Welcome to Chapter 1 of Ron Berger's "An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students" as a book study for the Pocahontas County professional learning community in preparation for a transition to an EL influenced school.
Chapter 1, "An Archiver of Excellence" focuses on how teachers can promote excellence in their students through collecting and providing "good works" to students providing them with a "taste of excellence" giving them exemplars of quality products.
After you have viewed the video above and read Chapter 1 of the Berger book, please enter a reflection in this blog posting responding to these prompts:
- What is the role of a teacher in an EL school and how does that role differ from the current expectations?
- How can we provide a "taste of excellence" to our students?
Dr. Maynard will interact with you on as you provide comments and reflections in reaction to the prompts above.
The role of a teacher in an Expeditionary Learning School is to show many examples of good work so students know what it looks like, guide students in reflecting on their work to make it better, and help students document their learning with the use of portfolios and photographs. I believe the teachers at Hillsboro Elementary do these things but it’s not a process done on everything every day.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the chapter, I started thinking about how I could use this in my classroom to create “a taste of excellence” for my students next year. One idea that popped into my head was to connect each art lesson to an artist’s work of art. I can show the work and talk about it at the beginning of each lesson before the student’s do their work. I also thought about using Class Dojo to keep an online portfolio of the work students create next year. It may be too time consuming for me to do individual portfolios but I could definitely keep track of all the class displays created by the students and post them. I could teach the older students how to post their own work and they could give a little presentation of their work at the end of the year.
I agree, Laura, and I think that when we think about individual portfolios and the EL curriculum, the exemplary student work you will be creating with students can be incorporated in the general education setting and will be interdisciplinary. We will all be invested in whichever project the EL standards call for in that timeframe.
DeleteLaura, I love your idea about the art lessons.
DeleteLaura, great ideas!!The library of excellence is what gives the students an idea of what excellence looks like etc. Your ideas would have a very positive impact.
DeleteTapping into the creativity of students is a great way of connecting expectations for excellence with their prior knowledge and skills.
DeleteLaura I may have some pretty cool art books from my CC stuff that you can use.
DeleteThanks Maria, that would be great.
DeleteThe role of an EL teacher is to create an ethic of excellence through the reflection of high quality student work. Students are given multiple opportunities to redraft work and can reflect on earlier drafts of work so they can see the final products culmination of start to finish. The difference between EL and a regular classroom teacher is, often, the classroom participates in the writing process, which has many stages prior to a completed and final draft. This does not carry over to the other subjects. Additionally, there are fewer opportunities for projects that are interdisciplinary. Almost nonexistent. I think HES could EASILY provide a taste of excellence to our students. An exemplary student work showcase can be created in each classroom for each lesson. I think the buy in for the culture of the ethic of excellence will be easy to incorporate, because after all, (most)students want to be pleasing to the adults in their lives. If we set the standard and provide the platform and students set an individual goal, I believe it can be achieved. It might take some getting used to and an across the board purge may have to happen, but it is definitely something HES can do.
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DeleteI agree Nicole that most students want to please the adults in their lives. By showcasing work, students are able to gather ideas on how to improve their own work. I like the idea of "drafts" and feel that more classroom time needs to be devoted to this.
Lol, Nicole I’m not sure if you meant a purge of people who are not willing to change to this type of teaching or a purge of the things we have accumulated in our classrooms. I’ll choose to think you were talking about purging objects, not people, lol. I believe letting go of our things will be easier for some than it will be for others. I have mixed feelings over the way the classrooms looked in the school we went to visit at the end of school this year. The rooms were absolutely beautiful and they felt nice to be in but I didn’t get a sense of any of the teachers’ personalities. One of my favorite things to put up in my classroom are pictures of my family and I have been known to spring board off of them for writing lessons in the past. The things we put in our classroom are our tools for teaching. I guess we can still bring them in when we plan to use them and leave our clutter at home.
DeleteTo be honest I am loving the purge idea---I always feel like I have to keep everything--it was nice as I started downsizing in the classroom--getting rid of the clutter.
