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Jazz and Blackboards

Where music, literature and education interconnect.

Sep142018

Why is the Essential Question Essential?

Why is the Essential Question Essential?

What is an essential question? I remember when I was in my capstone course at Temple University when my professor posed this question to my cohort and me. He said the essential question is essential for framing a unit. You can “hook” students into whatever stories you read in the unit by connecting all of these stories to a question that they will continue to investigate.

I didn’t quite understand how one question could possibly address all of the texts read in one unit at the time. I initially considered this one question to be quite limiting. I thought, why should we create the same question for reflection across texts? Why not investigate different questions and ideas?…

While reflecting on the challenges I had with constructing an essential question, the jazz tune “I Can’t Get Started (With You)” by Ira Gershwin, sung by Ella Fitzgerald, came to mind; I simply could not understand how one question could apply to all readings. I had difficulties getting started myself.

Today, I understand more than ever before why the essential question is dynamic. The essential question allows for:

  1. Purposeful reading: Students read with intention and use the question as a guide for deeper understanding
  2. A starting point for further investigation: While students are learning how to formulate their own questions, the essential question is a starting point
  3. Higher order thinking: The essential question should be an open-ended question. This creates a space for students to begin investigating other aspects of a given text
  4. Transfer of Learning: The essential question transfers from one reading to the next. Considering this, students have the opportunity to critically think about how this question applies in different contexts
  5. Interdisciplinary connections: Students understand how to apply the question across disciplines for a more dynamic learning experience

Michael Smith (my professor in the capstone course) and Jeffrey Wilhelm both agree in Going with the Flow (2006) that for an essential question to work, it must be debatable and most of all, it must be meaningful. To provide you with an idea of what makes an essential question, the following are five questions created according to the aforementioned criteria:

  1. How can literature serve as a vehicle for social change?
  2. How does conflict lead to change?
  3. What is truth and who defines it?
  4. What is reality and how is it constructed?
  5. What does it mean to be invisible?

Overall, these questions are created while backward planning and reflecting on what is essential for students to know and understand in a unit. Most importantly, these questions help when guiding students into more critical areas of inquiry. What essential questions do you and have you used in your classroom? In what ways have these questions changed the way you approach a unit? I’m looking forward to your comments….

Sep62018

The Importance of being in the “Trenches” with your Students

The Importance of being in the “Trenches” with your Students

Before teaching, I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to perform with my students. I never conceived of this idea because when I attended high school and college, I did not interact with my teachers outside of the academic setting. I would not bring myself to ask a teacher if they would sing a song with me or play a backing instrument while I read poetry. Sadly to say, I never witnessed my teachers reading and writing for personal enjoyment. I always assumed that’s what teachers did, however, I did not see my teachers model this.

“This” changed when I became a teacher. Over the years, I have engaged with my students on a number of creative projects. I have sung, read poetry, danced and acted with my students. This student/teacher interaction was made possible by the environment I currently reside in. I live in a setting where students are comfortable with calling me by my first name and they are equally comfortable (I hope) with joining me in the creative process.

I am aware that there will be times when writing or performing with my students means that they will see me when I am most vulnerable. This is never easy, considering I was raised in a “the teacher is always right” culture. Well, I’m here to say that this teacher is not always right–my creativity does not always flow within a classroom session–I do not always hit the right notes when rehearsing a song (or performing for that matter); when I made this admission, I became more at ease with constructing a sonnet, or a short story alongside my charges. I also felt more at ease experimenting with rhythms and improvisations with my charges because the pressure to be “right” or “perfect” was no longer a hindrance.

I’ll use the “jazz…” in “Jazz and Blackboards” to share an example of my vulnerability in the presence of my students. When I initially sang with the big band, I knew that some of my English students would be backing me with their instruments. I was also aware of the limited time I had to rehearse songs, considering the intensity of the school year. Admittedly, I was nervous about not hitting every note and phrase correctly because that “incorrectness” would be a direct reflection on me (my character, my teaching, my learning process). This, however, was not completely the case. Through intense reflection and maturity, I realized that my students needed to witness how I struggled to get to the point of mastery. They needed to witness how I coped with not always hitting the right notes.

A former student of mine thought I had a natural talent because he never observed my rehearsal process. After joining the band, he apologized for saying that I was a natural–I could have taken this as a real insult, or I could have taken pride in knowing that he witnessed how I worked and rehearsed to get to the point of mastery. I chose to go with the latter.

The Takeaway

Overall, one has to understand that being in the trenches with one’s students is going to be quite the vulnerable experience. At the same time, modeling the process of what it means to persevere and work to the point of mastery is essential for knowing what it means to learn.

As always, I like to leave you with a song to connect with the ideas presented in my posts. The following song has two purposes: 1. It serves as an example of a song that I had challenges with during rehearsals because I felt that the original could not be covered.  2. It also serves as a thank you and farewell to Aretha Franklin who taught us all about what singing from the soul actually sounds like.  Enjoy…

I’m looking forward to hearing from you! Please feel welcomed to share an experience where you felt most vulnerable, or share your thoughts regarding being in the trenches…

Aug302018

What it Means to live with your Students

I recently read an Edutopia article entitled “6 ways to build rapport with your students” by Helen Boyd (2018) (https://www.edutopia.org/article/6-ways-build-rapport-students). In this article, Boyd, an English teacher and instructional coach recommends “standing in the hall between classes” (Boyd, 2018) as one of the recommended strategies. Ironically, this suggestion and Boyd’s overall article inspired me to think of another important way that teachers could build rapport–by living with their students.

