Should School Days be Shorter?

A second-grade teacher friend is facing a much longer school day this year. She will have her little charges from 8:15 to 4:30 every day. I suspect she's going to want to crawl under her desk at around 2:30. 

The most surprising thing, though, wasn't the change in her hours, but that the school day for her is actually longer. I've seen more arguments recently for a shorter school day.

There are many arguments for a shorter school day such as young people needing more time for extracurricular activities, jobs, family time, and just free play, but the most compelling argument I have seen is that kids aren't getting enough sleep, especially teenagers. Lack of sleep can lead to obesity, depression, and of course, lack of focus in school. 

I think it's a myth that teens stay up late because they want to. My own experience and my teens' experience is that there really is enough homework, music lessons, sports etc... to fill up all the hours after school until late at night. Chronic sleep deprivation is a real problem for some teens who are earnest in their studies and other activities. Teens are also wired for a different circadian rhythm than adults. One study showed that with a later start time for school, teens actually slept an extra hour rather than filling it with other things. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 hours of sleep for teens and 10 to 11 hours for younger kids, yet most kids do not get this amount.

While I can get behind a later start time for secondary schools for the sleep issue, I'm not in favor of a shortened school day. The average school day for an American student is 6 1/2 hours. This is not too long to cover all the different subjects and allow for breaks. Shortened class periods would mean less actual learning time because science labs, for example, still require set up and clean up, and some topics require review before moving on to the next topic. If class periods remained the same length, then classes such as music and art would likely be cut. This would be a tragedy. 

Shortening the school day would also make for a longer school year. State requirements for the number of hours in class would send many schools deep into summer to fulfill the required class time. This brings up what a shorter class day would be like for teachers. Less pay and/or teaching in July? No thanks. 

The students' education, of course if the number one consideration. The sleep issue is a real problem, but there must be other ways to solve it. Perhaps less homework or a later start with a later release time would be beneficial, but the current daily class time seems like the right balance to me. 

If you are interested in having your students take on this issue in a reading, writing, or debate assignment, I have a packet for grades 5 - 7 here. Kids have surprisingly strong opinions about this topic, and it's not always on the side of a shorter day!

Revising Paragraphs in Essays - Lesson Plan

My students generally write paragraphs that contain topic sentences and evidence to support their points. What they are missing sometimes is their analysis, commentary, or support for the evidence. The more common problem, though, is redundant and "fluff" sentences because the are trying to fill space, or make a point via unnecessary repetition. Of course this adds no substance, and makes the paragraph laborious to read.

The method contained in this lesson plan will have students analyze each sentence in their paragraphs to make sure they have purpose. They can easily recognize the fluff and redundancies. It will also help them understand when they are missing important elements. Click on the photo above to get to the product.

Here's to better paragraphs!

How to Get Students to Ask for Help

When this student turned in this paper, the first thing I noticed was the scribbled out word "Confused." Since it was scribbled out, I thought, oh good, he figured it out. Then I graded it. You'll notice a slash through every answer.

Why didn't he ask me for help? I was available during class. I was available during office hours. I am available by email. I'd like to think I am friendly and accessible. There are plenty of tutors and resources.

The easy answer was that he started it right before it was due and didn't have time to get help. The harder idea to consider is that there was some reason he felt he couldn't ask.

I read a study that said cultural background and gender factors are considerations. Sometimes members of minority groups feel isolated and are less likely to ask for help. Males are not as likely as females to admit they need help.

Both of these factors might apply to this student and interfere with engagement with his teachers. This is his second time through this class, and when I asked him why he failed the first time, he said, "I didn't like the teacher." I hear this answer frequently, and it tells me nothing, so I pressed him. "I didn't understand what she wanted. Everything just came back with a C on it no matter how hard I tried," he said. "I guess I just checked out."

Now we were getting somewhere. I reassured him that I would give detailed feedback and we could talk whenever he needed further clarification, but then he turned in this. Now I was ready to check out because it was easier to put the burden on him, but then nobody would learn or progress. I decided to try different strategies.

For this assignment, I asked him to stay after class, and we went over the concepts together. I gave him the opportunity to re-do the assignment so he would see immediate results with getting help, and couldn't disengage from me or the material.

I brought in tutors from the writing center to meet the students in person and describe how they could help. I was hoping this student, in particular, would feel a connection with one of the tutors.

We did more group work as a precursor to homework assignments. I was hoping he would ask his peers questions or pick up on their understanding.

I arranged for, and offered, peer tutoring with a student I thought he might like.

Instead of comments on his work, I wrote "See me, please" at the top of his paper. When he came forward, I talked with him about the work so he had an opportunity to engage and connect with me.

I started talking about getting extra help to the whole class as part of the writing process and made it clear that I expected them to seek help in some form. I wanted to remove the perception that only bad students had to get help.

