This is the
next installment in my series of the transition of America to a Plantation
Nation in which I discuss the transformation of the US education system from a
public school environment where future citizens are instructed to a situation
that divides children into three categories – the children of the elite who receive
a proper education, job training for the masses and the school to prison
pipeline for the underclass. I’m not going to discuss the elite education since
it’s not unlike the current system nor am I going to discuss the future raw
material for the prison-industrial complex because it will be the same as the
middle class job training with the addition of more surveillance cameras and
personal ID cards with embedded radio frequency identification chips that
constantly monitor the location of all children at all times. In Mississippi
today even disrespecting a teacher can get you jail time in a Juvenal detention
center if you’re a member of the underclass. This post is about the near future
(2014) implementation of the Common Core Curriculum Standards (CCCS) and the
real world implementation with implied consequences to the life of children.
Note that I said children and not Human Capital that is the current CCCS educational
term. The highest virtue in Plantation Nation for the non elite is compliance
with established policies and procedures. Texas Republican party currently has
a written rule in its party platform against critical thinking.
I decided to
write this blockbuster post because I’ve been dropping hints on Clarissa’s blog
but I don’t get the feeling that even this astute and committed blogger
understands the big picture. Some of my quotes:
From the
Washington Post:
“As states
across the country implement broad changes in curriculum from kindergarten
through high school, English teachers worry that they will have to replace the
dog-eared novels they love with historical documents and nonfiction texts…The
CCCS in English, which have been adopted in 46 states and the District, call
for public schools to ramp up nonfiction so that by 12th grade
students will be reading mostly “informational text” instead of fictional
literature…Proponents of the new standards, including the National Governors Association
and the Council of Chief State School Officers, say U.S. students have suffered
from a diet of easy reading and lack the ability to digest complex nonfiction.”
From the Daily
Telegraph:
"Books such
as J D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
will be replaced by “informational texts” approved by the CCCS…Suggested
non-fiction texts include Recommended Levels of Insulation by the US
Environmental Protection Agency and the Invasive Plant Inventory by
California’s Invasive Plant Council.”
And from the
Pandawhale blog:
“When I
asked Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School
Officers – which, along with the National Governors Association, created the
CCCS – he told me that CEOs and university professors championed the shift to
non-fiction.”
The
philosophical stance of CCCS is only elements that can be measured are real or,
at least, have value. These tie in with the use of Value Added Modeling for the
evaluation of teachers. By standardizing curricula nationwide along with common
testing sets, teachers in different states can be compared and the supposed
poorly evaluated ones exfoliated from the tree of learning. We could of
course attack the a priori assumptions as Robert Pirsig did in “Zen and the Art
of Motorcycle Maintenance: An inquiry into values” or we could note the many
ambiguities in standardized tests.
There are
ten apples on the table. Take two away. How many apples do you have?
Most
children would say that the answer is eight but the question didn’t ask how
many apples were left on the table so the correct answer is actually two.
One also has
to consider the cultural context and the intellectual framework of the
responders. Afro Americans and Hispanics tend to do worse on tests involving
white middle class constructs. Also one has to consider the functional paradigm
in the course of which the test is a part.
Why did the
chicken cross the road?
Any number of contending discourses may be
discovered within the act of the chicken crossing the road, and each
interpretation is equally valid as the authorial intent can never be discerned,
because structuralism is DEAD, DAMMIT, DEAD!(Derrida) The possibility of
“crossing” was encoded into the objects “chicken” and “road”, and circumstances
came into being which caused the actualization of this potential
occurrence.(Wittgenstein) So that its subjects will view it with admiration, as
a chicken which has the daring and courage to boldly cross the road, but also
with fear, for whom among them has the strength to contend with such a paragon
of avian virtue? In such a manner is the princely chicken’s dominion
maintained. (Machiavelli) Not my original thoughts but apropos. The bottom line
is that the recommended foundational texts read like a list of white privilege
favorites and those who have other cultural backgrounds are at a disadvantage.
This is a national version of Arizona’s HB2281.
2281: A
SCHOOL DISTRICT OR CHARTER SCHOOL IN THIS STATE SHALL NOT INCLUDE IN ITS PROGRAM
OF INSTRUCTION ANY COURSES OR CLASSES THAT INCLUDE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
1. PROMOTE THE OVERTHROW OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
2. PROMOTE RESENTMENT TOWARD A RACE OR CLASS OF PEOPLE.
3. ARE DESIGNED PRIMARILY FOR PUPILS OF A PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUP.
4. ADVOCATE ETHNIC SOLIDARITY INSTEAD OF THE TREATMENT OF PUPILS AS
INDIVIDUALS.
