D97-Julian 7.1 Social Studies with Mr. Kannan

"And in the end, the learning you take is equal to the teaching you make:" The last blog entry of the year

2009-05-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

I am currently teaching a core extension class entitled "Musical Misery." The focus of the class is to examine music as artistic works of poetry and engage in a thematic analysis. While it has been great to punctuate my day with discussions of loneliness and heartbreak with some great works of art, I am confident that the greater value of the class has resided in reclaiming my love of The Beatles.
I have always possessed a healthy respect for them. As far as I can remember a love of music, The Beatles had been a part of it. When I was an adolescent (chronologically, not behaviorally, which I am still in, sadly), I was a Paul man and really enjoyed the hard rock aspect of the group. While I might have found my college years one of drifting from the sounds of the Fab 4, I kept them at a healthy distance when I entered into teaching. In discussing ideas such as differentiation, standards based educational reform, federal and state mandates, and authentic assessment, as well as keeping up with ideas such as grading, lesson plans, and syllabi three weeks in advance, I never found a real opportunity to integrate The Beatles into my framework of teaching and learning. I think that my Core Extension on Musical Misery has done just that.
In recognizing how much of the music of The Beatles represents poetic works of art, I have been able to identify a suitable metaphor to describe what has been an amazing year on 7-1. We began the year with so much optimism, so much pure hope, and so much unbridled energy. There were trace fossils, concept attainment lectures that involved teachers yelling, "I'm as mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore" out of a window. There were explorations into who we are as thinkers, and deep seeded analyses of the American Revolutions, roses to battle plans and all. There were intense discussions about Constitutionality and a five day final exam. There were forays into teaching and then rapid paced, thoroughbred-like coverage of the growth of a nation. What started as something of excitement turned into maturation and growth, similar to the music of The Beatles, and even the 1960's, as a decade.
And, now we are facing the last and closing tracks of the "Abbey Road" album.
We are going to be closing out the year this week with a study of chapter 14 and 15, and students will be able to choose in which direction they would like to take their last steps of 7-1 Social Studies, and their first steps into 8th grade.
The Beatles' music is a metaphor is not only an effective tool to close out this year, but also to close out a wonderful run of teaching on 7-1. As I make my way in ending one facet of my teaching journey and beginning another one, I take with me the ideas of hope that seemed to line and weave nearly every Beatles song. While I might not be "the teacher I used to be," I know that the one I will always be is one who will know how to "carry that weight." The title of this blog entry, the last one I will write as a 7-1 teacher, speaks eloquently to how I have felt about my teaching, student's learning, and this entire process we call "education."
Grades will be updated as of Monday, and this should be a fairly accurate guide as to how students will have fared in the third trimester. To all of the supportive 7-1 students (former and current) and parents (current and former), please accept my deepest thanks for all of your kind words in allowing me the chance to successfully teach on 7-1. To see these student evolve into the pantheon of scholarship has been a singular honor.
Happy hunting as our journeys will continue,
Mr. Kannan

The Final Turn of the 7-1 Horse Race

2009-05-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

There are a handful of items for which I hold a true sense of passion and zeal. Finding a way into my life, my daily practice, and my core values, these entities have withstood my temperaments and states (sometimes altered) of reality. It would not surprise many to see teaching rank high on such a list (a homage to the recently completed and submitted Top 10 Lists for Chapter 12). I suppose that ideas and "L"iterature would also take their rightful places on such a mythic arrangement. Clint Eastwood films and their mythology, as well as John Coltrane music, and, of course, the themes behind "The Matrix" would be present on this collection of "my favorite things."
Horse racing would also occupy a prominent slot on such a playlist of identity. One of the "rites of spring" for me is the elusive pursuit of racing's Triple Crown. From the first Saturday in May, amidst the mint juleps and the twin spires of Churchill Downs to the Black Eyed Susans and the wistful melody of "Maryland, My Maryland" to the day in June when New York becomes the center of the universe, I mean, the horse racing universe, I am enthusiastic about horse racing. The history of thoroughbred competition has also been a topic of fascination. From the majestic and dominance of Secretariat, to the Kenyon College tinged narrative of Seabiscuit, from the fabled lore of Man-O- War, to the great battles between Affirmed and Alydar, to the tantalizingly close accomplishment of Real Quiet, to the pain of Eight Belles and Barbaro, I have a deep affinity for horseracing. I think that I am able to draw upon the horseracing dialectic to see deep running paralells to my own life and practice.
I had been paying attention to Rachel Alexandra. Her performance two weeks ago at the Oaks was stellar, almost Secretariat- like. I loved the call: "What is it? About 20 lengths?!?" I was aware of the drama between jockey and owner, and how some form of showdown with history emerged: The first filly in over half a century trying to win the Preakness, the first horse to try to win it from the outside post, the horse that stood in between Mine That Bird and his phenomenal finish in the Derby. I knew it all. Yet, I also knew that she was special, and this was confirmed in the first ten seconds of the race, when she took the lead and never relinquished her dominant performance to anyone. She was tremendous and I believe that she is very special.
Rachel Alexandra's performance on Saturday reminded me of some of our 7-1 emerging scholars. They entered this year and, in particular, in this classroom, with a great deal of weight on their shoulders. They entered with their own sense of "a showdown with history"... literally! The time they have spent with me has been one immense conflict, and one that is reaching its final turn. Many of our students have run, like Rachel Alexandra, with dominance and strength, but as jockey Calvin Borel noted, "The more I asked of her, the more she struggled." Indeed, I can relate in terms of teaching our emerging students, your children: The more I have asked of them, the more they have struggled, but the sweeter the triumph that has emerged.
Now, we are in the final turn. Students are either fighting through the pursuit of 75 outcome sentences or a DBQ on the Mexican- American war. I do hope that students can continue to keep fighting through, and like Rachel Alexandra, close out their races of dominance with a victory.

Here they come around the final turn... We await the outcome!
All best and happy running,
Mr. Kannan

The Sprint Towards the End

2009-05-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

This will be a truncated entry. The primary reason for this is that there is a mad dash hitting 7-1 Social Studies students over the next ten days. It is hard to believe that our journey that has been filled with intensity and focus will be reaching its natural end, but the final point is in sight. This will translate to students hitting their strides as they head around the last turn with nothing but might.
This is the basic breakdown of how things will run over the next two weeks:
* Tuesday, May 12- All Chapter 12 Work Due.
* Wednesday, May 20th- All Chapter 13 Work Due.
* Thursday, May 21- All DBQ Revisions Due.

Students will be working throughout the next two weeks on the completion of chapter 12 (The Age of Reform) and chapter 13 (Westward Expansion). In addition to this, students will have several opportunities to earn "additional credit":
* Moodle Rewards for the next two weeks.
* Four Points of Additional Credit for any student who brings in a box of Kleenex or Hand Sanitizer over the next two weeks. (Limit 12 points per student).

Naturally, students will be working with a level of focus and intensity that might be reflective of what has been given throughout the year, but I suspect a heightened sense of activity as we approach "the fierce urgency of now."

As students work towards the end of our journey, I avail myself to all students and parents/ guardians. Please do not hesitate to contact me at school or at my home.
Best wishes as our students "come around the turn."
Mr. Kannan

Moodle and a new dimension to complexity

2009-05-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

I had been dabbling in it for quite some time. As excited as I was about it, I was not very certain of how to incorporate it into our unit on growth in America. I felt that they were already enduring enough, so to add another burden on their weary, but broad shoulders would have been too much. For some reason, I had just decided to not take them to the computer lab. I figured I would bring it out in class and pick a student to demonstrate how it would work and allow the proverbial chips to fall where they would. What would happen is what would happen. It is what it is.

I picked an unassuming but highly perceptive student in first period. She gladly and willingly decided to dance to my syncopated and “jazz” tune and obliged me.

She started something that became a new aspect of our journey.

We broke through this week with Moodle and the initial burst of excitement was fairly impressive. Students took up conversations and engaged in discussions with their colleagues in an online learning environment. I monitored all the posts and the fervor with which they were posted. There were discussions, questions, opposing viewpoints, collaborative ventures, and very real signs of scholarship emerging. I found myself talking to students in a much more open and intellectual manner about ideas that would normally be limited in a traditional classroom discussion. Students engaged in discourse about economic reality, material exploitation, the issues of social control, and what defines what we know and how we know it. I was enchanted to see students, normally silent in class, open up in an empowering and strong forum. I was delighted to participate with students, and then also, take a seat back to students talking with one another. People studying for the exam were asking one another whether there was a fundamental difference between Northern control of factories and Southern control of plantations. People writing DBQ’s were asking one another which primary source was best for their thesis and engaged one another in testing out the validity of their ideas. Students were encouraging one another to “think” and “look beyond” what was there. I was impressed with how students integrated other people’s point of view as complementing their own or even diverging from their own. Students were taking advantage of down time on team and off team to ask “Can I Moodle from here?” How interesting is it when students appropriate an static noun and transform it into an eclectic verb?

I am not naïve to pretend that this will continue to be the state of affairs on 7-1 Social Studies. (I might have been yesterday, but it was at a rather early hour.) Students were enticed to post their comments on moodle with a “reward” that could have been cashed at the conclusion of this week. Another reward has been offered this week for the same. In a trimester that is rapidly ending, and as we enter our last two chapters of graded work, these rewards can be vital. I think that the more students who can display the savvy of posting online comments and engaging in discussions about the content outside of the classroom setting enhances comprehension of it. In addition to this, I believe that frequent and consistent participation in Moodle will allow students to possess an online savvy that will make them more competitive in their future classes or “cyberendeavors.” My hope is that all parents/ guardians will transform the language of their children and ask them, “Hey, did you moodle today?” At last count, we had over 70 7-1 students logged into accounts and participating. By the end of chapter 13, I hope we can generate more students so that every 7-1 student is a member of this online learning community, where we are able to move from the classroom into another pantheon of scholarship.

As we enter the first full week of May, parents/ guardians know that the summer breezes can be felt. I think that gearing our conversation towards success despite its inevitable end is of vital importance. Students should know that progress reports in Social Studies will be sent home this week. Option one people will receive a report on Monday, while Option two people will receive a report as their DBQ #1 is graded (This writing task is due on Monday.) The next graded task is going to be assigned Monday and is due on Tuesday, May 12. This will be another 350 points. I hope that students rise to this challenge. All stakeholders are reminded to remain in contact with all students/ teachers regarding their child’s academic performance.

On a final note, please know that I think it would be wonderful if some of you, our parents/ guardians, would look at some of the discussion threads from the Moodle Site. As your child logs in and surveys the intellectual field to graze, join them. I mean, what speaks to parent/ child bond better than talking about if the drive of money controls them or if they control it? What more in a relationship could one ask for if they can talk about what does rights in America actually mean? Hallmark does not make a card for such moments, so come on down and join us in the world of Moodle, a domain that has shown a complex journey to possess even more intricacy.

Happy Moodlin’ and happy hunting!

Mr. Kannan

They came, they saw, and hopefully, they were not conquered!

2009-04-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

The start of class on Thursday was priceless. They entered class to an arrangement of desks that were in a semi circle. The desks themselves looked the same, but the configuration was something that was new to the students. They examined the set up and took their seats, but they did so with a sense of understanding one truth that seemed to hit many of them simultaneously:

Things are different now.

We started the unit on Growth in America. Students took their seats and declared their choices. In making their choice to option one or option two, students began to understand that they were bound by their choices. This allowed them to begin the process of harnessing their energies in working towards one goal: Understanding how America “grew up” in this time period.

In thinking globally about it, much of this unit resonates with our students. This journey of scholarship has caused many of them to “grow up” so that it would make sense that students would sense parallel experiences in how America has grown up, also. Contained within this unit is a story of growth, pain, discomfort, triumph tempered with a sense of unknown, as well as the notion that all answers are met with more questions. One mountain scaled is met by another mountain in wait. While this would be a good way to describe America at the outset of the Civil War, I would also think that such a classification could encompass many, if not all, of the students on 7-1 and their voyage into American History. There is much in this unit to speak to our students.

Long term growth can only be accomplished with small term advancements. Bearing this in mind, all students should focus on the comprehension of the items presented in chapter 11. Option 1 students will have their note taking guides and Check Your Progress Questions due on Thursday with their Chapter 11 Exam on Friday. Option 2 students have their first DBQ due on Monday, 5/4. Their focus should be on completing the reading in chapter 11 and complete engagement in the process of drafting as often as possible.

We eagerly anticipate how students will meet yet another challenge, another mountain to be climbed.

Happy Hunting!
Mr. Kannan

The Choice Awaiting All 7-1 Emerging Scholars

2009-04-18T08:28:00.000-07:00

With the completion of the teaching assignments, students will have to make a choice this week. Our upcoming unit on Growth in America that centers chapters 11- 13 will force students to have to decide the method in which they wish to address it. One method is based out of the textbook while the other is based out of primary sources. In the attempt to provide full disclosure and attempt to illuminate the choices of our students, I shall use this week’s blog entry to clarify. Much of this decision will be based on the central question that has to be put to all students: What do you love? Both methods of covering the unit will compel students to deliver high quality work in both process and product. However, the question of what students want lies firmly embedded in the rock of love. That is to say, does a particular student love history? If a student cannot commit to the love of history, perhaps the complementary question should be, does a particular student love their grade? The posing of such questions should prompt a strong discussion, within which the answer lies.

Option one is rooted in textbook analysis. Students will be assigned a chapter a week, and will be asked to identify critical points in each section through a reciprocal reading format. They will be responsible for completing the Check Your Progress Questions that are present at the end of each section. The method of assessing each particular section will vary from a standard exam, to the composition of a “Top 10 List,” and Outcome Sentences. The mode of instruction will range from student collaboration to direct instruction via lecture and will happen only about twice a week. Yet, the challenge here is being able to pace oneself in their work while addressing elevated topics from the textbook. Due to this level of inherent challenge, the methods of assessment and form of instruction have been designed to integrate such difficulty. This translates to students being highly responsible for completing work on their own recognizance within class and outside of it. If students are comfortable with the direct approach of the textbook and prefer a pattern of consistency in the work expectations, then this approach might be quite seductive. This is because the student has the textbook as their primary guide and, after a year of its company, there might be a certain comfort in continuing this trend. There is little risk featured in this option. Students are responsible for budgeting their time appropriately on their own and ensuring that they can meet articulated deadlines. In addition to this, students will be able to sustain their grade through voyaging through fairly familiar terrain, albeit with new content. For the student who seeks a secure method to covering the material and ensuring a certain level of control combined with a minimal risk approach towards grade maintenance, this option might prove quite enticing.

