Through this assignment my friend was able to experience part of how we see and experience colors. My writing made a difference in the world of someone, outside of being a grade for me on a paper.
What if life were a musical...
My world studies teacher my freshman year of high school brought the idea of using other talents/ intelligences into classrooms. He would always talk about what life would be like if you randomly broke out in song, just like in musicals. We did the usual lecture, worksheet, quiz and test format lessons for most of the class. When we got to the last section on Central/ South America he decided we were going to forgo the worksheets and tests and instead write a musical. We broke into teams based on our interests and talents to create the show. We had writers and song writers. We all did research so that we could create our show. We had to draw on our knowledge of how to write, forms of plays, and musical knowledge.
We really had to understand the material so we could use it, but we were much more willing to learn it because it was something interactive that we were creating. We were going to be showing this off to other history classes. We had so many songs and scenes that truly showed off what we knew. I don't think I will ever forget about drug cartels and Manuel Noriega (which was turned into a song to Parody "Ice, Ice Baby". My teacher's wacky idea and obsession with making life into a musical turned into a really great hands on project. Every student was fully engaged in the project and we all learned, which I guarantee would not have been the case had we continued with the lecture/ test method.
We really had to understand the material so we could use it, but we were much more willing to learn it because it was something interactive that we were creating. We were going to be showing this off to other history classes. We had so many songs and scenes that truly showed off what we knew. I don't think I will ever forget about drug cartels and Manuel Noriega (which was turned into a song to Parody "Ice, Ice Baby". My teacher's wacky idea and obsession with making life into a musical turned into a really great hands on project. Every student was fully engaged in the project and we all learned, which I guarantee would not have been the case had we continued with the lecture/ test method.