“In my
opinion this effort to refuse our students access to the customs of a key segment
of our community comes down to the attempted alienation and disenfranchisement
of an entire cross section of our population, in the hopes of quieting and
disengaging it from our public process and discourse, rendering it powerless
and as no threat to the agenda of some in our state legislature wishes to
advance. We cannot and must not, as responsible civic leaders and citizens give
them the satisfaction of thinking that this is acceptable and will be
tolerated.”
Mayor Jennifer Eckstrom south Tuscon on Feb.-4-11
This is a
Hispanic version of “Arisierung” or Aryanization which was a 1933 campaign to
drive Jews out of the German Reich’s cultural life. Jewish intellectuals, actors, journalists and
musicians lost their posts in important cultural institutions, and Jewish
enrolment in universities was severely restricted. “Only in Arizona would a
program, that graduates 97.5% of its high school students and sends more than
70% to college, would be facing the threat of elimination. This at a time when
dropout rates for Mexican Americans can reach as high as 60%.”
What I would like to do is give an
example of one day in the life of a student in a CCCS compliant school and
demonstrate the real world consequences of this project on children (not Human
Capital). This is a verbatim copy of an attachment from a public document
entitled, “Application for Charter: Argosy Collegiate Charter School” which was
“respectfully
submitted for consideration to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education” on November 14, 2012. Clarissa who said on her post, “USSR
and the War on Individualism” the following:
“Aaron is absolutely right in his
understanding of how important the elimination of individualism was for the
massive social experiment conducted by the Soviet leaders. A series of intense
and productive practices was put in place in order to allow people to get rid
of those pesky individual identities and dissolve themselves in the great
collective. The goal was simple: the people who relinquish the cumbersome
individual responsibility and rely on an external authority (in this case, the
Communist Party) for all of their decisions experience an instant sense of
relief. Responsibility and individuality are hard, while doing what you are
told to do without thinking too much is pleasant and easy. There are few things
as painful as having to think for yourself. And the temptation to hand oneself
over to a supposedly benevolent and all-powerful authority is very powerful.”
might
find the following interesting (with apologies to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn).
A
day in the life of Ivan Denisovich Carolina Medeiros
7:10
am – Carolina, an Argosy Collegiate fifth grader is ready to board the
school bus on the corner of South Main Street and Mt. Hope Avenue. Just like every morning, Carolina’s mother,
Mrs. Medeiros, an Argosy Collegiate Volunteer, supervises her daughter and the
other four students who board the bus at this stop. Each student greets Mrs. Medeiros and each
other with “Good morning, Carolina. Good morning, Mrs. Medeiros.” Carolina and
Mrs. Medeiros respond in kind, and Mrs. Medeiros asks each student if they are
ready to learn today. Students respond with an enthusiastic, “Yes, I’m ready to
learn today. I can’t wait to learn something new!” “Excellent,” responds Mrs. Medeiros. The scholars know to line up in
front of Mrs. Medeiros, facing her so she can keep her eyes on them and on the
arrival of the bus. Scholars are expected to be reading their DEAR books as
they quietly await the bus. Once the school bus arrives, Carolina and her peers
board the bus one at a time and in silence, other than a greeting for Ms. Oliveira,
the bus driver, who responds with, “Good morning, Carolina. Are you Determined to learn today?” Carolina
responds, “Yes, Ms. Oliveira, I am Determined
to learn today!” Carolina sits in her assigned seats and scholars get right
back to their DEAR books. Ms. Oliveira, using her rearview mirror to check that
Carolina and the others are quietly seated before turning off the bus’ flashing
red lights, and slowly accelerates, and enters traffic. Carolina sits in her
assigned seat next to Dante, and they exchange warm smiles. The bus ride to
school is quiet, except for morning greetings as other stops are made on the
way to school. A quiet bus ride ensures the safety of all aboard the bus,
eliminates the possibility of bullying or misbehavior, allows the bus driver to
concentrate on driving, and adds valued reading minutes to the day even before
students arrive at school. Both Mrs. Medeiros and Ms. Oliveira received
training at Argosy Collegiate during Student Orientation, where hour of
practice at boarding and de-boarding the bus, and reviewing procedures until
students carried out arrival and dismissal procedures correctly.
7:27 am - Carolina arrives to Argosy
Collegiate on time, and waits for the bus to come to a complete stop before
gathering her belongings. She and the other students on the bus look for Mr.
