Dr. Louis' Blog

Dear Dr. D'

I am a high school English teacher, and because the Writing section of Common Core does not list Literature, I am expected to teach non-fiction for writing purposes. Students need to learn and write about the classics! How do I keep my job and my conscience in tact?

Yours truly,

Distraught‍

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Dear Distraught, While some states, like Texas, have a separate category in their composition standards for Literary Analysis, Common Core does not. However, that does not mean that literary analysis is not important, and if you study the literature section of the Common Core State Standards, it clearly states that students must perform. How do they perform? Writing is one way. So, do not get discouraged. Let me give you a tip on how to achieve what you want.Let's say you are teaching John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. You want them to write a literary analysis; yet, you also want them to practice writing about nonfiction. Create a prompt that asks them to write about both.

• Prompt #1:

• The Great Depression brought many unlikely people together. Carefully read John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Then In a multiparagraph essay, explain why this historical era brought unlikely characters together (1-2 body paragraphs; 2+:1; 1-2 chunks) and analyze how George and Lennie's relationship evolves over the course of the novel (2-3 body paragraphs; 1:2+; 1-2 chunks per paragraph).
• Prompt #2

• Before you read. Of Mice and Men is about dreams that we have for our lives. In a multiparagraph essay (2-3 body paragraphs; 2+:1, 1-2 chunks), describe one dream of your own or of someone you know, explain how the dream was or will be brought to reality, and discuss the significance of that dream.
• Midpoint of the novel. Of Mice and Men is about dreams that we have for our lives. In a multiparagraph essay (2-3 body paragraphs; 1:2+, 1-2 chunks), describe one of the character's dreams, explain how the dream will be brought to reality, and discuss the significance of that dream.
• Prompt #3
• Before you read. The belief in the American Dream--the belief that anyone can achieve a better life through hard work--has always been an important part of the Amercan character. Steinbeck, however, is questioning the reality of this belief in his novel. Write an essay analyzing the current status of the American Dream. Determine whether it is still possible, and if so, discuss the dreams Americans have these days that might differ from previous years. If not, explain what has happened to our concept of achievement through hard work (2-3 body paragraphs; 2+:1, 1-2 chunks).

Keep Reading and Writing!

Warm regards,

Dr. D'

Dear Dr. D',

My 10th grade American Literature students just don't get it. I mean, when they are reading a fictional piece or a non-fictional piece, they don't know how to infer. They don't know how to look deeper into a piece. They don't want to look deeper, and they shut down. Please HELP! I'm at my wits' end.

- Shannon

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‍Dear Shannon,

First, have a glass of wine, a nice cup of coffee, or your favorite beverage; take a deep breath; and realize that you are not alone. "Inference" is not easy to teach. It's a green monster (CM)! But, look at it this way, you have some time to organize your thoughts about how to approach this skill for next year. Let's see if I can get you started.Start the first week of real school (usually takes a few days to level the classes) introducing your students to diction, denotation, connotation, and tone. Then, for the rest of the year, don't let up on these four terms.

• Diction. "In linguistics, diction means word choice" (Holman)
• Denotation. "The basic meaning of a word, independent of its emotional coloration or associations" (Harmon 144).
• Connotation. "The emotional implications that words or phrases may carry, as distinguished from their meanings" (Harmon 114).
• Tone. "[. . .] the attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work. Tone may be formal, informal, solemn, sombre, playful, serious, ironic, condescending, or many another possible attitude" (Harmon 510).

Harmon, William and Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 6th ed. New York: Macmillan, 1992.Harmon, William and Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 9th ed. New York: Macmillan, 2003 (This reference is now in its 12th edition, and it is a must-have for all ELA teachers!).Look at the denotation, connotation, and tone of similar words and then ask the students, "When and, more importantly, why would a person prefer one word over the other? Give examples."

• house vs. home;
• large vs. ponderous;
• sit vs. flop;
• giggle vs. snicker;
• lie vs. fudge;
• anger vs. disdain;
• happy vs. giddy;
• and more . . .

Next, pull a rich passage from one of your texts:

‍“A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.”

