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summer 2013 rigor; international style.

working with teens from across the globe this summer; putting rigorous methodology to work while teaching English.

i couldn’t WAIT to get back in the classroom this year. while some Albany and Berkeley, California teachers are experiencing those ‘day-before-school-begins’ evening jitters, i am two days in...feeling AMAZING!! taking a trip down to 3rd from 5th grades in a matter of months is no easy getting-used-to’s. questions arise like: “how am i gonna DO this?!” or “will i even KNOW what to do with those babies?!” well with a chunky resounding, “you will not only survive, but THRIVE with these young ones!!” i feel somewhat at ease and optimistic in a way. i’ve not ever felt so energized in a classroom. i see how these young scholars express their thoughts through handwriting prowess fed by their interest and practice. i see a lopsided 19 girls to 10 boy laden roster (that’s NEVER happened before!) i can’t help but to wonder in a class of 31 with only 4 African American boys in it... just where have they all gone? so, the dynamic is interesting. and being in an environment that is pushing S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) alongside introducing the Next Generation Science Standards vibe, integrated with the updated ideology of Common Core Standards...well, to tell you the truth, teaching is more exciting now than it has been in QUITE sometime. this, at the onset of a new year when thematic-unit style teaching can be custom curtailed to a new cohort of kids...wow. i feel like i’m surrounded by chaparral carrying a torch. this year my kids will be on fire. already, this is one of the most exuberantly optimistic group of incoming 3rd graders that i have ever seen. when i told them how excited i was to be teaching this grade, as i described it as the ‘sweet-spot’ of elementary school grades,....they reminded me that i was supposed to have brought in that real-live tennis racket. after all, i HAD taken the opportunity to craft a diagram of a racquet along with a student volunteer; citing the difference between diagrams and pictures. we discussed that diagrams are what scientists DO and USE. also, today i taught an introduction to engineering lesson. The students explored how to craft a paper construction as a solution for a situation calling for a 4-sided die (also known as a pyramid.) it took me 1/2 my lunch to prepare materials for their investigation. but oh my goody good goodness was the exploration worth the prep! i’m two days into my new school year and all i see are possibilities to make connections all the while honing their technical and comprehension skills of multiple subjects. i’m elated. i was born to be an elementary school teacher. can you even imagine how cool it is to be doing what you believe you were BORN to do? it’s feels pretty great,...today. speaking of which, today's posting was inspired by Venus and Serena Williams.

the grades of the year are finished. it is difficult to look back on the year now, but i imagine it will even be more so, when the actual last day of school arrives, in several days. sometimes we do things for all the right reasons, with full-bore passion and hold high expectations for results. having done this many times, i can say that this year was the first year that i added one more component to the engine of educational action: rigor. rigor might put many people off, because of its’ wide array of definitions. to alleviate any snootiness on my part, i’ll begin this posting by stating that rigor, for me this year, has been this: using educational strategies to develop students habits of practice to understand things and make them function better. also, i have married this goal along with metacognition - monitoring one’s own state of knowledge. my laundry list of strategies in developing student achievement this year include: always asking, “how do you know?” daily learning targets that begin each lesson that read, “i can..” with academic terminology, along with, “this means i can...” in kid friendly/developed terms. [if a kid knows an explicit target, they are highly likely to mark it!] regularly evaluating my lesson plans and learning environment in the rigorous quad aesthetics of: complexity (organization around interrelated concepts), emotionally (arouses strong feelings), ambiguity (curriculum infused with symbols and images with multiple meanings, and provocativeness (challenging to student’s preconceived notions) retest journaling by students to increase their metacognition around learning reading questions of a passage first, before reading the passage officially citing information sources always providing time allowances to finish work sentence framing regular protocols of speaking and writing responses multiple point grading checklists/rubrics for lesson assessments these are my most consistent strategies i put into effect this year for my 5th graders in English-Language Arts. ... with spectacular results. for June of 2012, my students writing performance report is as follows for all students tested: 33 percent of students are writing at an ‘advanced’ 5th grade level, up from 9 percent in April. 84 percent of students are proficient in writing, up from 67 percent in April. 16 percent of students are ‘emerging’ in writing, down from 25 percent at the beginning of the school year. and i am proudest to announce that 0 percent of students are ‘below basic’ in writing, up from 4 percent at the beginning of the school year. these are statistics that should make any teacher proud. i let my students know that. it was also a pleasure to be able to separate ill behavior from high achievement - meaning some students still had behavioral challenges. however this year, i was more relentless in my pursuit of their academic performance. as you may have read in previous posts, we’re building a caravel. with 4 days of the school year left... i want to post some of their handiwork! the students translated angle and length measurements from a drawing to a large-scale boat keel design. then they crafted a keel from recycled driftwood next, they attached chicken-wire along the keel as a foundation for a hull following that, they have begun to attach previously-discarded matt paper panels to form an outside caravel hull.... all in three days of work.

today's genius paradigm inspiration: Aung San Suu Kyi, for her audacity to exude the truth through peaceful means.