Silvia, one of her math teachers, who boards the South Main St./Mt. Hope Avenue
bus every day as part of his morning duties. Mr. Silvia makes eye contact with
Carolina and Dante, and signals them non-verbally to stand and walk off the
bus. Mr. Silvia continues this procedure, row by row, and the students maintain their silence except
for a quick “Thank you, Ms. Oliveira” from Carolina and each of the scholars until
all 28 scholars have vacated the bus. Mr. Silva’s job is to vacate the bus of
scholars and ensuring the bus is empty in less than two minutes. Carolina is
greeted by Ms. Greene, the 5th grade History teacher as she steps
onto the sidewalk and ensures all scholars quickly and quietly approach the
threshold of the school. Carolina joins the two parallel lines of students who
await the doors opening at 7:30 am. There are two additional Argosy Staff
members supervising the lines ensuring proper line behavior and safety.
7:30
am - The Executive Director, Ms. Pavao, opens the school doors, and
warmly and individually greets every student by name. When it’s Carolina’s turn to enter the
building, Ms. Pavao welcomes her eagerly. “Good Morning, Carolina! Why are you
here today?” “I am here to learn,” Carolina replies. “What will it take?” asks Ms. Pavao. “Determination, Responsibility, Excellence,
Ambition, and Maturity,” replies Carolina.
“Absolutely,” says Ms. Pavao. “Let’s check your uniform quickly, belt,
socks, and shirt tucked. Great. Carolina, I heard you got an A- on Friday’s
Math Procedures Show What You Know Quiz.
Great work! Looks like you are on your way to Mastering translating fractions to decimals. I look forward to
sharing the news with your mother later today at the Argosy Collegiate
Volunteer Meeting.” “Thank you, Ms. Pavao,” replies Carolina as she beams with
pride. In full uniform, Carolina is
welcomed into the school building. On
her way to drop off her homework, Carolina is greeted again by Mr. Sullivan,
one of the fifth-grade ELA teachers, in the school’s main hallway, passing
walls rich with motivational thoughts and a bulletin board highlighting staff
members’ pictures, collegiate logos, and a map with pinpointed colleges that
Argosy Collegiate staff members have attended.
HW file boxes are lined up on tables inside the multi-purpose room and
are organized by grade and homeroom, and are filled with colorized hanging
files. Carolina hands her HW folder to Ms. Greene, one of six staff members who
check every HW sheet for heading and completion. Reading logs are checked for
parent/guardian signatures, and any document failing to meet standards is
quickly marked on an alphabetized spread sheet by a HW supervisor. Ms. Greene
checks Carolina’s papers and since every paper is completed to satisfaction,
Ms. Greene makes no mark on the spreadsheet, and hands the papers back to
Carolina. Carolina inserts her HW, which is printed on colored paper that
corresponds with its hanging file - math procedures homework is always printed
on light purple paper and is quickly dropped in the purple file, writing HW is
always blue and goes into the blue file, etc. HW is due at 7:45 am, and any
student dropping off homework later than that will automatically be assigned
detention after school the same day, as well as any student who does not submit
HW that is 100% complete. HW spreadsheets are handed to the Office Manager by
8:00 am, and she compiles and enters the data into the computer.
Parent/guardians of any scholar assigned to detention will receive an automated
phone call notifying them of the detention by 9:00 am. That HW report is
automatically sent to the Executive Director, Director of Achievement, Director
of Finance and Operations, Student Supports Coordinator, and the teaching
staff. Carolina walks to her left to silently join the line of students walking
around the perimeter of the room toward the breakfast pick-up table. With breakfast in hand, Carolina continues to
walk along the perimeter, just as she had been taught in student Summer
Orientation, until she reaches her
advisory’s table, clearly identified with a laminated sign that reads “Boston
University 5” next to a colorful picture of Rhett, the Boston Terrier, Boston
University’s mascot. At the end of each table, plastic cartons hold each
student’s Brain Breakfast folder, all organized alphabetically for easy
retrieval. Carolina sets her food down
and then walks to the end of the table to pick up her folder. Carolina eats her
breakfast, as she works on a puzzle to identify synonyms and antonyms on a
Latin/English vocabulary review worksheet. Mr. Amaral, her
homeroom/advisory/Math Procedures teacher, warmly greets Carolina with
handshake and smile and little interruption. Carolina has been improving her
vocabulary and enjoys the breakfast work.
After 10 minutes, Ms. Pavao, the ED, walks to the center of the room to
lead a clapped chant, letting everyone know that it is time for a cheer and
some Shout Outs. “Good morning, Class of
2026!”