I noticed a shift in this student, and some of the others, by the end of the quarter. Although he still didn't ask me for help in person, he did send several emails with questions, and even an extra draft of an essay to review. He passed the class, just barely, but I consider him a success story because I feel confident that he made progress in asking for help, which will serve him well going forward.

Cell Phone Addiction in the Classroom

This is what I'm up against. The battle against cell phones in the classroom is real, and I'm losing. Not only do students routinely sneak to look at their cellphones during class, several students in one of my classes have TWO cellphones. I snapped this photo while this student was doing an important, graded in-class assignment.

Cell phone addiction is real. I've ripped up a midterm because a student was looking at his phone, despite a warning not to have phones out at all. It's a rule written on the syllabus, and I begin class every day asking students to put their phones away. I've asked students to leave the classroom if they couldn't stay off their phones.

Some might quibble with the idea of cell phone "addiction." I think it depends on your definition of addiction. Mine is this:

A persistent, compulsive need to have something in spite of negative consequences.

Is a failed midterm worth checking Snapchat? What social media post is so important it can't wait for one hour? What text could possibly have such importance that a delayed response of 15 minutes will be devastating? Is it worth losing points, getting behind, possibly having to re-take a test, or antagonizing the teacher? Never mind the distraction from learning.

I understand the draw of constantly checking a phone. I am not an out-of-touch technophobe with a flip phone in my purse for emergencies. My phone is my constant companion; I run my online business on it, I check in with my master mind group on Google Hangouts, I text regularly with family and friends, it tracks my workouts and diet, and it contains priceless pictures, and a whole library of podcasts that provide the background narrative of my life. I fight the urge to check it during class time even when I'm teaching. I understand the urge. I do.

Here's the difference: I don't check it during meetings, during church, while driving, rarely after 9:00 at night, and in many other circumstances. I can leave it behind on a vacation (well, I'll keep in my purse for emergencies). Sometimes I completely forget about it for hours at a time when I'm engaged in a project. I seriously doubt some of my students can say something similar. I am not saying I have some sort of moral high ground. I'm saying there is a difference between regularly utilizing a phone and an an addiction. I have assigned many essays on technology and social media, and combined with what I've read there and their behaviors in class, I can confidently say that there are some who have a true addiction.

Some admit they sleep with their phone so they don't miss any late-night or early-morning texts. Most admit to texting and driving (but I can multi-task!), and in one memorable class discussion, most said if they had to choose between food or their phone for one day, they would choose their phone. I have witnessed the withdrawal symptoms. I used to be able to judge when it was time for a break by the smokers getting antsy, but now that I work on a smoke-free campus, I can judge break time by the sneaky reaches into the backpacks and the anxiety and agitation.

Labeling something as an addiction, however, does not mean the rules should change or that the behavior is somehow more acceptable. When students show up drunk or high, I show them the door. I don't care if they are addicts, it's not acceptable in the classroom. If you take your phone out during a midterm, you will still fail.

Descriptive Writing Prompts 2 - FREE

Descriptive writing prompts are a great way to get a writing sample at the beginning of the year. They are also a good warm-up for a narrative essay, which I usually assign as a first essay in a basic composition class. The key is getting the students to write concrete, or sensory, detail instead of abstractions. Download this freebie for a short lesson plan and three of my new descriptive writing prompts appropriate for middle school and above:

Class Rules Activity

It's important to go over the class rules on the first day of class, but there's nothing that makes students check out quicker. After several class periods, it just sounds like so much blah, blah, blah.

Here's an activity that involves students in the process. Not only does it require their attention and participation, I find that students understand and follow the rules better since they feel at least partial ownership.

First, lay out the non-negotiable rules. The fewer, the better. Mine are: Be Respectful, Be Prepared, and Understand and Follow Class Policies.

Ask students to write down their expectation for the class, including for academics, the instructor, and classmates. Then put them in groups of 4 -5 to share and consolidate their ideas. Then have the groups share with the whole class. Decide, as a class, what the rules should be (of course you have veto power, but it's surprising how fair and thorough the students usually are).

You can then prepare a printed version of the rules and add other class policies.

Good luck, and happy first day!

If you want more detailed instructions, a poster, graphic organizers, a template for class policies, and a fun quiz regarding the rules, I have a prepared packet for purchase here:

Back to School Icebreaker for Middle and High School

It's that time of year again to begin planning for back to school. Icebreakers for the first day are hard to find for middle and high schoolers, so I always come back to the tried-and-true Bingo game.

The idea of an ice breaker is to get students to interact, start conversations, and find things they have in common with each other. This activity does that better than any other that I've tried.

