The third chapter of "An Ethic of Excellence" deals
with providing students with opportunities to make genuine accomplishments
leading toward strong self-esteem. Berger
indicates that one way to get high quality work from students is to give them
assignments that "inspire and challenge" them in meaningful ways. These are not so much contrived projects that
do not go beyond the classroom but are truly real-world problems that provide a
service to the community. Berger's water
quality and radon studies with students are good example of his inspiring and
challenging real-world projects.
As students work
through their projects they must engage in a great deal of reading and writing.
Unlike with traditional models of
literacy assignments where the reading or writing is the goal, with real-world
interdisciplinary projects, the students must acquire important knowledge
through reading and are required to prepare compelling written reports of
findings. This literacy work is embedded
in the overall work of the assignment. Because the work is genuine, the students are
highly motivated in their assignments and the associated literacy.
While students
prepare their work for the assignments, they must keep the aesthetics of their
product in mind. An appreciation of
beauty is always woven through the work of students, emphasizing the arts.
Many times
students do not produce the quality of work desired by the teacher because they
cannot visualize the outcome. If the
teacher provides a “go-by” for the students they can see an example of what the
teacher wants. The students have a picture
of what quality work looks like. To this
end, Berger archives "tribute works", products of prior students that meets his
expectations for quality. Multiple
examples of quality work shows the students that there are multiple ways of
achieving the goals of the assignment.
It is unlikely that any student will produce the best possible
product on the first attempt. Just like
any professional preparing a report or important project, multiple drafts will
be prepared and reviewed by peers and supervisors. That process is utilized in school projects
in which a student’s work will be critiqued and modified until the standard for
excellence is achieved. While this
process will require more time, students develop a culture that “good enough”
isn’t good enough and that excellence is worth the work and that quality means “rethinking,
reworking and polishing”.
After you have viewed Dr. Maynard's video introduction to Chapter 3, please read the chapter and comment on this blog posting responding to the prompts below:
- What some ways that students can visualize excellence in their work?
- How can we provide our students with examples of "beautiful work"?
Also, please remember to make professional comments of the responses of two other participants in this professional learning community.
Some ways the students can visualize excellence in their work is by giving them something to do that matters to the community. The children in the book had projects where they presented to people other than their peers. The students all worked together to make sure their work was worthy to share with others. They all bought into the idea that their work mattered and their work had to be the best. I think that Hillsboro Elementary School has been able to present those opportunities in the past but we’ve missed opportunities for students to buy into the idea that it’s their work making a difference. For example, our children built flower boxes and planted flowers at the mayor’s office. During this project we could have given them the power to design the boxes and to decide which types of flowers to plant in them. An excellent way to show beautiful work is with the internet, field trips, and by bringing in experts to talk about their own work.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the hardest parts will be finding things that have meaning in the "world" in our community. Curious, will we do school wide themes or grade level themes?
DeleteI agree!! We do provide our students with a lot of opportunities but we need to slow down and take it to the next level. We need to allow our students time to create work that is truly beautiful that can be used as models for other students.
DeleteLaura that's a great idea! I think that would definitely help with the creativity aspect of the boards!
DeleteMaria-I would love to see at least one school-wide theme! The younger students would then be able to look to the upper grades work as what they will be aspiring to accomplish when they get to those grades!
DeleteYou are right about the flower boxes Laura. That was a perfect example of how we need to slow down and make each experience a learning opportunity. I feel like we do so many positive things but we may not be focusing on the children having the pride in their accomplishments. Each month several of our kids cooked the breakfast for the entire school but I failed to take the time to truly acknowledge what a great feat that was.
ReplyDeleteI agree we do a lot at our school but may just need to slow down and give true meaning and worth to what we are doing.
DeleteI agree we need to slow down. I think I can start by doing a better job of providing opportunities for the Literature Fair to be completed more at school. Students can be exposed to quality work and peer critique. That why they can take pride in their work.
DeleteWe could connect some of the art standards to the literature fair. I could carve out some time for them to work on their projects during art class.
DeleteGreat ideas!! slowing down and truly looking around the school is already producing some very positive and doable ideas.
DeleteStudents can visualize the true excellence in their work by reviewing their drafts and reflecting on where they started and how much they have improved. Students can also visualize excellence in their work when we share past work as models and they get to see their work helping new students. These are great ways to help students understand that we are not being negative when we want them to do revisions that we are encouraging pride not punishment.