“We are Argosy Collegiate Scholars. We have the knowledge to go to
college. We share our knowledge with
others because explaining what we know and justifying our thinking prepares us
to transform ourselves, our communities, and the 21st century.” Carolina and the rest of the students and
staff repeat the chant in unison. With a
non-verbal cue from the school leader, homeroom/advisory and enrichment
teachers begin to raise their hands to give scholar “Shout Outs” from the
previous day. “Ms. Greene, do you have an Argosy Collegiate Shout Out?” “Yes,
Ms. Pavao I do,” says Ms. Greene enthusiastically. “Dominic has been
demonstrating great Responsibility in
Social Studies class and I have an example from yesterday. Dominic was unsure
about a specific question on last night’s HW and after calling a few scholar
friends for help, he still wasn’t 100% clear, so he emailed me for
clarification. I sent him back a quick email to explain the question a little
further, and I just looked at his HW and it looks great! Dominic showed great Responsibility by reaching out to fellow
scholars first, and then to me for support. He took great Responsibility for his HW which will make today’s lesson even
better for him and the rest of Northeastern 5 Paws!” Scholars chant a short
burst of encouragement about Responsibility,
and scholars immediately return to silence. With a non-verbal cue, a hand
gesture, Ms. Pavao directs the students and staff that it is time for silent
cleanup. This is the cue for students who have cafeteria clean up jobs this
week to wheel large waste cans to the end of each table. Students silently carry their food trays in
two single file lines to the end of the table, where there is a separate waste
container for solids and liquids.
Students wait for additional directions and then gather their belongings
to transition to advisory in silent, orderly lines, led by their
homeroom/advisory leader.
7:45 am – Mr. Amaral escorts Carolina
along with the rest of BU 5 silently to their homeroom/advisory. Carolina
proceeds to her pre-assigned desk. Mr. Amaral gives a non-verbal cue for
Carolina’s group to move to the back cubbies to get organized, and signals with
his other hand that they have one minute to complete their cubby tasks.
Carolina silently stands up and brings her backpack to her cubby, unzips it,
and removes all of her binders. She puts her white writing binder and blue
science binder in her cubby and places her empty and zipped backpack on top of
the cubby, along with the other scholars’ empty backpacks. She brings her green
math binder, red reading binder, and black social studies binder to her desk.
She places the reading and social studies binders in the rubber band that wraps
around the two right-hand legs of her desk. This rubber band keeps her binders
tightly secured and out of the way, and Carolina finished her cubby tasks in
less than 60 seconds. Carolina sharpens
two pencils from her pencil case, and places them along with a black pen and an
eraser at the top of her desk. She begins reading her DEAR book, as the other
students work for their minute time blocks to get their cubby work done. DEAR
books have been carefully selected for each student with the assistance of Ms.
Jones, one of our ELA teachers, who matches each student with an appropriately
challenging book for his or her reading level and interests. Carolina is currently reading The Phantom Tollbooth, a classic fantasy
novel by Norton Juster. At 255 pages, it
is the longest book that Carolina has ever read but she became excited about it
when Ms. Jones told her that The Phantom Tollbooth
was also one of her favorite books when she was in fifth grade. Carolina is
already more than halfway through. Time passes too quickly, and just as
Carolina reads that Milo and his friends reach the Valley of Sound, Mr. Amaral
calls, “1-2-3 Eyes on me!” The class responds in unison, “1-2-3 Eyes on you!”
and then proceeds to close their DEAR books and place them on the left corner
of their desks. Mr. Silvia enters the room right on cue with his math cart that
is loaded with all the copies he needs for his three Math Procedures classes,
and Mr. Amaral exits the room wishing
the Boston University scholars a very collegiate day.
8:00 am - Math Procedures always begins with a Q2 (Quick
Questions-Do Now )
and Mad Minute math facts, where students calculate as many math facts as they
can on a handout containing 100 questions.
Today’s Mad Math Minute focuses on practice of all operations with
integers. “You have one minute. Pencils up. 3-2-1-Go,” says Mr. Silvia. After
one minute Mr. Silvia reads the answers in two minutes as scholars mark Xs or
Cs next to their answers. He directs them to make a ratio of number correct
over 100. Josiah, who sits next to Carolina, is the BU 5 Mad Minute Champion
but Carolina is close behind. Carolina
answers 87 of 100 correctly today - a personal best. Mr. Silvia teaches a
lesson on expressing fractions as ratios.
Scholars begin to understand the relationship between converting
fractions to decimals, decimals to fractions, and fractions to ratios. Math
Problem Solving and Math Procedures are Carolina’s favorite classes so she is
excited about two blocks of math everyday plus financial literacy twice per
week. She will have almost three hours of math in one day; she used to struggle
in math, and now she is so proud to be improving and proud of how hard she
works to succeed. Mr. Amaral uses the last few minutes of class to review the
main objective for the lesson, give feedback to the class using DREAM Points,
remind scholars to copy HW, and provide direction for transition.