DeleteI also like the idea of purging when it comes to lessons and projects--so much can be covered in one good project rather than several projects (just because you feel like you have to)
I always felt like I was wasting time if we spent too long on a project trying to prefect it--but realize now it was ok.
I think with teamwork will be able to start a school of excellence this year. I agree with Gina a few great projects would be better than a lot of small projects that only cover one subject. I also know that we need to start small this year and keep building each year. This idea deal of excellence will take several years. I have faith in Hillsboro staff to succeed.
DeleteLadies, you are right on target. Keep thinking of ways that the student's work is the goal of the projects!
DeleteI am very pleased by the excitement many of you had at the end of the year with the purge from your classrooms. The new paint going up in several classrooms is also having a very different look to the school. It is going to be a wonderful new beginning of the year.
DeleteI also am excited about the decluttering! In my room it just seems to happen without me even realizing. I love my freshly painted room and look forward to starting the new year with a fresh vision!
DeleteI know as a student (MANY years ago, my worst enemy was a blank sheet of paper (in a typewriter no less) staring back at me. Once I got started I could usually produce a work to the expectations of the teacher or professor.
DeleteI recall getting a low grade on an assignment as an undergraduate because I failed to fully understand what the professor wanted and produced what I believed to be a quality document but it wasn't well aligned with the assignment.
If I had a "go-by" that was an example of a well crafter assignment I believe that I would have learned more of the content and skill that my professor hoped.
Laura, I am quite shocked that you would think I meant a purge of staff...I'm glad you chose to think of it exactly as I meant it. That was the whole point of us getting rid of things at the end of the year...I have been in classrooms that were so cluttered my eyes jumped all over the place. I couldn't focus for an entire day, much less the few minutes I was in there. Sorry for the confusion!
DeleteYour ideas Nicole and those of the other respondents seem to fit so well with what we saw at the Explore Academy and what is in chapter 1 and the introduction.
DeleteI am also excited by the decluttering and toning down. Coming from a special ed. point of view, some students are over stimulated by too much in a room. I think this may be good for some of them.
DeleteThe role of a teacher in an EL School is to improve students' work by guiding students in striving and continuously making their work better and not settling for anything but the best. Teachers help and guide students to use their work to show understanding and learning. The students' work shows learning through portfolios instead of test scores.
ReplyDeleteWe can provide a 'taste of excellence" to our students by changing the way we check for learning and understanding. Making and presenting lessons by allowing students to create ways that show their understanding...using photographs and bringing things together to create a complete picture.
I love your idea of allowing students to create ways to show their understanding. Project-based learning!!! This allows students an opportunity to showcase what they know in a way they are excited about. This ties in to letting our students play an active role in their own education!
DeleteGiving the students the opportunity to share their understanding is key to student learning. I myself learn things better if I’m responsible for teaching and talking about it with someone else.
ReplyDeleteThe role of a teacher in an EL school is to encourage children to never settle. The teacher in the book is always asking his students if their work is the best they can do. The students in his classroom has also become comfortable enough and have high enough standards for themselves to want to do better and are willingly to give each other kind suggestions on how to improve.
ReplyDeleteNicole I think it would be amazing to be able to obtain the portfolios by collaborating throughout the school so students are always give more time to work on, improve, and think about their projects from another angel and to get suggestions from different adults and peers.
ReplyDeleteLaura sorry I missed the trip. I myself am having a hard time visualizing the "unclutter" classrooms. From my experience with project based learning and students especially small children it doesn't always look organized. lol
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ReplyDeleteI am just learning about EL schools. Thus far the biggest role I can identify that I am responsible for in an EL school would be to help my students become self-motivated. Students need to learn how to play an active role in their education, make a commitment to their own learning and hold themselves accountable for high quality work. My role as a teacher is to facilitate those skills in students.
I think our current role as educators are similar to the role EL teachers play but I think EL teachers have more support in place to help students achieve. They have a specific plan, a rubric if you will to help them teach these important skills to students. They have the school climate of high expectations and all of their teachers on board with the plan. I think our school can get there but we need to know how.