ReplyDeleteThe flower boxes are great examples of community projects that we could take to a new level. Maybe we could do things with the new health clinic and let students come up with ideas on how to make the waiting room "kid friendly." McCoys may work with the older kids to take suggestions on how to set up the store so it makes it easier for our students and families their find things or learn why it is currently set up the way it is. our students visit many stores and offices with their parents and everyone has favorites for one reason or another. The students could bring real world experiences into the classroom to make our community better.
These would be great ways to encourage community buy in and ways the kids can see excellence in their work and the work of their peers.
Those are some really good ideas Tina! I think giving our kids the chance to design the kid friendly zone in the health clinic would be too cool.
DeleteTina, I really like your insight that we want students to do multiple drafts to encourage pride not punishment. I think that might be a difficult, but important, transition to make.
DeleteWorking through the draft process can definitely lead students into visualizing excellence in their work. Critiquing peers will also help them improve their own work. Examples of beautiful work will come as they see the work of peers making it to the hallway hall of fame.
ReplyDeleteI also think that we could invite the younger grades into our classrooms to see the different stages of the process so that they can see the work that is being put into the final outcome.
DeleteStudents need to be exposed to quality work to achieve excellence in their work. . However, they need to experience the process of making multiple drafts of their work, not just in the writing process. It has to be done in small sections. Students also have to be exposed and taught how to give positive critiquing to help each other to improve on their drafts. The project has to be meaningful to students.
ReplyDeleteAs teachers we can expose students to beautiful work by saving work from previous years that are a work of excellence. However, with us starting out we will have to find quality student work else where the first year, but can add our own students thereafter. I like the idea of having a checklist to keep students on track. Also as teachers, we can go back to modeling to expose them to multiple steps then quality work.
This will take time to develop.
I agree with you Jenny. It is going to take some time to build our library of excellent work to use for modeling. We are going to have to be creative ourselves to come up with these models.
DeleteJenny,
DeleteI agree this whole process is going to take time to develop. I'm shaking my head at the amount of work I threw away at the end of year. I hate clutter and do not like to keep things I may one day need, especially large things... This will take some getting use to for me.
Nicole I am the same way! I am definitely going to struggle with having large volumes of "stuff" sitting around, whether it has merit or not. I guess I have to keep in mind I only need 1-2 samples because to be truly quality excellent work, I won't need 20 pieces.
DeleteA library of excellence is such a powerful resource. We need to tap into the Expeditionary Learning library of Excellence until we have developed ours.
DeleteA Gallery Critique is an excellent way for students to visualize excellence in their work. In a Gallery Critique, all of the students work is displayed and every student is allowed to express why they are impressed by other students work. This is a positive approach that allows students to see what others think is excellent about their work. Multiple drafts is another way we can help student visualize excellence in their work. Multiple drafts help students visualize where they started as well as how much they have improved.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, the best way to provide our students with examples of "beautiful work" is to become an "Archiver of Excellence." We have to build a library of excellent work that we can use as models on a daily basis. We can also use the Gallery Critique to point out the beautiful work created by our own students.
I enjoyed reading about the Gallery Critique. I loved how Berger said a comment like, "I like it" is useless. Commenting has to be taught and has to be specific and helpful. Berger said there is no way he can find the time to edit and critique every draft in his room so developing critique skills in students is essential. I can see lots of time (all year long) going into teaching students how to critique but it is something I want to develop in my students.
DeleteLearning how to conduct a critique is very important. Saying "I like it " is just not enough. Why do I like it and being specific in our praise and our "wonders" is crucial in building trust.
Delete“If we have a grading system at my school it would have to be described as this: A piece of work deserves either an A or a Not Done. Work goes through many drafts and isn’t considered complete until it represents high-quality work for that child. Any piece of work that would receive a C or D in a graded system is work not worthy of being accepted.” Berger, pg 105
ReplyDeleteSET HIGH EXPECATATIONS! The line above from the book really jumped out at me. I think it says it all, the work has to be high quality and we have to help students visualize this high quality work!! How? We need to slow down and not rush each assignment to move on to the next thing. I feel high pressure (self-imposed😊) to master standards and move on to the next standard. I want my students to be successful and perhaps I have had the wrong idea all along. I carefully look over and plan how to teach my standards and feel overwhelmed by the amount each year. I’m coming to understand those standards can be taught within widescale, more intense projects, rather than the short choppy lessons here and there to cover standards. We need to provide students time and opportunity to develop and make improvements to their work so they can visualize changes towards excellence and not just the one and done type of assignment.
