When Parents Push Back

It's too bad that we focus on the negative. I've had a successful career so far, and I've received a lot of accolades about teaching writing to middle school aged kids. I don't mean to say that my instruction is perfect, because I can tell you it is not. But I do get students to work hard. One thing I always tell my students is that you get better at something by practicing. If you want to make free throws, practice free throws. If you want to learn to dance, practice. If you want to become a stronger reader, read. And, of course, it follows that if you want to be a better writer...

Write.

Over the years I have given my 6th grade students a lot of opportunity to write stories, narratives, and essays, and I've seen growth.

When parents push back, though, you tend to analyze your existing methods and consider what should be done better. After a particular doozy of a meeting, I unintentionally became more intentional about my teaching of the writing process. The tone of the parent requested meeting was completely negative, and we resolved little. And I wasn't planning on changing things.

But I did.

While I didn't want specific parental comments to guide my methodology when teaching personal narrative, those negative comments stuck with me and affected change.

At the end of the day, parents want what is best for their kids, and teachers should always listen. With writing process criticisms in the back of my mind, my recent writing process instruction approached another level.

I don't know how many of you English teachers out there read ALL your students' papers, but I do, and I've worked out an efficient way of correcting over the years. However, efficiency can breed routine, and routine can give birth to stagnancy.

I am not at the point of stagnancy, but efficiency and routine have become close confidants of mine. Don't get me wrong - I think my lesson plans are ever-improving, but this particular meeting was the wake up call I wasn't expecting.

Enter: Deeper thought when lesson planning for writing instruction.

We have a new resource for writing across the curriculum at our school, and I was able to tap into the Step Up To Writing resource for my 6th and 7th graders for the first time this year. I had planned to study the resource and add depth to my writing even without the parental contact, but our meeting caused me pause, and it allowed me to reflect.

Perhaps I would have reflected on my methodology anyway when I began to teach personal narrative to the students with the Step Up To Writing resource; I would like to think I would have. But I guess I'll never know the answer to that.

Regardless, our personal narratives are done. Now all that's left is the grading.

Taming Your Gaming

Props

This being our first year with 1:1 chrome books, I figured I had the perfect opportunity to initiate a gamified 7th grade English class. As always I owe a debt of gratitude to somebody else and have to give her props. I attended a session led by Megan Ellis last year at Fall Cue 2014 in the Napa Valley, and her resources have been so helpful in my integration of gaming in the classroom.

I didn't want to completely restructure my English instruction, though, so I've been taming the gaming - what is available to students is completely for enrichment purposes.

Level Up
We call our class gamification program "Level Up", and many students have responded positively. When English work is finished in class, students may work on vocabulary lessons, read, take reading quizzes, or work on their blogging or commenting. This year in my class students have the new option to work on "Level Up" activities using their chrome books.

I use Google Classroom to provide the link to our class "Level Up" site www.smore.com/h512w.

XP
Students click in and find more links, but the Bonus XP document lists all the activities students may choose to do to earn points toward rewards. Students are completing online games or lessons for writing, vocabulary, typing, coding, educational video, and more.

XP stands for "Experience Points", you know, like students achieve in video games. Students begin class each day with 5 XP. They must be on time for class, prepared with their materials, attentive, respectful, and actively participating. If this happens, they keep their 5 XP for the day. If not, I note it and write it down. Their citizenship grade for class (5% of the total grade) is based on a percentage of their actual XP for the quarter divided by their potential XP for the quarter.

I wasn't considering this system to work so well for managing my classroom, but the behavioral issues and even the late assignments have decreased significantly since I taught these same students last year - talk about a Bonus!

Above and Beyond
The Bonus XP document previously mentioned gives students the option to go "above and beyond" what's expected in class. They can enrich their knowledge and practice of the English language as well as some tech-oriented activities by clicking into the document and choosing something of interest. They can even watch instructional and educational video and summarize their learning for Bonus XP. These activities have led students to consider what self-directed learning in the 21st century is all about. And this gaming system has led many students to compete against each other for the top spots in the class. Most of these activities were presented by Megan Ellis at our CUE Conference.

Rewards
The top students made it about halfway through our XP chart this first quarter and achieved some mystery rewards available for their incremental efforts. Each Monday for about the first 5 minutes of class we "Level Up" by checking the Leaderboard and moving clothespins along a wire "progress bar" strung in the back of my classroom. For each level passed, students get the new level number written on their clothespin, and they move it back to the beginning of the wire "progress bar" for the new round. One reward is called the "Head Honcho". A girl in my class achieved this goal and was allowed to wear a hat in my classroom all week. Another student earned "The Bottom Drawer" and was able to open the bottom drawer of my desk to find a bag of Halloween candy and choose a piece. So far the secrecy is paying off. Students are beginning to wonder what "The Switcheroo" and "The Black Throne" are, and they realize they won't find out until they've reached that specific level.

Leaderboard
When students complete a Bonus XP activity that is linked on the document, they take a screenshot of their accomplishment, which is saved in their Bonus XP Google Drive folder and then shared with me via a Google Form. The amount of work it takes for this enrichment activity is completely worth it. All I have to do is check the form responses once in a while to view their screenshots with a little bit of final work on Sunday night or Monday morning to update points to the Leaderboard (see below), and voila! the students are ready to start their new week with a bang.

Engagement
One of the fun parts for me is hearing the students talking about their Bonus XP in the hallways, or seeing their anonymous animals popping up on my Bonus XP Google Doc or my Leaderboard Google Sheet.

Seeing students engage themselves in worthwhile educational opportunities while online on their own time is my "Bonus XP". I of course don't achieve any of the mystery rewards for myself, except when my sweet tooth sends me to "The Bottom Drawer" where I keep the Halloween candy. There's still enough candy in the bag for us all.