I think we can give our students a “taste of excellence” by saving exemplary student work to showcase. We also need to display our student work on a regular basis. Rather than having teacher bought posters decorate our rooms and halls and teacher made bulletin boards our student work needs to be hanging! Not only the best of the best work but the whole process from first draft to last. This shows students there is a process to excellent work, it does not happen on the first try.
I totally agree with showcasing student work--I will admit though it will be very hard looking at my classroom at the beginning of the year with bare walls--but a whole lot easier to set up:)
DeleteNicole you make a very valid point. The most important aspect to all of this is to self motivate the children to create excellent work.
DeleteI agree with the process taking long to achieve and look forward to the finished products. I think we can achieve this Ethic of Excellence but will definitely be a switch from quantity to quality for all of us.
DeleteThe role of an EL teacher is to help students be the best they can be. Students should be given multiple chances to edit and revise work and be given the chance to reflect on the drafts they have completed and never settle. (This need to be across the board--not just Writing)
ReplyDeleteThey should be able to see how far they have come from the beginning of the project until the end. I think as a teacher I always felt rushed for students to complete work--it was not about the quality of the work but they quantity. I always felt as if I had to have the students complete a numerous amount of projects through the year-instead of a few that were awesome.
I think that Hillsboro Elementary could create a taste of excellence very easily by saving work from students to showcase--the first year will be a little bit harder-but each year to follow we will have more to show. Our hallways are already set up to some extent with the strips to showcase the work. But students have to be aware not all work is worthy of hallway space--they will have to work hard to earn a spot out there. Most of the students in our school still want to make adults happy-I think this will make them try harder if we just set the bar.
I agree our first year will be the hardest because we do not have saved student work to initially show our students. I think our hallways are perfect for displaying work too! When I think of going back to school in the fall I do admit I am excited to have such a fresh start. To take meaningful photos of students in action to display and to just create. I also agree that I sort of always feel rushed! I'm going to change that. One of the first assignments I know most of us in K-2nd do is our beginning of year self portraits. I spent a short amount of time talking to students about creating their self portrait but I plan to explore this more in depth at the beginning of the year. I'm going to allow myself and my students time to explore what a self portrait is and to look at self portraits created by others, then ease into creating our own with several options in paper, pencils, etc. Something to look forward to for sure!
DeleteI agree that all work isn't hallway work. I believe with time we will see students want to do quality work to be posted in the hallway. I want to start the first week with a self-portrait and a description, but I want to do revision and editing the entire week to keep with the K-2 theme of self-portraits. Student's self-image changes each year.
DeleteI agree with displaying the students work, both in the classroom and out. I also am looking forward to having exemplary work after year one to show as a visual for next year. I think that when other students look at peer work and see what can be expectations will raise.
DeleteI think that will be the difficult part - setting the bar very high and students learning that just because they tried hard and did several drafts their work may not meet the excellence mark.
DeleteI like the idea that not everyone will get a "participation trophy" but will have to work with higher expectations for showcase work!
DeleteI think it is going to be a little difficult at first, especially getting some students to understand that we are not going to settle any more. We are going to be expecting them to do more than one draft to make their work better. Some student may have a hard time adjusting to this concept.
DeleteA teacher's role is a coach in Expeditionary Learning School. A coach guides students to build character, great attitudes, work ethics, academic skills, thinking strategies, and understanding. Most of all, they will help students build great social skills. A coach encourages their team to excel. A good coach has a great relationship with their team.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher in an Expeditionary Learning School provides a comfortable with to improve on their work and skills. For example; Jenny had a private critique from a student instead of a wall where all students can critique because she wasn't comfortable for the wall. A teacher encourages students to keep working on a project until they excel and can be proud of their work. Students have a great work ethic and help each other because it is a safe environment to make adjustments to improve their project. It isn't a rushed project to say I am finished.
The teacher of Expeditionary Learning School is also a cheerleader that give students the opportunity to share their projects of excellence.
In my classroom, I expect all students to take pride in their work, but some still just do the work to say I am finished. They do not take pride in producing quality work.