the jig is so up! “ok, everyone, see my agenda for today’s writing prep?” there were only 3 items: select 5 students that you see to best represent the school in the spelling bee list 3 details for each of our features of focus review our audience profile and our author’s purpose well, i was quite interested to see how two very, supposedly, different groups of 25 students each, would come to 5 selections of a class photo of 28 kids. amazingly enough, both cohorts agreed on the EXACT SAME children, based on what they perceived visually from the photograph. and they are in the above moniker graphic for this posting; actually 7 kids. since each cohort actually voted for alternates, which were different, I went with a collective group of 5 students and two alternates (in case somebody got sick or dropped out by the time of the actual contest). [ am i nuts?! ] but anyway, i went through the process in a pretty straight forward way: “okay folks, we have to select 5 students from this photograph that you see would best represent the class on a spelling bee.” i had them discuss amongst themselves, go to someone else, anyone else and compare notes... it was rather fascinating to watch- definitely a moment in time etched into my long-term memory for life. really, it was gorgeous to see kids authentically ruminating over who, based on...what they deemed as formidable qualities...to represent this class in a proposed spelling bee if only five could go, yet they were all equally qualified. what would the students’ selections say about themselves? i could only guess. and i felt like the luckiest teacher on the planet to see this process in action. it took place, twice today. the AM cohort discussed and cavorted over the visually slightly suggestive... in the end i found myself yelping, “okay! hands up high if you vote for student row one, student one...” etc. and it’s pretty crazy which kids they perceived as best spellers in the photo. on to the criteria. the three features of focus were relatively the same: face, body, attitude. facial feature of focus yielded these valued attributes from my students: smile, confidence, ferocity body features (moxie- for girls, swag- for boys, as it was explained to me...) of focus yielded attributes from my students: stance, determination, potential attitude relinquished adjectives regarding attitude as: fun, serious, calm oh. my. gosh. i was just chuff’d to bits! the higher level thinking. the inferences of authenticity being drawn. kids actually emulating what standards are read by teachers across the nation set as targets to hit..and not simply ‘be’ with and ‘do’. halle- freaking lu le yah. could these students do it? there WERE IT today. but it spent them. they were thrown off in the way their teacher asked something of them they weren’t used to giving- authentic application, in an almost sneaky kind of a way. unbeknownst to them. but all for the cause of instruction and intellectual exercise. gosh it felt good. we got our student selection. we got our 3 details for 3 features of focus. we reviewed out author’s purpose and audience. tomorrow, we break east/west to take a look at details of the closing paragraph. we’ll formulate a profile. we’ll get set to run headlong into a draft on thursday. and on friday, my birthday, we’ll finish rough drafts and author’s chair individual work. i’d say that’s one of the finest birthday presents a teacher-fellah-aries could ask for. yup.

“lord, today..” as an old co-worker used to say. we’re plugging right along towards our last district-issued writing prompt. it hasn’t been issued yet, but it’ll most likely be a persuasive/descriptive writing assignment. a combination type of thing. so, as to prepare them and get their constructive juices flowing again, we analyzed the structure of a really good paper from our last round of descriptive writing essays. we noticed a few things. we saw how the controlling idea boldly gets stated late in the first of four paragraphs, yet again somewhere in the last paragraph. we observed hows three is good number for topical ‘features of focus’. and those very features of focus would do to have their own three descriptive details. every paragraph has a job to do. every paragraph has a structure that makes up a part of a very strong whole. if writing mechanic details like capitalization, punctuation and subject/verb agreement are the ‘micro’...this explicit look at whole-essay structure is the ‘macro.’ over the past few years, I have noticed an explicit approach to guide students through the writing process- heavy on peer to peer engagement and idea exchange. as far as i can tell, the prescriptions as laid down in the teacher instructions provides a ‘soft-touch’ to stroke the writing process from idea building into written narrative. so, last week i re-activated the process for a 5 day, whole class, essay building clinic: observe and introduce structure of a fine essay response to prompt. explicitly label each part and function of essay structure introduce a prompt and assign prompt-relative components review our author’s purpose, audience and question begin translating our components into narrative today we’re on clinic, section 3 of 5. I introduced the above picture to the students with a prompt that read as follows: These students have just been told that they all have qualified to represent their school in a country-wide spelling bee. However, only five students can be selected from this class. based on this photograph, which five students do you think should go? why? remember to choose 3 features of focus with 3 details each. being that we only have a photograph to judge from, two features could be: 1) body expression, 2) facial expression what other feature of focus can you think of that influences your choice? wow-whee. talk about passing with flying colors... here’s what the students generated: controlling idea, AM cohort: “I chose 5 kids with cool faces, body poses and attitude.” topic feature #1- face [ in paragraph one ] topic feature #2- body pose [ in paragraph two ] topic feature #3- attitude/swagger [ in paragraph three ] controlling idea, PM cohort: “I picked 5 kids who show maturity and moxie(for girls)/swag(for boys) in their face and body expressions.” topic feature #1- face [ in paragraph one ] topic feature #2- body pose [ in paragraph two ] topic feature #3- style/swag [ in paragraph three ] topic feature #4- maturity [ could be added in above or as an argument reinforcer in final paragraph ] ...these kids are kickin’ grass and breaking shame! i’m so proud of the way they’ve taken to this. the picture. the prompt picture i’ve given to my students, in reality comes from the March 4, 2012 photography issue of The New York Times magazine; photographed by Mark Neville. i try and get the sunday NTY as often as i can- when pockets aren’t so strapped. i’ll usually spend sunday morning reading the entire paper; cover-to-cover-section-section-to-section. i’m always clipping something out, pulling a whole sheet and folding it for some other time. i know enough about myself to hold on to anything that seems compelling. as these items most often make their way into my classroom. as in this posting’s pictorial inspiration. the students of Nightingale Primary School, in Hackney, where 97% of the students make up minority groups. which is almost precisely the percentage at my school in northern california. i selected the picture because it could have been taken at my school. (actually a few kids argued about whose class it was!) the ratio of color shades and cultural motifs almost replicate my two cohorts of 26 fifth graders. we recently had a spelling bee and one of the 5th graders took first place. so i regarded the prompt, photograph, and assignment in terms of the rigor scale for rating content from Strong, Silver and Pernini’s, Teaching What Matters Most, standards and strategies for raising student achievement. it’s a tome on rigor, is what kind of text it actually is! on page 11 of the 2001 edition, there is a four-square of elements that taken together, make up the components of rigorous curriculum box one: complexity- to what extent is the curriculum organized around complex, interrelated concepts? answer: 1-4, this prompt, given the photograph mimicked our student age group and cultural population, having to write about a perceived situation with only a photo to go from, personal connections drawn from our recent spelling bee... this project comes in around a high 3, if not a 4. box two: provocativeness- to what extent is the curriculum concerned with central problems in the discipline that challenge the student’s previous concepts. answer: hmm. this is a tough one, but i’d like to think the exercise of viewing a picture and having such strong emotional reactions to it, almost harnesses their intensity to say something in writing. their agility with writing mechanics may be as afterthought as a process of final draft. But this is the first time they have had a concrete object to decipher (photo) and translate into such an explicitly academic exercise. (although I was clear not to oversell it as such...) yeah, translating a picture into structured opinion rates a high 3, maybe a 4, as well. box three: ambiguity- to what extent does the curriculum focus on symbols and images packed with multiple meanings. answer: it’s a four. enough said. box four: emotion- to what extent does the curriculum arouse strong feelings? answer: gauging from the running around the room to tell friends what they saw, the circling of faces and commentary on body positions, styles and expressions...this is another four. i know it’s not about the product, but the process... but there was a certain pride in holding 50 packets of work, all neatly culled by their teacher, stapled and three hole-punched. ready for what’s coming the next day. and i’ve said nothing even of their caravel building project, t-shirt designs, essays on cultural and ethnic significance of boat-building to global expansion and the founding of our nation. my kids rock. i’m loving what they are doing. a lot.

