The Common Core Standards are rigorous in terms of their expectations for developing student writers.  Meeting such demands as “producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, audience, and purpose” or “writing narratives, informational/explanatory texts or arguments” are tall ones, but certainly appropriate as we strive to prepare students for success in life.  Teacher commitment must be high in order for students to meet these expectations and one of the best ways to support students in their journey is through the use of conferring. 
            As an elementary teacher, I had many opportunities to engage in conferences with students across contents and disciplines.  In spite of the challenges this practice presents, I found it to be one of the most powerful acts of teaching and learning in which I could engage.  In his seminal text, How’s it going? A practical guide to conferring with student writers, Carl Anderson (2000) reminds us that conferences are conversations and that these conversations are central to building relationships with students. He further reminds us of the importance of these relationships in the life of student learning:  
The reason that many students are willing to take on the difficult challenge of outgrowing themselves as writers is not because we ask just the right question about their writing work, or because our feedback is right on the mark, or because we teach them brilliantly.  In the end, the success of a conference often rests on the extent to which students sense that we are genuinely interested in them as writers – and as individuals (p. 23).
            True as this statement is, conferring is not easy.  Moving about my classroom with my small stool equipped with the words and inspiration of writing teachers Katie Wood Ray and Carl Anderson, I conferred with students. This pattern was one I repeated across contents in my classroom, but no area did the practice have the powerful impact that it did in writing.  My proverbial toolbox was full, including my conferring clipboard, good intentions, awareness of students’ interests, needs, and passions, and a whole lot advice ready for the offering.  For years this was my pattern and by many standards, it was effective.  Yet, there were always lingering questions:  Am I doing this right?  Was that just right or too much?  Did I work to help the writer grow or did I only seek to improve the writing?  What question might have been better?  I struggled in balancing the needs of the writer in the short term with her needs in the long term.  Looking back, I realize that I was the holder of the vision – the holder of the picture of where the student writer should go.  Furthermore, I often worked to determine the journey or path that needed to be taken to reach that vision rather than allowing for student vision and ownership to pave the way.
            As the cliché goes, “Hindsight is twenty-twenty.”  It is through becoming an instructional coach that I have come to realize how directive my conferring was and how I might have engaged my students in a different sort of conference – one that would have given them control in their own process of learning.  For me this understanding has come through participating in the Cognitive CoachingSM seminar.  A metaphor in Cognitive Coachingsm is important in understanding the role of coach – that metaphor is that of the stagecoach.  A stagecoach was once used to help people get from where they were to where they wanted to be.  Of course this makes sense in working with teachers, rather than forcing a preconceived agenda, the structure of Cognitive CoachingSM provides a way for teachers to identify where they are wanting to go and the coach supports them in identifying and determining a path for getting there (Costa & Garmston, 2006) .
            The more I progressed with Cognitive CoachingSM, the more I came to understand the degree to which the conversation techniques I was learning would be helpful in conferring with students.  As I contemplate a skill that would have helped me tremendously when I was engaged in conferring with learners so frequently, I am drawn to the power of the paraphrase.  Inevitably when I share with people my belief in the power of a paraphrase, I am met with sighs, casual acknowledgements, or the occasional – “I hate it when people do that.”  And I have to admit that these same thoughts crossed my mind before I learned more about the paraphrase.   In my case, the immediate association I had with paraphrasing was the use of, “What I hear you saying is . . . “ and to be honest this was a phrase that I hated to hear coming out of someone else’s mouth – I never felt like what they heard was what I was trying to say. 
            Paraphrasing is an intentional behavior that is selected in order to really listen and hear the words of another.  So, use of the phrase “What I hear you saying . . . “ works against the stance of really listening to the other person.  When I say, “What I hear you saying . . .” the emphasis is on me.  Specifically, the focus is on what I am hearing rather than what you are saying.  So, this phrase so often associated with paraphrasing is the hallmark of poor paraphrasing. 
            This bears the question, how does one paraphrase effectively and how might this help students?  The answer is deceptively simple – paraphrasing give us a tool to have better conversations. Better conversations with everyone and certainly better conversations with students who can use them as important leverage points in their learning. 
            In the realm of Cognitive CoachingSM three broad categories of paraphrases are identified:  acknowledge and clarify, summarize and organize, and shift level of abstraction.

• Acknowledge and clarify – This is perhaps this most commonly known form of paraphrase.  In this type of paraphrase, the listener simply restates the essence of what has been stated (Garmston &Wellman, 2013).  The point of the paraphrase is to reflect the speaker’s content and/or emotion.  In the context of a writing conference, a teacher may say something like:
  • “You’re working on your short story and you are trying to figure out the best way to reveal what the character is feeling.”
  • “You’re feeling stuck as a writer and even though you have several ideas, you are not sure of the best place to start.”
  • “You’ve been studying Julius Lester’s use of verbs in John Henry and you are thinking about how to apply that in your own writing.”
• Summarize and organize – Like the first type of paraphrase, this one offers a summary, but what the speaker has said is organized into categories or containers (Garmston & Wellman, 2013).  The point of the paraphrase is to organize the comments into manageable bits.  In the context of a writing conference, a teacher might say something like:
  • There are two things that you are trying to do: reveal the character’s emotion and use strong verbs.
  • There are three things you would like to accomplish as a writer this semester:  write a short story (for the first time), prepare of piece of writing to be published in the school literary magazine, and work daily in your writer’s notebook.
  • On the one hand, you could narrow the focus of your story to the moment you and your friend had the bicycle collision, on the other hand you might expand the scope of your story to explore your relationship with your best friend.
• Shift level abstraction – This sort of paraphrase has two functions:  to shift the speaker’s thinking to a lower level of abstraction (sort of like zooming in to see the details) or to a higher level of abstraction (sort of like use the wide angle lens to see the big pictures) (Garmston & Wellman, 2013).  Shifting to a lower level of abstraction helps the speaker get to the literal and more detail oriented aspects of situation, shifting to a higher level of abstraction helps the speaker get to a place of values and ideas.  In the context of a writing conference, a teacher might say something like:
  • So, as you think about the cruelty of zoos, you are thinking about the limited space animals have and the lack of socialization.
  • In hearing your story, it seems like perseverance is an important idea that you want to convey.
  • You are using colors, tastes, and smells to reveal the coming of fall in your poem.

