Last week I met with a colleague to help her plan the first semester of her Algebra class; we both participated in an Understanding by Design (UbD) course earlier this summer, so we were on the same page with our language and mindset around backward planning. It was the “Essential Questions” that really moved our thinking forward; we know these are important (critical really) while teaching, but, once you are in the daily mode of teaching, these are the questions that are difficult to keep in perspective. For this reason, they must play in a role in daily planning and daily classroom conversation with students.
Its interesting that sometimes when students ask the “Essential Questions” in class it is looked upon by some as disrespectful, perhaps even insubordination (and this can depend on the delivery of the question by the student): Why are we learning this? Why should I study Algebra (or insert any subject here)? I have seen highly effective teachers take this question as an opportunity and invitation to move students' thinking (and investment around the content) further.
It is critical that teachers not only anticipate these questions, but also ask them before the students do. As teachers, we must be ready to answer the “Why” questions around the content and subjects that we teach. This is one of the great qualities of the UbD template; it suggests you lead with these questions while planning, so that the assessments and learning activities are aligned with the essential questions and understandings.
All of this late Friday afternoon processing last week, led us to thinking that a “Why Project” should be created to help and support teachers in asking and answering these big questions. The great thing about answering questions like “Why should I study Algebra” is that there are a multitude of right answers…
A senior passage is a presentation of a student’s final demonstration of learning at Denver Academy; students are required to show an understanding of their learning profile, learning history, connections to specific academic content areas they have studied and strategies they will incorporate in future learning to be successful.
“I always loved the content of books and stories when I was growing up; everyone around me seemed to have it easy with reading; for me it was just that the reading of the actual words got in the way. I loved the stories and often stayed up all night listening to audio books; I didn’t know then that I had dyslexia.”
“When I was younger and my mom was reading with me, she would fall asleep and I’d say, ‘Wake-up Mom, I want to know what happens next.'”
On having dyslexia:
“This doesn’t mean I don't want to read, its just going to be more difficult for me when I’m first learning how to do it correctly. I’m still working on fluency and still really need tools that will help me. Like in construction, you have to have the right tool for the right job.”
This student’s insight is exactly what a passage hopes to capture: a self-reflection and understanding of learning as well as a plan and motivation to move forward. I think these quotes are so powerful because they challenge the notion that the student is not reading because they don’t want to read. Often an undiagnosed reading disorder can represent itself like a misbehavior or discipline issue in a classroom. The ability to get to the root of the question, “What is the reason for the behavior,” is critical. Then instead of punishment or negative consequences, a specific learning plan can be developed to move the learner from struggling to successful.
It is graduation season.
During this morning’s graduation ceremony at Denver Academy, a parent said something that resonated deeply with me. During our conversation, I shared that graduation is one of my favorite days in education. It is one of those rare moments that education briefly stops being process and is an event. We pause and acknowledge student accomplishments with a big ceremony of music, speeches and diplomas. There are of course on-going celebrations of learning throughout a student’s school year; I think few would argue with the statement that for the HS student, graduation is the biggest of those celebrations.
At Denver Academy, each student selects a faculty member to speak for him or her during the ceremony. For the faculty this is a great honor; just prior to the students receiving the diploma, the teacher or staff member says a few words that range from advice to short remembrances of times spent together (a few of my speeches are copied below). The intimacy that this brings to the ceremony is truly extraordinary. I also like this tradition very much because it is reflective of the learning that happens on our campus and the value of the teacher/student relationship.
So for this reason, I am fond of saying that graduation day is one of my favorite days at Denver Academy. As I shared this with a parent today who’s son had just graduated, he paused for a second and said, “This is a great day, but you know what, the best day at Denver Academy for us was when we found this school.”
Other parents standing in the group agreed. I was humbled.
This morning’s graduation was also filmed; as soon as this video is available, I will post some clips here in an effort to provide visual evidence of this most amazing day.