• "throng" -- large group, mob-like mentality (Ask the students questions. Why didn't the narrator say 'large group?' Why did the narrator choose the word, "throng?" What is implied by a "throng?" What is the author's purpose?)
• "sad-colored garments" -- Ask the students questions. Why "sad-colored?" Why not just say 'black' or 'navy'? It implies a sombre tone, yet it's a "throng." Hmm. Something is strange here -- irony -- (appearance vs. reality) -- sad, but mob-like. Hmm.
• "steeple-crowned hats" -- Ask the students questions. What do you think of when you think of a steeple? The word 'steeple' has a religious connotation. Religious people? Religious people wearing dark clothes. Dark? Dark on the outside and the inside, maybe? Mob-mentality, dark on the inside. A religious mob? Pointed Hat. Narrow. Maybe narrow-minded? What is the narrator implying? What is the author's purpose?
• "women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded" -- Ask the students questions. Why would a person wear a hood? What does a hood do? hidden (secrets) vs. open? "bareheaded" -- Does that mean nothing inside those heads?
• "door of which was heavily timbered with oak" -- Ask the students questions. What is the purpose of a door? A door opens and closes. What do you think of when you think of the difference between 'open' and 'closed?" This door is closed. It's oak -- stubborn, unmoving, inflexible . . .
• "[. . . and studded with iron spikes" -- Ask the students questions. What about these "iron spikes?" torturous, ominous, unyielding, dangerous, wounding . . .

Who knows what's right and/or what's wrong with the above interpretations, with the above inferences? All of the green above is inference.

‍After you study the sentence, tell them the sentence is the first sentence and the first paragraph of Chapter 1, titled "The Prison Door" in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. From this one sentence, you already gain insight about the characters. Say to the students, "With insight like this, the reading becomes much easier to understand and to anticipate.

"Present one sentence a day during the first ten minutes of your class; make it a rich sentence and let the students discuss the subtleties and complexities of the diction. Don't correct them when they say something that makes you want to hang your head and cry. Let them be creative. Of course, they have to use evidence from the sentence (CD). I ask my students, "What words or phrases pop? If they pop out at you, pause and think about why they pop? They popped for a reason. What is that reason? (CM)"  You can also create a bank of sentences this summer. Then, at the beginning of the year, assign each student one of those sentences to present to the class on a certain date. (In your mind that date will correlate to a passage or chapter you will be introducing.) Practice! Practice! Practice! The more the students practice under your watchful eye, the more the skill of inferencing will sink into your students' minds--this is close reading. Next up -- Point of View/Perspective. But that's another blog! One more consideration: What I have learned is that the students do not understand how to deconstruct a prompt. They do not understand what the prompt is asking them to do. That, too, is a skill that needs practice. Make sure you give the students reading and writing prompts so that they will become familiar with and eventually master how to deconstruct or decode a prompt. If they are not taught the skill of prompt deconstruction, they become paralyzed. Before they begin reading, give them a prompt. Doing so will help with the close reading, because they will be searching for what the prompt is asking them to do. Do not wait until after they read. Some teachers say to me, "Deborah, I want them to find the nuances on their own." I answer, "Yeah, wouldn't we all! But, you have to teach them the skill first, and giving them reading prompts as well as writing prompts prior to their reading helps them to be successful.

"We, as teachers, can always learn, too. One of my mentors, Sharon Kingston of Lubbock, Texas, taught me that the reason Hester made the “A” so ornately on her bosom was because to her, it stood for “Arthur.” I never saw it!! Remember, when you were in high school, ladies, and you would create a beautiful, ornate rendering of your boyfriend's initials on your notebook?? So, being a student of inference is a life-long journey, for sure – in and out of school, right? . . . (I’m just saying).

Most of our students are not as giddy about the written word as we are. Be patient. And practice. Those two keys will unlock the door. Keep Writing and Reading!Yours truly,Dr. D'

By Deborah E. Louis, Ph.D.

With technology and especially online learning, the idea of competency-based education is a viable option and may be best used in a blended learning environment. Blended learning is an idea that may offer more time for teachers to provide continuous and effective assessment, but it does not address the challenge of students having different skill levels and, therefore, different levels of progression. What does address this challenge is Competency-based Learning (CBL).  And the combination of CBL and Blended Learning is a dynamic duo to student learning.