In my experience, I have found that the value of conferring with students is coupled with the challenge of having meaningful, important, and impactful conversations.  Even in realizing and experiencing the value, the lingering question, What will we talk about? was never far from thoughts.  Ironically, it was through a process of learning about how to have coaching conversations with adults (and better conversations in general) that I realized the power of the paraphrase.  As you begin your new routines for the year, keep in mind the wisdom of Katie Wood Ray, “I have to remember that if I’ve only had three conferences with Sara during the past five weeks, that’s three more conferences than I ever had in my whole life as a student” (p. 158).  So be brave, take on the challenge of having important, meaningful conversations with your students and allow paraphrases to be your ally in that process.
Anderson, C. (2000). How's it going? A practical guide to conferring with student writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Costa, A. L. & Garmston, R. J. (2006). Cognitive Coaching: A foundation for renaissance schools. Heatherton: Hawker Brownlow Education.
Garmston, R. J. & Wellman, B. M. (2013). The Adaptive School: A sourcebook for developing collaborative groups.  Lanham, Maryland:  Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Ray, K. W. & Laminack, L. L. (2001). The writing workshop: Working through the hard parts (and they're all hard parts). Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English.
 
 
 

I read an article the other day on Upworthy.com about the effects that different genres of music have on peoples' minds, bodies, and communities. Rap music may minimize depression; classical music has been shown to deter crime; pop music can help augment your physical workout. These claims are not surprising yet some people miss out on musical benefits simply because they have sworn off one or more genres: I won't listen to opera because I don't understand the words; I won't listen to metal with all of its screaming; jazz is out of the question because it's too sporadic. No one should be forced to listen to something they dislike but occasionally giving a chance to a genre you don't usually listen to isn't an unreasonable proposition. You may just find something you enjoy.
            It occurred to me that there is a direct parallel between this and peoples' choices for what they read, if they read at all. Twilight ruined all young adult literature for me; nonfiction is just so boring!; classical literature is out of date and dense.
            An article from the website Reading Rockets illustrates how different genres expose young readers to a variety of vocabulary, imagery, and inspiration that they would not otherwise be privy to. Fantasy and science fiction, for instance, bolster imagination, while historical fiction helps children to value and learn from the past. The article points out that there are subgenres of writing that "complement 'traditional' fiction", much like musical subgenres complement the Top 40 charts. For listeners and readers who want to start slow, this method is probably a good basis.
            Listening to different types of music and reading different types of texts also helps us become more globally competent, as well as globally accepting. The State of New Jersey Department of Education states in its language arts literacy standards, "A diversity of reading material (including fiction and nonfiction) provides students with opportunities to grow intellectually, emotionally, and socially as they consider universal themes, diverse cultures and perspectives, and the common aspects of human existence" (C-8). In a world quickly shrinking with each advent of technology, yet still tainted with prejudice and ignorance, this is hugely important; especially for young people whose characters, beliefs, and values are heavily malleable and evolving.      
            No matter which genre of writing is your favorite, be sure to give other genres a try once in awhile. As Upworthy.com's mission statement reminds us: we're all part of the same story.
 
 
 
Works cited
Canty, Erin. The effect different genres of music can have on your mind, body, and          community. Upworthy.com. April 5, 2016. Accessed June 15, 2016. http://www.upworthy.com/the-effect-different-genres-of-music-can-have-on-your-mind-body-and-community  

Nace, Dr. Felicia. Why Children Benefit from Reading a Variety of Books. State of New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 30, 2016.

http://www.state.nj.us/education/parents/articles/life/books.htmNew Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Language Arts Literacy. NJ.gov. (2004).

http://www.state.nj.us/education/cccs/2004/s3_lal.pdfThe Importance of Reading Widely. ReadingRockets.org November 6, 2012. Accessed June 30, 2016. http://www.readingrockets.org/article/importance-reading-widely

​Every writing class I have ever taught included some incarnation of a writing workshop, but as my teaching repertoire has evolved over the years (to include content-focused classes as well as writing classes) I have discovered the power of the workshop model to support learning across disciplines. Before I share my three reasons to make your classroom a workshop, a quick description of what I mean by workshop.

What is a workshop?

A workshop is a space where things are made. A woodworking workshop is where woodworkers carve and craft wooden artifacts and a writing workshop supports writers as they create written work. A classroom workshop operates in the same fashion to support learners/makers as they write or create artifacts (either formative or summative in purpose).
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A classroom workshop can be structured in a variety of ways, but this is my adaption of a popular model. My simple system is represented by just four parts: Open, Shape, Work, and Air. Almost every time my classes meet we follow this same structure although the parts may be spread over more than one class session depending on the schedule we have to work with. I always open class with a writing prompt. This low-stakes writing assignment is intended to help my students gather their thoughts about the topic or idea we will focus on for that class. Often, this writing will inform class discussion as well as assignments. 

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​I then embark on a mini-lesson explaining something I know students will need to complete the current assignment. Then students are given time to try out the new strategy and work on their current project. This work is usually supported by partners or small groups so I am free to work with those most in need as the others have access to feedback and support from their peers.

Finally, we always close every class with a session to air out our ideas and share our work. Depending on the size of the class (and the weight of our shares) we either take turns sharing or I call on select students (rotating from class to class so everyone gets a chance) to share their ideas and/or work. These conversations often create a marvelous synergy that energizes our thinking on a number of levels. They also offer many opportunities to slip in further instruction that I deliver or solicit from a student who has experience solving a particular problem. As our projects near completion these sessions will often dominate the class time so we can offer feedback on the projects.
And now for the three reasons you should transform your classroom into a workshop no matter what content area you teach.