i can’t remember a time in my life when things were as if kismet, herself, linked all instance as they have been in the last 3 weeks. seriously. what do you say when you look to your soul, look to your bank account, and say, “i literally cannot afford to do this.” having thrown my hands in the air, slept on it; gave up. then, only to receive a scholarship after expressing how important this work informs my practice. today, i feel so dialed-in, it’s super-scary. it’s as if everything i’ve planned and implemented comes to me intrinsically. after all the article reading, all the drafting, all the lesson planning, all the executions, all the note-taking as days went south, north, east, west....

walking into the room and knowing when a climate isn’t right, nothing within your control, but you ride it out - uncompromising of your quality of environment. sometimes it’s just time for a group conversation. tell it like it is to the kids, remind them of the task at hand, asks them questions right on out of the funk, and turn the page. rather than speak in symbol. i’d better just speak of details in a ‘backwards-mapping’ kind of a way about today. it’s parent/teacher conference week. our learning community has just went through a round of post-evaluation rumination. love it or leave it, this is the time of the year when California school districts have to notify teachers if they are potentially not going to be asked to return the following year. there are 11 days until the 3rd of 3 benchmark testing cycles returns; the results of which make up the majority of official marks for the final report cards of the year. and, it’s just mid March. come April, teachers who will not be returning will be at a crossroads of self-esteem as to what kind of legacy they want to leave with their students. for, they know that they will not see their children again in the same capacity, at the same place, in the same way ever again. even i, who anticipate returning in every way (unless my master’s culminating experience in rigor spearheads a major play towards a PhD program to pursue invoking instructional rigor at will; who will take me?!)... even i, am swelling more and more emotionally as each day passes. the daily countdown. so-and-so many days until the CST window opens. 11 days to final annual standardized grade-level assessments. graduation ceremonies to plan (yes, i’ll now need to consider my own). but i put carts before horses. allow me to return to today. my last few hours at school, as i waited for any parents to come and pick up student report cards, i prepped posters. large paper frames with questions that framed different entry points into our current project: building Caravels.

last week sometime a lesson on colonial America coincided with global exploration and transatlantic travel. somebody said something about the boats and the Boston tea party. next thing i knew, “who’d like to build a Caravel for our end of year project?” was flying out my mouth. the energy completely changed in the room. kids were electrified. conversations in academic language sprang like a million mini fountains of youth. it was the teacher’s dream, becoming very much the reality. 67% of my students are currently performing at below grade level in reading and writing comprehension according to two of three standardized benchmark assessments; below emerging. that’s too many. but looking at the kids, and not the numbers, i need a very strong vehicle to capture imaginations and instill the kind of weighty self-perception of academic acumen who’s inertia propels underachievers across a proficiency threshold. jumping back to today, i made 4 posters with lovely photocopies and my best freehand teacher script. there will be writing tomorrow. brainstorms will be noted. academic language will be flying again. a sailor’s coming in to answer some key questions and guide our entry into model ship building. by the end of tomorrow i will have documentation that expresses my students' ideas, perceptions, desires and aspirations about how to share their learning with lower-grade students at our school. last week i had my young charges write a two paragraph essay on two ways to present our ship-building project to the school. ideas ranged from making t-shirts, to posting posters all around the school to let the ‘little kids’ know what we were up to. suddenly i felt imaginations taking off; real-time visioning, predicting, evaluating, comparing and contrasting mixed with reason. all because were building a few boats. that’s right, the am cohort is building a Caravel. and the pm cohort is building a Caravel. no doubt, they will be different. already one class wants to have a ship to scale, yet 5.5 feet long. the other cohort is thinking of something slightly smaller; just under 3 feet long. it was up to me to sneak in an academically challenging purpose that required a bit of thought to decode by way of the students. it went a little something like this: “purpose: to present a fairly accurate model representing historical and cultural significance in global exploration.” so, i naturally made round-robin posters for kids to write what they all thought this terminology meant. like this, “what do you think the term ‘fairly accurate’ means to our ship building project?” and the questions extended to all the terminology in the question: model, historical significance, cultural significance, global exploration... each student wrote a one sentence response with their name. ugh.

i’m a tired teacher, tonight. this is what happens when excitement wears- flying from a thursday to a wednesday on blessed adrenalin- thin because the call of the mattress is mightier than fingers that type past bedtimes. more later. today’s inspiration comes from Sara Varon, author of my favorite book, Bake Sale.

It's time to shape and mold chapters one through three of my project.

I'm at an unshakable pause that has more to do with increased tuition costs, making up fees on the payment plan, being a single dad, tax time, my students being bonkers and continuously challenging the rules of engagement inside the classroom as well as my superhuman efforts to aesthetically create a space that instills internal motivations to participate.

This week begins, The Beginning of a New Nation- with an emphasis on the American Revolution. I had a rather outstanding professor of American history at Cal State Hayward back in 2003, so I'm plenty prepared and totally motivated with plans of an interactive concept map that is already in place in my classroom.

My challenges are real. Yesterday after work, they felt so real that I wondered out-loud, wandered outside; drove. I tried to come up with a concrete solution for how this all might get wrapped up tidily in the next 16 weeks. I am at a a crossroads- a big one. What I feel is not so much panic, as a general uneasiness. But for that, this, all of this, my only spiritual training is what has propelled me thus far: be in the moment.

But, plan to fulfill your/my/one's destiny.

Today, I'm inspired by today's icon, Fauzio Koofi.