You will need eight or nine different Bingo cards, the squares filled in with different things your students may have done or hobbies they have, favorites, characteristics, or anything else unique that you think is interesting. I like to use things they might have done over the summer: jobs, vacations, etc. There are many blank Bingo card templates you can download for free. Just do a search for "Bingo template" and you'll find some. Fill in the squares on the first card, then keep mixing them up and adding and subtracting items for the remaining seven or eight cards. I'll be honest, it's a lot of work, but you can re-use them every year.

To play, mix up the cards and pass out one to each student. On "go," they have to find someone who matches the item in the square, and write his or her name on the card.

Students can only use the same person for two squares, then they have to move on to someone else. When someone gets a Bingo (diagonal, horizontal, or vertical row all marked off) they shout out "Bingo!" In a regular game, that would end it, but I like to give out treats for five or six Bingos to encourage the conversations to go on.

If you don't want to make your own cards, I have some in my store that have been successful with multiple classes. You can find them here: 

Free Resources for Secondary Teachers

I am happy to say that my free Thesis Worksheet resource is now available. Brain Waves Instruction, Literary Sherri, and Getting Nerdy with Mel and Gerdy have compiled three free ebooks full of ready-to-print resources for secondary sellers. There are three ebooks, one for ELA, one for math and science, and one for humanities. My resource is included in the  ELA book, plus there is a link to it in my store at the bottom of this post. Each book contains 25 resources, plus a little bit about each seller and the kinds of resources he or she offers. Check them out here:

Here is a link to my resource that you can download for free in my store:

Stephen King's Teaching Advice

Since I spent over 20 years as a writer before I started teaching full time, I've read my share of how-to and advice books, most of which I found useless. Imagine my surprise when I found myself  highlighting passage after passage from Stephen King's On Writing. I am not a fan of his novels (although when I was a kid I was home sick one day from school and absolutely devoured Firestarter), but he had the most practical and solid writing advice I'd ever read.

So, when I saw this article in The Atlantic on Stephen King's teaching advice from his years as a high school teacher, I was ready with my highlighter. The article does not disappoint, although I wish it would have been much longer. You can read it here.

My favorite part was when he said:

"It went best for me when I could communicate my own enthusiasm. I can remember teaching Dracula to sophomores and practically screaming, “Look at all the different voices in this book! Stoker’s a ventriloquist! I love that!” I don’t have much use for teachers who “perform,” like they’re onstage, but kids respond to enthusiasm. You can’t command a kid to have fun, but you can make the classroom a place that feels safe, where interesting things happen. I wanted every 50-minute class to feel like half an hour."

I am naturally a reserved person and am not inclined to be a circus clown in front of the class, but I do always try to convey as much enthusiasm as possible, because this is key in keeping students' attention. I once had a student tell me that she had no interest in poetry when she started my class, but that my excitement and enthusiasm for it made her want to come to class, and that she had thoroughly enjoyed the poems we studied. This was a coup, because poetry is not my thing, but I was aware that if I didn't care, I had no chance of getting them interested.

It made me sad when I commented that surely all of her teachers were excited about their topics, and she and other students who were listening chimed in and said no, most of their teachers seemed bored.

There's nothing better than an engaged class. I can see it in their faces, and I can feel the connection. Those are the golden moments, and those are the moments that I'm happy I left writing full time and have a chance every day to share my enthusiasm for writing, literature, and art.

Writing Prompts for Research Papers

 

I like to let my students choose their research paper topics, unlike some of my colleagues who assign topics. I believe if students are interested in their topics, they will be more fully engaged and get more out of the whole process. With a topic they care about, they are less likely to view the assignment as hoop jumping, and invest more energy and time into it. 

That said, it has never worked well just to say, "Choose whatever you want to write about." Most students are like deer in the headlights - they have no idea where to go or where to start. I used to write a list of previous topics that worked well on the whiteboard, but that was ineffective.

What did finally work was when I gave some topic ideas, and then posed some questions to think about, along with ideas for research.

For example, most students were not excited about the topic of genetically modified foods, until I posed a few questions for thought: "Should genetically modified foods be labeled?"  "What should the government's role be in oversight, testing, and labeling?"  "Why would voters shoot down a proposition in California requiring labeling?"  Once we talked about these, then I asked for questions about the topic to research: "What measures have other countries taken against genetically modified foods?"  "What do studies show about safety?" By the end of the discussion, I had a few enthusiastic takers.

I got the idea to make a set of cards with topic ideas, questions to consider, and research ideas. This way, students can flip through them and see what speaks to them. The best thing is that most use the cards as a starting point, and end up with a unique spin on the topic.

 

I recommend doing this in your own classroom if you want students to choose their own topics, or you can limit the topics to a few of the cards you have made. Either way, it gets everyone off to a great start.