Mr. Amaral says, “Scholars, yesterday you transitioned to Reading in 38
seconds. Your challenge now is to transition in 35 seconds. I am waiting for
100% eye contact.
Good. Go.” Scholars quickly and silently switch out binders from their rubber
bands around their desk legs. Carolina and her peers absolutely enjoy being
timed for tasks and being challenged to beat their best times.
9:00
am - Fiction Reading begins with an overview of today’s lesson. Carolina
reads along as Mr. Sullivan, the Reading teacher, states, “Argosy Collegiate
Scholars will be able to understand the Latin Derivative pugnare for Word Wars, and to use active reading skills such as
underlining important information (descriptions, actions, events) to understand
context and plot in Freedom Walkers.” The class begins timed Q2 and
vocabulary prompts. Today, in Latin Word
Wars, Carolina is taught the Latin derivative of the
week pugnare, and seven English words
rooted with this derivative. Carolina take notes using a vocabulary template
that Mr. Sullivan created for derivative studies. Mr. Sullivan gives a
mini-lesson on pugnacious, pugnacity, repugnant, repugn, impugn, pugilism, and
pugilist. He reviews parts of speech, prefixes, and suffixes (-cious, -city,
re-, im-, -ism, -ilist) and defines prefix/suffix meanings. Mr. Sullivan asks
scholars to match definitions to words after analysis of their elements. Mr.
Sullivan tells the class, “Scholars, you have 5 minutes to define the remaining
5 terms. Pencils up. 3-2-1- Go.” Carolina gets right work and struggles a bit with the first one, but with
determination, she pushes through. She looks up to the timer which is displayed
on the front dry erase board using the projector, and she sees that she has 3 ½
minutes left. She gets right back to work knowing she has to focus to make up
time. Mr. Sullivan is walking around, checking on scholars’ definitions and
uses an ink stamper to quickly mark those that are correct. By doing this he
quickly and silently gives feedback to scholars and assesses their
understanding. As the timer beeps, Carolina puts her pencil down and feels
confident about her choices. Mr. Sullivan asks the students to raise their
papers in the air and to “Flow them forward.” Carolina turns around in her
chair and collects the papers from the scholars behind her. Mr. Sullivan is
counting out loud, “5 seconds, 10 seconds, 13 seconds, very good. Now flow to
the right.” All the stacks now in the front seats are passed to the right,
where George sits. George is the designated anchor paper collector, and he
alone is allowed to get up out of his chair without asking, and once he has the
papers, he puts them in a bin labeled “Latin Word Wars.” Students are reminded
that college bound scholars will greatly benefit from the study of Greek and
Latin Roots, suffixes and prefixes. This process took 32 seconds. Carolina and
the rest of the scholars know that every moment matters, so they work to
constantly improve their efficiency. Next, the teacher provides a mini-lesson
formatted as ten minutes of direct instruction on active reading skills, after
which students engage in guided reading with a grade-level, shared text for 15
minutes. ELL students have accommodated
readers, which provide annotations and vocabulary help on each page so they can
more comfortably follow along during guided reading. Guided reading is followed by independent
reading for fifteen minutes, an Exit Tickets, and DREAM
Points.
10:00
am - Ms. Greene begins Social Studies
class with an enthusiastic greeting. Carolina is becoming a history buff this
year because Ms. Greene has interesting conversations about what has happened
in history in a dynamic way, and even though some historic events are sad and
tragic, lots of times Ms. Greene figures out ways to have some fun when
appropriate. The scholars begin their Q2 which is a journal entry
about the Boston Massacre. The Q2 will give Ms. Greene a quick
snapshot of who completed last night’s HW, and what key information was
processed. The homework included two accounts from the event; one written from
a British soldier’s perspective and another from an American colonist. Ms.
Greene reminds the scholars, that in 6th grade, when they visit
Boston, along with their Boston University and Harvard University campus
visits, they will also visit a couple of key historical sites including the
site of the Boston Massacre, the Old State House. After the lesson, Carolina
places her HW in the folder and completes her exit ticket.
11:00 am - Financial Literacy begins
and is taught by Mr. Amaral who displays the agenda, objective, and HW on the
white board. Mr. Amaral asks Carolina to read the objective aloud for the
class, “Argosy Collegiate Scholars Will Be Able To explain how limited personal
resources affect the choices people make.” The lesson begins with 10 minutes of
direct instruction. Students use guided
notes to fill in their note sheets with essential information. Next Mr. Amaral queues up a video produced by
Khan Academy, Buying versus Renting a Home, which allows students to apply
course concepts to a new context, entering the real estate market as a buyer or
renter. Students turn to the next page
in their course packet, which contains a list of key vocabulary words that they
will be introduced to during the video and six questions that they answer
during the video and will discuss as a group at the conclusion. Mr. Amaral begins the video debrief with a
question prompt: “What is one difference between owning a home and renting
one?” Carolina thinks she knows the
answer so she raises her pointer finger to signal that she would like to answer
the question. “Everyone is tracking Carolina.” Her classmates shift in their seats
to face her. “One difference between purchasing home and renting is that if you
buy a home, then you may need a mortgage.”