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To Writing Comprehension Data A couple of weeks ago I led a professional development ‘conversation’ about rigor for the teachers at my school. Basically, it was an introduction to the rigor concept. We discussed what defines rigor. I implanted the session objective as a self-reflective evaluation of our own learning community and practice. I invited my colleagues to take a look at their own practice and consider how rigor emerges through our collective actions as teachers, on a daily basis. I wanted to make it clear that implementing rigor has to do with being explicitly aware of what rigor is, so that we can both identify it in our practice and invoke it at will. That last part [ invoke rigor at will] was my hindsight objective, but I’m not sure if the staff in attendance had gathered that. Surely, we discussed rigor as a term and got the ball rolling around it as a concept. My follow up presentation will be entitled: Rigor: Identify It In Your Practice and Invoke It At Will Yesterday. I hadn’t anticipated journaling about this in this post (actually I have tons to say about my recent spate of 5th grade descriptive writing essay assessments) but it’s relevant to recent events. Yesterday we had a district ‘buy-back’ day. It’s a time when students have the day off and we gather as teachers to discuss issues and policies around the running of our school. And people spoke their truths. Some of the conversations were rather difficult, as people released their thoughts with passion and a cocktail of others that tend to challenge professional self-esteem. I myself, was not rattled but enthralled. We, as professionals, were in conversation about making change. 5th Grade Descriptive Writing Essay This is a good a place as any to detour from events 24 hours ago to those sometime around 36. Over the past couple of days, I graded my 5th graders’ descriptive writing essays. The prompt was to write an essay for an imagined newspaper assignment to describe their neighborhood for a series of articles about various neighborhoods in their town. It explicitly asked that they be sure to include sensory details of buildings, events, activities and people. There were 5 criteria for grading: organization (beginning, middle, and end), clarity of author’s purpose, clarity of controlling idea (how an author feels about their subject), writing conventions, and audience consideration. Of each of these 5 categories in the rubric, there were 4 levels of performance: non-existent or vague, present but lacking focus, present, as well as present and engaging. Not a rubric I’d necessarily craft in such a way, but that’s what it was. However, performance expectations were clearly defined for each area. Students had four 1-hour preparatory exercise lessons before writing a rough draft: front loading & introduction, visualizing, pre-writing, and organizing. I wanted to make sure that students were clear on the difference between a ‘main idea’ and a ‘controlling idea’ (a new curriculum concept in 5th) as well as where they belonged in the format of their assignment. We discussed the necessary details to include like paragraphing and the jobs of each type: introductory, detail and closing. But after a slew of hourly music pull-outs, special events, minimum days and holidays, it was finally time to just get down to writing. Coordinating this feat in two cohorts of 27 students each was no small feat. Alas, it is complete. Essay Performance Data Here is how the grades shook out. I began by translating the rubric into a point scale. Five categories times four levels of criteria rendered a 20 point maximum. A ‘4’ was considered a top, overall grade. At first glance, it would seem that by percentage, of A, B, C, and Not Passing would emerge as: A= 20-19, B= 18-17, C=16-15 and Not passing would be anything that scored under 14 points. But after grading a few papers, it became clear that this scale would be too rigid. The range of submissions were vast in execution, as each child hit the mark of the assignment in a wide variety of expressions. Their writer’s voices, as a collective, varied beyond the scope of the assignment. Simply put, describing one’s neighborhood is very different when you are traumatized by it, scared of it and love it; all at once. Clearly, this was the case and it has changed my paradigm of what my students go through, daily, just to arrive and be with me at school. Grading being necessary, it became clear that there were lines of delineation when it came to writing skill regarding this assignment. So I expanded the overall range of performance grades in accordance to the district’s prescribed grading scale: 4, 4-, 3+, 3, 3-, 2+, 2, 2-. This proved to be more accurate a measure of the range of papers. However it should be stated at this point, that I am in a unique position of being the sole Language Arts instructor for my grade level. Our school has a ‘blocking’ system in place where 2 cohorts of students go between 1 math instructor and myself, daily. It would be ideal for 3 teachers to grade the papers and arrive at a median score, to balance perspectives and reduce bias to a minimum. The Elephant in the Paragraph Any way you slice it, there was one glaring deficiency in most all my students: mastery of writing a simple sentence. It’s difficult to fathom students en masse, at 5th grade, writing multiple paragraphs of ideas with a limited understanding of basic sentence conventions like subject/predicate and noun/verb/preposition/prepositional phrase. I can only say that students have come thus far in such a state because there was not enough emphasis placed on understanding sentence writing concepts in practice. At this point as their teacher, it is clear where I must begin to shore up their fundamental technical understanding of sentence writing. It begins with looking at what has been written and explicitly knowing and looking to correct structural arrangements. My speculation on the creation of such a state of affairs is that students simply have not been ROUTINELY shown how to knowledgeably edit a sentence - so they haven’t. As such, from here on out, such a misunderstanding for my students is no longer an option. Intervention to address this particular issue has become my Daily Workshop Priority #1 for February 2012. Results, As They Currently Stand:

4 Advanced 4/54 students 7%

4- Advanced 1/54 students 2% 3+ Proficient 2/54 students 4% 3 Proficient 11/54 students 20%

3- Proficient 20/54 students 37%

2+ Emerging 9/54 students 17%

2 Emerging 2/54 students 4% 2- Below Basic 2/54 students 4% n/a Not Available 3/54 5%

Today's genius paradigm inspiration, Christopher George Latore Wallace

questioning students. I ask a question every day; I was once asked by a mentoring former Superintendent, “How do you know what you know?” Truth be told, that had more to do with me knowing when and what percentage of my students had arrived at an understanding before moving on to build upon their knowledge. But the spirit and sentiment are the same, “How do you know?”

It comes right after I ask for an answer to just about any question. More than it being a speaking CA state standard for 5th graders (or any grade for that matter...) asking the question honors the student’s thinking.

But quite often in the culture of many of my students, kids are not often asked what they think- just about anything. And in many cases, expressing what one thinks about matters that are challenging can even be seen as signs of disrespect. So I often wonder, are there more tensions to overcome in getting students to lower their effective filters to freely question responses?

Ciao for now. Today’s genius paradigm inspiration, Benazir Bhutto; circa 1977.

Rigor.

Rigor 1.