I currently live in a dorm where I have the opportunity to interact with my students outside of the classroom dynamic. In my 5 years as a dorm parent, I have come to enjoy having a relationship beyond the boundaries of the classroom setting. When I first transitioned into dorm life, the move was preceded by nervous anxiety due to never having had this type of experience. These feelings have evolved into the realization that I am a part of a model that I wholeheartedly believe in. Why do I believe in this model? Over the years, I have been able to establish more of a rapport with my students. Rather than “standing in the hall” (Boyd, 2018) as Boyd suggests, I actually live down the hall. Some may say (and some have said) that I could accomplish this type of rapport by simply knowing my subject, applying best practices and connecting with my students in the classroom. Although I fully agree with the aforementioned, there is something even more special about having the ability to connect with your charges when the school day “ends.” The following are some of the ways my teaching practice has deepened as a result of living down the hall:

  1. Further access to teacher outside of the formal classroom setting

This is actually a very important point to consider for students who are more introverted. These students do not always feel comfortable asking questions in the classroom setting. Moreover, although I highly encourage my students to ask questions during class and/or through scheduled consultations, time does not always permit. Therefore, accessibility beyond the “normal” school hours is an added benefit to the student and me.

  1. Students as neighbors allows for a more dynamic perspective

During my high school days, I remember thinking that my teachers lived in the classroom where they taught. I had an isolated idea about who I thought they were because of the limited exposure to other facets of their lives. While in the dorm, my students are my neighbors. They are privy to my and my family’s routines. They develop more of a dynamic idea of who I am and respect me as such. I appreciate the level of comfort that is developed throughout the school year. Most importantly, I appreciate the rapport that is built based on this communal model.

  1. Relationship Building beyond the classroom increases level of comfort in the classroom

Every year, I reflect on the differences between the students who are my neighbors and the students who are not. So far, the trend leans toward a higher comfort level in the classroom, earlier in the year, for the students who are in the dorm. For example, last year, I went on maternity leave at the start of the school year. However, I continued to live and work as a dorm parent. The students who lived in my dorm were far more comfortable with my transition back in the classroom. I believe this is due to the interaction they had with me in the dorm.

In “Estimating the Effects of Dormitory Living on Student Performance” by Araujo and Murray (2010) at The Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, the researchers found that dormitory living could be a stressful experience for students; at the same time, students who live in dorms fare at an exceedingly higher rate than those who do not. The authors found that living on campus “…caused a cumulative GPA increase of almost a half letter grade” (Araujo & Murray, 2010). This data is based on higher-level education. However, following these findings, I wondered if, in the future, researchers will find that dorm living in secondary education also causes increase in student performance and improved rapport with teachers–this has been my experience thus far.

As usual, I like to leave you with a tune for connection and enjoyment. This evening, while rehearsing with The Straight Ahead Big Band, I sang a jazz tune composed by Johnny Green entitled “Out of Nowhere”. This title is reflective of my role in the dorm. Although I never imagined I would be in this role at the start of my teaching career, I am truly thankful for the experience and opportunity to build rapport with my students on a much deeper level. Enjoy!

I welcome you to share comments and subscribe…

Aug232018

Informing Teaching Goals According to Nation’s Report Card

As a member of the International Literacy Association (ILA @ www.literacyworldwide.org), I have access to national and international reading trends at various grade levels. In addition to this information, researchers in the education field with specific interests in the area of literacy, share strategies, lessons and ideas implemented in classrooms across the country that empower young readers. This past week, I was intrigued by the ILA’s response to The Nation’s Report Card @ www.nationsreportcard.gov (2018), which provides graphs and statistics to show how students fare, overall, with reading proficiency. Overall, nationally, we have flat-lined in this area with no major improvements for the past decade. Unfortunately, the inequalities are most evident in schools where mostly African American, Latino and international students attend.

Why is this the case? According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or the NAEP, this is the case due to systematic misalignment (ILA, 2018). Essentially, All involved in the school system, especially teachers and principals must have an intentional plan to change the course of student reading proficiency levels. Although there is no “…singular solution…”(ILA, 2018) in remedying our flat-lined reading scores, focused attention on curriculum, content and grade-level texts can have a major impact on student interest and ultimately an improved report card.

As an English teacher and reading specialist, this information is most important for informing my teaching goals. The following are ways in which I plan on instructing with the NAEP report in mind:

  1. Allow students the autonomy to select reading materials throughout the year
  • Independent reading projects during at least one term in the school year
  • Share novels, short stories and poems that have made an impact on my life and ask students to do the same
  1. Focus more on end goal curriculum planning
  • What should students know by the end of their four years in school?
  • What should students know by the end of the year?
  1. Embrace other content areas to inform instruction
  • Connect the background information of a focal text with what is learned in other academic courses
  • Collaborate with colleagues across disciplines

The ILA’s report is correct in stating that there is no singular solution to improving overall student reading proficiency (ILA, 2018). We can begin, however, through intentional systematic approaches that aim to serve the student demographic struggling most. If, through research, it is discovered that a particular demographic is achieving at a higher percentage than the nation’s overall report, we should also be willing to adopt that particular demographics’ strategies. All in all, we must “Wake Up” as the late Teddy Pendergrass suggests:

What are your thoughts regarding the Nation’s reading report card? I’m looking forward to your subscription and comments….