Mr. Amaral asks another question, “A mortgage? That’s a new word.
Carolina, what’s a mortgage?” Carolina
thinks for a second and looks down at her notes. “A mortgage is a loan from a bank used to
purchase a home.” Mr. Amaral, pleased with her response, says, “Nice
definition, Carolina!” “Can anyone else think of another difference between owning
a home and renting one?” Mr. Amaral uses
this class discussion to tease out other distinctions such as the need to save
for a down payment, responsibilities for maintenance and repairs, tax benefits
of homeownership, and homeownership as a real estate investment. Mr. Amaral
concludes class with an Exit Slip, which asks: “Is homeownership always
preferred to renting? Why or why not? Give three examples to support your
answer.” Students have five minutes to
complete their exit slip. Their homework
for the evening explores five scenarios with different income assumptions,
costs to purchase a home and mortgage lending rates. Students will be expected
to use calculations they have practiced in class to determine whether the
individual should buy or rent, given limited personal resources in each
scenario. Students put their course packet, including HW, in their binders, and
prepare for lunch.
12:00
pm - Carolina and her classmates exchange morning materials for
afternoon materials from their cubbies by group and line up for lunch
transition. Ms. Pavao and all staff members fill into the hallways to escort
and monitor lunch transition. Ms. Pavao says, “You walk like professional,
fifth grade scholars. Professionals walk with a sense of urgency just like you
are doing. Time is important, and once you lose it, you can’t get it back.”
Lunch transition like all other transitions are silent for scholars, and staff
and teachers communicate with warm and supportive non-verbal hand signals
(which are reviewed during Student Orientation) or whispers when necessary. Ms.
Pavao is clearly in charge of orchestrating traffic flow and movement of
classes to wait, get lunch, or move back to tables to eat. Until all scholars
have their lunches at their pre-assigned seats by homeroom, scholars are silent
for the first five minutes so they can focus on eating their meals. Most
scholars are reading their DEAR books, or studying during this silent time.
After 5 minutes, Ms. Pavao says, “Good afternoon, Argosy Collegiate Scholars.
Because of the Excellence you have demonstrated in your behavior with our lunch
period, you have earned Level 2 Talk (Scholars know this means they can
socialize using restaurant voices). Also, scholars who are scheduled to take
Accelerated Reader Exams now or who have tutoring time scheduled, you may
proceed quietly to those areas.”
12:30 pm - Mr. Silvia, the fifth grade
Math Problem Solving math teacher, enters the room, signaling the beginning of
Math Problem Solving. Carolina is one of three classroom monitors who
volunteers to hand out the class packets so that students may begin to complete
the Q2 on their individual whiteboards. Today’s Q2 is a series of word
problems about area and perimeter, with a couple of bonus problems on volume. A
timer is displayed on the overhead projector, holding students accountable to
completing the assignment quickly and accurately. After three and a half
minutes, the timer beeps, signaling the end of the Q2. Mr. Silvia invites a few students up to the
main whiteboard to show their work and then explain their answers to the
class. When the one scholar, Xavier,
begins to explain, all of the other scholars SLANT (sit up straight, listen,
ask and answer questions, nod, and track the speaker). When one of the scholars realizes that his
work led to an incorrect answer, he calls on a classmate for help. No one in the class laughs or teases him;
instead, several erase their own whiteboards and make the same correction. Carolina offers a suggestion for Xavier, and
as he gets back to work on the problem, all of the remaining students reach out
their arms and wiggle their fingers in his direction (this is silent applause
and encouragement). Xavier and the others work successfully to correct answers
and the other scholars check their work. “Put your math wizard hat on, we’re
getting ready for Mental Math.” Once the papers are all collected, Mr. Silvia
grabs his clipboard and begins to cold call students.
“100 minus 51, Sam?” “49.” “210 divided
by 3, Lydia?” “70.” “Square root of 81, Sarah?” “9.”
“How many tens in 7800, Carolina?”