Option two possesses more risk but can deliver more of an upside for students who seek a future in history. Students who undertake this option will be responsible for reading the material, but then engage in composing an essay through a Document Based Question format, or DBQ. The DBQ is the basis for all historical based scholarship. Whether in 8th grade or in high school, the DBQ and a student’s ability to compose one effectively compose one will help differentiate talented students from scholars in history. One of the defining characteristics in Honors or Advanced History classes is based on a student’s writing ability, and in particular, writing DBQ’s. This option is a challenge, a risk, because students will use the textbook as a pure secondary source, and rely on their composition of each chapter DBQ from a set of Primary Sources of that time period. Students will have to considerably more reading and writing in this particular task, as they are reading both textbook and multiple primary sources and composing a DBQ essay for each chapter. The students who love history or possess a sense of love regarding scholarship should undertake this option. Add to this recipe of challenge that the student who undertakes this option must budget their time in order to read two sets of readings (Textbook secondary and Primary Source) and draft, perhaps multiple times, a DBQ essay, and one senses how different this option is from the first one. Students who select this option are doing so because their future in history or scholarship drives them past where others might see.

Both options are going to be difficult. Extra credit in Social Studies has disappeared, and as we enter our last phase of our journey of scholarship, this moment in our shared time will be the most arduous. This unit sets the stage for our final unit on The Civil War. The problem, our students might see, is one of choice, but it is also the source of great notions of liberation and personal responsibility.

We all await the choices of our students, our emerging scholars.

Mr. Kannan

What Lies Ahead After the Teaching Assignment

2009-04-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

For this week’s blog, I have decided to print a copy of the letter that students will receive once the chapter 9 Teaching Assignments have reached their inevitable conclusion. Timelines for completion will be given to students at the time of receipt of this letter. I hope this letter will start the process of dialogue between parents and students to ensure that choice voiced is choice respected.

April _______, 2009

Dear Parents/ Guardians:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you of our upcoming unit on Growth in America. The focus of this unit is to analyze the development of Modern America from economic and social points of view. Some of the concepts addressed will be industrialization, immigration, social awareness, differing approaches to economic growth, Westward Expansion, as well as the growing divide between North and South with regards to the institution of slavery. The chapters covered in our textbook will be 11, 12, and 13. As with so much this year, change is a compelling concept. In past years, I have engaged in a series of direct instruction lectures designed to accomplish the comprehension of content in these chapters. However, this year I am proposing a different way to grasp the essential concepts that arise from these chapters. This differentiation will rest on the broad shoulders of our students who will choose which option best fits their particular talent sets.
There are two options for this course of study and students will have to choose one. These options are presented in more detail at the bottom of this document. One option is a textbook based, secondary source analysis, while the other is an American History primary source analysis. Intrinsic to both options is the reading and absorption of all sections in chapters 11, 12, and 13. There will be individualized tasks within each choice. The point values will be the same for all students, but the specific tasks will be different. For example, a student who chooses the textbook based secondary source analysis will have a different set of tasks to complete than the American History primary source student. Direct instruction will be conducted by groupings, so not all students will receive directed instruction each day. On the days when students are not engaged in direct instruction, they will have class time to work on their specific task at home. Underscoring this is that students will have to make efficient use of their time outside of class. Students will be asked to make a commitment to their choice on _____________________.
I have outlined the two choices to all students. The choice is going to be left to them. I encourage you, as parents/ guardians, to discuss which option is best suited for your particular student, your emerging scholar. While the problem here could be the choice, it could also be the source of liberation, as students can strive to find their academic voices through an appropriate choice. I stress to all students that their choices are for them, and them alone, and they should choose what they think is best for them. These tasks will be done individually, so collaboration with colleagues will not be an option for this unit. As with all choices, it is my hope that students make the right choice, for the right reasons.
The last point I would like to make here is one based on the notion of differentiation. Over the year, I believe that I have taken special strides to differentiate the content in American History in order to reach every student. However, I have always claimed that a large component of differentiation of content is contingent on student choice. When students choose to find their academic voice, choose to inject their passion and zeal into their work, and choose to display their heart within the paradigm of intellectual discourse, differentiation has been accomplished as content has gained more purpose. In this particular unit, groupings have been offered and within each designation, further differentiation is even more evident. Yet, students will have to choose which task is best suited for them. Every student will be granted equal access to all options. All students are entitled to a pasture within which their intellectual sojourn can take place.
If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at school or at home (__________________________). In the final analysis, as we begin our mad dash towards the end of the year and the Final Assessment, it is the choices of our students, your emerging scholars, that will be able to demonstrate the best chance of success.

Thanking you in advance,
Mr. Kannan
P.S. Students will receive the calendar of events, a sequence that lists due dates of all specific assignments, once choices have been declared. Our journey begins with all students reading chapter 11, so if students wish to move at their own pace, they could begin here. In the words of the great coach, “Is this fun or what?!?”

Unit: Growth in America
Chapter 11- North and South Take Different Forms
Chapter 12- The Age of Reform
Chapter 13- Westward Expansion

Two Options:
1) Textbook Based Secondary Source Analysis
2) American History Primary Source Analysis

Requirements:
* All students will have to read all the sections from the texts and compose notes on said reading.
* Direct instruction will transpire each day with different groups. Grouping calendar will be distributed. Different deadlines for different groups, and each group will be responsible for meeting their specific deadlines.
* Each grouping will have to complete different tasks on chosen items.
Description of groupings:

1) Textbook Based Secondary Source Analysis
In this grouping, students will have to do the following:
• Read each section of each chapter
• Take notes on each section (to be submitted at the end of each unit)
• Complete the Check Your Progress Questions from each section (to be submitted at the end of each unit)
In addition to this, as each chapter is concluded a unique assessment will accompany completion:
Chapter 11- Multiple choice exam
Chapter 12- Top 10 List for Age of Reform
Chapter 13- Outcome Sentence Assessment on Westward Expansion

This is a very straight forward and direct method of analysis on chapters 11, 12, 13. For those who can follow the direction of the textbook and ideas presented, this will be a good option. The end of the chapter assessments will challenge students in understanding how to synthesize what is understood in the text which application in different arenas.

2) American History Primary Source Analysis
In this grouping, students will have to do the following:
• Read each section of each chapter
• Complete one set of Check Your Progress Questions from each chapter (to be submitted at the end of each unit)
• Read the Primary Source Documents on each topic
• Complete the questions for each Primary Source Document
In addition to this, as each chapter is concluded, students will be asked to compose an essay on a Document Based Question (DBQ) from each chapter. Document Based Questions, or DBQ’s, assess the ability of each student work’s comprehension of historical sources in multiple forms. These are writing prompts/ essays which ask students to analyze meaning, point of view/ biases, and historical evidence as students develop and support a thesis. (Taken from www.edteck.com/dbq/testing/dbq.htm)
This is a very strong option for the student who enjoys examining history in “real time.” The student who likes to make connections between history in the textbook with real life narratives would enjoy this option. The writing of the DBQ would be challenging and serve to provide the basis of “how to write in history.”

I do hope this starts the dialogue. The wordle above is composed of my narrative comments of teaching assignments delivered to classes thus far. My hope is that students can find their own assessments or their colleagues’. Best wishes for the chapter 9 exam on Friday.

All best and happy hunting and choosing.
Mr. Kannan

Living as a teacher, yet making choices as an emerging scholar

2009-04-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

With our return from Spring Break, our teaching assignments will take flight. No doubt, students will have some interesting stories to tell about their foray in teaching a class, assigning and grading homework, assessing student performance and administering an exam. This should be unique, to say the least. However, the real interest will lie in what confronts students after the teaching assignment. In covering the topics addressed in chapters 11, 12, and 13, students will be faced with a choice. They will have to decide if they wish to approach the content within a standard textbook framework of through the composition of Document Based Questions. I think that both will be challenging, but students are going to have make a choice about whether they have a passion to explore their talents in history and writing. This will be where I think the more interesting aspect of our students’ choices will lie.

For now, let students be teachers. Let them experience the dizzying highs an painful lows of being an educator. Let them live at the hyphen, replete with its discomfort and anxiety. Once they are done with this, we will stand back allowing them to choose. In the next couple of weeks, blog entries will be focused on both options.

For now, though, happy hunting.

Mr. Kannan

Wordles, homework, teaching and learning

2009-03-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

The week before Spring Break brings with it a sense of excitement and anticipation regarding our teaching assignments. Students will have a series of deadlines this week that will help determine the overall success of this task:
• On Monday, all homework assignments, study guides, and lesson notes will be due. If students wish to have these items photocopied for their classes, Monday would be the day to submit them.
• At the end of Tuesday’s class period, all visuals must be completed.
• Wednesday and Thursday will bring with them the submission of a “wish list,” or items students need for their teaching assignment.
We will also spend Monday and Tuesday in the auditorium during core extension in the auditorium listening to panel presentations from former 7-1 students. These individuals will engage in a discussion based on their experiences with this assignment. This type of discussion will lend itself to an open question and answer forum with our current students. For former students to see a younger version of themselves and for current student to see a prospective vision of themselves will represent a very compelling juxtaposition of time. I believe that such a forum will allow our students to have a better understanding of the course they will chart and how to navigate the real pitfalls that might be present. While we do approach Spring Break, our focus is on the successful completion of work and ensuring that our attention is present in this domain. On a more pedestrian level, please keep in mind that signed report card envelopes are due on Tuesday in Social Studies for a homework grade and that 3rd trimester progress reports go home on Monday with a signature due back on Wednesday. From teaching to group designations, construction of visuals, designing of wordles and graphic organizers, to developing lessons, instruction, and homework to different types of learners, we are approaching a sense of “Show Time” moving closer and closer. Once we return from Spring Break, students will engage in their teaching of students. This should last about two weeks and then we will be examining the ideas that arise from Chapters 11- 13, Industrialization and American reform, and Westward Expansion. Over spring break, I will post via the blog some thoughts as to the form this course of study will take. I believe that our intensive journey will reach a zenith with the ideas presented in these units. Please consider helping our students, your emerging scholars, achieve their maximum by asking them pertinent questions about where they are, where they need to be, and their thoughts on from where to where we have come. For example, an excellent topic of conversation would be for parents/ guardians to ask students how things are progressing in their groups. Who has been doing a really good job or who has been lacking in matching the group’s intensity are excellent topics to discuss. Asking students how they envision teaching the class, grading the homework, or how to maintain classroom order would all be areas of fertile chatting. I do hope that the discussions we are starting and initiating in class can be carried on outside of it with family members and parents/ guardians. Our journey is reaching its natural conclusion. While we have so much to go before our end, it is imperative that as we note from where to where we have come. Our voyage towards scholarship has developed quite a distinctive and beautiful arc. Happy hunting and all best. Mr. Kannan

Teaching

2009-03-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

We enter our second week of the student led teaching assignment on chapter 9. Our classrooms seem to emulate much of a modern school. Throughout the classroom are questions that seek to define what constitutes “essential concepts,” queries that hope to analyze how students “get it,” and the proverbial issue as to how students learn. I think this assignment models much of what teaching in the modern setting embodies. There are some very inspired notions of how teaching can be transformed. Scavenger hunts, games, innovative lessons, and classroom designs are being forged. At the same time, there are teaching assignments that are striving to be heard. Just as in the modern educative setting we have teachers who demand to be heard and some teachers who need assistance, we are seeing all forms emerge in our teaching assignment. The most important element that must be pursued in all of our students is the idea that teaching must embody some commitment to outside of class time. When students do this, there is a greater chance of good things happening in the classroom realm.

The focus of this message is to outline how things will progress while students are assembling their teaching assignment. Monday will mark the first week of using our daily points rubrics. Students will be assessed daily on how well their focus is presented in class and will also receive points of mandatory credit for working well during class and ensuring that their focus is on instruction. In addition, students will be receive updated third trimester progress reports on Monday, 3/23. These reports need to be signed and returned by Wednesday, 3/25. At this point, students who have made the commitment to their teaching assignments are progressing quite well into third trimester. Those whose commitments are not as strong are seeing their grade advance as such. My hope is that one of the most fundamental aspects of teaching is revealed through this assignment. The need to follow through on one’s commitment is the only way to academic, personal, and intellectual salvation.

Naturally, all stakeholders can access student grades through mygradebook.com. A log in widget is present on the left hand side of this blog. In addition, students are encouraged to access the class wiki in the hopes of advancing their commitment to the discussions that are ongoing in class. Finally, students have been made aware that signed syllabi for extra credit will be phased out in the upcoming weeks. While I will still offer writing based extra credit, I will be phasing out this aspect of the extra credit domain. We are advancing towards the end of our journey. While we progress towards this end, we should not tiptoe in inches, but rather strive in yards with our heads held high and a sense of striving complemented by an air of triumph has to be evident.

March on, you intellectual soldiers, purveyors of “the good, the true, and the beautiful.”

Mr. Kannan

P.S. As you sojourn in a powerfully compelling demeanor towards your goal of scholarship, don't forget that you might need some help along the way. Hubris is fatal in a journey of this magnitude. I have some ppt lessons that students have composed for their teaching assignments. You can find these under the link of "Recent PowerPoint Lessons" and look for the folder called "Student Exemplars." In addition to this, check back to the blog, as I will be featuring some links below to a website called, "Teachertube.com"- a forum for teachers to post examples of student work. Some of these items might help you in your quest to prepare a lesson. Enjoy!

Living at the hyphen: The Student Led Teaching Assignments for Chapter 9

2009-03-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

With ISATs coming to a merciful end, we are now able to fully focus our energies on what lies ahead. I think an appropriate line of inquiry might be to ask what could top the final exam? What could be more taxing than a five day exam that covered two trimesters’ worth of work? What could be conjured that would demand more than an exam worth 58% of a student’s overall grade?

One word: Teaching.

Teaching.

Teaching?

As long as I have taught, I have believed that after a certain point of time with students, they need to be let in on the process, they need to “crack the code” and experience life on the other side of the podium. I cleave to the fact that teaching allows them this opportunity. Students received the next task on Thursday/ Friday, a nearly 20 page document on how to design, implement, instruct, and assess a lesson from chapter 9, the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. Students had one assignment over the weekend: To annotate the document and generate as many questions as possible so as to gear our discussion on Monday. My hope is that students arrive to class on Monday with as many questions as possible to make a more worthwhile endeavor.