Workshop For You
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Being the sage on the stage is exhausting. There is the preparation: reviewing old notes and content resources plus preparing a lecture guide, handouts, activities, or other supporting materials. And, of course, preparation is further complicated as you strive to find new and fresh ways to engage your students. Then there is the performance itself which can be more tiring than running a marathon in cement shoes. Finally, after all that sweat and tears, you look out into the rows of desks to see students day dreaming, scanning their phones, or doodling aimlessly on the cover of their closed notebooks. Did you reach any of them? Did anyone learn anything today? Will they remember it next week or next semester? Both research and my own experience have taught me it is not likely that students will transfer this information to future purposes. The lecture is not an effective teaching tool.

Preparation for a workshop lesson is much easier and more focused, because it is not the main purpose of the class session, but it is a key ingredient. Each class is focused on creation of an artifact and your mini-lesson is designed to support that work. Students quickly learn to pay attention because this information will be needed right away and they will remember it because they used it right away.
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Class discussion is much more active and engaged in a workshop than following a lecture or reading assignment, because students have something to talk about whether it comes from their writing or their project. Students can talk about their ideas or questions during the airing session because it seems a natural extension of the small-group conversations that took place during work time. In addition, students take more responsibility for their preparation for class, whether it is research or reading, because their classmates will hold them accountable during work time.
Best of all, this kind of teaching is so much more fun and meaningful for you as a teacher. I never know exactly what we will talk about in class and I learn things every semester from every student even when we are covering material and readings I have taught before. Try doing that with a lecture.

Workshop For Them
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Humans learn better by doing and they learn best when are interested in and care about what they are doing. For too many humans, however potent a lecture may be, there is little reason to remember its content later. Everyone is lucky if they remember the material long enough to prepare for the test and much research has shown that very little of this information transfers to future classes let alone life and work outside school.
But when we are given the opportunity to pursue our own questions and discover our own answers, even if within certain parameters dictated by the class context, we will learn, grow, and remember, because we are engaged and involved in the processing of the information and we are more than simple recipients of it. This work is even more meaningful if we are creating products for a real audience and a real purpose, but student choice remains an important part of engagement and learning even if the information never leaves your classroom. Every semester my students tell me that they wish every class they took was a workshop because they found the experience so meaningful.

Workshop For Your Community

The very best classes are always more than an assembly of bodies. They are a community a learners. Ideally, in these communities the teacher is learning beside the students and students are given the opportunity to lead discussions and learning. This can only happen in a workshop or studio where the focus is on making. A traditional classroom can offer a watered down version by granting students temporary leadership, but the power will always remain with the teacher who stands at the front of the classroom for the majority of the class time. This imbalance of power and agency is drilled into us from a very young age and it takes a concerted effort to overcome it.
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The results are worth the effort, because in a workshop everyone is granted agency and power, and the impact this has on their confidence can never be overestimated. A workshop approach can deliver on engagement, transfer, and agency more effectively than any traditional classroom model. I love teaching in a workshop classroom and I hope my ideas will inspire you to transform your classroom into a workshop, too.
Deanna Mascle directs the Morehead Writing Project and teaches writing and the teaching of writing at Morehead State University. You can read more of her thoughts about workshop and the teaching of writing on her Metawriting blog.

In this Information Age, it is easy to be overwhelmed by data, words and images. What can we teachers do to help our students better comprehend, analyze, and criticize the flood of information at their fingertips?
 
The twenty-first challenges us to change our practice to meet our students’ identified needs; we must do more than lament the ineffectiveness of past practices to meet modern needs. In my hybrid teaching role, I’ve heard teachers from all contents express concern that their students can’t interpret data from graphs, can’t read maps, can’t make inferences from images.
 
It’s critical for teachers to unite across content areas to teach visual literacy, because if you’ve been online lately, you’ve probably noticed that the Internet is not organized by department. Infographics are everywhere online, and these media cross and blend a perfect opportunity for cross-curricular instruction, as they intertwine beautifully the visual, the textual and the numerical.
 
Sometimes in our departmentalized secondary schools, especially in the era of high-stakes testing, it can be easy to become hyper-focused on our content areas in isolation. But how often are we planning for the ways words, numbers and images intersect to make meaning in our modern world?
 
The best packaged information comes to us with all content areas in concert, helping us make meaning in a way that appeals to all our senses, our logic, and surprises and delights us.

Infographics are a powerful blend of design, data, writing and analysis that can illuminate truth or mask it, depending on how they are used. Thus they are fertile ground for sowing the seeds of critical analysis and higher order thinking for all students.
 
To teach critical analysis, consider this graphing lesson on misleading graphs can support reading and writing argument in ELA, interpreting graphs in science or social studies, while simultaneously reinforcing basic graphing skills in math and extending students thinking toward analysis and application.                                                      
http://passyworldofmathematics.com/misleading-graphs/       
 
We know from research and experience that instruction is most powerful and effective when it is cross-curricularly planned. Themed units can be natural for elementary school teachers who plan all contents, but they may be more challenging for teachers in departmentalized secondary schools.                       
 
While high school teachers may have to stretch themselves a little farther, for middle school teachers who work on teams, it is possible to have a conversation with colleagues about what skills and topics they are currently teaching. Pairing related graphs and charts with informational or literary texts can add depth to instruction and provide an opportunity to teach annotation, critical analysis, making inferences and citing evidence to support claims.
 
Students can learn about the economy, geographic and visual design from these maps that show each country’s most valuable exports by color in social studies. Social studies teachers could support ELA curriculum by having students write claims about the maps, and support these claims with evidence. ELA teachers can in turn support social studies, science and math teachers by choosing informational texts that include graphs and charts, and requiring students to annotate those as well as the article.
 
For teachers at all levels, allowing students to create their own infographic can enrich and inspire your instruction, while fostering skills of the twenty-first century. One free, web-based program that allows students to save their work is Piktochart. This program also provides free templates and examples that can help students get started.
 
Tracy Hare, a middle school art teacher from Minnesota, writes a great step-by-step guide for how to support your students as they create infographics on The Art of Education blog. Check it out for great ideas and potential pitfalls. At left is one of her student-created infographics that show her students’ passions and attention to design elements.
 