Increasing 5th Grade Reading Comprehension: Elevating Instructional Rigor Seminar in Educational Research December 6, 2011 Introduction General Area of Research Description Rigor is a quality of content that requires instructional strategies that explicitly target students’ abilities to organize, make inferences, visualize and revise personal understandings (Strong, R. W.,Silver, H. S., Perini, M. J., 2001). In addition, rigor is an action-term that describes quality of instruction. For instance, when a teacher offers students questions specifically designed to investigate content, grapple with ideas and seek clarification, such questioning is considered to be rigorous (Wolf, M., Crosson, A. C., Resnick, 2006). Utilizing conversation around a topic in an of itself is a rigorous instructional strategy. Conversation used as a way to connect cognitive strategies, harbors comprehension acquisition (Ketch, A. 2005). And still other research defines rigor in terms of specific and deliberate instructional applications towards meeting an in-depth understanding of a concept (Strong, R. W.,Silver, H. S., Perini, M. J., 2001). Reading comprehension remains a complex and illusive concept to master for 5th grade and other middle grade students. Some research suggest that this is a matter of conquering reading automaticity so that students have more processing resources to evaluate reading content(Neddenriep, C. E., Fritz, A. M., & Carrier, M. E. 2011). However in my experience in teaching 5th grade English Language Arts, students with relatively low word-per-minute reading ability counts need other access points to comprehend literary content. To address this need, research suggests that rigorous instructional methods can be utilized to improve reading comprehension (RC) in middle grade students. Methods range from scaffolded conversation with specific questioning techniques (Ketch, A. 2005), explicitly linking comprehension question types to targeted RC strategies (Alonzo, J., Basaraba, D., Tindal, G., & Carriveau, R. S., 2009), to teaching students self-regulating RC techniques (Fadlelmula, F., & Ozgeldi, M., 2010). Purpose of This Study I plan to evaluate rigorous reading comprehension instructional methods with chronically underperforming (CUS’s) 5th grade English Language Arts (ELA) students. In this teacher research study I will chronicle my instruction plans, thoughts, student assessment data and reflections in an online journal. My proposal is to share my journal with my San Francisco State University Master’s program advisor, Stephanie Sisk-Hilton, and peer instructors. Hence, I will be looking to employ informed, alternative, perspectives of my practice in an effort to implement rigorous instruction. Research Design This will be a mixed methods teacher action research study. I will be evaluating student RC performance on standardized Trimester Formative Assessments (TFA’s). Concurrently, I will be self-reflecting upon my teaching practice as I look to my journal for data to draw themes, connections and correlations. This document will also inform implications for my practice and student learning (Wolf, M.,et. al. 2006).

Rigor 2.

Operational Definitions Rigor is a descriptive term in the sense that it describes qualitative features of content. In this sense, rigor is content - made up of one or varying degrees of being: complex- made up of interrelated ideas, provocative- in the sense it challenges preexisting ideas, evocative- emotionally or personally challenging ambiguous- consisting of symbols or images laden with multiple meanings (Strong, R. et. al., 2001) Rigorous instruction (RI) is that which employs rigorous instructional techniques and inhibits rigorous learning when applied. RI is applied systematically and strategically. Rigorous techniques (RTs) are those that inspire student engagement with a combination of characteristics such as being emotionally evocative, provocative in a way that challenges preconceived notions, is complex in that it is composed of overlapping themes or ideas and symbolically infused with concepts or imagery containing multiple meanings. Rigorous learning (RL) takes place when students are required to make inferences, visualize concepts, organize ideas and revise their understandings ((Strong, R. et. al., 2001) Reading Comprehension is a student’s understanding of literary text. It has been described in hierarchal terms of being composed of: literal comprehension, inferential comprehension and evaluative comprehension. The literal comprehension level entails decoding words and sentences. Inferential comprehension entails a student’s ability to draw inferences or conclusions based on information contained in the text. The highest level, or evaluative comprehension, is where students are capable of drawing correlations to personal experiences to information contained or even suggested by the text (Alonzo, J. et. al, 2009). Scaffolded conversation involves a teacher posing questions to students engaging them in higher-level thought. Higher level thought involves analyzing and reinterpreting text (Wolf, M., et. al. 2006) Comprehension questioning techniques and types vary in type and frequency. The goal of this strategy is for teachers to lead students in conversation that intentionally highlights aspects of literary understanding (Wolf, M., et. al. 2006). In addition, Such questions can go from teacher to student and eventually be transferred between student to student as a self-monitoring strategy (Fadlelmula, F., et. al. 2010). Chronically underperforming students (CUS’s) are defined as those who have performed at 60% or below on consecutive formative assessments.

Rigor 3.