“78?” Carolina says, only half-confident in her answer. “Is that correct?” Mr. Silvia asks
Carolina. A few seconds pass without
response and her classmates reach with outstretched arms to give her spirit fingers
and studies. Mr. Sullivan gives a mini-lesson on pugnacious, pugnacity,
repugnant, repugn, impugn, pugilism, and pugilist. He reviews parts of speech,
prefixes, and suffixes (-cious, -city, re-, im-, -ism, -ilist) and defines
prefix/suffix meanings. Mr. Sullivan asks scholars to match definitions to
words after analysis of their elements. Mr. Sullivan tells the class,
“Scholars, you have 5 minutes to define the remaining 5 terms. Pencils up.
3-2-1- Go.” Carolina gets right work and struggles a bit with the first one, but with
determination, she pushes through. She looks up to the timer which is displayed
on the front dry erase board using the projector, and she sees that she has 3 ½
minutes left. She gets right back to work knowing she has to focus to make up
time. Mr. Sullivan is walking around, checking on scholars’ definitions and
uses an ink stamper to quickly mark those that are correct. By doing this he
quickly and silently gives feedback to scholars and assesses their
understanding. As the timer beeps, Carolina puts her pencil down and feels
confident about her choices. Mr. Sullivan asks the students to raise their
papers in the air and to “Flow them forward.” Carolina turns around in her
chair and collects the papers from the scholars behind her. Mr. Sullivan is
counting out loud, “5 seconds, 10 seconds, 13 seconds, very good. Now flow to
the right.” All the stacks now in the front seats are passed to the right,
where George sits. George is the designated anchor paper collector, and he
alone is allowed to get up out of his chair without asking, and once he has the
papers, he puts them in a bin labeled “Latin Word Wars.” Students are reminded
that college bound scholars will greatly benefit from the study of Greek and
Latin Roots, suffixes and prefixes. This process took 32 seconds. Carolina and
the rest of the scholars know that every moment matters, so they work to
constantly improve their efficiency. Next, the teacher provides a mini-lesson
formatted as ten minutes of direct instruction on active reading skills, after
which students engage in guided reading with a grade-level, shared text for 15
minutes. ELL students have accommodated
readers, which provide annotations and vocabulary help on each page so they can
more comfortably follow along during guided reading. Guided reading is followed by independent
reading for fifteen minutes, an Exit Tickets[9], and DREAM
Points.
1:30 pm - Ms. Sanchez rolls her science
cart into BU 5 and exchanges warm smiles and eye contact with Mr. Silvia. Mr.
Silvia quickly assigns DREAM Points to the class for financial literacy, and
says, “Ms. Sanchez, I am very much looking forward to seeing BU’s science HW tomorrow
so that I can see how well they do on the geometry applications to renewable
energy.” Ms. Sanchez has partnered with
Renewable Energy Systems Opportunity for Unified Research Collaboration and
Education Program to create a multidisciplinary unit on energy including
renewable versus non-renewable energy, and climate and environmental impact of
those sources. Carolina is excited about this science unit because she knows
that the tallest structure now in Fall River is a recently installed wind turbine
at Phillips Lighting North America. Carolina has seen the wind turbine up close
with her classmates on last week’s field trip to Phillips Lighting on the north
side of the city. Science class is rich with vocabulary and math because Ms.
Sanchez knows the scholars benefit from using math and literacy skills as much
as possible in all subjects. Today’s science HW has students figuring out the
dimensions and volume of a shipping crate that would be used to transport one
of the turbine’s blades. For today’s lesson, Ms. Sanchez utilizes the “I Do, We
Do, You Do” format for the lesson, and Carolina thinks about how great it was to actually
see the wind turbine spinning away not far from school. Carolina wrote in her
science journal about her experience seeing the turbine close up, and can’t
believe how big the actual blades were and how tall the turbine was. She also
logged into her journal the dimensions of the turbine from the data she
received on the field trip. Carolina knows she will do well on the HW because
she took great notes in class using Cornell Note Taking skills which she
learned in writing class. Carolina prepares for writing class as Ms. Sanchez
gives DREAM Points and prepares her cart for departure.
2:30 pm - The writing teacher enters
and puts today’s grammar practice on the overhead and review with the class.
Carolina begins with her Q2 using standard editing marks to correct
common errors in capitalization, punctuation, and frequently misspelled words
from last week’s spelling list. “Good morning, authors!” “Good morning, Mrs.
Christensen!” Mrs. Christensen begins
the class not by correcting the Q2 but by announcing the five
scholars who earned 100% on Friday’s Show What You Know grammar quiz. She invites each of the five to correct one
of the Q2 sentences while their classmates follow along on their
papers. The fifth grade writing unit test is coming up, and the students are in
the middle of their narrative writing unit.