As we look to prepare our students for careers that haven’t been invented yet, the best we can do is to help them be critical analyzers of all information that comes their way and to empower them to tell their stories and make their arguments in ways that will be heard in the twenty-first century.
 
Whether your students read or write them, infographics have the potential to empower.

​Good writing—the writing we look at as models, for example, The Declaration of Independence, Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg, Dr. King’s letter from the Birmingham jail—is predicated on a great pressing need: the need to separate, the need to elegize, the need to explain.  The only writing that will ever be valuable to a student will be that which comes from her own need to communicate, to commiserate, to illuminate. It’s writing that comes from an immediate, pressing purpose.
Our basic need to express the anger, loneliness, torment, bewilderment or joy will produce the best writing. Being assigned a topic, assigned a form, assigned an audience, and assigned a rubric undercuts the very human element that gives all writing its vibrancy. 
Ta-Nehisi Coates in his newest book, Between the World and Me, says about his academic experience, “I wanted to pursue things, to know things, but I could not match the means of knowing that came naturally to me with the expectations of professors. The pursuit of knowing was freedom to me, the right to declare your own curiosities and follow them in all manner of books. I was made for the library, not the classroom. The classroom was a jail of other people's interest” (pg. 48).
Good writing starts with a writer’s own interest, which is grounded in her life, her mind, her observations about the world.  Writing that originates in the mind of a teacher is, at best, an exercise, or more likely, as Coates says, “a jail.”  If teachers want better writing from their students, they must give students permission to declare their own curiosities and time to pursue them. 
In rhetoric, this pressing need is called exigence, which is defined as the circumstances that necessitate communication. Writing without exigence is futile, dry, and exhausting to produce and to read.   It’s like asking kids to ride stationary bikes across America.  They figure out the minute they get on the bike, they’re not going anywhere fast.  They may build up great leg muscles and endurance, but they learn nothing about navigating an actual journey or anticipating perils. Plus the scenery never changes.
Our job as teachers is to help students recognize their own exigencies, to shape them into topics, help them expose their hearts and examine with utter seriousness the considerations of their mind.  Writing about what you know is always good advice, but, more importantly, writing about what you care about is essential.  Never discount the theories, hunches, spites, paranoias, or conundrums of the student writer. For some reason, these cares are important. These untold stories, Maya Angelou said, were an agony to carry around, were begging to be communicated.
In 1986, I enrolled in a theatre class at the University of Kentucky taught by Charlie Oates, who now teaches at the University of California-San Diego.  At the beginning of the class, Oates sent several Marc Chagall prints (I and The Village, Over the Town, and The Promenade were the ones I remember, although there may have been more) to elementary schools in eastern Kentucky and asked teachers to use the paintings with their classes as inspiration for writing a story.   After students wrote their stories, their teachers sent them to our class. We read through the pieces and chose several to produce.  Before the end of the semester, we traveled to these schools and performed the short sketches, a program called Chagallplay, and at the end of the performances, the authors of the original stories came forward and were recognized.  
I was only 19 and had never taught writing at this point, but I recognized something very powerful as we read through the selections. Many students had written lovely stories clearly drawn from the narratives in Chagall's work, but we also discovered the most powerful ones often had little or nothing to do with what was represented on the canvas.  One student wrote a long story, based in title only of The Promenade, about a dysfunctional domestic situation where the father was an alcoholic, the mother was abandoning the marriage, and the children were all scared at night. In every group of papers, four or five kids went rogue from the assignment and wrote from some exigence to which only they were privy. Someone suggested perhaps those kids saw in Chagall’s work something we couldn’t, but I feel like there might have been another urgency at play:  those kids wrote what needed to be written regardless of the prompt. Chagallplay was just the opportunity, just the key to unlock something inside them that demanded expression.   
A good writing prompt can do this, but letting students choose their own writing projects is really where exigence begins.  Ask students what they believe in, what their future holds, what dreams they want to pursue; writing projects will emerge. When students begin to understand they can write about anything they want, they will naturally choose the topics about which they care the most, about which there is circumstance demanding communication. Writing that springs from a situation so powerful it compels a student to speak certainly will prefigure voice, tone, and purpose.  

There is no way around it.  Grading student writing takes time, but there are lots of ideas out there that can make it easier. While I don't always put them into practice, I am now scratching my head as to why I haven’t. When I do, my life gets better.

Student Created Rubrics
Student created rubrics have become a popular concept thanks to Kentucky's writing program review (Writing: Formative and Summative Assessment, demonstrator 1, indicator A) and the TPGES, which is based on Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching (Component 1f - Designing Student Assessment).  I decided try this idea out soon after TPGES came out, and I was amazed by the results.

I prepared a rubric for a literary letter I was about to assign to see if students would develop a similar one. I also wrote a model literary letter for my favorite book, To Kill a Mockingbird.  I put students in groups and asked them what made this good writing.  At first, students only focused on conventions, but I asked them to dig deeper, and they did! After creating an anchor chart based on my classes' suggestions, I was amazed to find their rubric matched mine.

The only difference was their language was more student- friendly.  Because they were invested in the creation of the rubric, my students used it more during peer conferences, gave more specific feedback to their partners, and the papers were better.

To read more about self-created rubrics, check out my dear friend Liz Prather's blog post on the CTQ website.

Rubric Highlighting
I have done this more often this year, especially after finding the Kentucky Writing Project's 16 point argument rubric. It allowed me to hone in on specific areas.  Teachers don't have to grade each indicator.  They can focus on one section at a time which speeds up grading. The specific indicators allowed me to focus on each area more easily than any other rubric I have ever used.

A note of caution: Never tell students what you are focusing on.  If you do, they will only work on those areas.

List of Common Errors
I can't seem to help myself when grading.  I still mark every obvious sentence fragment or spelling error.  Those errors often keep me from appreciating a students' thinking and really mess up the paper.  Instead of becoming that teacher who makes a paper bleed purple, try this trick I learned but have yet to put into practice. Maybe writing about it today will convince me to start next year!