The traditionalist attitude continues to demonstrate an affinity toward the early 20^th century basis for measuring school work known as the Carnegie Unit system. A unit would represent a single subject taught for one classroom period for five days a week. Thus, the Carnegie Unit equates seat-time with learning. The traditional length of the typical class period (50 to 55 minutes), the school day, and the school year stem from the Carnegie Unit in an attempt to standardize and ensure the quality of high school education. In this traditional approach, teachers typically provide instruction to all students at the same time, and deadlines for assignments and projects apply to all students. Recently, in a brief titled “State Strategies for Awarding Credit to Support Student Learning by the National Governors Association (2012, p. 1), “a total of 36 states currently have policies that provide school districts and schools with some flexibility for awarding credit to students based on mastery of content and skills as opposed to seat time.” Reports like the one developed by the National Governors Association have encouraged other thought leaders to consider allowing time on task to be a variable and competencies of objectives to set the bar. This idea is an example of a new myth replacing the old. What has emerged is a concept among educators known as competency education. In “The Art and Science of Designing Competencies,” Chris Sturgis (2012, p.5) and innovators from across the country developed a working definition of competency education:

• students advance upon mastery;
• competencies include explicit, measurable, transferable learning objectives that empower students;
• assessment is meaningful and a positive learning experience for students;
• students receive timely, differentiated support based on their individual learning needs; and
• learning outcomes emphasize competencies that include application and creation of knowledge along with the development of important skills and dispositions.

Also known as proficient-, standards-, and performance-based education, competency education allows students to learn objectives with time flexibility. Therefore, a student who understands and masters an objective or standard sooner than others may move forward. In addition to Competency-based instruction, blended learning, combining traditional teaching approaches with integrated technology, is a way for teachers to gain more time for personalized approaches to student learning. According to the Innosight Institute definition by Heather Staker and Michael Horn (2012, p. 3), blended learning may be defined as “a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace, and at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home.” Four models of blended learning discussed by Staker and Horn (2012, p. 2) in “Classifying K-12 Blended” include the Rotation model, the Flex model, the Self-Blend model, and the Enriched-Virtual model. These new approaches to the ebb and flow of the classroom do not oppose traditional senex values; rather, they augment the teaching and learning in a way that allows the senex approach to have more meaning because the approach is more personalized.

The Rotation model, according to Staker and Horn (2012, p. 8), is a program in which “within a given course or subject students rotate on a fixed schedule or at the teacher’s discretion between learning modalities, at least one which is online learning. One example of the rotation model is the flipped classroom. The flipped classroom is a phrase coined by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, teachers with a combined 37 years of experience. It suggests that a teacher flip the common instructional approach.  Bill Tucker, in a 2012 article from Education Next discusses the concept: With teacher-created videos and interactive lessons, instruction that used to occur in class is now accessed at home, in advance of class. Class becomes the place to work through problems, advance concepts, and engage in collaborative learning. Most importantly, all aspects of instruction can be rethought to best maximize the scarcest learning resource—time.

Other modalities might include teacher-led instruction, small, collaborative groups, individual conferences, or seat-time with pencil and paper. The location of these modalities might occur at stations within a classroom, different locations on a campus, a remote location (often home) after school, as explained in the flipped classroom approach, or in an individually customized fixed schedule in which students’ rotation may not include each station. Staker and Horn (2012, p. 12) describe a Flex model as a program in which students receive content from the Internet and move on an “individually customized, fluid schedule” with the teacher-of-record on site and accessible. A Self-Blend model is one in which students may select to take certain courses online with the teacher-of-record being an online teacher. Finally, Staker and Horn (2012, p. 15) describe an Enriched-Virtual model as a “whole-school experience in which within each course (e.g., math), students divide their time between attending a brick-and-mortar campus and learning remotely using online delivery of content and instruction, adding that the “Enriched-Virtual model differs from the Flipped Classroom because in Enriched-Virtual programs, students seldom attend the brick-and-mortar campus every weekday.  It differs from the Self-Blend model because it is a whole-school experience, not a course-by-course model.” In a blended learning environment, teachers have more opportunity to approach their students’ learning of skills and concepts by providing lessons, units, or projects that may be completed by the individual in an online setting, in small, collaborative groups, in teacher-led instruction, and/or a combination of the three. Teachers guide, supervise, monitor, and assess the mastery of standards-based skills and concepts on a continuum; students are not slowed or accelerated by time but rather by their ability to understand, apply, analyze, and synthesize. Students are not labeled as needing remediation or enrichment.  Their performance outcomes on specific standards guide those decisions.