These student taught lessons on chapter 9 will prove to be the most challenging endeavor yet. Part of the reason that it will be so challenging is that students are not in complete, absolute, total control of the final product. Over time, I have come to understand the dynamic of pure teaching and learning as something that compels one to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. There is no totality in the process of teaching and learning. Students arrive into the classroom with their own set of cognitive, metacognitive, personal, psychological, and mental baggage and the teacher becomes a sort of “intellectual doctor” who must assess and diagnose the particular conditions in the hopes of achieving a worthwhile lesson of instruction. I feel that I have tried my best this year to live at this particular zone that allows me to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. This notion of teacher- practitioner sees me living at “the hypen” and it has made our journey one that has been uniquely distinctive. Now, I think the time is right to hand over the reins to the students. They have spent enough time on the bench. Now, it is time for them to experience game situations in “real time.”

Students will have to choose a topic from chapter 9. Then, they will have to design a 40 minute lesson that instructs their students on essential concepts within that topic. Students will have to be responsible for content instruction and classroom management. Students will be responsible for attendance, and ensuring each of their “pupils” are on task. Students will be responsible for issues of discipline and managing focus. Students will be responsible for creating a visual that embodies their content. Students will be responsible for designing, distributing, and assessing homework. Students will be responsible for designing and composing a portion of the chapter 9 exam. Students will be responsible for running study sessions and developing study guides. Students will be responsible for achieving a class average of 70% on their component of the exam. Students will be responsible for ensuring that they assess the overall learning performance of each student. The theme of this unit would be that of responsibility. This task will be one of the most challenging that students have faced because they have to be in control of their decision making skills and then account for the choices of their colleagues. Once again, it becomes a challenge to live comfortably in the realm of discomfort.

Students will be give a timetable for completion of tasks this week. This can also be found on this blog, under the “Handouts” link. I believe that the process of constructing lessons on chapter 9 might allow our students another opportunity to demonstrate their talent in advancing their journeys towards scholarship. In this process, I think it would be worthwhile for students to contribute their thoughts to the class wiki, whose link can be found on the top right hand corner of the blog. The notion of living at the hyphen can be enhanced when we engage in worthwhile dialogue about what it means to reside in such a challenging neighborhood.

I know that this is fun.

All best and happy hunting!

Mr. Kannan

“And now what do we do?” Life after the Final Exam

2009-02-28T09:51:00.000-08:00

I know I have referenced this before, but given where we are, I think its reference is appropriate. The film, The Candidate, has always intrigued me. Robert Redford plays a man running for Governor of California. The race between he and his establishment foe, Crocker Jarmon, is an intense one and on election night, when polls indicate that he has won, there is a celebratory mood around campaign headquarters. In a vintage Robert Redford moment, he pulls his campaign advisor into a private room and asks him the very same question that many 7-1 students might ask themselves now with the conclusion of the Final Exam:
“Now, what do we do?”

Celebration, spirits, and absolute pandemonium drown out any hopes of a meaningful answer.

While there is much to be mirrored from 1970s American cinema, I can only hope that we, as 7-1 stakeholders, answer our question differently.

The Final Exam is done. There are some students who will need additional time due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances to complete their exam. Yet, the vast majority of 7-1 students completed the week’s worth of testing their understanding of concepts in American History and showed a great deal of character and strength in the process. The use of the small piece of paper, the focus, and the discussion amongst peers about questions such as, “What did Harlan mean by that quote?” or “Who talked about freedom and chains?” were the types of discussion starters that I hoped would be generated by the exam. I also felt very proud about how students fought through an exam that constituted the very essence of “challenge.”

The grades for the exams have been posted at www.mygradebook.com and have been sent out to all stakeholders in an email “blast.” The trimester grades posted right now constitute where students would be if the trimester ended today. Obviously, in the short term, students might wonder what can be done to move their grades upwards or, perhaps if within close proximity, how to advance their status. I would think that one option that can be pursued would be to undertake the Constitution Extra Credit tasks that are going to be due on Friday, 3/6. This gives students just under a week to complete work samples that would expand their understanding of the Constitution and the issues related to it. Another option would be for students to complete a series of short answer prompts that will be assigned this week concerning chapter 8 reading. These are not mandatory, but will be worth about 10 to 15 points each. Finally, students will receive a progress report on Tuesday and is due with a parent/ guardian signature on Friday. This will be worth 20 points. These can be undertaken in the short term.

If students are concerned with a long- term focus of what to do now in the wake of the Final Exam, there are options available in this domain. Students have been given a copy of the Final Exam. If students make appointments with me, I am happy to go through a student’s answer sheet against the exam so that students can understand why their particular choice was incorrect, or engage in a conversation about “what happened.” If approached by students, I will be happy to rework their exam with them in an individualized manner. It should be noted that there will not be any revision opportunities for the exam, but if students are interested in sensing how they can improve in the multiple choice test taking domain, I would be happy to facilitate this process. Another option would be for students to harness their energies into the next assessment. After the week of ISATs, we will be starting our next unit, a student led teaching assignment on Chapter 9. This will be detailed in next week’s blog. In total, this assessment will be worth over 800 points into 3rd trimester.

If there is any lingering legacy from the Final Exam, I think it would lie in the validation of the importance in completing extra credit and additional work. Students who undertook extra credit opportunities prior to the exam found themselves the benefactors both in points and knowledge. I witnessed instances where students who completed the extra credit opportunities present before the exam did not need a strong exam score in order to maintain their high standard of work. I also witnessed cases of students who completed extra credit opportunities and fared very well on the exam (A record number of “A”’s were scored on this exam. In years past, we only saw four “A”s on this exam, while this year we saw over 10 A’s alone.) These students who scored so very well also were mavens of extra credit. Finally, I saw cases of students who might have not fared very well on the exam, but had completed extra credit in such strong quality and quantity whereby the exam’s effect was benign.

Yet, there is a flipside to this coin.

For students whose focus were elsewhere in the weeks leading up to the exam and failed to undertake extra credit, adequate preparation, or nightly study during the week of the exam, the effects were quite disastrous on a student’s grade. In addition, students who failed to complete any of the extra credit made available, there was a sense of opportunity lost and a sense of regret entering their psyche. Perhaps, this was the lasting testament of the Final Exam. While there will always be looming and rather large assessment, there will be an equal amount of opportunities made available prior to such high stakes assessment. At some points, all students have to make choices in demonstrating their commitment to success. This is the reality that confronts all learners, and played itself out in the life of 7.1 Social Studies Students.

We have short term and long term options that lie in front of us. Students will choose their paths and it is my hope that they choose well. Naturally, all of us await the choices of our students, 7.1’s emerging scholars. To all of them, I can only wish the best in their choices as we approach the last leg of our collaborative journey.
All best and happy hunting,
Mr. Kannan

P.S. In the attempts of gearing student choice towards taking a more active role in class discussions or ideas, please invite your students to visit and add to the class wiki whose link is found in the top left hand pane of the blog. As we strive to integrate technology and teaching into a new form or “teachnology,” contributing and adding to the class wiki might be one such way to bring together both domains.

The calm before the storm: The moments before the Final Exam

2009-02-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

If you listen closely, you can hear it. You can sense it in the air, feel it in the water. It is the sense that all 7-1 students share in a collective entity at this time, at this precise moment.

The Final Exam approaches.

The last month and a half of blog entries has been devoted to the Final Exam. What it is, why it is present, how to prepare for it and what to expect during it. This is what we have building towards from the start of the year.

The exam starts on Monday and continues until Friday. Students should use the interim to review essential concepts and important points that are on the exam. In addition to this, students can also work on the extra credit tasks on the Constitution that are due on Wednesday, March 4.

I wish all 7-1 students all the best in completing this exam and in rising to one more challenge in their 7-1 experience.

All best and happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

“Here they come around the turn…” One week before the Final Exam

2009-02-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

The following is a reprint from the blog entry exactly one year ago today. The focus for that blog entry, as this one, is preparation for the final exam. I find it interesting that similar challenges from last year’s (now former) scholars, are ones faced by this year’s emerging scholars. I have altered some of the dates to fit in with this sequence, but the helpful tips are still highly applicable. Next week’s blog entry will be a small sampling of words of wisdom while the following week’s entry will be thoughts observed in “real time” as students complete their exams.

We are closing out strong. The Social Studies final exam starts on Monday, 2/23 and lasts until Friday, 2/27 For this week’s blog, I thought I would focus on 10 things that can be done this week for all students to enhance their chances of doing well on this important exam and help strengthen their status in the class for second trimester. All of these items should be integrated into student academic habits not merely this week, but throughout their remaining time in this class.

* Focus on this week’s in class and on nightly assignments- With one week to go, students should pay attention to all the nightly tasks this week. Our discussion will address the Civil Rights amendments and final points that need to be made on the Constitution. I believe that while students are studying all that will be present on the Final Exam, there might be a tendency to forget the items discussed this week. This would be a mistake, so being mindful of this week’s content might prevent such a miscalculation from happening.

* Work on the study guide each night- Students were given a five page study guide which addressed all pertinent items on the final exam on the week of 2/9. (Extra copies can be found on this blog under the hyperlink of “Handouts.”) It is strongly advised that students make nightly progress on this packet, one section at a time. Students should use their notes, any work they have created, as well as their textbook in addressing what each concept is and why it is important. Naturally, since the format of the test is multiple choice, students should be able to state specific facts relating to each concept as well as its overall general importance or significance. The study guide is comprehensive, so time should be devoted to it on a nightly and incremental basis.

* Generate questions about study guide and compose them on a separate list, segmented out by chapter/ concept. As students work on their study guides, any areas of question or wonderment should be noted in a separate list. My hope is that they understand much of the study guide, as it is review of material that we have discussed throughout the trimester. Yet, areas that require further analysis should be noted on a separate list, and as these areas are addressed, there should be a stronger sense of confidence developed about these topics.

* Attend study sessions with questions to be answered. There will be lunchtime study sessions held this week, as well as a Thursday and Friday morning study session. This puts the number of study sessions at 4. Students can attend any and all of these, as all study sessions will be generated by student questions which make them all uniquely distinctive and different. The study sessions could be excellent opportunities where student questions can be answered. While these are informal question and answer sessions, where there will be no formalized reteaching of concepts, attendance will be taken. Students who are having challenges with the format of the exam, or the concepts presented should use these sessions as opportunities to open the dialogue and minimize confusion about what is being presented. Passes will be made available on the chair outside of my room. It will require a sacrifice from students, as they will have to make a choice between the opportunity to socialize with colleagues and gain further understanding about the exam and what is expected form students on it. This is a choice they will have to make. The opportunities to maximize student success are there, and the hope is that students will seize it.

* Examine the blog- Complete some of the extra credit offered this week. As we are taking stock of where students are and what is laid in front of them, the reality is that at the time of composing this blog, there are over 1200 points for this trimester. In addition to this, there have been over 200 points of extra credit offered. Perhaps, this week would be one week where students might seek to bolster their standing in the class before the final exam by completing some of the extra credit offered on this blog. The “Wacky Metaphoric Analysis” could yield up to nine points of extra credit for well composed written answers, and identifying the speaker of the quotations has proven to be quite lucrative for a handful of 7-1 students. Finally, if we generate 100 votes on this week’s poll question, every student on the team will receive 10 points for exercising their democratic sensibilities. All of these could be dismissed as “easy points,” but the looming storm of a 640 point exam might require students to secure their grade before it hits. I see little wrong with building up some “rainy day” points, in the event it pours next week.

* Extra credit, part 2- As long as there have been teachers and students, there has been the question of extra credit. I think there is little doubt as to where I stand. Extra credit is an opportunity for all students, made available to all students, and designed in order to assist all students. At this point in their academic careers, I believe students must understand that academic success can take different forms. Students can be proficient at taking tests, demonstrate strength in their writing, and excel at assembling projects. I also believe that students should strive to go beyond the content in acquiring as many points as possible. Perhaps this means doing more work, or opening a dialogue with parents/ guardians about what is transpiring in the classroom via obtaining signatures. This week, students will be given a series of extra credit tasks offered on the Constitution and the current political climate. Exploring one or more of these options could prove to be both academically lucrative and intellectually enlightening for all students. The due date for completed tasks to be submitted is Wednesday, March 4, 2009. While these reside in the long term, students can get this week’s syllabus and progress report signed for extra credit. Again, this opportunity is made available to all students in the hope of helping all students.

* Completing the daily points- Another opportunity open to all has come in the form of daily points. Over the last two weeks, students have been greeted with their entrance into class with “Daily Points.” These are random questions on the Constitution and serve as an excellent source of test question material on the Constitution. Each student receives one random question and a successful answer yields fifteen points. If a student wanted to test their knowledge base on the Constitution, many of these questions have been given to students in the packet received last week. In a larger sense, completing these questions helps to gauge student understanding on a concept that will be prevalent on the Final Exam.

* Examine the blog- As long as I have taught, I have always featured a “Final Exam.” I think there is something quite powerful about demonstrating what is known in one setting, displaying focused energy throughout. This week, I will be posting previous Final Exam questions from the last couple of years on the blog (under the handouts link.) Former final exam questions will be on the exam. These questions will be posted on Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night. I will have the answer keys posted in the Team 7-1 Team area, so students can check how they fared with these and any questions can start a discussion. While the questions will be different on this year’s final exam, I think it might help to serve as a good guide to familiarize students with topics covered. Exam questions will be posted on Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night.

* Pay attention to the guide on how to study- Students were given a handout last week which outlines a method on “how to study” for this Final Exam. I realize that all of our students have their own methodology for exam studying. Yet, in giving students some of my personal advice on how to prepare for this comprehensive assessment, I believe that it might help students engage in a worthy internal discussion of metacognition; How do I know what I know? I believe that some professionals simply “assume” students “know” how to study, and while this might be true for some, I believe that other students simply have been told to “study.” This document might offer some strategies on how to proceed with this element of being told to “study.”

* Make the commitment and keep the commitment to doing well- As students focus on wanting to do well on the final exam, the reality is that students will have to work as hard as they can to do so. I have told students to assume or take as a fact that this exam will be the hardest exam they have ever taken. I sense that a tendency of 7th grade students is to demonstrate a sense of pride, sometimes hubris, indicating that little can surprise them. My hope is that we can seek to minimize this. Students who anticipate challenge and embrace its reality are lifelong learners and true scholars. 7th grade students who choose not to study because they believe that they “know it all” demonstrate arrogance. One need only examine literature such as Sophocles or Shakespeare or examine the narratives of American History to see what happens when one demonstrates hubris when modesty should be displayed. I sense that if students want to do well, they must make a commitment to doing their best in preparing and ensuring comprehension of the components on the final exam. If they do and are willing to uphold their commitments in the face of those who might not possess the same sense of zeal, they will find success.