As I read this book I have been convicted over and over for the exact same thing. I also need to slow down and focus on longer, more intentional units of study.
DeleteWhile reading I thought the same thing- I always feel so rushed wanting to get so much accomplished throughout the year. I need to slow down and remember--quality over quantity!
DeleteOne way students can learn to visualize excellence in their work is to provide a rubric to have as a guided checklist as they are completing their tasks. I have found this year that students were more apt to include all the key components of an assignment, say, our final book project, when they could self check and reflect on what more may be needed. In order for students to truly visualize excellence in work, they must be vested stakeholders in the task at hand. All the things you ladies have mentioned will "dangle the carrot" and give a student a value instead of just a letter grade. Exposure is key and those samples of excellent work could be as easy as projecting pictures on the Elmo and having whole group conversations to illicit their interpretations of beautiful work and open the door to deeper understanding of quality work.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Rubric is a great way to start. It will give students a guide line to be able to produce excellence. I have to agree that we need our students to be vested stakeholders for excellence instead of grades.
DeleteStudents can visualize the excellence in their work by first getting an idea of what the teacher is expecting. This is done through teacher provided examples. Once they see what a work of excellence looks like they start with a draft of their own work. They can then compare their work to the example and redo until they are creating their best work. Final drafts can be displayed to give other students examples of beautiful work and also instill pride in the creator. Other pieces of beautiful work may be obtained by the teacher from other schools and businesses as examples for the students.
ReplyDeleteI was particularly amused by Berger's description of the typical Science Fair and Book Project experiences in this chapter. His idea that the classroom should be the hub of creation for these projects seems valid. I agree that all to often, big projects like this are sent home, completed by parents or slopped together by students, and are not as valid or meaningful as they could be.
ReplyDeleteOur excuse for this is that it takes up valuable class time to complete these projects at school, and we just don't have any time to waste. However, if we change our mindset and give project based learning a more prominent focus, these projects could be much more meaningful learning experiences.
In order to make this happen, though, we need to provide students with examples of beautiful work so they can visualize excellence in their own work. By providing students with examples of quality work, they have will have a better idea of what the expectations are. Rather than saving students' work for future classes, however, I think it might be better to save images of the work samples so the students' best work can be placed in their portfolios or sent home to be celebrated.
I have to agree Sarah we need to focus on great projects. I think we might need to start at school first because a lot of projects that are sent home are not quality work. I think students and parents are frustrated. Most do the project without taking pride in their work. As teachers we need to cover as many as possible standards in these projects, but we can do it.
DeleteGreat projects that are conducted in a living/breathing rubric of excellence is a trans-formative experience for teacher and student. You have shared great ideas!!
DeleteI totally agree that these projects would be much more valuable done in the classroom. I actually had an idea that I might roll with for my second graders. I know they are not expected to do a Social Studies Fair Project until 3rd grade, but I might have the class complete a class project and actually walk them through the process of research, taking notes, then putting those notes in their own words. I always thought it was unfair to throw those 3rd graders in this project--3rd grade is a tough year and if the kids do not have a strong home to help them -they do not want to do the project. These projects can be a lot of fun if they find a topic that interests them.
DeleteAs teachers we need to really realize that quality is much better than quantity. We need to set high expectations and not let the students settle for anything less than their best. I think this is going to take a little longer in the upper elementary grades--since the students are used to the get it done method--many are used to doing it once and never looking at it again. They are doing it just to get it done and move onto the next activity.
ReplyDeleteI think the students need to be aware that this is a new schoolwide philosophy- not just their new teacher's way. I can hear some students say, " Well Mrs. _____________ never made us do it this way."
I think in the younger grades this will be a little easier. They have not had time to fall in this habit.
I also think that when the older students finish projects or papers or whatever it is they are working on, the younger grades need to be invited in and see what they will eventually be able to do. This might make them push a little harder now to see better results later.
For me personally I need to focus on are those high expectations and what is I want the end result to be and not settle for less just because I feel pressured to keep moving. I know many standards can be covered with one project but I always feel like I spend too much time on one thing and I need to move on.