I want to start with a portfolio for major projects for students to keep all work and review it from start to finish of all of the steps. My hope is that they will start believing in themselves to produce excellence. I think the Literature Fair Project in the fall is a great way to start.
I agree that the Literature Fair is a great way to start! Do we have pictures of past first place projects to showcase?
DeleteLadies, you have obviously given this chapter a great deal of thought. the best concept that was present in many replies was that making adjustments in a safe environment is a wonderful learning environment. This same thought goes for us as educators. making adjustments to what we are attempting is always better when we do them with are fellow "educational travelers" in a safe and supportive environment! I can already feel that this is going to be a great year!!!
ReplyDeleteThe role of an EL teacher is to create a learning environment that reflects excellence through the presentation of high-quality student work. The EL teacher must first collect samples of excellent high-quality student work that can be used as modelsto set the standards that are expected in the classroom. By using these models the teacher can then guide to students to do their best to create exemplary projects.
ReplyDeleteIn an EL school the teacher’s role differs because the focus is on the quality of work not quantity. The students learn early that it is OK to not get it right the first time. Students are taught to create multiple drafts because this is how exemplary workis created. In our current role, we are often afraid to allow this much time for one project. Quantity has become more important and quality.
I think HES could easily provide a taste of excellence in our school. We take great pride in our school and we want our students to be successful high-quality learners. We could focus on more project-based learning but with the mindset that we want to producequality work not quantity. A library of excellence could be created that would provide samples of exemplary student work that could be used as models to set the standards. Student need to know what is expected and understand that it takes time and multipledrafts to create excellence. If our teacher believe this our students will believe it too. They will take pride in creating excellence.
Diane I agree with moving towards more project-based learning and within that focusing on improving the quality of our projects over time. This is such an exciting thought for our school! Reflecting back on the school year my own children's most exciting assignments were projects they created! The file folder character exploration projects and the cereal box projects created a sense of pride in my child that I would love to see more of. As a parent it allowed me to be more involved as I offered suggestions and feedback. I know some of our parents want to be more involved with school and this is an opportunity for them to do so.
DeleteI agree that students need to understand that it is okay not to get it right the first time. As a teacher, it is sometimes hard to find the sweet spot where you are encouraging a child to do better without making them feel their work isn't "good enough." In my experience, most students get very discouraged when they work hard on a project, only to be asked to do it again to make it better. Hopefully once students work through the revision process a few times and realize how much higher quality their final drafts are, they will understand the importance of multiple drafts.
DeleteThe role of an EL teacher is to use classroom instruction and presentations is to help students learn and apply what they learn in all subject areas in order to produce their best work. I feel like current expectations are to achieve a level of success on end of the year tests.
ReplyDeleteHES can provide a taste of excellence to our students by not settling for anything less than each individuals students best. We can show this by being our best and only doing our best, even if this means working through things multiple times on everyone's part.
Jenny I like the thought of doing self portraits in the upper grades. I never looked at it from that perspective until I read your post - but you are so right! Students' perception of themselves DO change every year.
ReplyDeleteI think we are all starting to understand the role of an EL educator and look forward to what it will look like in the next couple of years at HES!
ReplyDeleteA teacher's role is always to model, support, and encourage students to do their best. However, as I focus on this book I realize that while I often tell students I want them to do their best work, I do not always model it and insist upon it. When I think back to times I have asked students to redo work, I realize that it was often done as more of a consequence for sloppy work from one or two children than as an opportunity for growth for all students.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that EL teachers have a stronger focus on quality of work, and are more persistent in instilling craftsmanship and pride in students. Students turn in sloppy work because it is accepted. I think back to one student in first grade last year who redid one handwriting sheet three or four times with very little improvement from the first to the final copy. He was so focused on "getting it done" that he absolutely did not care what his work looked like. I think this mentality will be difficult for us to change. However, lucky for me - kindergarten will be a fresh start. Hopefully, if I showcase excellence, model excellence, and expect excellence from the very beginning, the five year olds in my class will not fall into a "just get it done" mentality. As many others have pointed out, we must focus on quality over quantity.