When I envisioned all the goals for this year’s Social Studies classes, taking this final exam was one of the benchmarks that would serve to measure our journey. We continue our voyage this week with final preparations and execution next week.

The nightingales are waiting to sing their songs. In the silence of preparation, one can hear emerging notes whose harmonies remind us of the promises and possibilities of what we do and to what idylls we commit ourselves.

Happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

P.S. Due to a family emergency on Tuesday, I was not in school. Students were advised to continue to work on their study guides and prepare for the final exam. There will be study sessions tomorrow (Wednesday) during lunch and Thursday and Friday in the mornings. Extra credit due on Tuesday will be due on Wednesday and progress reports in Social Studies will be sent home on Wednesday, with a parent/ guardian signature for extra credit due on Friday.

“It is accomplished:” The Final Exam has been written

2009-02-07T20:30:00.001-08:00

This blog entry will be truncated. There is not much left for me to say.

I have finished writing the final exam. The exam ended up at being 33 pages, 160 questions. I feel very comfortable with the material presented on it. I sense it is challenging and quite a daunting assessment. As it is sent off for duplication, I will be giving students a study guide and introductory letter for it this week. We will start the process of concluding the unit on the Constitution, and my hopes are that students will start the process of conferring with me on issues that need clarification. I hope students will heed my advice in advancing in their cause of scholarship by enhancing their advocacy skills through asking for help and ensuring that no academic stone is left unturned.

Study sessions for this week will be held on Thursday morning, 2/12. Next week, there will be study sessions Tuesday morning, 2/17 (the last one for extra credit), and during lunch Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. There will be one last morning study session Friday morning, 2/20.

Next week’s blog entry will be devoted to what should be done to prepare for this exam, one that might prove to be the most difficult any of our emerging scholars have ever had the pleasure to confront. Another milestone approaches, and another benchmark reached.

Is this fun or what?

Mr. Kannan

Gordon Gekko and 7.1 Students: Truly “The Odd Couple”

2009-01-31T17:56:00.000-08:00

At the time of posting this blog, the final exam is within three weeks. It is an exciting time to be a 7.1 student, even if they fail to recognize it. I believe that this is such an exciting time because we are in this intense drive to gain more knowledge, foster more understanding, and delve deeper into the Constitution. Each day in class exposes some new aspect of this document, and similar to the rose that opens only to illuminate the world with more complexity and intricacy, we end each class with more understanding and wonderment about its broad applications into the real world. I think that students are beginning to sense more power in what they are learning and the byproduct of this empowerment is the ability to raise more questions and seek to understand more of the world around them. There are few topics in middle school that possess this combination of wonderment and empowerment like the Constitution.

Yet, like all challenging topics, there is much within the Constitution that cannot be afforded to be deferred or put aside. One need only read Langston Hughes to recognize what the consequence of such a poor decision is. I believe that 7.1 students have to be vigilant of the Final Exam, of which the Constitution is a significant part. I believe that vigilance should not be confused with paralysis. If students take an active role in doing the best they can to reckon with a formidable adversary, then I believe that they will stand a better chance in defeating it. Naturally, studying and reviewing each night the concepts associated with the Constitution would be one such avenue where students can demonstrate a level of intellectual maturity. Another venue would be the policy of “stockpiling” points towards their grades in Social Studies. This would allow them the opportunity to protect their grade in the event of a showing on the exam that falls short of their high standards. This can be done in a myriad of ways. Completing nightly assignments, completing extra credit tasks, utilizing the skills of advocacy to secure more points towards their grade, and even entering the classroom with a sense of focus are all potential avenues that can be marched down with a strong and purposeful cadence. I would say that the last avenue has been the most revealing. I have seen a strong tendency in the nature of our students to await instruction in the entering of the classroom. Rather than fritter away the first five or six minutes of class, I have seen students enter the room and pay attention to an instruction that yields extra credit opportunity and actively seek it. This has resulted in syllabi that have become quite weighty with points at the end of the week. I stand by this appropriation of points for if students can acquire the habit of seeing classtime as an exercise of focus and actively embrace it, they should be recognized for such a professional demeanor. We are reaching a point in the year where our students are closer to the end of their journeys than the beginnings of it. Students must be challenged to achieve more for there is more expected from them. They are no longer the young cherubs that they might have been at the start of the year. They are entering the domain of leadership, increased responsibility, and greater perils associated with maturity. In honoring the trait of professionalism in our students, we seek to honor the best in what it means to be a scholar.

An icon of the 1980s, Gordon Gekko seems to loom large in my mind when I sense how students should approach class in the next three weeks. Standing in front of a group of corporate shareholders who seek nothing more than an answer to the question of how he intends to make more money for the company (and, of course, himself) he takes the microphone in that jet black suit and white shirt and looks into the eyes of an auditorium as well as a nation as he says, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good, Greed is right.” He continues to expound on this philosophy and in his explanation, I believe we find the 7.1 Social Studies student right now, at this point in their lives: “Greed in all its forms: Greed for love, greed for knowledge, greed for life, greed for understanding. Greed captures and clarifies the essence of humanity. Greed is what will fix not only this corporation, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S. of A.” While the model of corporate irresponsibility is reprehensible, and as our President stated this past week, represents “the height of irresponsibility,” I hope our students embrace Gekko’s vision of a world where students pursue a greed for knowledge, for points, for understanding, for seeking to develop a better vision of the world and their place in it. I believe that this notion of “greed” will allow our students a better chance to grasp “the good, the true, and the beautiful.”

All best and happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

“I can feel it in the air, I can feel it in the water:” The 7.1 Social Studies Final Exam

2009-01-24T19:45:00.000-08:00

This week’s Inauguration of President Barack Obama provided a singularly powerful moment of convergence between American history and politics. This singular instant was “superhistorical,” something that exists in the moment and simultaneously transcends it. In discussing its relevancy in the following days, I felt that 7.1 students understood its powerful nature and grasped the idea that we, as participants in history, stand within it and possess the potential to stand outside of it. In this setting, we turn our attention to the study of the United States Constitution and the 7.1 Social Studies Final Exam.

I have always felt that there is an intellectual holy triad of what students possess when they depart 7.1 Social Studies. The first component would be the study of American Revolution and Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. The last piece of this puzzle would be Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The link between both would have to be the United States Constitution. It is the connective thread that brings together the hope of independence and the complexity of freedom. It bridges the chasm between, what now President Obama termed, “the promise of ideals” and “the reality of the times.” I feel it is in the study of the Constitution where we see our students mature in front of our eyes, emerging into the pantheon of scholarship as they grapple with the intent of the framers, constitutional penumbras, and a startling combination of absolutes and subjectivity. I look at teaching the Constitution as a highlight of not only the year, but an honor within my profession. In identifying the concepts that I feel define the essence of “education” and my sense of being as a “teacher,” the U.S. Constitution is within the top five. (I must admit that I felt that my students last year missed out on another moment when I did not close the year with my recitation of Whitman’s “O Captain, My Captain.”)

Our study of the Constitution is a challenging one. We move at a rather quick clip, knowing very well that what we touch can only start a journey and never end it. I have indicated to students that with this material, their lives will be forever changed. One way to reaffirm the significance of this content is with the Final Exam. Our exam is scheduled for the last week of February and will consist of about 200 multiple choice questions from chapters 5, 6, 7, and the Constitution. It will take five days to complete. It will be a challenge for the study of from where to where we have come is also a challenge. I have said that it is this final exam that will test the mettle of our students, and examine how committed to scholarship they are. I have also stated without equivocation that this exam will be the most difficult exam they will take this year, and possibly, in their Julian careers.

Naturally, the looks on student faces were priceless.

As we study the Constitution and its implications, we have our eyes fixed on both the present with a gaze that is situated towards what lies beyond. The exam is roughly a month away and steps are being taken to ensure that all students find success, and that no child is indeed left behind. The first measure that is being offered to all students is a greater opportunity to complete extra credit. All students should be working nightly on Social Studies work related to the Constitution. However, students have been reminded that within their conception of work, extra credit resides. For example, if an assignment calls for a student to compose 5 outcome sentences, this would be the minimum. A student can earn extra credit if they compose more than the minimum. This stresses the idea to students that work done can only be enhanced with it being done well and with attention paid to detail. In addition to this, signed syllabi are being weighed with premium value. For example, students who enter class and follow instructions posted with absolute focus and dedication might be told to add a certain number of points to their syllabi. Obtaining a signature and returning it signed would make that syllabus quite a lucrative venture. Students are being reminded at multiple turns to engage in extra credit opportunities that are featured on the blog, such as the wacky metaphoric analysis, establishing the speakers of quotes featured, and garnering 100 votes for the weekly poll. Finally, study sessions for the Final Exam are being offered every Tuesday morning at 8:00 and during Thursday’s 4th period lunch. Students who attend these study sessions will find it helpful to ask questions, seek clarification, and gain more insight into concepts that will be assessed in great detail on the Final Exam. For students who attend the Tuesday morning study session, an added benefit will be 10 extra credit points for each morning study session attended. I will extend this same offer to the Thursday fourth period study session for the first week, but after that, I am looking to see if students can make the necessary arrangements in showing the needed commitment to pursuing academic integrity and increasing their intellectual capacity.

Students will be pushed within the next five weeks to give more of their hearts and minds in the battle for intellectual and academic supremacy. I don’t know what it says when I have to quote President Lyndon Baines Johnson when I say that the price for victory in this war will require more cost, more sacrifice, and perhaps more loss. I am hoping that the outcome is certainly better for old LBJ, but the message still remains intact: The cost of academic victory in this setting will be measured by how much commitment students show to their learning and ensuring they are making the most of the time they have before this exam seeks to test the most they have within them.

Students who are aware of their history will know that throughout intellectual currents there has been a sense of understanding about the magnitude of certain events. It can be seen in literature, as in when standing in the presence of the ring of power; one certainly feels its aura. It can be seen in poetry, as in when one reads Langston Hughes or a Shakespearean monologue. It can also be seen in history. For example, those who stood at the Inauguration last week knew they were standing in the moment of history, while those of us watching it knew immediately that we were basking in the glow of historical development. When confronted with the reality of significance, of purpose, and of meaning, one feels it all around them. It is felt in the air, it is felt in the water, it is felt in the heart. At the same time, the sentiments of battle rear itself for in this moment, we feel compelled to ward off the feelings of doubt that downplay this moment, that tell us this moment is nothing more than a moment. When trapped in a moment of purpose, of meaning, of relevancy, one must cast off the shackles of doubt and accept it for what it is: A moment in time, perhaps never to be repeated, while completely impossible to forget. I feel that in the experiences of our 7.1 emerging scholars, this time, this instant is one such moment in time.

To not give it the proper respect it deserves could be catastrophic and would indeed rise to the level of tragic condition. My deepest hope is regardless of outcome, students pay homage to such a moment that will test them. Similar to the Inauguration, this type of moment of convergence may never come again.

All best and happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

P.S. Updated progress reports will be sent home with students on Tuesday, 1/27. They can be signed and returned for extra credit on Friday, 1/30, the same day that Preamble Recitations will be assessed. Is this fun or what?

The State of 7- 1 Academic Union Address

2009-01-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

This is a fairly big week for important speeches and addresses. In this same vein, I thought I would use this week’s blog entry as a type of “State of the Union Address” for 7-1 stakeholders. This address would be a barometer indicating where we are, from where we have come, and where we need to be in order to reach our goal. (One can imagine the audience members’ applause/ derision or not.)

We assemble here today at the half way point of our journey. From this point on, each step we take brings us closer to the end than the starting point. We are realizing that time is no longer on our sides. Some say that the best time for reflection is at the end of a journey, but I am of the mindset that reflection is best served at every possible moment before the conclusion of any endeavor because more can be remembered, greater amounts of precious details in their exactitudes can be recalled, and more meaning can be gained. I feel we are at such a point right now, at this time, in this moment. With second trimester midterm progress reports sent home on Friday, we are officially past the half way point and could be a good moment to ruminate, reflect, and in some case, recalibrate our efforts in the hopes of achieving the academic “good, true, and beautiful.”