Statement Of Ethical Considerations Regarding ethical considerations, none of my students will be denied or separately grouped in receiving rigorous instruction. I will be paying particular attention to trimester formative assessment data from my chronically underperforming students, but will not exclude grade fluctuations of students outside the CUS’s cohort. This proposal is a teacher action research project where my instruction, planning, and student testing results will be evaluated to inform and improve my own teaching practice. Any and all identifying student data outside of actual trimester formative assessment data will remain anonymous. All data obtained will be secured in a locked file. Justification I currently teach English Language Arts, including Social Studies to sixty 5th grade students. 56% of this population are chronically underperforming in the area of reading comprehension. For the past two years running, our school has not met it’s Annual Yearly Progress Goals, nor its’ Annual Progress Index Goals. Stakes are high. These students deserve rigorous instruction so that they may be a part of a rigorous learning environment. It is not enough to teach the existing curriculum as close to fidelity as possible. Elevating the rigor of the instruction and content offers substantial proposed benefits that could greatly affect their performance on this year’s California Standardized Tests (areas of reading comprehension- which makes up the majority of the entire English Language Arts exam). One type of rigorous instructional technique is to evaluate TFA data. By utilizing TFA results, to guide instruction by taking note of the particular skills students are struggling with, I can identify their particular skill deficits. For instance, if my TFA data suggests my CUS’s are grappling with inferential or evaluative questions, I can target lessons around helping students develop those higher level skills (Alonzo, J.et. al.,2009) Weak vocabulary development often correlates to low vocabulary assessment performance. One rigorous curriculum enhancement would be to apply consistent, targeted, and methodical instruction that bolsters strong vocabulary improvement. Hence a strong vocabulary could become the result and cause of improved reading and consequently, comprehension (Apthorp, H., et. al.,2011). Training students to self-evaluate and self-monitor their own comprehension is yet another rigor-elevating instructional technique designed to improve reading comprehension. By engaging all students during questioning and utilizing individual student strengths, this creates a ‘can-do’ inclusiveness that draws students into reading comprehension (Davey, B., 1989). This teacher action research plan proposes to actively implement supplemental rigorous instructional techniques to elevate the overall rigor of the English Language Arts curriculum for my 5th graders. My hope is that they may all benefit from rigorous instruction and become active co-participants in a rigorous learning community that boosts reading comprehension performance. Rigorous instructional techniques and methods to promote rigorous content are well-documented. However, there needs to be more empirical studies that provide insight to who, what, where, when, why and how rigorous instruction with elementary school-aged children takes place. Such research holds potential for implications to improve teacher understanding of rigorous improvements in the area of reading comprehension for 5th grade and entry level middle school students. Annotated Bibliography References for this study highlight 3 major themes: Rigor & role of the teacher, rigor & role of the student and rigorous learning communities. For rigor to be fully implemented, there is some overlap betwixt all three themes. Each area supports and cross-references the other to provide a rigorous framework for student growth. Rigor And Role of the Teacher Alonzo, J., Basaraba, D., Tindal, G., & Carriveau, R. S. (2009). They Read, but How Well Do They Understand?: An Empirical Look at the Nuances of Measuring Reading Comprehension. Assessment For Effective Intervention, 35(1), 34-44. This study investigates and defines reading comprehension in terms of 3 distinct hierarchal types: literal, inferential and evaluative. The researchers evaluate reading comprehension items by using a Rasch model to compare difficulty between the various questions. Their findings imply a progressive relationship of challenge as one goes from literal, to inferential, and finally evaluative comprehension. Conclusions to research also suggest that reading comprehension assessment objectives can be specified in relation to one of the three comprehension types. Apthorp, H., McKeown, M., Igel, C., Clemons, T., Randel, B., Clark, T., & Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, (. (2011). Proximal Effects of Robust Vocabulary Instruction in Primary and Intermediate Grades. Society For Research On Educational Effectiveness, This study investigates the proposal that states that strong instruction is required to promote intense vocabulary building so that vocabulary can be both a cause and result of successful reading. (Beck & McKeown, 2007a; Biemiller, 2003; Foorman, Seals, Anthony & Pollard-Durodola, 2003). The theoretical and empirical research implies there are three aspects of vocabulary instruction are required to increase vocabulary growth and improve reading: (1) both definitional and contextual information, (2) more than one or two exposures to each word, and (3) engagement of students in deep processing about word meaning and use (Baumann, Kameenui, & Ash, 2003; Beck, McKeown & Kucan, 2002; Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000; Mezynski, 1983; Nagy & Scott, 2000; Rupley & Nichols, 2005; Stahl & Fairbanks, 1986). By utilizing a cluster randomized trial design, the researchers test the effectiveness of an instructional intervention that incorporates these 3 elements: "Elements of Reading[R]: Vocabulary" ("EOR-V") (Beck & McKeown, 2004). The research findings confirm recommended vocabulary instruction that engages students' processing of meaning and uses all 3 vocabulary development approaches towards the goals of increased vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. These findings include such recommendations apply to primary and intermediate grades students. Davey, B. (1989). Active Responding in Content Classrooms. Journal Of Reading, 33(1), 44-46. This article describes how Multiple Response Techniques (MRTs) can be used prior to, during, and after reading to help students better comprehend content material. The argument goes that MRTs enhance comprehension by engaging all students, focusing on students' strengths, training students in reflectivity and self-monitoring. Hence this allows teacher a quick evaluation of student learning. Ketch, A. (2005). Conversation: The comprehension connection. Reading Teacher, 59(1), 8-13. doi:10.1598/RT.59.1.2 This article proposes that conversation is a basis for critical thinking. It is what binds cognitive strategies and provides students with the practice that becomes the foundation for reading, writing, and thinking. The study cites 7 actions that good readers perform while comprehending text. And this article provides tips for teachers on multiple formats to encourage conversation and comprehension. Methods described are: (1) literature circles; (2) book clubs; (3) cross-age conversations; (4) whole-class discussions; (5) think/pair/share; (6) small group discussions; and (7) individual conferences. Rigor and Role of the Student Fadlelmula, F., & Ozgeldi, M. (2010). How a Learner Self-Regulates Reading Comprehension: A Case Study for Graduate Level Reading. Online Submission, This study examines how learners self-regulate learning while reading academic texts. Pintrich's SRL (self-regulated learning) model is used to discover if the model was evident in the learner’s reading comprehension process. The self-regulatory processes were categorized into 4 phases (forethought, monitoring, control and reflection), and each phase is divided into 4 areas of self-regulation (cognitive, motivational, behavioral and contextual). The data were collected through observation, videotaping and semi-structured interview. Study findings revealed that all the phases in the model were apparent in the sample’s reading comprehension task. But which strategies were belonging to monitoring or control phases was not conclusive. Neddenriep, C. E., Fritz, A. M., & Carrier, M. E. (2011). Assessing for Generalized Improvements in Reading Comprehension by Intervening to Improve Reading Fluency. Psychology In The Schools, 48(1), 14-27. This article investigates the relationship between reading fluency and comprehension. This case study evaluated five 4th-grade students whom were identified as being at risk of not meeting annual goals in reading fluency and comprehension based on fall benchmark assessment data. Through weekly fluency monitoring, repeat reading practice in two weekly 30-minute sessions, this intervention observed effects on student comprehension. Results suggested an increased rate of words read correctly per minute with generalized increases in comprehension for four of five students. Wolf, M., Crosson, A. C., Resnick, L. B., & National Center for Research on Evaluation, S. A. (2006). Accountable Talk in Reading Comprehension Instruction. CSE Technical Report 670. National Center For Research On Evaluation, Standards, And Student Testing (CRESST), This study investigated the relationship between classroom talk quality and academic rigor in reading comprehension instruction. The study also proposed to characterize effective questions to support rigorous reading comprehension lessons. Data collected included a set of rubrics to measure ‘accountable talk,’ academic instructional rigor. Findings indicate that students' participation in classroom talk allows for a rigorous lesson and there are correlations between conversation questions that engage students in high-level thinking. Rigor of Learning Communities Sales, A., Traver, J. A., & Garcia, R. (2011). Action Research as a School-Based Strategy in Intercultural Professional Development for Teachers. Teaching And Teacher Education: An International Journal Of Research And Studies, 27(5), 911-919. This empirical study evaluated an elementary school that acted on the model of a qualitative case-study to evaluate an entire elementary school as a learning community. Teachers were observed, queried and evaluated on their participation and reflections on professional development over the course of a year. Their findings suggested that the reflective aspect of teacher action research lends itself to transforming a learning community that is both intercultural and inclusive. Strong, R. W.,Silver, H. S., Perini, M. J., (2001) Teaching what matters most: standards and strategies for raising student achievement (pp. 5-30). Alexandria, VA: Association for Curriculum and Development This text is organized in four sections: (1) Rigor, (2) Thought, (3) Diversity , and (4) Authenticity. The section on rigor, clearly defines the concept as it applies to content, instruction/role of the teacher and student roles/participation. Research-based teaching strategies permeate every section giving instructors of any grade a clearly definitive tool set to guide instruction in any number of situations. Wilcox, K., & Angelis, J. (2011). High School Best Practices: Results from Cross -Case Comparisons. High School Journal, 94(4), 138-153. This study sought to identifying commonalities that exist in high schools where students consistently outperform other demographically similar students. A group of schools similar in demographic were identified and compared for a case study. Findings indicated that four interrelated practices distinguish higher-performing schools from their average performing counterparts. These practices are noted as: (1) being well-defined, (2) maintain an enacted focus on rigor, (3) exhibit capacities to innovate, (4) manifest open and transparent communication within the school and greater community; and (5) enact a “willingness and capability to use a variety of evidence to make strategic decisions.” Williams, T., Rosin, M., Kirst, M. W., & American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy, R. (2011). Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades. Education Outlook. No. 1. American Enterprise Institute For Public Policy Research, This study details an extensive empirical study of a team of researchers from EdSource, Stanford University, and American Institutes for Research. The research highlights key policies recommendations to improve student performance in middle grades. Wolf, M., Crosson, A. C., Resnick, L. B., & National Center for Research on Evaluation, S. A. (2006). Accountable Talk in Reading Comprehension Instruction. CSE Technical Report 670. National Center For Research On Evaluation, Standards, And Student Testing (CRESST), This study investigated the relationship between classroom talk quality and academic rigor in reading comprehension instruction. The study also proposed to characterize effective questions to support rigorous reading comprehension lessons. Data collected included a set of rubrics to measure ‘accountable talk,’ academic instructional rigor. Findings indicate that students' participation in classroom talk allows for a rigorous lesson and there are correlations between conversation questions that engage students in high-level thinking. Procedures Overview This proposal consists of 3 elements: (1) gauging and implementing rigor in 5th grade English Language Arts, (2) documenting my experiences and reflections in an online journal as a reference tool, and (3) evaluating student reading comprehension performance data on district-issued Trimester Formative Assessments. This teacher action research proposal is designed to introduce elevated rigor of content and instruction to a preexisting environment where 56% of the 5th grade ELA students are chronically underperforming in the area of reading comprehension. Teacher Action Research This is a mixed methods teacher action proposal. TFA’s (trimester formative assessments) are issued during the scholastic school year; every October, January, and April. California State Testing for English Language Arts are issued every May. The span of this proposal would be from the first TFA results in October, through the TFA results of the following April. Lessons for elevated rigor would be directly related to areas of need as indicated by TFA data. I plan to regularly report all lesson planning, detailed results, experiences and ongoing self-reflection in the online journal. TFA results will be coded by reading comprehension question type. Overall student results will be translated into graphs that indicated areas of weakness. On turn, lessons will be planned, implemented and chronicled in the online journal. By reflecting on the journal document, I expect to fine tune my practice for greater leverage of student reading comprehension skill development. Population and Sample The intended sample will be a convenience sample of students enrolled in 5th grade at my elementary school. I teach two cohorts a day, each with 30 students each. There are an equal ratio of boys to girls in each group. However the allotment of instructional time is slightly different for the afternoon cohort of students. They receive approximately 8 hours less ELA instruction a month due to a rotating minimum day schedule. Also the afternoon cohort remains the afternoon cohort all year. So they will always receive ELA instruction in the afternoon, which could affect the group in unexpected ways. Mortality is always a potential validity factor as this student population can have many transient students. I may lose or gain students during the course of the study. Socioeconomically, all students are eligible for free lunch. There are 18 boys and 12 girls in each cohort. African American students compose 70% of each cohort. The remaining 30% are a combination of Latino and Yemen students. Instrumentation, My primary instrument for self-reflection will be an online journal. The qualitative nature of my study involves a self-evaluative approach on my thoughts, actions, attempts and results in implementing rigorous instruction and content. The accumulation of data in the log may yield trends or themes that I will attempt to code and correlate to student achievement on TFA’s. Projected Data Analysis Procedures Validity & Reliability I will be reflecting on my journal entries with my Master’s of Elementary Education culminating experience advisor, Professor Stephanie Sisk-Hilton, and peer instructors at my school. Through this triangulation process, I will attempt to get a less self-biased interpretation of my data from a community of experts. The TFA’s are standardized, multiple choice, achievement tests designed to mimic, those on grade-leveled California Standardized Tests. Not every TFA has an equal number and type of comprehension question. So it will be necessary to track comprehension question types and track variable performance as expressed. Individual student performance data as well as CUS cohort performance data. will be translated into graphs that map performance over time. The primary TFA results will represent a raw score, or an initial comparison point. Altogether, there will be 3 assessments issued in trimesters. It will be critical to offer formative assessments comprised of previously test release questions of identical frequency and type as the TFA’s. This would be done in an attempt to check the validity of TFA data against actual CST assessment data. By offering testing from different sources, school district and state, during the same time period is called Equivalent Form Method- which I intend to use. By retesting students on initial exams closer to the end of the 3rd trimester, the Test Retest Method, will give me yet more information to note CUS cohort progress. Also, my findings might be reinforced by triangulating performance data against other RC assessments that utilize ‘cloze and maze procedures,’ supply item essay, or short answer formats. These procedures would strengthen the validity of the TFA’s. Threats to Validity The primary threat to validity will be subject characteristics. Typically, underperforming students operate at relatively low word-per-minute reading counts. Even though time allotments include as much a student needs to finish, students may ‘rush’ through material to avoid stigma. Another major threat to validity is attitude. Students who are chronically under-perform do not see themselves as scholars or ‘smart.’ One method to boost self-esteem is to reinforce the power of consciously applying strategies to yield a higher percentage of correct answers. And ultimately, one of the greatest threats to validity of my journal reflections is my own bias as the author, participant, and researcher. However, I will be reviewing my own conclusions and perspectives with peers (teachers) and my Elementary Education Master’s program director, Stephanie Sisk-Hilton EXPECTED FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Although you will not be expected to carry out your study during the semester (this course is limited to the proposal writing stage), you will nevertheless need to discuss briefly what you expect to discover once you gather the necessary data. This section should restate your hypothesis, but, again, since you have not collected data on your proposed study yet, the language you use should be flexible. The final section of your proposal should discuss possible suggestions for future research not covered by your study. What are some other important research questions related to your topic that are worthy of investigation? Projected Data Analysis Procedures Expected Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations I expect that I will find that students will make incremental improvements on successive assessments as I implement reading comprehension instruction and lessons with increased rigor. Once the necessary data has been collected, I suspect that it will show that students will show gains that rank them as ‘proficient’ at grade level, if not ‘approaching’ (just shy of grade level performance. My proposal, as a teacher action research project, will yield observations distinct to my particular teaching time, place and experience. And my detailed notation of my methods, thoughts and actions in implementing rigorous instruction may provide critical insight into potential application methods for other instructors with CUS’s. One of my sub-goals is to render my practice methods and applications as transparent and easy to follow, as possible. Yet, rigor is a concept that requires more investigation in a wide range of learning environments. Some questions that beg further research with regards to rigor include: How can rigor be applied across all subject areas? What policy changes are required to allow rigorous teaching and learning environments to thrive? These are worthy questions of investigation that can have serious implications for learning and policy across the United States and perhaps the world. References Empirical Studies Alonzo, J., Basaraba, D., Tindal, G., & Carriveau, R. S. (2009). They Read, but How Well Do They Understand?: An Empirical Look at the Nuances of Measuring Reading Comprehension. Assessment For Effective Intervention, 35(1), 34-44. Apthorp, H., McKeown, M., Igel, C., Clemons, T., Randel, B., Clark, T., & Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, (. (2011). Proximal Effects of Robust Vocabulary Instruction in Primary and Intermediate Grades. Society For Research On Educational Effectiveness, Fadlelmula, F., & Ozgeldi, M. (2010). How a Learner Self-Regulates Reading Comprehension: A Case Study for Graduate Level Reading. Online Submission, Neddenriep, C. E., Fritz, A. M., & Carrier, M. E. (2011). Assessing for Generalized Improvements in Reading Comprehension by Intervening to Improve Reading Fluency. Psychology In The Schools, 48(1), 14-27. Wilcox, K., & Angelis, J. (2011). High School Best Practices: Results from Cross - Case Comparisons. High School Journal, 94(4), 138-153. Williams, T., Rosin, M., Kirst, M. W., & American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy, R. (2011). Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades. Education Outlook. No. 1. American Enterprise Institute For Public Policy Research, Wolf, M., Crosson, A. C., Resnick, L. B., & National Center for Research on Evaluation, S. A. (2006). Accountable Talk in Reading Comprehension Instruction. CSE Technical Report 670. National Center For Research On Evaluation, Standards, And Student Testing (CRESST) Non Empirical Articles Ketch, A. (2005). Conversation: The comprehension connection. Reading Teacher, 59(1), 8-13. doi:10.1598/RT.59.1.2 Davey, B. (1989). Active Responding in Content Classrooms. Journal Of Reading, 33(1), 44-46.

