Fact, belief, bias, and opinion

In 8th grade English in Utah, the core curriculum requires we teach students to

1. Infer meaning from explicit information in text.
2. Distinguish fact from opinion.

I enjoy teaching students to comprehend informational text because it opens up such a wide range of possible topics. Usually, I ask the students to find their own texts about an issue that is pertinent to them.

With my Honors classes, I extend the requirements to cover distinguishing between fact, opinion, belief, and bias. We create a matrix, and plot the characteristics of each. The longest part of the discussion is when we debate fact vs belief: facts and beliefs are both "true," but only facts are provable. I think this is the part of the curriculum that pushes their thinking the most, because they have to define the concept of "true."

Next year, I will definitely incorporate this segment from NPR: "Belief in Climate Change Hinges on Worldview." It's not about climate change so much as about fact, belief, and bias.

"People tend to conform their factual beliefs to ones that are consistent with their cultural outlook, their world view," Braman says.

"Basically the reason that people react in a close-minded way to information is that the implications of it threaten their values," says Dan Kahan, a law professor at Yale University and a member of The Cultural Cognition Project.

I think reading this article, coupled with creating the matrix, would be a great opportunity to develop the students' metacognition- can they think about their own thinking?

Students in my Honors class tend to be more knowledgeable about current issues because they have these conversations at home, but they aren't necessarily more open-minded. In my class, we discuss the value of being open-minded. I tell my students, "Basically, I want to push your walls of your brain wider and make some room for other ideas, not just the stuff that's already in there." They tell me, "You're making my brain hurt." Well, no pain, no gain, kids.

I designed one brain-pushing activity to point out to them the ratio of fact to opinion in persuasive writing. I took 2 editorials about nationalizing health care (one by Newt Gingrich and one by...some other guy) and spaced out all the sentences. Then, students cut the sentences into strips. They sorted the strips into 2 groups: fact and opinion. The students worked in partners and had to think very hard about the statements to decide. Some statements were a mix, and some students chose to cut those strips in half and count them as a half. In the end, we tallied the facts and opinions from each piece. I felt particularly proud that the tallies were identical for most groups in the room. They knew the difference. Those that had significantly different tallies got some more instruction.

Although not everything I have taught this year worked out so well, I feel that I made a difference in this instance. I think my students are more willing, and therefore more able, to listen open-mindedly. They'll learn more that way. I'm not sure how the instruction affected their views on certain topics, like health care and global warming, but I've observed them being slower to make statements and quicker to ask questions when we discuss controversial things. I believe that's an important part of teaching.

Anne Frank and my 8th graders

I enjoy teaching the story of Anne Frank- as I'm sure many teachers do. It's inspiring and so immediate for the 8th grade students because she was their age. We read the play version in class, since it's available in our textbooks. And we don't just read it, no sirree, we perform it!

I've chosen scenes or segments of scenes from the play for students to do a "performance reading." Each student chooses a part (or is assigned if need be) and is given a copy of the script for that scene. Students are not required to memorize and block, but they are required to make their reading aloud superb (here's the rubric). We analyzed what makes a good performance reading in class, listened to audiobook snippets as models, and rehearsed. Now, whenever we get to a performance scene in the play, students are ready and able to read it aloud for us, with fluency and feeling.

This is one of my favorite things to do all year. I love listening to the students' performances. We keep it light, and sometimes the boys do funny voices and perform the part of Mrs. Van Daan. Why not? I value the story of Anne Frank because despite the gravity of the situation she was caught in, she found ways to love life. And 8th graders, despite any reputation they might have as hard to teach, eat the inspiration up. It's why I love teaching 8th graders!

I blame Howard Stephenson & Merlynn Newbold

I had a rotten, horrible, no-good 10 days. I blame these two.












These two passed a law last year that said we had to have an online writing assessment in 8th grade (and 5th and 11th).

The test isn't scored by the computer- at least not completely. It's still human-scored, but it has to be administered on the computer.

Enter Measurement Inc. They won the bid to create the test (read: they are the cheapest, which in the educational software world doesn't bode well). The test was ready to go 2 weeks before the testing window opened.

Since the test wasn't ready to go until 2 weeks prior to the testing window, no one could be trained until 2 weeks prior to the testing window. As a bonus, some necessary people didn't even make it to the training. For an unfamiliar test, our school wound up with too few people who knew what was going on.