I think that one truth that has emerged from the first half of our journey is that we have seen scholarship emerging, maturation being evident. For the most part, students’ fears and insecurities that have opened the year have become replaced with a sense of confidence and belief that while challenge is present, the desire to find success must be the tool used to meet such arduous and probing work. I believe that most of our students have become accustomed to the idea that difficulty will accompany them each step on this journey. There will be very little that can be discarded as “not important” and even less that will be seen as “easy.” Whereas at the start of the year this was frowned upon and even seeing tears shed because of it, students are now developing a sense of mental toughness or, what the scholar A.C. Bradley would call, “intestinal fortitude,” about what needs to be done in order to find success and the demands being placed upon their broad shoulders. For the most part, I believe we are seeing students rise to the challenge of scholarship asked of them at the start of the year. This evolution has to continue in these students and must take place in all of our students by the ending of the year if we are to have any hope of calling this year of teaching and learning “a success.” I believe that this is one of the benchmarks that we have to use and one that we can use each and every day when students are immersed in the process of teaching and learning. Each student can gauge this for themselves. At the end of each class, each student should ask of themselves the following question” “Have I utilized my time effectively as a scholar would?” If this question can be honestly answered in the unequivocal affirmative, I believe that students can sense their own evolution and grasp their own maturation.
I believe that this hopeful vision of student evolution and maturation will be put to its penultimate test in the next five weeks. On Wednesday, we start the lesson on the Constitution. This unit will be the last one before our final exam. This exam will cover chapters 5, 6, 7, and the Constitution. It will take five days to complete and will demand much of the students. It might be the toughest exam students have taken and will take in their time at Julian. In order for success to be evident on this exam, students must grasp the notion that every battle is won before it is ever fought (Thank you, Sun Tzu). It is inconceivable (Thank you, Princess Bride!) for students to do well on this exam if they have not committed every ounce of their energies and resources to doing well now. I do not believe that this exam can be met effectively if students do not understand that the emerging scholars they embody before the exam will be the quality producers as they complete it. I think that there are some steps to which each and every student on 7.1 can either recommit themselves or begin to process of commitment. The first step would be for students to keep up the nightly work that is assigned in Social Studies. This might consist of reading in the textbook, answering questions, composing outcome sentences, or even reflecting on what is being asked of them from a particular class. I believe that if we are to see our students discover greater and more varied notions of academic success, and then we must see them give more to their studies outside of class. What I strive for in this suggestion is for students to naturally complete work that is assigned, but in a larger sense, engage in some type of meaningful reflection about what is being taught, why it is being taught, how it can be relevant, and how it can have meaning in their lives. I think that if students can develop some type of intellectual imprint on their work through internal reflection, there will be a greater sense of satisfaction in their education and meaning to and in their work. This might be where we must start in seeing our students commit themselves to an education that has meaning, and to a school life with purpose.
Once this purpose has been established, I think that students have to confront themselves with another question: “What is out there that I can utilize in order to find success on the demon like assessments that lie in wait for me?” Throughout literature, mythology, and history, the greatest of leaders and heroes have been insightful enough to sense that tools that lie in front of them can be utilized in order to defeat challenging adversaries and snatch victory from the jaws what would have been likely defeat. In hearkening back to the protagonists of both old and new, I sense that our students are much the same. I think that there are some rather obvious tools students can use to help them on their quest. Embracing the policy of revising work that is unsatisfactory or less than what students are capable of producing would be an excellent place to begin. After this, students might have to ensure that the pedestrian extra credit is something that is integrated into their weekly modus operandi. Obtaining signed syllabi for extra credit, completing extra credit made available on the blog, or completing extra credit outcome sentences could be avenues that will open up greater opportunities for students and ensure that they are in the best position possible before embarking on an exam that will require a great level of sacrifice, of cost, and personal strength. I think that students can probably spend more time in their week examining the blog and its contents as well as downloading items from “Recent Powerpoint Lessons” and “Upcoming Tasks/ Assessments.” Simply put, each hero has something that lies in front of their eyes and proves to be invaluable in their quests of success and feats of glory. Revisions, extra credit, and the Social Studies blog might operate in such a way for our students.
I think that one of these elements that lie within so many of our students is their commitment. I believe that our students want to do well. When they see their progress reports, and witness a bevy of “A”’s and “B”’s, I notice a great deal of pride that is beaming. It should be noted that most middle school students are very coy about showing pride about academic work (But, strangely are much more demonstrative about how many people said “Hi” to them in the hallways.) Despite their concealment, I sense that there is a sense of pride in accomplishment. We must tap into that. We must find way to extract this and allow our students to be demonstrative about how strong in academics they are or the level of pride that is inherent in the amount of focus a student shows is in class. I think that tapping into this might be something that parents and teachers can encourage, but our students will have to do the heavy lifting on this task themselves. To this end, I believe that taking advantage of Social Studies study sessions might help. Starting from January 27, I will be offering Tuesday morning study sessions. Students who attend these study sessions and demonstrate focus and compliance will earn five points extra credit in Social Studies. I will also offer study sessions during lunch on Thursdays. These will not be extra credit, but material will be covered as well as reteaching options and greater explanation presented. I think that these sessions will be essential in helping students understand that taking pride in their work and redoubling commitment to the class can translate into success.
Sports psychologists often work with athletes in focusing on the outcome and not the result. For example, a basketball player steps to the free throw line with a chance to win the game. The positive result will be that they will be mobbed in glee by their teammates and that they will be declared the “MVP”. Conversely, a negative result will be that they will be shunned for their failures and the team will lose face. The sports psychologist would plea to the athlete that they should focus on the correct form in shooting a free throw, ensuring their body is aligned in their shot, and that they maintain the same routine that allowed them to shoot over 100 free throws in yesterday’s practice. By placing emphasis on the outcome and not the result, the athlete ends up being successful because distractions are placed out with only success as the focus. In much the same way, I think we need to do a better job of stressing to our students that the outcome is more important than the result. If students have taken care of each and every element prior to the exam, then the result of the exam will be of a lesser concern. I find that the students who endure the most amount of stress about this exam do so because they have not taken the needed steps to ensure success prior to it. This sense of drama and misplaced angst becomes self inflicted because students have not placed emphasis on the outcome. Attending study sessions, revising work, taking advantage of extra credit, and providing focus during instruction is the best way for our students to proceed into a pantheon of outcomes as opposed to a cave filled with insecure results.
The challenge we all have in front of us at this point in the year is a frighteningly clear one. What can we do to ensure that our students establish and maintain a pattern of academic success and growth? While students will be doing most of the work, parents can play a vital role by simply opening up the dialogue with their children about how this process is transpiring. Parents can serve as the managing directors of their child’s progress. If a student cannot discuss how they made steps in that day’s class towards doing well on the final exam, then this becomes a cause for concern. If a student cannot articulate what feature of the Constitution was revealed in classroom discussion, then this becomes a cause for concern. If a student cannot explain an outcome sentence they composed or cannot show a sample of an outcome sentence, then this becomes a cause for concern. In simply talking openly with students about their Social Studies experience, I think parents can play a vital role in the transformative experience in which their child is immersed. We stand on the precipice of an exciting, yet challenging time. The excitement lies in the fact that our students will be the intellectual warriors who will do something new, fun, real, and meaningful within their study of the Constitution and beyond. The challenge is that those experiences that prove to be the ones that resonate in memory usually exact a price and require a commitment. There can be no navigation beyond the intellectual beasts and demons that lie in front of our students. However, there can be great opportunity to rise to the better angels of our nature (Thank you, Lincoln!) and do something that has not been done before and might not be done after. It is in this definition where greatness lies and it is in this definition where I see all of our students.

All best and happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

The bustle of change: 7-1 Students and the Anticipatory Emotions that accompany both them and their nation

2009-01-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

The arrival back to school heralded with it the reality that “things are picking up” in 7.1 Social Studies. Indeed, students approached the week back from school with a sense of understanding about where we are, where we are going, and where we need to be. I was struck by how students perceived that there were standing on a precipice. It seemed as if many of them connected with the idea that the unit on the Constitution would be tough, that this Final Exam will be a challenge in how much it covers, and that there would be more asked from them by placing more on their broad shoulders. Students did not express resistance as much as they did a sense of wonderment about their capabilities and capacity for endurance. I believe that this level of toughness is a sign of maturation and something that we might not have seen a mere month ago.

I remember standing in front of many of our stakeholders on the first day of school and at Curriculum Night and declaring that I will do my best to create 7.1 students as “Scholars.” I feel that this maturation that I have seen in many of our students, your children, is helping to bring this goal into reality.

However, such a noble and enlightened goal will require work from all of us. I believe we will all need to commit ourselves to this cause, one that is within our reach. It will require us to demand more of ourselves and endure more challenge, more difficulty, and perhaps suffer more in order to reach our ultimate goal of being welcomed with open arms into the pantheon of scholarship. We have made progress, yet there is much more to be made, many more steps to be taken.

As there is a certain buzzing activity that seems to be evident in America right now with the impending arrival of the next President, we can see that same activity in the hearts and minds of our 7.1 students. I hope that all stakeholders will join me in embracing such activity, such challenge, and such maturation.

I hope parents/ guardians can assist in this journey towards scholarship. This can take on many forms. I think one level of assistance could be for parents to continually remind their students that revising work is a very good thing. If a student has not scored well on a particular assignment or task, the student can revise it (redoing the assignment integrating specific changes that I indicate to them) and receive half of the credit lost. For example, an assignment where a student scored 400 out of 600 could be revised accurately and correctly to receive a new score of 500 out of 600. Another reason why revisions would be a good opportunity for students would be that revising work teaches students that success is something that requires multiple attempts. I think it is artificial to emphasize to students to not stress that we are what we repeatedly do and that the attempt at success could be something that must be revisited. However, it should be noted that revisions will be phased out by the third trimester, making it an opportunity that will soon pass. Another aspect of advocacy that parents/ guardians can assume would be to encourage students to take advantage of all extra credit opportunities. Signing syllabi, completing and exceeding the number of outcome sentences on student logs, as well as taking advantage of all extra credit as featured on the weekly blog could yield significant points to be added to student grades.
Yet, the business of learning is one of discourse. It is not about points. It is not about a percentage. It is not about a letter grade. Rather, it is about the conversation, the new patterns of recognition that emerge, and the dialogue that results from learning. I have always been a staunch defender of parents simply “talking” to their children about the concepts being covered in their Social Studies classes. The topic we are preparing to study is the Constitution. If parents could find time to simply ask students about anything in the news and its connection to the Constitution, I think this is where real learning, real partnership, real scholarship will be evident. The upcoming inauguration, policies advocated by the incoming administration, confirmation of executive cabinet members, as well as the civic drama known as American political life could provide excellent conversation and set the stage for understanding about the concepts being addressed in Social Studies. When individuals outside the classroom setting talk to students about what they are experiencing within it, I think there is a truer sense of relevancy established. The conversations with should be student driven with parents/ guardians asking leading questions such as how a particular news event might represent an amendment from the Constitution, or how a specific news action is important to the Constitution. The topic area we address now has so much relevancy to the time in which we find ourselves right now.

I encourage as many of our stakeholders as possible to join me on the path of scholarship, the road the intellectual wellness, and a journey of significance and meaning.

All best and happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

“Both Sides Now” of a “Mystic River”: Judy Collins, Clint Eastwood, and the Constitutional Convention

2009-01-01T20:21:00.000-08:00

The first blog entry of the new year greets the stakeholders of 7.1 Social Studies with a type of anticipation and immensity that might have waited for the Framers at the conclusion of the American Revolution. After having striven so far, endured so much, battled through so many adversaries, we are left with the ruins of our freedom; Now, what do we do? How do we start an immense task? How do we reconfigure what we once were into what we are, and more importantly, into what we will be?

The Framers and I seem to share some similarities… It might be only time that I share something with those folks on the dollar bills.

We have emerged from the Winter Recess as a new nation, as a new people, and as newly emerging scholars. The Chapter 6 Writing Assessments will be returned on Monday, 1/5. At the time of this blog’s posting, the grades are not yet tabulated. Revisions of the chapter 6 Writing Tasks will be due on Monday, 1/12, with Social Studies Progress Reports given to students on Friday, 1/9.
However, this serves as nothing more than window dressing for what we will be commencing upon our return. We will be engaging in a study of the Constitutional Convention and the issues emerging from it. Our method of study will begin with a Sensory Feeling introduction, whereby students envision questions they might have after being faced with a variety of situations that bear some thread of the tapestry woven by the framers at the conclusion of the American Revolution. This anticipatory set of questions will help to immerse students into the context of where we are in the dialectic of American historic consciousness. Following this, we will begin to attempt to grasp the vocabulary of the time period. In human history, the emergence of power has been accompanied by the control of language. This lesson will be demonstrated in this setting as students engage in a vocabulary exercise where they will seek to “fit” together terms and meaning. After gauging the dynamic between freedom and control, and how the two concepts can be mutually exclusive at certain points of human progression, we will attempt to piece together an understanding of the Constitutional Convention through the Jigsaw Teaching methodology. This format of instruction involves students delving into a portion of the text and becoming a “leading expert” in that section, and then taking that section to teach to other students, who in turn serve as other “leading experts.”
I have always taught the Constitutional Convention through a direct lecture/ instruction format. Traditionally, I have dominated the use of the LCD projector (despite the gifted clamoring of others) and engaged in a lecture style methodology of both the Constitutional Convention and the actual document that followed. I was completely prepared to follow this method this year, full with my notes about how the Federalists and Anti Federalists clashed, how the Virginia Plan rivaled the New Jersey Plan, and how the Compromise over Slavery continued the practice and reduced people of color to 3/5 of a person. Yet, something held me back from my full commitment to another year of straight lecture. I felt it to be a presence that I could not articulate. I was reminded of the ever present image of Eastwood’s film, “Mystic River”- a body of water where something lies dormant, yet omnipresent. Its waters run still and deep. Its shimmering surface belies a body of truth, pain, beauty, and droplets of redemption. Its brooding cannot be put into language of description, but rather has to be fully comprehended through the lexicon of experience. Indeed, as something lay in that river of ideas- the intellectual current that serves as the lifeline of scholarship, of my teaching and their learning- I realized that the lesson might hold more power and serve more compelling purposes if I began the process of asking the students to start the process of assuming ownership of the dialectic of teaching and learning. The jigsaw method of instruction allows students to engage in the reciprocally reflexive exercise of teaching and learning. At the same time, I began to understand that the method of instruction should reflect the content itself. The traditional view of the Constitutional Convention is one of proud and ardent strides towards self determination, articulate conceptions of freedom, and pure justice. It is depicted as a moment where the realization of struggle is embodied. The “winners” actually proved to be triumphant. It is a moment that “established a republic that has thrived for more than 200 years.” (last page of chapter 7, section 3.) In reading these lines out of the textbook, I understood that such a moment in American History could be depicted through the methodology of direct instruction and straight lecture. Yet, the “Mystic River” metaphor crept into my mind. Beneath this exterior of justice and triumphant glory reflects indepth complexities that belie the easy platitudes offered by the textbook. The formal and embedded establishment of a nation’s “original sin,” the constant battle between freedom and control, as well as the dialectic of how to include other voices in a tapestry which begs for it became the legacies of this river- this body of water that might have washed over one set of conditions, but left many more in its deluge. The “Mystic River” did not only run in South Boston, but seems to have pervaded the Constitutional Convention, an event whose memories seem to provide the legacy with which all of us as members of this great, yet sometimes sad democracy have to wrestle.
As we seek to make sense of this legacy, we find that there are no easy answers. There can be nothing that provides immediate salvation. We seek it, we strive for it, and sometimes we even cry for it, knowing we will never grasp it. There is no “font of knowledge,” no centerpiece to allow for absolute understanding of such a powerful and yet sad event. When Dave says to Jimmy, “It should have been you in that car,” he speaks the absolute truth of someone who realizes that there is no absolution. Confronted with such a terrifyingly abysmal like view of American History, we seem to endure by assembling the jigsaw puzzle of meaning. A piece is found in one place, and its complement is found later. Perhaps, we become animated with the discovery of a “corner piece.” It made sense to me that the jigsaw method of teaching can bring a meaningful understanding to the content of the lesson for the topic itself is a jigsaw puzzle, with some of the pieces not having been included in the original packaging. At the same time, the jigsaw teaching approach also helps to create a more meaningful understanding of what education ought to be. Rather than endure an exercise where we, as teacher and students, see the textbook or a sole entity as representing the proverbial “font of knowledge,” jigsaw teaching captures the essence of scholarship. It emphasizes that if there is a concept as pure teaching and learning, it comes from a variety of sources. Our purpose as learned individuals is to assemble this understanding, as one would assemble a jigsaw puzzle. When this is done, the river of ideas that shrouds us and washes over us is mystic, yet strangely beautiful.
Eastwood’s “Mystic River” seemed to blend into the idea of how time passes. The river which runs through our ideas and our souls continues onward, and we look at the body of water in many different ways at many different times in our lives. 7-1 Students will examine it in one way starting on our return from break. Years from now, they will see it differently for they will be different. All scholars endure this transformation. All people endure this, as well in our own lives. We seem to see one thing in one way at one point in time. At that moment, our view is replete with absolute certainty. Yet, this image serves as only a prelude, as we endure change and repudiate it later as an illusion. In thinking about how Eastwood’s image occupied so much importance in articulating how I progressed from lecture to jigsaw in my approach to teaching chapter 7, I was reminded of one of my favorite songs by Judy Collins. When she sings of how clouds, tears, love, and life were seen in one way, and then another way in her etude to dreamers and pain, “Both Sides Now,” it hit me that teaching is much the same. Both learners and teachers sense intellectual concepts in one particular vein for a while, but songs of innocence become meshed with tunes of experience. The result that sight and illusions yield is that we “really don’t know life at all.” In such challenging situations, it seems that the only things we can do is piece together what we know having seen our own intellectual and personal “Mystic Rivers” through “both sides now.” At this point of convergence and examination might be where truth and understanding might reside. It certainly should be where teaching and learning should attempt to strike.