If you don't want to make your own, I've compiled 40 ideas that students have used successfully and put them on half-sheet cards. I've also added a full-color Power Point so you can use the ideas one at a time for discussion or response papers. Click here to see the product.

SQ3R Note Taking Method Handouts

Here is a an SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) handout and worksheet to help students with effective note-taking and recall. This is a proven method that's worked well in my classroom. It's especially helpful to keep students on task when there is a significant chunk of reading. Having a structure and a plan for studying helps students feel less overwhelmed. Click here or on the picture to download an explanatory handout and the SQ3R template.

Free Resources for Grades 7 - 12

Talk about a great gift for teachers! This collection of free resources from sellers on teacherspayteachers (including yours truly) is now available. It's a big gift book full of a variety of free resources for the classroom. I've been downloading like crazy! Fa-la-la-la-la.....

Evaluating Sources Prompt - Bottled Water

It's important to teach students to use qualified academic sources in their papers. The temptation is to use the easy, entertaining stuff they find on the internet instead. Here is a classroom activity to start a discussion and use as a writing prompt.

1. Show the video "The Story of Bottled Water."

2. After the video, have a brief discussion of the issues. Now show the video "The Real Story of Bottled Water."

3. Have a discussion on why or why not either of these are credible sources. (They are not--one is inflammatory, for example, it compares drinking bottled water to smoking while pregnant, and one is put out by a trade association with a commercial interest). Ask students what questions they have now, what information they can use or trust, and how to go about verifying facts and getting the real story.

4. At this point, I ask students to find a good academic source, and write a response to the issue based on the credible information they find.

An important concept the students learn is that unqualified sources such as the videos are good starting points for asking questions and learning what the conversation is all about, but that in order to be a good research, facts must be verified.

Writing Thesis Statements

Writing thesis statements strikes fear into many students' hearts. I have developed a way of getting from a broad topic to a thesis statement that makes it much easier.

First, they think of a broad topic they would like to use and write it down. Then, I ask them to come up with as many questions about the topic as they can think of. When that's done, they do some preliminary research or freewriting to come up with an answer to that question. That answer then becomes the controlling idea, and the thesis comes from that.

For example, if my topic is texting and driving, one of my questions is "Is it really that dangerous?" I find out from research that reaction times are similar to drinking and driving. So my thesis statement is my topic, plus my controlling idea and opinion: Texting and driving is as dangerous as drinking and driving, so the penalties should be the same.

I put this idea with a worksheet, along with everything else I use for helping students write good thesis statements (handouts and worksheets, plus a power point) in this new packet. It's in my teacherspayteachers store for only $3.00. Happy writing!

Writing Prompt - Videos for College Applications?

This week's writing prompt is about whether students think videos should be part of the college admission's process. Some universities are now accepting videos in lieu of, or in addition to, the traditional written essay component.

I have my students read an article about it, and then watch actual video submissions. The article is here. Links to the videos are embedded in the article, and two are below.

I would think that my students would embrace the idea of using videos instead of writing essays, but surprisingly, they seem to understand the importance of showing communication skills on paper. After a class discussion, I have them write for thirty minutes.

The purpose of this writing prompt in my classroom is to demonstrate competency in incorporating outside sources to back up opinions. Here is the actual assignment:

Please read the article about You Tube college applications and watch the video clips.

Write a one-page opinion piece (about 30 minutes effort) on whether or not you think videos should be part of the college application process and possibly even replace the written essay requirement. Use specific examples from the article and the videos.

Grading criteria:

30 minutes effort

Contains a clear opinion/thesis statement

Specific examples from the article and videos used to back up opinion.

Paper Topic Brainstorming Activity

Coming up with a topic for a research paper is one thing, but figuring out a narrow direction to pursue is quite another, and one where students often get hung up. This activity uses the brainpower of the entire class to help find that direction.

Tape one large piece of paper for each student on the wall around the classroom. Give everyone a colored marker and have them stand in front of their papers. Ask everyone to write their topic in the center of the paper and circle it.

Now, have everyone rotate so they are standing in front of someone else's paper. Allow 30 seconds for students to write everything they can think of about the topic, using a mind-map style web. They can ask a question, add a subtopic, make a comment--whatever comes to mind.

Rotate again, and keep going until everyone has had a chance to respond to everyone else's topics. You will need to extend the time as the papers fill up, because it will take students longer to review what has already been written.

If you have a small classroom with no space for the paper on the wall, this activity works just as well using large paper (I used 11 x 17) passed along desktops. If you can, though, use the wall because it's  a great opportunity to get students up and moving, and if nothing else, it's fun to write on the wall.

At the end of the activity, each student can take their own paper and see what everyone else has to say. Perhaps they will find an interesting question or a direction they hadn't thought of before. My students find it very helpful, and some even switch topics to something else they found on the wall that seemed more interesting.