Today they will spend the bulk of the class period responding to a prompt
asking them to tell the story of a time someone surprised them. While they move independently through the
steps of the writing process, Mrs. Christensen works the room, giving pointers,
reminding students to read their drafts aloud to revise and edit, and
conferencing when a student seems temporarily stuck. Three ELL students in the class met with Mrs.
Christensen that morning for extra help, and get extra attention during the
writing period. They also are meeting
with Mrs. Christensen this afternoon during FOCUS for more support. Seven
minutes before the end of class, Mrs. Christensen asks students to share their
narratives with their partners and reminds them to finish revising and bring a
second draft with them tomorrow. The
students take a minute to clean up the room and to gather materials by sections
for FOCUS.
3:30
pm - Formal classes have ended and the scholars move to dismissal,
enrichment, or detention. Since Carolina has completed all of her HW with 70%
accuracy or higher, she does not need to go to detention. She will, however, attend FOCUS for 15
minutes to work with Mr. Silvia on long division and then she will use 15 for
HW. She especially appreciates this time for tutoring and HW since Carolina
babysits her two nieces until their bedtime on Tuesday, Thursday, and
Friday. Carolina has a lot of
responsibility outside of school in supporting her family, but it energizes
Carolina to stay focused on school and college bound goals. Although her life is
full of challenge, she finds herself lucky to have learned an early lesson
about choices, and she does not make excuses for the hard work and time it
takes to be successful at school. Carolina does not have to take care of her
nieces on Mondays, so she can attend enrichment now that her tutoring is done.
She estimates an hour more of homework, and plans on completing that later at
home. With these plans in mind, Carolina heads off to 30 minutes of enrichment.
Carolina had many enrichment programs to choose from including chess club, book
club, photography, cooking class, drums, choir, basketball, softball, and yoga.
She chooses photography, as she has an affinity for art in many forms. Cameras
and all equipment/supplies have been provided for students through fundraising
initiatives and a partnership with The Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall
River in an effort to support arts enrichment for our scholars. Jeremy, the lone student in BU 5 who did not
complete his HW today, and a few others who did not complete their HW with
sufficient accuracy gather their belongings and head to FOCUS/HW Center where
they are required to complete their work. A number of students move to the
detention room, where they write a reflection document about the rule they
broke, how they earned detention, what they lost because of the choice they
made, and what choices they will make in the future to avoid the same mistake.
Once that document is completed to the satisfaction of the detention
supervisor, the scholars in detention are allowed to study and complete their reading
assignments.
4:30
pm - Transportation and parent pick-up is supervised by Ms. Pavao and
one other staff member, who both have walkie-talkies to communicate quickly and
effectively throughout the procedures. One office staff member is busy handling
any end-of-the-day paperwork, conversations with parents if necessary, and
managing the phone. Teachers and staff who do not have duties are preparing for
tomorrow. Similar procedures are in place for bus drop-off in the afternoon,
with students silently reading their DEAR books on the ride home. Carolina waves good-bye to Ms. Pavao and Mr.
Sullivan as she exits the building, making sure she has all of her materials to
finish her homework after her nieces go to bed. She is tired, but knows she is
working hard to keep her seat in college. The day’s work is intense but every
day brings Carolina and the other scholars one day closer to college and a more
successful future – full of opportunity and the promise of independence.
Research show that a rigorous “Do Now”, appropriately
written and done without teacher support or direction, can bring incredible
learning power to a classroom. Lemov, Doug. (2010) Teach Like a Champion. Josey-Bass. p. 152-154.
Gower, R. & Saphier, J. (1997) The Skillful Teacher: Building Your Teaching
Skills. Research For Better Teaching, Inc. p 70.
There’s one suitable percentage of students following
a direction given in the classroom- 100%. Lemov, Doug. (2010) Teach Like a Champion. San Francisco,
CA: Josey-Bass. p. 167.
Ayers, Donald M., Cherry,
R.L., Vorthen, Donald M. English Words
from Latin and Greek Elements.
University of Arizona Press. 1986. pg. 196.
Lemov, Doug. (2010) Teach Like a Champion. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass. “Work the
Clock,” p. 232.
Exit tickets are used as a formative assessment and as
a tool to increase rigor in the classroom. Bambrick-Santoyo, Paul. (2010) Driven by Data. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.
p. 84.
Lemov, Doug. (2010) Teach Like a Champion. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass. p. 111.
Lemov, Doug. (2010) Teach Like a Champion. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass. “Work the
Clock,” p. 232.
Exit tickets are used as a formative assessment and as
a tool to increase rigor in the classroom. Bambrick-Santoyo, Paul. (2010) Driven by Data. San Francisco, CA:
Josey-Bass. p. 84.
Lemov, Doug. (2010) Teach Like a Champion. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass. p. 111.