Create a master list of errors you can't seem to ignore when grading, and assign each error a number.  Then go to the resource you use to teach these skills.  For example, my classroom still has a perfectly usable set of Language Network grammar/composition books.  When a student gets a number, they have to hit the books.  Here is a sample list:

1 - Sentence Fragments: Page 115; Test: Page 125
2- Run-on Sentence: Page 116; Test: Page 126

Add chunks of time during class when students work on these skills so you are available to clarify. By doing this, lessons in grammar/mechanics will be based on students' individual needs as writers.

I think the reason I have never gotten this off the ground is I forget to create this during the summer.  Maybe, this year, I will remember.

Stagger Due Dates
If you don't need to have all classes turn the assignment in at once, don't.  Thirty papers looks less intimidating than 150.

Roll the Dice
Have students write more than one example of a specific type of writing.  If you have to do open response, have students answer three different questions.  Then have a student roll a die until a one, two, or three comes up.

The number that comes up is the number you grade.  You can even do a different roll for every class.  As a result, students work hard on all three responses while you only have to grade one.  If you have a struggling writer, tell them to focus on only one.

I love this because students get the writing practice they need, but I don't have to grade it all.  It definitely eases the workload!

Grade Aloud
I got this idea from Brandie Trent, a fabulous English teacher and colleague of mine, when I participated in the Morehead Writing Project as a returning fellow a couple of years ago.  It works well if students are struggling with a specific part of the writing.  Have every student read that specific section of his or her paper out loud.  Then give it a grade.  I tried this with introductions, and while I still had to grade for conventions later, I could easily assess the effectiveness of the hook, context, and thesis statement.  The great thing about this was I saw students improving their introductions before I called their names, which I did randomly. Did they steal a few ideas? Yes.  Did it improve their introductions?  Yes.  I entered the grades into the gradebook, students practiced their revision skills, and they taught each other how to improve introductions.

I feel inspired after writing this blog post.  Hopefully, this will be my new normal next year. If it is, I may have just found the extra time needed to make regular exercise part of my daily routine.  Now, that is something to celebrate!

Liz Prather is a fellow of the Morehead Writing Project.

In 2001, while I was working with the Rural Voices Radio Project, I traveled to more than 40 different schools throughout eastern Kentucky to work with students using writing prompts to generate place-based writing.  I was hosted by exceptional teachers, engaged students, and bright, beautiful schools.
However, one of the perennial problems I discovered in, not one or two, but in almost every single school I visited, was a deep and abiding hatred for the humble dialogue tag “he said” and “she said.”  In fact, over half the schools I visited had even dedicated at least one bulletin board to advertise suitable substitutions to “said,” such as “squealed” or “queried.” In one elementary, they were having a school-wide assembly to "Kill Mr. Said."  Sure enough, there was a bewildered what-have-I-done-to-you Mr. Said effigy dangling from a hangman's noose on the bulletin board as I walked into the school's front door.  I witnessed teachers passing out handouts with 300 different words for “said” (300?) and I witnessed several lessons on different ways to eradicate "said" from dialogue. 
For the love of all that's holy, why would teachers be doing this? 
Maybe someone told them this is the way real writers write. Was killing Mr. Said some sort of educational urban myth that grew larger and larger the more people fell prey to it?  
Here's Elmore Leonard, arguably one of the finest dialogue writers, on the said issue: 
Never use a verb other than “said” to carry the dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.  But “said” is far less intrusive than “grumbled,”  “gasped,” “cautioned,” or “lied.”
In Janet Burroway's textbook on writing fiction, she says:
 “The purpose of a dialogue tag is to make clear who is speaking, and it usually needs to do nothing else. Said is quite adequate to the purpose. People only ask, reply and occasionally add, recall, remember, or remind. But sometimes an unsure writer will strain for emphatic synonyms: she gasped, he whined, they chorused, John snarled, Mary spat. This is unnecessary and obtrusive, because although unintentional repetition makes for awkward style, the word “said” is as invisible as punctuation. When reading we’re scarcely aware of it, whereas we are forced to be aware of she wailed. If it’s clear who is speaking without any dialogue tag at all, don’t use one.
Stephen King, in On Writing, weighs in:
 The best form of dialogue attribution is said, as in he said, she said, Bill said, Monica said.  If you want to see this put stringently into practice, I urge you to read or reread a novel by Larry McMurtry, the Shane of dialogue attribution. That looks damned snide on the page, but I’m speaking with complete sincerity. McMurtry has allowed few adverbial dandelions to grow on his lawn. He believes in he said/she said even in moments of emotional crisis.  Go and do thou likewise.
In   Self-Editing for Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King have this to say:
Don’t use speaker attributions as a way of slipping in explanations of your dialogue, such as he growled or she snapped. As with all other types of explanations, either they’re unnecessary (“I’m sorry,” he apologized.) or they are necessary, but should be (“Do you consider that amusing?” she whined.) What this amounts to is your using the verb “said” almost without exception. To use verbs like he grimaced, she smiled, he chortled, you brand yourself an amateur—and to stick your character with an action that is physically impossible: no one outside of hack fiction has ever been able to grimace or smile or chortle a sentence.
And finally Bill Roorbach in Writing Life Stories speaks to all of us:
“I know your high school teacher told you to vary your tag lines. But there is nothing whatever wring with repeating he said and she said over and over. Every great writer does so. He said and she said provide fine rhythms, and repeated, they fall into the background of readerly consciousness. Fancy, verb tag lines shake a reader out of his dream.”
           
In Hemingway’s short story, “The Killers,” I counted 207 lines of dialogue:  101 have no dialogue attribution, 90 lines use “said,” 14 lines use “asked,” and only two lines use one “called” and one “explained” each.
So, toss the synonyms for said handout in the recycling bin, and look to the humble Mr. Said to make your dialogue lively once again.  If it was good enough for Hemingway, it’s good enough for English II.
 