Some teachers worry that using online approaches that blended learning encompass will replace the role of teacher, but the blended learning environment as well as CBL promotes and requires supervision of students’ learning, as Richard E. Ferdig (Davis, 2011, p. 38), a research professor at the Research Center for Educational Technology at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, has indicated, that “incorporating the face-to-face mentor into students’ use of online courses is directly linked to success.”  Teachers can never be replaced with regard to effective learning. The Teacher is an archetype, a dynamic figure in our collective unconscious. And the student-teacher connection is also an archetype.  Any time I ask a student about naming the one thing that had the most impact, the answer is always “My teachers.”  It’s true and will always be true.

With a combination of CBL, personalized instruction, and digital tools that include blended learning, portable and mobile learning, and computer-based instruction, students are engaged and teachers have the time to plan, create, grade, and tutor, and less time on behavioral problems and parent phone calls. If students are engaged, dropouts by students and their teachers might also decrease.

Dear Dr. D',

I was talking to an administrator who was not understanding why the students were struggling to write even when they were given graphic organizers and step-by-step instructions on what to do ("Read the prompt, brainstorm, plan/outline, draft, revise"). I explained that just because students are told those steps, doesn't mean they know how to apply them. Most writing programs give the steps and various graphic organizers. What they don't provide is the metacognitive writing piece--"How do I think my way to an idea?" Or "What comes next?" Or "How do I think my way through that step?"

What's GOLD about Jane is that we first show a model of every step, and then we do group writing so students see each step in action and learn the thinking behind each step. We don't send them on their own until they are ready. Some are ready before others, but the program allows us to modify for this. Each student can come to a full understanding of the writing process in his/her own time. I've not seen any other writing program that does that. Sure, some programs give a bazillion handouts and types of topic sentences and color-coding and what goes where--but they don't have what [Jane] has in terms of modeling or commentary and, most importantly, the thinking behind coming up with the thoughts that are put on paper.

Lauren Roedy-Vaughn

Sometimes, people send me emails from Jane that I like to share--they are treasures, nuggets. I'm calling this series Jane's Diction. What is so special about the following words by Jane is that they are from an email that she sent to her daughter Sarah in 1997. Sarah is also a teacher, and I asked Sarah to share some of her mother's words with us.

So, as you are preparing for the last day of school and looking forward to the first day of summer break, take care of yourself. You need much deserved rest. Then, reflection. Then, rejuvenation . . . . In the meantime, here are some of Jane's words to you and for you. She was completely dedicated to her family, kids, and devoted teachers. Enjoy.

Friday, December 5, 1997. . . you must always study what you love because it must carry you for a lifetime.

Teaching has been that for me.  Every day is different, some better than others, always rewarding to talk to kids.  My juniors are getting grammar better this year because I think I am doing a better job teaching it this time around.  Bertrand Russell wrote that his desire to allay fear and pain (rough paraphrase) was one of the things that drove him through life--not a bad goal to have.  The seniors are fearful about college admissions.  The freshmen are fearful that their voices will break in the middle of reading Of Mice and Men aloud in class.  The juniors are just plain fearful of me--I know I am a scary person on the outside--but they are wising up to the reality underneath.  My special Study Failure class is fascinating.  Now that I have my extra computer installed in my room with grades, book reports, and other stuff on it, they are more likely to drop by and sit in the chair I leave next to me to ask about their grades (a pretense in part) and just hang out.  One boy is leaving the class to enter drug rehab; he is probably one of the five brightest minds I've had in my career, and he thinks he hides his intelligence well.  I told him today that he couldn't hide it from me, and he gave me a hug.  It was a sweet moment.

All the good teachers I know and admire are Holden Caulfields.  They want to catch kids before they go over the cliff.  My teachers saved me in high school, and my passion is to do the same to my charges.  I have always told you:  the way to repay such a debt is to pass it on to the next generation.  It is the only legacy that counts.From Deborah: Remember, you matter a great deal to many people. You will never truly know the impact you have on those faces and those lives. Cherish the memories: good and bad. They all have meaning in your life. And from one teacher to another, thank you.Note: Please feel free to send me Jane's words to post.

Dear Dr. D',

The confusion I'm having now that you might be able to help me with has to do with how deep to have [my students] go on the WOW sheet in the bubbles. Some students seem to write phrases that tend to define the single CM words as opposed to considering the internal workings of the character (thoughts, feelings, beliefs) that make the character act the way she does.