Examples of Speeches:
For Branden:
Branden and I got to know each other through journal writing. I knew of course who he was prior to our letters, but it was in the exchange of letter writing that our conversations entered a new dimension. In one rather now famous letter, he wrote about his love of hockey and being in the zone during a game where everything seemed to be like watching a movie. So here is my last letter to you as a HS student: Dear Branden, Your life is a movie and you are the star; you’ve seen glimpses, even replays, out-takes & bloopers.
Over the last four years you’ve taken more ownership of your script, more mindful with your selection of settings and aware of your angles and blocking.
Now you are moving to the position of full-time director. Parents will continue to help with production and consultation, friends will continue to play strong supporting roles; I’ll happily move to key grip or whatever you need. I encourage you to assemble a strong supporting cast at Boise State and stay true to the mantra you shared last week during your senior presentation. You remember this; the letter on the back of that old Nashville Skyline record.
That was a great moment, as you were reading Johnny Cash’s words, you also seemed to be channeling Bob Dylan:
“You can be incredible without being anyone else.” I can’t think of a better truism than that.
Go be yourself Branden and you will be incredible.
For Michael:
In the opening lines of a long & on-going story that Michael has been working on for a number of years, he wrote:
“This book begins, as many interesting things do, with an explosion.”
Thinking back to when I first met you, as a visiting 8th grader, that’s a fairly accurate description of our encounter. But the explosion was not one of billowing, deep, black smoke…
Michael is an explosion of absolute brilliance: actor, artist, stop-motion filmmaker, clarinet player, ballroom dancer, stand-up comedian, writer, deep thinker, and dedicated advocate for a more creative and honest existence.
Along with committing countless hours to our theater department, Michael has also been part of a student panel that has traveled across the state to educational conferences sharing his story of learning and promoting understanding in the field of cognitive diversity.
At a workshop a few months ago I used the word revolution to describe the innovative strategies and passionate stories he was sharing.
In classic Bilker form, he politely interjected:
Mr. Ernewein, revolution implies something is spinning around, going in circles and coming around again; I think what we are talking about here is evolution.
And I knew you were referencing your favorite author Terry Pratchett…right,
“Don’t put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That’s why they’re called revolutions.”
At that moment the student became the teacher.
I put my faith in you Michael; simply put, you make the world a better place.
Since my first days in the classroom, I have always had a very liberal, broad-brush stroke definition of literature and literacy. I found this necessary, as many of the students I worked with did not have positive or successful experiences with traditional forms of literature. Not to discount Shakespeare’s plays, Hemingway's novels or Plato’s dialogues (I am a big fan of all of them), but leading with this material seemed to be utterly counterproductive with reluctant learners and students who had not had meaningful experiences interacting with these forms of literature.
So I started my lessons with music, reading, analyzing and listening to current popular music as well as writing that isn’t commonly found in literature books or traditional syllabi: comics, news articles, editorials, student poetry and magazine articles. Even as we were reading Berkeley Breathed and trying to figure out what Bill the Cat was really saying, the end goal was to move the love of reading and literature higher on their list of priorities.
I was reminded of this today while visiting two highly creative and innovative teachers at Denver Academy. As part of their fourth quarter literature unit, their classes collaborate using Literature Circles and graphic novels. Along with the daily responsibilities of reading, discussing and writing, part of the final project is creating a short movie trailer for their book. During this presentation they also have to answer the question, “Does a graphic novel have literary value?”
As I was watching the presentations, I also read a few of the essays the students wrote as part of the project. Here is an excerpt from a 9th graders essay:
Many students have difficulty reading or don’t find pleasure in reading. Even in my own childhood when I found reading to seem boring until my mom bought me the Captain Underpants graphic novel. I found them to be more engaging with the pictures to go along with the story. My mother was so pleased to find me reading on my own. I tied my own underwear to my head and ran through my house yelling, “Captain Underpants to the rescue.” It was one of my first connections to reading.
From Captain Underpants to Captain Ahab, I am confident that honoring students’ interests and readiness levels are among the most critical steps we can take to make literature more accessible and enjoyable for all students.