 

​If you have been an English/language arts teacher for more than a year, you understand how demanding your career choice is.  The number of competencies for which you are responsible, the endless avalanche of grading, and the varied student ability levels you encounter each year are not for the faint of heart.  When I occasionally vent (I get tired like everyone does) about my workload to other teachers, they often say things like, "I don't know how you do it! I would NEVER be a language arts/English teacher!  That's why I chose math/social studies/science/fill-in-the blank! There is far less grading, and the grading is easier to do!"
These teachers have a point, although I do wish more would embrace the responsibilities they, too, have towards improving students' literacy skills.  If they did, they would see how improvement in these areas can increase students' understanding of major concepts in their own content area. The old excuse of "I didn't choose to be an English teacher, so I shouldn't have to teach reading/writing/ listening/ speaking" is not really effective in the twenty-first century.  Today's jobs require students to have command of these skills more than ever, and since the other content areas are the gateways to these jobs, it makes sense that literacy skills should be emphasized when applicable.
With that said, I agree that language arts is the toughest subject to teach.  When compared to other subject areas, I do believe the workload of a hardworking English teacher far exceeds that of many other subject areas. After 22 years in the field, I am certain I spend more time grading than my counterparts do. The grading requires constant presence of mind because I am often attempting to follow the students' thinking in the writing they produce.  This type of grading is far more challenging than correcting multiple choice questions, and now there are computer programs that will do that for you.
Yes, language arts grading can be exhausting.  And I am fine with that.  Why?  Because these skills have, in my opinion, the most impact on my students' futures.  Literacy is central to success regardless of a student's career aspirations.
The Standards
The standards required of a language arts teacher can be overwhelming.  Lets take a quick look at the list:

1. Reading - Students should be able to decode, comprehend, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate new grade level text independently.
2. Language - Students should be able to identify and use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and grade level vocabulary.
3. Writing - Students should be able to apply the language skills and craft longer pieces of writing: the argument, the informational piece, and the narrative.  Additionally, students are to use technology and apply effective research skills, and students should be able to cite evidence and use proper internal citation and create works cited pages. Finally, students should be able to use the writing process to draft, revise, and edit writing for publication.
4. Speaking/Listening - Students should be able to come to discussions prepared, follow rules for effective discussion, listen to speeches and analyze ideas, elaborate on those ideas, and speak effectively when they give their own speeches.

When you review this list, it is easy to see how these skills impact every person, regardless of his or her future.  These skills require a person to think, problem solve, effectively express themselves and communicate with others. While technical expertise is becoming more and more necessary in new 21st century careers, the need to think critically, problem solve, and communicate with others effectively is just as important, areas that are deeply embedded in the language arts curriculum.
So Why be an ELA Teacher?
As you can see from the standards we teach, this career can be incredibly challenging, but that's why it is, by far,  the most rewarding.  While I teach adolescents first, I chose English/ language arts as my vehicle to effect change because I have seen firsthand how it transforms students' lives,  which is why I am in the education business. Improvement in any of these areas gives students a voice, changes future opportunities, and positively impacts future generations.
Literacy Builds Confidence
Students who tackle and improve any aspect of reading, writing, speaking, or listening exhibit more confidence.  Regardless of the literacy strand, students who grow in any of these areas gain confidence.  When students gain confidence, especially after struggling with a skill, they become more determined.  People who are more determined experience more success, regardless of their chosen paths.
Reading better is a huge confidence builder.  Over 22 years, I have seen students who choose to improve their reading skills gain confidence.  Each year, students who once melted into walls when asked to read transform into people who raise their hands and exuberantly shout, "Please, let me read!"  Students who finish their first chapter books can't wait to tell you the plot to show they "got" it have taken the first step to understanding content in any subject area they want to investigate independently.  Non-readers who discover the joy of reading for the first time realize they can become anything they want to because they have learned how to learn.
Writing teaches students they have a voice that deserves to be heard.  When those who never considered themselves writers find their voice, it has a dramatic effect on how they view themselves in the world. When students who see themselves as terrible writers, primarily due to all the grammatical and convention errors marked by previous teachers, come away from class with a new found confidence because they know something they wrote impacted another person, they realize they can connect with and make a difference in the world in which they live.  When students say  for the first time "I know I am a writer," they look at what they read differently, appreciate the writer's style, and will never look at the written word in the same way. When students start journals, write for the pure joy it offers, struggle to effectively communicate their intended meaning to their intended audience, they enter writing contests, publish for the first time, and realize words have power.  When students realize they can use words for this purpose, they, too, realize they have power and can make a difference.
When students once terrified of public speaking give their first speech with confidence, they overcome a fear more prevalent in our country than the fear of dying.  This success instills a key understanding that successful people do not allow fear to prevent them from trying new things which will take them out of their comfort zones. They learn to overcome fear of failure  deal with nerves that often prevent others from reaching their true potential. Future job interviews are now possible as are careers that require public speaking, and these students will possess a skill many don't have.
How can I Meet All these Demands?
My answer to this question?  I don't know.  In twenty-two years, I have never followed my curriculum map with fidelity, and I scoff at district mandated pacing guides.  Because literacy skills are so intricately interwoven, I haven't found a logical way to map out the sequence of how these skills are best taught, particularly when various aspects are internalized differently by each of my students. Quite simply, reading and writing are processes. Some of the processes are easily acquired by some students while other skills are not.  The acquisition of these skills depends upon how each student's brain is wired.
I often equate teaching language arts to being a doctor.  I first administer baseline tests to determine what reading, writing, and language skills are present.  Then I "prescribe" various treatments and measure their effect on students' abilities as readers and writers through a variety of formative assessments. Sometimes, as in the world of medicine, a treatment doesn't work, so I try something else. As language arts teachers, we are tasked with developing anywhere from 80 - 160 individual treatment plans during any single day of teaching, so no, I don't put much stock in curriculum maps and pacing guides.
 