The test had to be administered in one sitting. Which means I created a testing schedule that pulled students out of their other classes in order to test. I also needed to let teachers know which students were missing each period. A logistical challenge, but not the hardest part.

The hardest part was getting people to proctor the test. The teachers themselves couldn't stay, because they had other classes waiting for them. We got people with student teachers to proctor. The hardest part was making sure the proctors knew what to do. I wish I could say we were more successful with that.

Also, the students couldn't log themselves into the test. Teachers had to log on to the computer using a dummy login, then log each student into the test using the same username/password combo for the whole school. Then, you had to choose the student's name from the drop-down list of 400 8th grade students. Even with 10 people working together, logging in 100 kids at a time was chaotic.

If a student wasn't there, and the teacher had already logged them in, their test had to be stopped & restarted within 60 minutes. If it wasn't, tough luck. We had over 20 students who were simply out of luck because the test proctor hadn't restarted the test in time.

We had one lab where most of the computers froze, and neither the students or teacher could pause, stop, or restart the test. Turns out, one piece of software in that lab was interacting badly with the testing software. Didn't see that coming, but I will look for it from now on.

Hmm...what else? Beside the general feeling of stress that pervaded the students and teachers? What else makes this such a lousy experience?

This data, from what I can tell, goes nowhere.

All the work and stress, and for what? To find out how well my students write? I already know that. To find out what someone else thinks about how well my students write? I don't care about that.

In the end, we took the test for Howard Stephenson and Merlynn Newbold. They mandated an online writing assessment in 8th grade.

I get that online testing would be great if it saved time and effort and you got results fast. None of that actually happened.

I blame those two.

Mark Madsen must love his guns . . .a lot

In case I, or anyone else, had forgotten, here's a reminder: we'd be better off not electing Mark Madsen to the Utah State Senate again. He doesn't care about public schools. He's an extremist. And, as Ed Darrell at Millard Fillmore's Bathtub points out, he's offensive.

Apparently, he wanted to honor gunmaker John Browning on the Martin Luther King Jr holiday. John Browning may be a Utah pioneer, but Mark Madsen had 365 days to choose from, and I think he very clearly chose the wrong one.

The craziest thing to me is that the two seemed to be equally important to him. John Browning and MLK? Are you kidding?

A much snarkier version of the Browning/MLK holiday story is available from Salon.com under "This Week in Crazy."

E-time is working

E-time, our school's remediation period that I highlighted in another post, is working out pretty well. We are still discussing the problems that come up, like teachers who are brimming with more students than they can remediate in 25 minutes, but overall it's been a real help.

As proof, we looked at our percentage of failing students from last year and compared it to this year. 27% of our current ninth graders had at least one D or F on their term 2 grades last year. Among that same group of students, only 9% had any D or F grades at the end of term 2 this year. 27% to 9%. I think that means we're seeing results.

Among those 9%, though, are the kids that are failing multiple classes and remediation isn't helping them much. They don't care about having to go to remediation. One of the next big tasks is to find a way to remediate the hard-core failing students. Our best idea right now is to create a school-within-a-school, a single classroom where those students would stay all day until they can earn their way back to regular school. Now we just need figure out how to staff it.

I like this iterative, problem-solving process, though. It's messy, which I know some teachers don't like, but I think we're definitely doing better by the kids.

Helpless McDoNothing

I placed this student, let's call him Helpless McDoNothing, right next to me on the seating chart so I could help him. I knew he would have problems keeping up. Some kids just have a really hard time finding their way around technology, particularly when they don't use it at home. I have someone sit next to him that can help him. I modify his assignments to make them more manageable. I check on him every few minutes to offer encouragement and tips. Nothin' doin.

Helpless McDoNothing spends his classtime cultivating his greatest skill: throwing pity parties for himself.

He stopped and started an assignment no fewer than four times today. Each time, he would open the assignment in MS Word, I'd get him started, he'd do a little, and then quit and close the assignment. Without even saving it. I'd make him start over, then he'd quit. Each time, he'd put his head down, and whine, "I can't do it!" I'd point out to him, "You just did it." He'd just put his head down and whine. He gave up, not because he couldn't do it, but because it was hard to do. Not too hard, just run of the mill hard.

And then he whimpered.

It was the whimper that did it.

Helpless McDoNothing is about to enter the World of No "Can't Do."