Man, is this going to be a fun year, or what??

On tap: Chapter 7, Returning of Chapter 6 Writing Tasks, and Social Studies Progress Reports being sent home on Friday, 1/9.

All best and happy hunting!
Mr. Kannan

Closing out strong: The end of one half of a journey

2008-12-14T07:47:00.000-08:00

The week before Winter Recess brings with it the conclusion of the Chapter 6 Writing Tasks. Students will spend the next week using in class time to draft their work. Rough drafts will stop being read by Tuesday, and final drafts will start being accepted thereafter, with Friday being the last day to accept the Final Drafts. After this, we go home for a much needed two week respite from LCD Projectors, Daily Planners, and Assessments. (It should be known that I am offering extra credit tasks over break so that students do not lose touch with Social Studies in its entirety.)

When we return from break, we will engage in a study of the Constitution. We will also work towards taking our five day final exam at the end of February. Our focus will then lie in the emergence of political parties in America, and the much talked about, Chapter 9 Teaching Assignment, where students teach the class. After this, I anticipate that we will have multiple roads in front of us and the path that students take will rest upon their shoulders. In terms of other items that I will be offering, I believe that I will use Core Extension time to prepare a lesson on Human Rights based on Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, and, in coordination with Ms. Hill, a class on test preparedness and minimizing test anxiety. The former should happen in January while the latter should take place afterwards.

We have reached a half way point in our journey. Yet, we have miles to go before we sleep and my hope is that students use the break to recharge, reenergize, and refocus their efforts in their pursuit of “the good, the true, and the beautiful” in Social Studies and their 7th grade Social Studies experience.

All best and happy holidays.
Mr. Kannan

“Talkin’ with the Trane:” Conversations with 7.1 Social Studies Students about their work

2008-12-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

I am not a big fan of game shows. I am not sure I have ever been. Yet, I admit that there was a phase in the late ‘90s where the show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” seemed to have a hold on me. I liked the notion of the wide ranging question base, and while I did not have a particularly fond opinion of Regis Philbin, I liked how he used conversations with the contestants to achieve “the right answer.” Now, I have seen the film “Quiz Show” dozens of times and knew that at some level, the fix was in. I completely grasped that, but it was the notion of illuminating understanding through conversation that I found very persuasive. In a post modern vein, I was attracted to the idea that mere idea of talking about something could yield something valuable in it. I felt that, if approached properly, conversation and discourse could prove to be beneficial in allowing a stronger understanding of who we are, what our predicaments might be, and how we might better approach addressing both. It is hard to believe that Regis Philbin played an integral role in my understanding of teaching and learning.

In addressing the topic for this week’s blog entry, I would like to introduce you to a composite 7.1 student that I will call “Trane.” Trane has just received the Writing Assessment for Chapter 6. Needless to say, Trane is a bit on the overwhelmed side. There are some critical choices that have to be made. My hope in this week’s blog is to provide some starters to conversation, or “conversatin’” to borrow vernacular from the Jazz period of the 1940’s and 1950s, that might allow Trane to have a better understanding of what work can be done and the predicament in which Social Studies has placed our mythical, yet very real student. These conversations can be held between parent and Trane, friend and Trane, or even outsider and Trane (It is conceivable that Trane could have an experience where some angel descends upon him and engages him to become the messenger, the prophet of a new era of Writing Based Assessment in American History. If this momentous arrival is to be heralded, I would imagine that the topic of conversation would not be about why Trane was chosen, or if Kushner could actually be proven wrong in that there are “Angels in America,” but rather how could our student deal with the reality of a 600 point writing task.)

“So, Trane, after looking at the options, which one interests you the least and why?” I feel that this is a great conversation starter. Students like Trane have to be able to find which type of task offered in the Chapter 6 Writing Assessments is not going to be to their liking. Implicit in this question is the idea of whether or not Trane is going to pivot towards or pivot away from his dominant learning style. A consistent theme in 7.1 Social Studies this year is the idea of how students are going to create meaning for themselves and their work. Building off of this is how students will approach their dominant learning style. Would they want to take a chance and pivot from their power base of a learning style into something different, or do they want to play it safe and go to their source of power in learning? If Trane feels like taking a risk might be desirable, perhaps our student would select a task different from ones selected in the past. Yet, the reality in which Trane is immersed speaks volumes: The Writing Assessment is worth 600 points and has to be completed in a quicker time frame than the previous assessment on chapter 5. In addition to this, the tasks are a bit more indepth than the ones last featured. In the final analysis, Trane has to figure out which position is going to be best, what can be completed and done well, and what is desired. I can almost imagine Regis sitting across and asking Trane, “Well, what the heck do you want?” The cornball music would swell up at this point…

“Hey, Trane, how are you going to manage your time in order to meet the deadline?” I believe that this is a question that all of our students have to answer in any large undertaking. Long term projects can only be successfully completed with small term benchmarks being reached at multiple stages. I believe that the days of students being able to “whip up something up the night before” have long since passed. The reality is that with in class and at home time being strictly devoted to the completion of the Chapter 6 Writing Tasks, I think that a tortoise approach (“Slow and steady wins the race”) is critical. Once Trane has eliminated the options that do not meet personal preference, then Trane will have to make the choice from what remains. The very next stage would be to budget out a timeline to see how things can be completed in a timely manner. In order to do this, Trane will have to see how much time is out there, how much can be balanced with other demands, and how much can realistically be completed on a nightly basis, as well as how much realistic time exists. This can take on multiple forms. For example, let us see how Trane’s timeline might be configured based on different choices of writing tasks:
Identifications and Pictures- Complete 2 identifications each day in class and 2 identifications at home (Check over rough drafts at each night). All identifications done by Friday/ Saturday. Compose one picture a night. Total assignment completed by Wednesday/ Thursday.
Point of View Guides- Monday and Tuesday research. Wednesday- Sunday- Draft 3 journal entries. Use remainder of the week to final draft.
Such a timeline can be worked out with any of the writing tasks, so long as Trane, or any student, can ensure that they are completing all the needed parts of the task and that time is something upon which they have not turned their back.

“Trane, how are you going to use Mr. Kannan as a resource on this particular task?” The facts are transparent and present to all: Most 7-1 Students have been with me for over a trimester. They have completed writing tasks of varying difficulty. Students have found success and have lacked it at different points in our collaboration. As we progress in our journey, students need to make a conscious choice of what role their teachers will serve in order to maximize their emotional, intellectual, and scholarly growth. For example, will Trane be coming in to speak with me during lunch to seek input or advice? Will Trane be making morning appointments in order to better understand things? Will Trane submit rough drafts, multiple rough drafts, in order to achieve a better understanding of material? Will Trane and other students be vocal advocates for what they need? Will Trane take the responsibility to approach the teacher when trouble arises? How exactly will Trane use in class time in completion of the writing assessments? I think that students, such as our mythological yet all too real Trane, will need to make conscious and deliberate decisions as to how they will utilize their teacher to assist them in this harrowing phase of our journey towards the pantheon of scholarship.

In the lexicon of Jazz, “Chasin’ the Trane” referred to the giant of modern Jazz, John Coltrane. When listening to his music, attempting to follow his path of improvisational genius is a challenge, indeed. One can find themselves lost in the creation of authentically great music. My hope is that when we engage in conversatin’ with our Tranes, we can again see what greatness looks like, what talent resembles, and achieve a visual representation of the hopes, process, and products of academic strength and talent. What better way to describe our students, your children?

All best, happy hunting, and best wishes for great conversatin’.
Mr. Kannan

P.S. Those who are interested can examine the individual group conferencing notes for the Chapter 6 Assessment under the link "Recent Powerpoint Lessons."

“Beyond the blue horizon:” The Next Writing Assessment

2008-11-28T10:16:00.000-08:00

Upon our return from Thanksgiving Recess, we will engage the concepts in chapter 6 and then begin the process of writing about said ideas. The Writing Tasks for Chapter 6 will run the range of difficulty and intellectual capacity. I felt that students were pushed and motivated to produce quality work for the Chapter 5 Writing Tasks. I equally feel that students will be driven to display even stronger quality work for the Chapter 6 Writing Tasks. The horizons already set will be expanded into a terrain full of more blue skies and broader frontiers. I have enclosed the letter on the writing tasks that students will receive the week they return that explains the nature of these writing assessments. As always, happy hunting and all best.
Mr. Kannan

Dear Parents/ Guardians of _________________:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you of our upcoming Writing Assessment for Chapter 6- The American Revolution. Students will have six choices from which to choose. All options are rooted in the writing process. This particular task will serve as an excellent opportunity for students to display their talents as they focus on writing about the American Revolution. As with our previous assessments, this assessment will yet again force all 7-1 scholars to raise their capabilities in meeting and triumphing over yet one more challenge.
The writing options featured range from the traditional to the unconventional. One option is for students to write formalized essays on topics pertaining to the Revolution. Other tasks ask students to assume different historical personas and construct meaning as to how they see themselves and the time period, while another option asks students to explain the relevance of particular concepts and construct drawings of specific events in the Revolution. Another one is a hodgepodge of thought. In all choices, students must use the connection between reading and writing to compose works that display a challenging combination of student reflection and analysis of history. The primary learning style of each task has also been detailed at the outset of each task, so that students can select with this element in mind. In addition to a completed writing sample, students will be asked to submit two completed sets of Check Your Progress Questions from chapter 6 (previously assigned).
Students will have to assess which option is best for them. I have encouraged them to share these ideas with you, as well. After this, students will have to commit to a particular task and compose their work. Students will be allowed to work on this assessment in class and at home. In all honesty, I believe that success on such a daunting assessment can only be achieved if there is consistent and incremental completion of it in both domains. Students are free to bring materials from home with which to work on this task, but must bear responsibility for storing them in their lockers. They may seek counsel from outside sources in completing this assessment, but must shoulder the burden of completing the tasks on their own. This means that while they may seek advice and input from others, the responsibility for completing quality work in a timely fashion rests solely with their autonomy. During in class work time, I will be conferencing with students, by learning style/ task, monitoring their progress and allowing them an opportunity to ask questions of clarification. I will also have a collection point set up in the classroom for rough drafts to be submitted for review. There will be a cut off for this and students have been made aware of this.
I invite you to discuss which writing task best suits your scholar at this point on their educational journey. On the reverse side of this letter is the timetable of due dates and progress benchmarks. Each student’s specific “chunking” of this task will be contingent on the choices made. The timetable offered is a general plan of attack. Students have been reminded that throughout the course of this task rotation assessment, they may contact me outside of class via district email or at my home, ________________________. Should you have any questions or concerns, I welcome you to do the same.
Wishing you all the best,
________________________ ________________________
Student Signature Parent/ Guardian Signature
Timetable of work on the reverse side! Does not include weekend time. Students are encouraged to use the weekend as part of their calculus in planning and configuring work schedules. Student budgeting of time should be determined based on student choice of task.
Mr. Kannan

Day and Date
Benchmark to be Reached
Day 1: _____________________
Question: Have you asked your questions? Did you enter class with an idea of which tasks you find interesting or the one(s) that you know you would never do?
Selection of writing task declared by the end of the class period.
HW: Start brainstorming on how to complete your task, along with a schedule of how each portion of the task will be completed on a nightly and consistent basis.

Day 2:_____________________
Question: Do you take this writing task to be your writing task? Are you comfortable with it?
In class time devoted to working on writing tasks.
HW: Continue your work on your writing task. Conferences start on day 3.

Day 3:_____________________
Question: Have you addressed all parts of the question/ topic/ task description? Nothing should be left behind. Have you paced yourself out? There might be multiple parts that need to be completed piece by piece.
In class time devoted to working on writing tasks. At this point, a rough draft should be evident, or envisioned.
HW: Continue your work on your writing task. Conferences start tomorrow.

Day 4:_____________________
Question: Is the history in the writing? If not, get it in there in an abundant manner. Make sure you have your Completed Check Your Progress Questions.
Group Conferencing begins while In class time is devoted to working on writing tasks.
HW: Continue your work on your writing task. Conferences continue tomorrow. Rough drafts should be continuing.

Day 5:_____________________
Question: Is your writing clear? If it’s scrambled and unfocused, I am not sure it’s going to be efficient. This would not be good… Eggs can be scrambled, not your writing.
Group Conferencing continues while In class time is devoted to working on writing tasks.
HW: Continue your work on your writing task. Conferences continue tomorrow. Rough drafts should be continuing.

Day 6: ______________________
Question: In the words of Al Pacino, “What do we got?!” Take stock in what is there and what needs to be there because work is due by day 10.
Group Conferencing continues while In class time is devoted to working on writing tasks.
HW: Continue your work on your writing task. Conferences continue tomorrow. Rough drafts should be continuing/ completed

Day 7: _________________ and _____________
Question: Looking at what is there, can the final product be envisioned? What needs to be done to bring the vision into reality? Do it… now! Make sure you have your Completed Check Your Progress Questions.
Conferences concluding. In class time devoted to writing tasks, and perhaps conferencing with colleagues could be in order.
HW: Continue your writing task. Editing should be happening. Final drafts due at the end of Day 10.

Day 8: _______________________
Question: Do you address everything that is in the rubric? If not, how can you do so?
In class time devoted to writing tasks. Editing process, review of work, streamlining work to rubric standards should all be in play at this point.
HW: Final Drafts are due at end of Day 10.