Instead, I do believe in analyzing several sources of data.  Our school uses the state test, the MAP test, and baseline writings. That works for me. I believe in those sources, but I also trust my own observation of students.  I listen to them as they discuss what they read, I analyze the writing they do about what they read, and I make a plan based on the data and my observations based upon what skills the most students need at the time.
This obviously takes a great deal of time. I don't get to everything, but I do see students grow over time. I measure my success as a teacher on three things:  Do students enjoy reading and writing more after leaving my class?  Do students believe they are better readers, writers, speakers, listeners, and thinkers after leaving my class?  Can I see improvement in students' reading and analysis skills through the writing they create at the end of the year?  If the answer is yes to these three questions, then yes, I have made a difference. And yes, ELA is the best subject to teach!
 
 

Convincing reluctant readers to pick up a book is incredibly frustrating. Since adopting reader’s workshop at our school four years ago, I have seen engaged readers take the students  who once had that glazed over look whenever the word “reading” was mentioned.
 
The key to instituting reader's workshop is to have a well thought out plan, and Penny Kittle's Book Love provides just that. Kittle introduced her high school students to reader’s and writer’s workshops, and her suggestions are classroom tested.  Her book offers sound advice to reader’s workshop beginners, as I was when I started.
 
 After reading the book in 2012, I put many of her ideas into practice in my seventh grade classroom.  As a result, the majority of my students now love to read.  They tell those willing to listen that reading is cool, have a list of books they plan to read, and eagerly share their favorites with each another.  There is nothing more exciting to me than walking into a classroom where students can't wait to read. Here are some ideas I have incorporated in my room over the last few years.  I hope they turn your students into passionate readers as well.

 If you meet resistance, be an advocate for your students.  Push for this!  Remind administrators that we are in the business of creating lifelong learners, and readers become lifelong learners.  In addition, provide administrators data to support the effectiveness of reader's workshop, and yes, there is a way to give principals and district level officials the data they need to support such a program. More about that later...

#2   Introduce Independent Reading and Don’t Let Them Off the Hook
 
To do this, talk about the power of books in your own life. Share books with students that focus on their interests. To do this, you need to be a reader yourself.  If you are a reader already, share the books you loved at their age, and read the books that are hot in your students’ age group.  If you aren't a reader, start now!  Look for books that will appeal to your students.  There are many websites that provide insight.  Just Google "best children's books" or "hottest teen books" or "great young adult books" and you are well on your way to finding books that will engage your students.
 
Next, teach students the Goldilocks Rules for Finding a "Just Right" Book or The Five Finger Rule to ensure they are reading a book that is not too easy or too hard for them. Then go to the library and search for that "just right" book.
 
My students have incredibly varied interests.  The more I get to know them, the better job I do of making book recommendations they may like.  Many love sports novels.  I can't keep Mike Lupica's books on the shelves.  Others prefer video games, so James Dashner's new series that starts with The Eye of Minds has been of interest to them.  John Green appeals to multiple audiences, boys and girls alike.  Struggling readers love series such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Hank the Cowdog.  I have hooked students on Minecraft manuals as a start, and while I hope they move on to literature, it is a beginning.  Whatever you do, don’t give up!
 
#3 Require students to set reading goals
 
Penny Kittle has a great formula I use with my students to set weekly reading goals.   It works like this:
 
# of pages read in 10 minutes  X  6  =  subtotal  X  2 = reading goal for the week
 
So what does this formula mean?
 
Students read a book on their independent reading level for ten minutes.  I caution students to read slowly, to read for understanding.  The goal here is not to see how many pages they can read, but to see how many pages they can comprehend. When you notice “speed readers,” have mini-conferences during daily independent reading time to ensure they actually understand what is being read. This is another great time to check in with students and talk about the books they are choosing.  This increases engagement, allows you to see if students are reading books that match their reading level, and allows you to suggest books they might like if the book currently being read isn’t doing anything for them.
 
Once the ten minutes are over, students multiply by 6.  This gives them a subtotal that they should be able to read in an hour.  Finally, multiply that subtotal by 2 to determine a reading goal based on two hours of independent reading.

I keep these charts for a number of reasons.  First of all, it is evidence I can use to create hard data for administrators who need proof of this program’s success.  If they need further proof, as we were asked to do this year, have your students complete bell ringers tied to the standards you are teaching.
 
For example: We have been analyzing how particular elements of a story or drama interact. Use your “just right” book to answer the following question.  How does the setting in your book affect the plot or characters?  or We have been looking at the connotations of words and how they affect tone.  What is the tone of the chapter you are currently reading in your “just right” book?  What words have connotations that support that tone?
 
#4  Celebrate Often
 
Celebrating students' growth is vital to the success of reader’s workshop. With middle school students, I celebrate in several ways.  First of all, I praise students who clearly understand what their books are about.  I allow them to share great books with their peers, and you might be surprised at how much validation that provides.  
 
Second, I take students' pictures when they finish the entire book.  I post the pictures in the hallway.  This may sound silly - I know I thought it did when this idea was suggested to me - however, it has transformed the seventh grade hallway into one of pride when it comes to reading.  Students want to be on the wall and may even "cheat" to get on the wall by not completing books.  I have to occasionally ask students questions to ensure they have really read the entire book.  By mid-year, some students are self-conscious about having their pictures taken.  I always encourage but never require them to have their pictures taken.  There are reluctant readers who get excited later in the year, and they tend to replace those who have become self-conscious.  The pictures stay up all year, and it makes a great conversation piece during parent-teacher conferences.
 
Finally, I do give students who complete every weekly reading goal a free soda at the end of the nine weeks.  Teen brains love rewards, so a simple soda often reinforces good reading habits.  Students are usually pretty honest about their page numbers, believe it or not.  Do some "cheat" to get the soda?  I am sure a few do, but they are still reading more than they used to.  When I tell the students how much I spend, you would be surprised how many get honest and won't say they met a goal if they didn't.  I do also attach one quarterly grade to their reading goals.  This is usually the only homework I assign, so parents know their students should be reading every night.  I wish more parents held their students accountable for this, however more students are reading at home than they were before.
 