From now on, he can't use the phrases "It's too hard," "I can't do it" or anything else that sounds even remotely whiny. He can say, "I need help. How do you do this?" to me or to someone else. He cannot put his head down. He cannot moan or whimper. Every day he'll have an 4" strip of paper placed at his desk. If he whines, procrastinates, or refuses to ask for help, I'll cut an inch off the strip. I won't even have to say anything. At the end of the period, whatever length he has left he can turn in for a Starburst candy. Four inches = four Starbursts. After a while, I can have him go longer and hold out for more.

I know, I know- candy as a reward. I'm not thrilled about it. I actually almost never give out candy in class- maybe 2 or 3 times a year. My prize of choice is praise. After that I usually give free time, or a fun experience, or a pencil or eraser when an object is needed. I got the candy idea from meeting with a Resource teacher and the school psychologist. And it surprised me coming from them. With Helpless McDoNothing, given his problems and circumstances, we agreed that flat-out bribery was still on the table.

It is about time he unlearned his helplessness.

On the local dialect

This morning on the announcements I heard, "Congratulations to the boys basketball team, who won Payson yesterday [some number] to [some number]."

I stopped, turned to my students and said, "Isn't that great? We won the Payson basketball team! They are our prize! I wonder if they'll fit in the trophy case. I hope they don't mind being bronzed."

Some of my students were utterly flummoxed. Some got the joke.

It's a bit of the local dialect I've never learned to live with, saying "we won them" instead of "we beat them" or "we won the game." I can't keep myself from pointing out the absurdity every time I hear it.

Some day, improper English, I will win you!

See, it just sounds ridiculous when you say it that way.

This post struck just the right chord today

"Of course unions have prevented reform over the years. But that, in and of itself, doesn't make them evil. You see, not all reform is good. "

"When I see a bad teacher remaining in a school, I blame the principal more than the union."

From Corey at Thoughts on Education Policy.

We all know what makes a great teacher...so why aren't we all great teachers?

The Atlantic Monthly just ran an excellent analysis of What Makes a Great Teacher. The author is pretty star-struck by Teach for America, but the major elements of great teaching are principles every teacher knows by heart:

1. High expectations for students
2. Always look to improve your effectiveness
3. Make families and students part of the process
4. Focus on learning above all else
5. Plan, plan, plan- always have a plan
6. Begin with end in mind
7. Work hard. Real hard.
8. Frequent formative assessment
9. Foster student collaboration and peer coaching
10. Gradual release of responsibility- I do, we do, you do
11. Manage the classroom through routines

Like everyone else, I know what I'm supposed to be doing, I just don't always do it. Great teachers are doing all of these, all the time. But the catch is #7. As the article puts it: "the extreme hours that Teach for America teachers put in—for two years—are not sustainable for most people over the long term. "

Which is the problem. Some people (like my old professor) believe the solution is to simply turn teaching over to the young, and plan for massive turnover. Some people use this as an excuse to shrug their shoulders at burnout and underperformance (like my admin). In the article, they make a rather interesting assertion

But if school systems hired, trained, and rewarded teachers according to the principles Teach for America has identified, then teachers would not need to work so hard. They would be operating in a system designed in a radically different way—designed, that is, for success.

I really don't know what that system would look like. The article summarizes the DC schools teacher evaluation, but not in enough detail that I could really imagine it at my school.

I'm in my 9th year, and I'm still struggling to get home before 7 PM every day (I get to work at 7 AM, by the way). I'm really, really interested in the "not needing to work so hard" assertion. I've taught longer than most TFA grads ever will, longer than the teacher featured in the article seems likely to. I can tell you firsthand it's untenable. The system can't be based on every teacher working 70 hour weeks.

So maybe a better system isn't recruiting people for short-lived teaching glory. Maybe the better system is to plan for long-term effectiveness by cultivating these skills in career teachers. Like I said at the beginning, there isn't a teacher out there who doesn't know, at least on paper, that principles 1-11 are essential to good teaching.

The article also points out key supports given to TFA teachers: mentoring, expert evaluation, and customized training. That system of support doesn't need to stay with TFA- that would be extremely effective with all teachers.

Claus von Zastrow breaks down the TFA love/hate phenom and seems to agree. Or, I should say, I agree with him: "TFA strives to learn from its mistakes over time--to improve its services and keep empowering its teaching force. What's not to like about that?"

In the next round of federal education reform, Race to the Top, a major emphasis is placed on teacher evaluation. But is teacher development also emphasized? That could be the factor that determines if Race to the Top is a hero or villain in the history of American education.