Day 9:_______________________
Question: “It’s showtime, folks!” The due date is near. Is your work ready for showtime?
Final Drafts due at the end of tomorrow’s class. Students should be working towards this.

Day 10:_______________
The end of all things… or these assessments.
Final Drafts due at the end of class.
All Final Drafts are due by the end of class on Friday, December 19, 2008. If you are going to be absent, your Final Drafts are due before your departure.

Another bar crossed, another awaits: Life after the Chapter 5 Writing Assessment and before the Chapter 6 Writing Assessment

2008-11-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

This will be a truncated blog entry. After grading and inputting 116 papers, I think I need some distance, if only for an evening. I close my eyes and see rubrics, NT, SF, the words “Colonists” and “because.”

It makes for a terrible dinner date, to say the least.

Indeed, the chapter 5 writing assessments are inputted online and will be distributed back to students tomorrow. The intensity present in writing was evidenced in their assessing. With two papers absent, a total of 116 were assessed. The results speak for themselves: 99 of the assessed papers tallied an 80% or better. When 85% of the papers are such a caliber, much is evident. Of the remaining 17 papers, all but one can be revised to an “A” if all areas of improvement are heeded. Even the lone paper can be revised to a “B” if all is rectified. We had a handful of “perfect” writing samples, ones that scored the elusive 200 out of 200. Students handled the challenge of merging history and metacognition very well.

Students have until next Monday, 12/ 1 to revise their writing tasks. In order to revise their work, they must rewrite it with specified corrections added. They will staple their revised copy to their original copy and receive half of what was lost if all needed areas of improvement are heeded. In addition to this, if students wanted to compose any of the remaining writing tasks, they would be welcome to do so for extra credit, which would also be due on the 1st of December. Students will receive progress reports on Monday, 11/24 and if these are returned with parent/ guardian signature, they can earn 10 extra credit points in Social Studies. Finally, I was very impressed with much of the work submitted. I am offering 3 points extra credit if students can produce an additional, clean copy of their work by Tuesday, 11/25. This could amount to 12 extra credit points, if all writing samples are reproduced.

Our focus now turns to Chapter 6. We will spend the next couple of days analyzing Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. Then, we will analyze themes arising from chapter 6 before the chapter 6 writing tasks are given to students. Hopefully, students have completed their work from the textbooks on chapter 6, sections 2, 3, and 4. These will be collected with the chapter 6 writing tasks.

As always, if I can be of any further assistance or help, please do not hesitate to contact me at home or at school. I hope students examine what is returned back to them and examine where positive steps were taken and areas where more progressive steps can be undertaken.

All best and happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

P.S. As of Monday night, 5:54 PM, the last two projects were assessed. The total stands at 101 out of 118 papers scored at an 80% or above.

Looking at what is and what will be: The Life of a 7-1 Social Studies Student

2008-11-15T09:38:00.001-08:00

The chapter 5 writing tasks are reaching their natural conclusion. Final Drafts will be collected on Thursday. Students have been and will be continually reminded to ensure that their best work is on display and focus is harnessed all the way through the deadline for submission of work. I believe that this experience has been useful introducing students to different modes of thought and being able to explain how they approached a particular task in the manner that they did. Yet, while I appreciate the work and focus that has been lavished upon this writing task, I am looking beyond into what lies ahead.

Once submission of chapter 5 writing assessments is complete, students will be then directed to chapter 6. Students will be exposed to the actual mechanics of the war with direct analysis of the textbook on Thursday and Friday of next week. Building into this, students will engage in an inductive learning task on Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. This will take us to Thanksgiving Break. Upon our return, we will wrap up Inductive Learning in studying how political writings can, to quote our President Elect, be more than “just words.” We will conclude our work with the chapter 6 writing tasks. This assessment will be in the same configuration of the chapter 5 writing assessments. Students will have to use more of the history presented in the actual execution of the American Revolution in order to better understand the synthesis between creative thought and intellectual frameworks. Our potential date based timeline for this should look like the following (Please understand that all dates are tentative: )
* November 20- November 23- Reading of Chapter 6, sections 2, 3, and 4.
* November 24 and November 25- Inductive Learning Work on chapter 6, section 1.
* December 1- 4- Finish Inductive Learning task, assess Inductive Learning task. Report out on findings from the Revolution with Chalk Talk/ Station Rotation/ Direct Discussion.
* December 5- Distribute Chapter 6 Writing Assessments. All Final Drafts due on December 18.
The most striking element of the projected sequence is the idea that we are making progress and the expectations placed upon the broad shoulders of students are rising and becoming heavier. Simply put, the time for immaturity seems to have long passed. Students are being asked to do more with less time and in a more comprehensive manner. I believe that this is developmentally appropriate in our journey because students have learned (or have been instructed) as to the importance of handling the taskmaster known as time. In addition to this, a lesson such as this helps students understand that the train must keep moving towards its inevitable destination. While this timeline might seem daunting, when placed in comparison to what lies ahead, it will assume a smaller proportion. I recall when students first examined their Trace Fossil Writing Task. I remember the looks on their faces of abject frustration, and in some cases, horror. I think it is safe to say that if we asked students now about that moment in time, they would have said that it pales in comparison to what stands in front of them now. Perhaps, there is a larger lesson here about maturation and growth… or maybe Social Studies has simply become tougher.

I believe that like all challenges placed in front of these students, your children and our emerging scholars, they will be able to assume the persona of Aeneas for they, too, “will be able to look back on this and smile.”

Happy Hunting and even happier writing.
All best.
Mr. Kannan

P.S. Please do not be surprised if next week’s blog entry is abbreviated. I will be grading student work throughout the weekend in the hopes of returning it by Monday, 11/24. I will make some comments, but they will be in the truncated form. I apologize for this and thank you for your (hopeful) understanding.

Fascinating Questions, Unique Results, Enhancing Dialogue: Learning Styles, the Road to the Revolution, and 7-1 Students

2008-11-08T07:28:00.000-08:00

As we close a week of monumental change, equally powerful strides were taken in the realm of our writing assessments. The pullout sessions were extremely compelling. A small group of learners met in the team area, and a discussion about their specific learning style emerged. More interestingly, I conducted each pull out session as a teacher of that learning style. At one moment, I was “The Captain” and at the next moment, “Socrates” ran a forum. While “Charity” led a talk and “Picasso” strove to establish voice and find meaning. Students were able to ask questions, seek clarification, and note subtle differences between learning styles, teaching demeanors, and assignment expectations. To have concluded the week with a rousing scene from the film Pleasantville, and hearing the sounds of dialogue, dissonance, and discourse emerge from the 7.1 Team Area was a moment that represented the idyll to which all teachers aspire.
In a larger scope, I must stress how powerfully compelling this lesson on learning styles has been. I think it has been a gamble that has paid very substantial dividends. I sense that it has reached students who have normally remained forgotten, and allowed more students to have a greater understanding of how they learn and how their minds work. This has been a powerful experiment in what can happen when we, as educators, seek to broaden the paradigm of schoolwork to incorporate the role of metacognition within our teaching. The inversion of a product based setting to one that focuses on process can be quite rewarding. In the final analysis, taking a risk in teaching and learning can prove to be an experience worth repeating as often as possible.
At this point, we are in the process of assembling drafts. I implore all stakeholders to encourage students to submit multiple rough drafts in order to gain a better understanding of how writing can be enhanced. I do hope that students take advantage of the rough draft process in order to help writing skills improve. When we create better writers, we invariably create better thinkers and emerging scholars.
All final drafts are due on November 20. We are heading into the final ten days. In addition to this, students will be given Social Studies and Language Arts Progress Reports this Thursday, 10/13. Signed cover letters will be due back to Mr. Kannan or Ms. Hill by Tuesday, 11/18. As always, if students require personalized meetings to discuss their writings, they are free to seek me out during lunches, advisory times (pending permission), during Core Extension (pending permission), and through notes, email or phone call (pending permission on the last two.)
Happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

Charting the Course of Academic and Political Futures: 7-1 Students and the Chapter 5 Writing Assessment

2008-11-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

On the eve of when Americans will make a critical choice in their political destinies, 7-1 students are in the process of making their own essential decisions about their academic futures. The Chapter 5 Writing Assessments have begun. Monday and Tuesday will mark the first days of in class work on the composition process of these writing tasks. Students will have some important decisions to make. Questions such as “What is my dominant learning style?” will be matched with, “Do I want to take a risk or play it safe?” We, as onlookers, will examine if students pivot towards what seems so very safe to them or if they move towards something different in their work process and product. Just as there are only a couple of days left in a rigorous political campaign, where every little detail is magnified, we, as onlookers, will be doing the same to our students, our emerging scholars, in sensing where our students will “break” in the days leading to the due date for all final assessments, November 20, 2008.
Students have been given a timeline in order to complete the chapter 5 Writing Assessments. The timelines for this week can be found on this week’s syllabus, under the headline “Homework for the week of 11/3- 11/7”, and under the hyperlink of “Calendar of Events.” We will be starting our breakout sessions this week, where small group instruction will be given to specific learning styles. It will be interesting to see students converge as “Intuitive Thinkers” or “Sensory Feelers.” Following this will be individual conferences with students to ensure that progress is being made, and that the writing process is focused and meaningful. Rough drafts can be submitted at the Day IV stage, and this is yet another avenue where students can receive feedback on their work. The underlying hope is that students work at a steady pace and refrain from procrastination. One of our goals is for students to earn as many “A’s” and “B’s” as possible. Yet, the overarching principle that guides us is that students create quality writing samples that reflect thought, reflection, and in depth analysis.
Students have to compose a writing sample based on a specific learning style and a corresponding defense piece that justifies how that sample represents the specific learning style. This means that on November 20, students will have to submit four work samples. I have advised students to complete one learning style work sample and then complete the defense piece. This will make for a consistent and thorough completion of the writing task. I believe that stakeholders can help this strong process by asking leading questions to students as they are working. Attempting to remain consistent with the learning style methodology, I believe that the following could yield fruitful discussion:
* Sensory Thinking Style: “What are your four specific acts of colonial protest?” “Why are these acts colonial acts of protest?” “How did each act come about?” “What was the British response to each act?” “Did you find detail and support from the textbook or the notes to help explain your position?”
* Intuitive Thinking Style: “What is the meaning of the quotation?” “How can it be supported and how can it be negated?” “Have you explained the statement’s validity?” “Have you explained if something can actually begin before it truly ‘begins’?”
* Sensory Feeling Style: “How have you assumed the persona of a columnist during the time period?” “How have you convinced the reader that you are feeling the sentiments of the time period?” “How have you done this through language, sentence composition, and general mood?” “Have you explained the case for going to war with England?” “Have you explained the case for making peace with England?” “Have you concluded the editorial with a clear call to action?”
* Intuitive Feeling Style: “What is your statement about the events that led to the Revolution?” “How have you amplified or explained your statement through the collage medium?” “What images help to support your statement?” “How can your statement be seen in different ways?” “How is your statement like art, something that starts discussion and conversation?”

We have spent the last week listening to the stories of Duke and Celestine. We have immersed ourselves in the lessons of Carl Jung and Dr. Hansen. We have been engrossed with the lessons of Charity and Socrates. While we chuckle at the trials of the Captain and Buddy, we have started the process of looking inwards at who we are, how we learn, and the manner in which we understand the world in which we live. As we take our lessons and apply them to Chapter 5, we begin the process of taking what we have learned and place it on the stage of scholarship and understanding. Our political candidates for the nation’s highest office are doing much of the same thing. Both our students and our candidates strive for the highest notion of the good within their own frames of references. As stakeholders, we watch and study how this narrative will unfold and conclude in the small window that is left.

Wishing our students and candidates the best of luck with the hunting that lies ahead,

Mr. Kannan

“Cracking the code:” 7-1 Students and Learning Styles

2008-10-25T16:10:00.001-07:00

I found it to be a fascinating week. The lesson on learning styles encompassed a great deal of uniqueness and compelling ideas. I realized the validity of this when many of the conferences in which I participated used the potential discussion of student learning style and a springboard to conversation about student strength and areas of improvement. I thought this to be powerful. I further realized the magnitude of the lesson when I heard students initiating conversations that strove to analyze how they and their colleagues learn. When a teacher hears students express where they are on the axis of perception, or in what arena of judgment greater success can be found, a note of redemption is heard. My original projection was that while we lost a week of history based instruction, we were going to gain much more in learning a system of analysis and thought that would help to frame our path to scholarship. I believe that such a projection held validity given what I experienced this week.
We now find ourselves in a very challenging time. It is a time where we will have to learn new patterns of recognition in addressing the very tests that will help to define our mettle and our intestinal strength. It is a time where the great ones will differentiate themselves from others. It is a time for great ones, now. While one could sense this as describing the last week of current national political campaigning, I think it has just as much meaning in articulating where 7-1 students are. After an open note learning style quiz this week, students will engage in the domain of the chapter 5 writing tasks. Learning styles will play a prominent role in the composition of these writings. Students are being asked to compose two writings on the intellectual concepts presented in chapter 5 and then prepare two “defense pieces” which explain how each writing task and student writing represents a specific style of learning. In composing four writing samples (two on American History, two on specific learning styles), students will be utilizing the writing process in the hopes of achieving 400 points worth of work. This week students will receive a timeline for completing the tasks with incremental benchmarks that should be reached throughout the work phase. As mentioned at conferences, rough drafts can be submitted at multiple points in order to enhance student composition of work. At any and all points of this process, students are encouraged to “reach out” for help as “I’ll be there” for assistance.
I believe that this will be the most challenging endeavor we would have encountered. I know that our students, emerging scholars, will reach for these heavens in expanding their understanding, their strength, and their intellectual honor.

Happy hunting!
Mr. Kannan

“Hold on to your seat belts- It’s going to be a bumpy ride!” Learning Styles and 7-1 Students

2008-10-19T10:07:00.000-07:00

When I originally conceived of the lesson on Multiple Learning styles and how they filter into the lives of 7-1 students, I confess that my original idea was to hold a brief talk for a day and progress from there. Yet, as I began to delve into the notion of making this a meaningful experience for students and started the process of analyzing the story I wanted to tell, it evolved into a life of its own. The organic growth and evolution of a singular item into so much of educational consciousness became something that I tried to contain, but could not stop. From distilling the four learning styles, I drove deep into the heart of models of learning, patterns of brain recognition, and determining how students can be empowered, I felt that this became too important a lesson to “gloss over.” When the opening starts with, “To ‘crack the code’ of how students learn becomes the essence of teaching and the root of all power,” it becomes evident that this lesson is larger than a mere explanation. I redid a pair of syllabi, changed a timeline on a writing task, added a quiz, and am ready for what will come out of it. This lesson might be one of those lessons where its ideas prove relevancy outside of the classroom and to all domains of learning and interpersonal dependence. I believe in a great deal of what I do, but I feel passionately about this particular lesson.