#5  Have Students Write about What they Read
 
Don't have students write book reports! Do have students write reviews.  Those can take so many forms.  Here are several.

• Penny Kittle suggests literary letters, and I have students write at least one a year.  This year they wrote to their parents about their favorite "just right" book.  The Library of Congress often hosts contests such as  Letters about Literature  which fit in perfectly with this assignment a couple of years ago.
• Use a Booksource's Classroom Organizer website so students can check books in and out.  When they return books, they can write a review.  More and more students are starting to do this in my room, and some are even providing specific evidence to support their opinions about the books!
• Invite students to use social media.  If they blog, have them blog.  Create an Edmodo site or some similar venue where they can hold written book talks.  I have two students who started a Facebook page title The BCMS Readers this year, and they now have a following. 

 
This was the way I started reader’s workshop.  I change it a little every year.  Over the last four years, I have been amazed at the number of students eager for our reading time.  This year, our language arts department decided to adopt a new curriculum called Engage NY .  I was concerned because I didn't want to give up reader's workshop. After looking at the curriculum, however, I was overjoyed because they include an  independent reading component that is almost identical to the one our school has been using.
 
I am certain reader's workshop has made a difference.  Parents have come up to me at ball games and asked me what I have done with their child?  How did I get him/her to read?  I have frustrated a few teachers who can't get my students to put away their books in their other classes.  Teachers from the high school say things like "I am glad you have gotten the kids to read like they do.  Now what can you do about their writing?"  
 
I think engaged readers will eventually become engaged writers, especially if they use the model taught by the Kentucky Writing Project.  Together, these two components can change students' lives forever.

I am still thinking about student self-assessment.  Well, self-assessment is an aspect of what has really been on my mind:  students actively taking responsibility for their learning.  I use an online publisher provided software package in my courses.  Students complete their homework using this software so that they can receive immediate feedback and have access to supplemental resources. Whenever a student works a homework problem incorrectly, he or she can choose to work a similar problem.  Every correctly worked “similar problem” takes the place of the previously incorrectly worked one.  By continuing to work on problems that they initially get wrong, students can get more practice and score 100% on every homework assignment.   I tell my students this at the beginning of each class, and I emphasize that homework is for their use.  It is a tool to help them master the material that we are working with in the classroom.  It is my hope that they will complete a homework assignment, go back and take a look at the methods used for incorrectly worked problems, and use examples from class and the online software package to see where they made mistakes so that they can find and correct their own errors.  An important aspect of mathematics, the “real” mathematics done by mathematicians who discover new theorems, finally come up with a proof for very old ones, and publish in journals, is making mistakes and carefully reviewing your work to find where you have gone wrong so to speak.  However, this past semester it dawned on me that students were leaving homework assignments at 70% or 80% and coming into class with lists of problems they “got wrong” or “couldn’t do” from the homework. I would in turn carefully and methodically work out solutions to these on the board, and students would copy them down without really learning very much.   Even though the software package gave them the ability to repeat incorrectly worked problems, and even though they had examples and notes from class as well as the resources provided online, students were continuing to give up on their homework (and themselves) way too early!!!
So I began searching through folders (both on thumb drives and in cabinets) of teaching techniques and best practices I had collected over the years for ways to get students to take responsibility for their own learning.  I came across an article I had photocopied from NCTM’s Empowering Students by Promoting Active Learning in Mathematics, published way back in 1994, written by Marcia Standera.  In the article, Ms. Standera states that she doesn’t allow students to simply leave homework assignments unfinished because they couldn’t do certain problems.  In Ms. Standera’s class, to complete an assignment, students:

must do every problem or write one sentence or more of explanation for each place where they “got stuck.” [Because, m]any times, describing what they don’t understand helps them think about the process of solving the problem, and they “unstick” themselves.  Writing about where they “got stuck” also makes them more accountable      for assignments.  No longer can students hand in blank sheets of paper and say, “I don’t understand.”  They have to think about what they don’t understand and express it in written form.” (25)

As I begin my classes this semester, each time I give a homework assignment that counts for a grade, I am going to use this stipulation.  Since I use the online software for homework, students will know whether they incorrectly worked a problem or not after they have finished it.  So, I will require for each homework problem that a student works incorrectly or cannot finish an accompanying sentence or two of explanation.  We’ll see how it goes.  Results tba!! 

Thinking about Ms. Standera’s assignment brought to mind another assignment I used in those halcyon days of yore that I think I will revive as well in an attempt to promote self-assessment and active learning.  This is an assignment that, in a way, turns a summative assessment into a formative one.   Once upon a time, I would ask students, after each major unit test to complete a test review.  I required that students first go through their test carefully and redo every problem that they got wrong (or only received partial credit for).  Then, for each problem they corrected, I would ask them to write an explanation of why they thought they got the problem wrong on the first attempt.  I urged students to be honest with themselves and me.  If the reason for getting it wrong was because they had no earthly idea how to answer or work out the solution, say so.  I reminded them that their teacher could only provide help or get them additional help if he knew where their weaknesses were.  I modeled a few possible responses, such as “I got question 2 wrong because I got mixed up about which side of the less than/greater than symbol was supposed to be aimed at the larger number.  I guess I didn’t study that and commit it to memory as well as I should have.”  I remember this assignment adding a great deal to my teaching, and the only reason I stopped using it – I am confessing now – is because I got lazy.  To finish the assignment, I asked students to write a paragraph or so outlining a course of action for preparing for the next exam.  I used (and am reviving) this assignment because I want students to see that a successful student embraces his or her summative assessments as just another way to learn, rather than fearing the possibility of failure.  Rather than getting frustrated and angry because they didn’t make the grade hoped for, they should do a self-assessment of their skills and habits, and then make a plan for how they will change in the future.  Hopefully using these two assignments will help my students take more responsibility for their own learning. 
 
                                                                               Work Cited.    
Standera, Marcia. “Listening to Students through Writing.”  Empowering Students by Promoting Active Learning in             Mathematics. Reston: NCTM, 1994.