What We Might Learn As Teachers from Steve Jobs *as adapted by bwlp from the online article: WHATS HUGE, The techtainment Blog, accessed at http://whatshuge.com/2011/10/7-rules-of-steve-jobs/ on 10/20/11 at 5:05AM 1. Bring what you love into the classroom. Jobs once said, "People with passion can change the world for the better." Asked about the advice he would offer would-be entrepreneurs, he said, "I'd get a job as a busboy or something until I figured out what I was really passionate about." That's how much it meant to him. Passion is everything. 2. Put a dent in the universe; inspire children to change the world. Jobs believed in the power of vision. He once asked then-Pepsi President, John Sculley, "Do you want to spend your life selling sugar water or do you want to change the world?" Don't lose sight of the big vision. 3. Make connections in curriculum to a diversity of subjects and realia. Jobs once said creativity is connecting things. He meant that people with a broad set of life experiences can often see things that others miss. He took calligraphy classes that didn't have any practical use in his life -- until he built the Macintosh. Jobs traveled to India and Asia. He studied design and hospitality. Don't live in a bubble. Connect ideas from different fields. 4. Say no to 1,000 things; focus on a few key skills for academic success. Jobs was as proud of what Apple chose not to do as he was of what Apple did. When he returned in Apple in 1997, he took a company with 350 products and reduced them to 10 products in a two-year period. Why? So he could put the "A-Team" on each project. Put the "A-Team Attitude" on each semester goal. What are you saying "no" to? 5. Create insanely different experiences; how many things do children see when they walk in the door suggest their lives are enriched upon entry? Jobs also sought innovation in the customer-service experience. When he first came up with the concept for the Apple Stores, he said they would be different because instead of just moving boxes, the stores would enrich lives. Everything about the experience you have when you walk into an Apple store is intended to enrich your life and to create an emotional connection between you and the Apple brand. What are you doing to enrich the lives of your students? 6. Master the message; humans are conditioned to listen to storytelling- don’t fight the feeling!! Tell good stories that lead students to tasks and expectations. It’s better than appearing to beg them to listen. (I was ‘almost’ there...) You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if you can't communicate your ideas, it doesn't matter. Jobs was the world's greatest corporate storyteller. Instead of simply delivering a presentation like most people do, he informed, he educated, he inspired and he entertained, all in one presentation. 7. Sell dreams, not daily agendas. Jobs captured our imagination because he really understood his customer. He knew that tablets would not capture our imaginations if they were too complicated. The result? One button on the front of an iPad. It's so simple, a 2-year-old can use it. Your students don't care about your daily agenda. They care about themselves, their hopes, their ambitions. Jobs taught us that if you help your students reach their dreams, you'll win them over. So the overall message is: dream bigger for your students and consequently yourself. See genius in your craziness, believe in yourself, believe in your vision: crafting young people to be the best people they can be first to apply and develop their academic skills second, and be constantly prepared to defend those ideas.

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