Janice

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‍Dear Janice,

You are right; the students are not supposed to define the words in the first two spots to get the phrases for the clouds. But do not get frustrated, for commentary takes time and patience (from both of you).First, instead of calling them “bubbles,” I would like for you to call them “clouds,” and tell your students that the clouds represent lofty thoughts, not thoughts that can be found in a dictionary or thesaurus. They are called clouds because you can see them, but you cannot touch them. They are found in the sky, in the heavens, in the mind.I'm glad that you are starting to teach commentary using characters from literary works. Characterization is the best literary element to begin teaching commentary because it lends itself to asking the students to put themselves in the shoes of the protagonist or antagonist (as well as minor characters). We want students to delve deeply into the human condition--what makes us behave the way we behave; make the comments we make; act the way we act.  Ask them, "How would you feel if you were the character?" When they give you a one-word answer, say, "What do you mean by that?"For teachers, I like to introduce a little bit of Carl Gustav (C.G.) Jung here: C.G. Jung, a famous psychiatrist, depth psychologist, and student of Sigmund Freud, spent much of his life and career working with what he called the unconscious. You might have heard of the collective unconscious where the archetypes reside. Jung is famous for his study of the archetypes.  He also called the unconscious, the psyche. And you might find the etymology of that word interesting:

"psyche." n. 1 the soul; the spirit. 2 the mind. [L f. Gk psukhē breath, life, soul].

So, when we are talking commentary to the students, we are trying to teach them to go into that area of understanding and knowing of which Jung speaks. That's why teaching commentary is so difficult. We have to reach within ourselves and pull it out of those inner corners and crevices of our memories, dreams, and reflections about life. By the way, Jung's autobiography is titled Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

The best approach is to tell the students that commentary comes from three places: the head, the heart, and the gut. You cannot touch it like you can touch a table or rain or snow.  You cannot touch sadness, revenge, love, happiness, thoughtlessness, deceit, generosity. These latter words fall into the realm of commentary.

With the clouds, then, you ask the students to take one of the commentary words--let's say "thoughtlessness." Ask him, "What do you mean by thoughtlessness?"

"Well, Dr. Louis, the character thinks of no one but himself."

"Good, that's the definition of thoughtlessness. Now tell me what's going on inside of him that causes him to be like that? In other words, if you were he, what's going on inside of you?"

"Well, I don't want to get close to anyone."

"Good, write that in the cloud, but use the character's name. What else?"

"It's like he can't see or feel beyond himself."

"Good, write that in a second cloud. What else?"

"He's like an island unto himself, but it's sinking."

"Beautiful. Write that in a third cloud and take a nap for the rest of the period. Your brain is on overload!"

How Commentary Began (in Jane's words)

The missing piece, the “so what?” [commentary] was born one day during a one-to-one conference with a gifted junior. He was writing an essay in 1975 about how Lake Erie had changed since he had been a young boy living there. He brought his prewriting to the teacher at her desk. The teacher looked over the list of concrete details and told the boy to analyze his examples — pollution, dead fish, oil slicks on the beach, the fire when the Cuyahoga River burned. The teacher said, “These look good – now go analyze them.” The boy said, “I have no idea what you teachers mean by analyze.” This was a reasonable statement; he wanted to do the assignment but didn’t know how to begin or what it should look like when he was finished. Then the teacher asked him to say how the experience had changed or affected him. He thought for a few seconds and said, “I realized my past was lost. The cherished days of my childhood were ruined. The halcyon days were behind me.” The boy really said “halcyon.” Schaffer was speechless that a student knew the word and used it correctly. The teacher said, “You did it — what you said to me was analysis. And we’re going to call it commentary because you commented to me about your details.” It’s a far more user-friendly word for teenagers than analysis and interpretation. That day began a department conversation about what it means to analyze a topic and how to lead teenagers away from plot summary —the bane of English teachers’ existence — and toward deeper thought. Most teachers don’t remember how they learned to write. They often taught themselves and alone made the leap from plot summary to analysis. Some know a certain person who helped them, but most of us have no memory of the moment. We just did it.

That student’s reactions made us realize two points:

1. Talking is the missing link in thinking. Students can say what they are thinking but need help getting it down on paper.
2. We assumed far too much about both content and mechanics, and that has rung true ever since. We thought students knew about topic sentences and indentations and analysis, but we were wrong on every count. We like to think we’ve made unwarranted assumptions less frequently since then.

I've always loved the sentiment in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God that begins chapter three: "There are years that ask questions and years that answer." Commentary helps us to do both.

Keep writing (and reading)!

Warm regards,

Dr. D'

Works Cited

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1937. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998.

"psyche." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. Oxford UP: Norwalk, 1990. 964.