Break it Down!

I wrestled with the process for a long time of how to implement the Common Core State Standards into a lesson, feeling like the standards severely limited my creativity. Finally I met with my professor and it clicked for me:

Let lessons be driven by standards.

That doesn't limit creativity. In fact, it liberates creativity! The standard creates purpose and direction for content. In this post, we'll break down how to create a lesson driven by a Common Core State Standard.

For example, here is a standard for 9th grade English Language Arts:

Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
(CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.5)

Say what?

Okay, let's break it down.

First of all, find the main verb and you find your objective. Good objectives, and in fact all the Common Core State Standards, are driven by verbs, about what you can DO if you achieve this learning goal.

In this standard, the main verb is "develop."

Next, find the stem, which is the main phrase. The stem is "Develop and strengthen writing as needed." This is your objective, which is much easier to swallow than the whole standard itself. Then naturally one may ask: how does one develop and strengthen writing as needed?

"Plan, revise, edit, rewrite, try a new approach, focus on addressing what is more significant for a specific purpose and audience."

Your lesson plan can focus specifically on several or even only one of these aims mentioned above. You can't expect students to be sailing away with every aspect of this standard within one lesson. But objectives can be revisited again and again.

I personally have found - surprisingly - a liberation in focusing on these standards. I don't feel so lost and adrift in planning a lesson, trying to invent interesting material that might be meaningful.
For example, for the standard mentioned above, the material could be to write an essay, a story, a novel, a research paper, a newspaper article.

Standards are a compass that allow me to actually focus in on where I'm going with my students, then let the journey to that destination be filled with adventure.

So break it down, then build it up.

(click on the image below for a zoomed in view of this diagram of Bloom's Taxonomy)

Golden Purpose

I traveled to India in the winter of 2010. In my travels, I took video snippets of the awe-inspiring sights that I saw. When I got home, I decided to edit these snippets into one video. Sounds simple, right? Well, the project grew and grew, and suddenly I was doing an interview and weaving in the sights and sounds and text...

For a seven minute video I poured in about 23 hours of work. 

I loved it. 

When I finally published that video on YouTube, I was euphoric and also detached. I had done my best. I had learned lightyears about video editing, communication, and my own self. If only two people watched that video, fine. What mattered was that I had learned.

When learning has a purpose, a function, then learning stops being "work" and starts being "inspiration." Madeline Hunter writes in her book Mastery of Teaching that "The human brain learns almost effortlessly when there is a sensible reason to learn" (73). The key word here is "effortlessly." Effortlessness is this sense of ease, lightness, and excitement. There is distinction here that work that is effortless can also be challenging. But when there is a reason to learn, that challenge becomes exciting. 

As a teacher, sparking this inspiration in students to learn effortlessly with excitement is my pot of gold. To do this, students need to feel directed in their learning, that the effort put into their work will be applied to something practical in their lives and others' lives. 

Here are some examples of "authentic tasks for authentic learning:" 

- Learning how to word process and use Adobe Photoshop to create invitations for an event

- Write a children's book about a subject one is studying (the periodic table, figurative language) to be read aloud to children in kindergarten and first grade

- Learn how to apply fractions in baking for a bake sale fundraiser for a school trip

Authentic learning tasks take time and effort to prepare for. Consider your preparation for these tasks a task of authentic learning for yourself. When you plan for these tasks, let yourself get absorbed, lose track of time, let it be effortless and challenging and inspiring. You are preparing to give students a meaningful experience of learning. Your work has purpose. 

(P.S. If you'd like to view my India video, check it out here:

  Welcome to Mayapur)

That Whooshing Sound

I read this quote in 9th grade - it was at the top of a sheet of paper that described the requirements for a research paper. At that moment, at the ripe old age of 15, I realized that my teacher was not being evil by giving me a deadline (gasp!) but actually that if I wanted to lead a life of excellence, I better pay attention to the deadline. 

Deadlines are integral to powerful assessment, from simple exit tickets to 30-page research papers. Deadlines create a sense of urgency and create space for excellence.  

Debra Dirksen, in her article entitled "Hitting the Reset Button," states that assessment methods can "take advantage of quick-write prompts, where students are given three to five minutes to write anything they want about a question or topic. This can be used to gather formative assessment data." 

For example, several weeks ago I walked into a 9th grade English class. Students were busy writing, and a timer was projected to the front of the class. The seconds ticked down. This timer was a simple yet powerful way to let students know exactly how much time they had. This created urgency and allowed for students to become clear in their reflections on a question or topic. 

On the other end of the spectrum, one could assign a 5 page paper to students that is developed over a period of weeks. Without deadlines to assess where a student is at in his or her process, the creative process loses momentum. Does the diagram below feel familiar?

I am sure we've all experienced for ourselves this Creative Process. When we are teachers, we need to set a series of deadlines for students so that that "Mess Around" portion is less, and the green portion of "All the Work While Crying" is more (hopefully minus the "crying" bit). As a teacher, it is imperative to stick to deadlines and also the consequences of when those deadlines are not met. It's a fact of life - students will turn in homework, papers, and projects late, late, late. So set consequences for when students are late.

Deadlines bring out the knowledge and learning that is within a student, whether in a quick-write, research paper, group presentation, or portfolio. Let those deadlines make whooshing noises. And cheer along with a job well done!

Famous for Learning

Two weeks ago I walked into a 9th grade History classroom and noticed the "Homework Wall of Fame." Intrigued, I copied the diagram for this Wall of Fame. Papers were clipped to the wall in clusters, displaying homework that I could tell - even from a distance - was robust. I could see stars in red ink and compliments of "Great Work!"

In the book by William Ayers entitled To Teach, he mentions that "In my classrooms, from preschool to graduate school, the work of my students always adorn the walls. Stories and essays, charts and surveys, big projects and little projects are always in sight" (66). Having student's work an integral part of the learning environment seems to make the focus about the students, the students, the students. This is a place to come, be at home, expand one's mind.

Ayers continues that "[my students] see their work publicly displayed and valued. And they become more present and more visible to me and to one another through the acknowledgement of the products of their thoughts and labor." I took such notice of the Wall of Fame because I saw that indeed, the hard work of students was valued. The classroom is a place to be understood, to be seen, to be acknowledged. Creating an environment where excellence is noted, displayed, and valued, creates an experience that "Yes, I am important. Learning is important."

So those students who want to be famous, maybe all it takes is to dive into their homework.

Ayers, William. To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher. New York: Teachers College, 1993. Print.

The Holy Grail of Teaching

"Nothing deflates a teacher more than bored students." This is the first sentence of an article written by Sam Intrator, a veteran high school and college teacher.

Neglecting the pursuit of powerful teaching is not a bad thing. It's simply deflating. Demoralizing. Boring. Painful. Intrator says that classrooms "can be dynamic settings that launch dreams and delight minds, or arid places that diminish hope and deplete energy." I believe that we have all had personal experiences of both of these scenarios of the classroom.

So as a teacher, really this is about a choice. What experience do I want to create in my classroom? Deflated teaching and deflated learning? Or vigorous teaching and vigorous learning? That's a choice I shall face every day.

I am moved by this experience of Intrator's "Holy Grail" of teaching, which is what he describes as "Moments when I see the collective attention of my students and feel their energy for the subject at hand[.]" He put into words so concretely what I also want to strive for, and I am internalizing this experience of the Holy Grail. I believe it a worthwhile and lifelong endeavor.