It is at this point where students should be rightly scared. I know I would be.
We start the lesson on Monday. Students will receive the scores from their exam at that time as well as the Chapter 5 Writing Extensions. Both can be revised, with the former being able to be revised during Tuesday and Wednesday lunch and the latter at any time until October 31. Students will receive updated progress reports on Tuesday, but all grades can be accessed online. We will be engaging in lecture driven instruction on Monday and Tuesday, and then profiling students based on their learning patterns on Wednesday. We will continue this process by profiling teachers on Thursday and Monday of next week. Students should expect a quiz on this material next week, and the unveiling of the Chapter 5 Writing Extensions to follow by mid next week.
I will be the first to claim that it is a time investment to sacrifice a week of instruction on a concept that is not directly linked to American History. However, I believe that our students are ready to receive a lesson that can serve as a snapshot of where they are at this moment in time and perhaps foreshadow where they will be in the future. I sense that this lesson will have meaning for several reasons. The first would be that a greater sense of understanding will result if students can identify their dominant and secondary learning style. Instead of saying, “I didn’t get it” or “Yeah, I got it,” there might be a stronger and more relevant discussion if they can explain why based on personal learning styles. Additionally, affording the opportunities to articulate why some find greater levels of success than others might help to bring a healthier notion of learning to our students. Too often I have heard students acquiesce to defeat and bluntly say, “I am not good at school.” While I have admired the honesty, this lesson on learning styles might offer some refutation to such a cynical claim. If students can understand where success might lie and where challenges might be present, they can appropriate a domain that seemed unreachable. I believe that we sense a greater level of meaningful and differentiated instruction for all if we can teach the idea that every learner possesses dominant as well as an equally compelling inferior learning style. The challenge placed upon the broad shoulders of all students is to not be afraid of their auxiliary or inferior learning style, but rather take ownership of it. This lesson might tear the mask of student ineffectiveness by giving them a vocabulary to articulate where their strengths and areas of improvement lie. In doing this, our students become stronger, taking one more step on the path of scholarship. They also become tougher and, in doing so, represent the spirit of the “Jayhawk”- a creature that binds and connects and compels us all to “master success.” Finally, I think a greater level of knowledge will unveil itself to students when they are able to take the lesson taught and apply it to their teachers. I plan on explaining to students the same learning styles that govern their understanding also govern their teachers, as well. To understand the learning styles that lie in their hearts and minds will give students power. Yet, to grasp the learning styles that lie in the hearts and minds of their teachers will give students access and control of their own academic destinies.
Yes, students should be mindful of this week. In the attempt to make something difficult a bit more approachable, I have uploaded the lecture notes to this lecture on this blog under, “Recent PowerPoint Lessons.” The file name is "Learning Styles 2008." It might help students to have a copy of the lecture notes so as to assist them.
I look forward to seeing many of our stakeholders this week during conferences. I also look forward to hearing about how your children, our emerging scholars, begin the process of better understanding themselves and the world that not only surrounds them but awaits their arrival.

Happy Hunting all you feelers and thinkers!
All best.
Mr. Kannan

“The Train Keeps On Rolling:” Writing Extensions, Exams, and Metacognition

2008-10-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

A shortened week brings with it a great deal of work. It is odd how so much can be compressed into so little time. A concept that embodies relativity, time becomes our powerful adversary and our success becomes contingent on how well we can navigate through what it presents us. With the field trip Tuesday, Wednesday becomes a critical day. Writing extensions on chapter 5 will be submitted by the end of class. Students will have either composed a Top 5 List of the Causes of the Revolution or a Newspaper Editorial from the time period. Timely submission of writing extensions will result in a 4x 6 index card that can be used as a reference during Thursday’s exam. Thursday will also be Stuffing Day for Student Portfolios. The exam will last two days, so students should be mindful of using Thursday night as an evening of focus to help shore up curricular support to make Friday a worthwhile day, the concluding day of the 55 question multiple choice exam. Indeed, in three days of teaching and learning, much will be undertaken. When one week contains close to 200 points of work, it becomes understatement to say it is a “big week.” Time becomes our worthy adversary, one where battle is waged and swords clash in pursuit of those things that are "good, true, and beautiful." Within such a collision of values, the journey towards scholarship continues.
The week after our shortened week will not only mark conferences, but also our foray into metacognition. In order to approach the writing tasks for chapter 5, I wanted to spend some time discussing the four dominant styles of learning in students. My hopes are to engage students in an intellectual dialogue about the nature of how they learn. Oftentimes, when asked why a particular option was chosen, students respond with the ubiquitous quip, “I don’t know- it sounded cool.” After this week, students should be able to give more in terms of how their particular learning style meshes with a chosen task or assessment. Driving the train from this point, students should be able to engineer an assessment of how their teachers learn, as well. This would play into them gaining a stronger understanding of how to “read” their teachers as well as themselves. Such discussions will lay the groundwork for the completion of the chapter 5 writing tasks, to commence next week, conference week. It is a challenging time to be a 7.1 Social Studies student, indeed.
I will be sending out updated progress reports on the week of 10/27, once the writing extensions on chapter 5 as well as the Chapter 5 Exams have been entered. I remind all stakeholders that utilization of this blog, as well as accessing student grades online through http://www.mygradebook.com/ are recipes for success in times of challenge, as we are immersed within at this particular moment. Finally, I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible during Conference Week. If you have a free moment (and if I have one), I certainly hope our paths will cross to engage in meaningful discussion. If time becomes an adversary for us, as well, I will have a box outside my room for comments, questions, and concerns, and will respond to each query with all possible dispatch.

Here is to defeating the forces of time. Happy Hunting!
Mr. Kannan

P.S. If you are interested in previewing some of the questions featured on the chapter 5 exam, please examine the link on the top left hand corner entitled “Upcoming Tasks/ Handouts.” Examine the Table of Contents on the first page and test question stems await.

Clocks, Matrixes, and Historical Ideas: Rushide, Neo, the American Revolution and 7-1 Students

2008-10-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

This week will mark an intellectual delving into the American Revolution. We have spent the last week analyzing specific events’ impact on this moment in American History, but this week will mark a point where we discuss the intellectual merit of this essential nanosecond in historical time. We will begin by concluding our Scholarly Sparknotes presentations on Monday, and then Tuesday will mark our discussion of midnight and inevitability. Wednesday presents a moment where we become the intellectual freight trains that cut like a razor blade as we “walk the line” with polar opposite statements and assess where we as individuals and community members stand. Our week will conclude with working on our writing extensions, writing tasks that will be worth 80 points and will be due on Wednesday, October 15. The exam on chapter 5 will be on Thursday, October 16.
The post modern philosopher Friedrich Nietszche has been credited with uttering the line, “Truth is a mobile army of metaphors.” I have always been fascinated with such a concept. The notion of describing historical truth through metaphorical analysis allows both students and me to frame history in a paradigm that allows for greater understanding, stronger analysis, and more critical thought. It helps to bring students closer to understanding that the currents of intellectual thought underwrites all historical advancement. I have always believed that ideas have roles and possess power, and that expressing these ideas through metaphors allow a greater chance to holding, if only for a moment, an elusive notion of truth. The first two metaphors I employ in our journey are the notion of midnight and the idea of inevitability.
Salman Rushdie’s book Midnight’s Children highlights the concept of the hour when both hands meet. It is an unique and powerful moment for while the clock strikes repeatedly, the two hands touch for only an instant. This represents a moment that can last for what seems to be an eternity. Rushdie plays with this metaphor throughout his book to describe the world of Indian freedom and independence in 1947. As the protagonist, Saleem Sinai is born into a world of mystery and autonomy at the same moment as the nation of India. This notion nestled into my mind as I became drawn into the parallel between individual psychology and national history. The pain and joy of love and politics seem to be united in one metaphor: Midnight. When applying this same image to America, I found much in terms of similarity. Midnight: The stroke of time when nations and people awake to freedom and life. Midnight: When our “trysts with destiny” are met with the redemption of a promise and a pledge. Midnight: While the world sleeps, a nation and a people awake to life of freedom and the sometimes challenging inevitability of both. Prime Minister Nehru’s words serve as the backdrop to Rushdie’s work, but can also be deftly applied to the study of the colonists’ struggle for freedom. When we study American freedom, my hope is that we will be mindful of time, noting when events brought us to the moment when the clock’s hands met, and when our hands met with history and intellectual analysis.
Midnight will become a central image, a metaphor through which we will examine the colonial struggle for freedom. Accompanying this will be the study of inevitability and its role in the American historical dialectic and within individuals. This metaphor comes from The Matrix. In the narrative, there is an ongoing battle between the forces of authentic reality, embodied by the protagonist Neo/ Thomas Anderson, and the forces of controlled reality, embodied by the antagonist Agent Smith. At the pitch of dramatic tension, conflict ensues between Neo and Agent Smith. When it appears that Neo is going to fail in his desire to defeat the forces of inauthenticity, Agent Smith pins Neo down on a set of railroad tracks and, hearing a train in the distance, he utters prophetic words for both the film and 7-1 students: “Do you hear that sound, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability- that is the sound of your doom.” When he says these words, the insinuation is that Neo will be unable to escape from the clutches of inevitability, from the grasp of what will be. As we study the emergence of the Revolution, the question then becomes whether or not we hear the same sound, namely that of inevitability? Was the Revolution inevitable? Was it bound to happen? What role do human beings play within history? Is history, itself, something that is inevitable or something that can be altered?
It becomes interesting to sense the implications of such a paradigm. If the Revolution was indeed inevitable, then the textbook based mythology is right and America is indeed a shining beacon of freedom and liberty. We, as a nation, were meant to be the city on a hill. However, this means that humans are essentially powerless when faced with the inevitability of history. Human beings seemingly become like Neo, crushed underneath the weight of the historically inevitable train. However, there is a flipside to this coin. If human beings do have a role and can exercise freedom to escape from the train, then we must embrace the reality of failure as a logical extension of our freedom. If inevitability is not present, shortcoming and sad endings become apparent. In this light, we begin to understand that justice and fairness is not always guaranteed. Monsters may walk among us and things may go bump in the night and there might not be a satisfactory explanation for either. Examining the American Revolution in the context of inevitability and midnight helps to create a stronger sense of thought. Plato’s notions of the happy ending, noble lie, and wandering into the world outside of the cave become the constant companions of our 7-1 students as they attempt to determine where they stand in the face of such intellectual paradigms. Once again, we begin to see the dominant theme of ideas having power emerge into full focus.
Some housekeeping ideas conclude this week’s thoughts. Midterm progress reports will be sent home with students this Friday. Additionally, student led portfolio conferences rapidly approach. If you have conferences with me, all confirmations for conferences have been sent, and I have posted his conference schedule on the blog under the “Handouts” link. Students will have their writing extensions due on Wednesday, 10/15, and the exam on chapter 5 will be on Thursday, 10/16. After this, we will start the process of examining the idea of dominant learning styles, which will lead to our writing tasks on chapter 5, worth about 200 to 300 points. Grades are updated each weekend and as we approach the midterm point of the trimester, I encourage all stakeholders to check grades on a weekly basis to ensure a line of clear communication being present.
To paraphrase Agent Smith, I ask all of you, “Do you hear that sound? That is the sound of academic inevitability.” I await to see how all of you stand against that train.

All best and happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

Voices From the Front: Student Voices Authenticating Academic Experiences

2008-09-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

In closing last week’s blog entry, I wanted to include the voices of students’ trace fossil papers. On Friday, I asked students if they would volunteer their favorite line or concept from their paper to represent a voice from the intellectual battle to reach “the good, the true, and the beautiful.” Featured below are words from your children, my students, our sojourning and emerging scholars:
“I believe that my trace fossil represents a good blending of who I am in today’s culture and artistry that I value from the past.”
“We fight until our toes bleed… Show them the wisdom our people had.”
“It has a lot of scratches in it. My mom hates the scratches, but I think they show the good use and the past of that piano.”
“Running my hands along the side of the piece, I notice a feel akin to that of bunched fabric: there are layers of protruding convex areas that create hills and valleys and a rippled, rhythmic effect, altogether affecting the smooth, contoured craftsmanship and appearance as a whole.”
“In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice and now that advice has made me the happiest person in the world.”
“Music is an essential part of my culture. Drums enhance the ideas, emotions, and traditions that are being conveyed in music.”
“ The ocean waters still remember Phyllis and me, but now it is I who am trying to get back to where she was.”
“I was very excited because it was one of the coolest phones I’ve ever seen.”
“Memories can be good or bad, but no matter what, they are there.”
“Time stands still for no one, but my pictures- my memories- they do.”
“It likes like an ‘Ollivander’s’ for dancers with boxes of pointe shoes stacked everywhere.”
“ In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me an item, red and small, but it filled my tiny heart with joy.”
“My crocs mean so much to me- I cannot imagine life without them.”
“My culture needs my racquet. I need my culture. Everything is connected.”
“My dad bought it for me.”
“Today, it has a chipped coat of hot pink coloring and one nose grip.”
“The surface of it looks like dozens of children have roller skated across the surface, leaving scuff marks at their tracks.”
“It’s black, it’s about the size of two shoe boxes, and it’s mine.”
“It looks like an overcooked quarter pound hamburger.”
“When people look at my trace fossil, they usually smile… unless they are Duke fans.”
“I share a love/ hate relationship with my pointe shoes.”
“To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently and they did not cut the scared earth. If it were only true- the day I got my trace fossil.”
“To be or not to be- that is the question and my answer is to be.”
“Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, I received a small red item of which is now very precious to me.”
“It was a moment of complete and unutterable fulfillment which could not be described in words.”
“Your culture is not only what country you are from or what your traditions are, but what you believe yourself to be.”
“A fear of my culture is the breakage that I know one day will come.”
“The music beaming from every speaker and everyone dancing, laughing, having a good time; as a child not knowing a thing, I could feel the melody of the music playing and the loud sound of the radio.”
“It’s as if Gabi is sill in the past, even when the world around him is battling the future.”
“One word: Scars. And I will never fix them.”
“As Toni Morrison says, ‘All water has perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.’ I feel like the water always has a memory of me.”
“Music is a world of its own, a temporary escape from reality, and a way to express and deal with problems.”
“This is the bud of the bud, the root of the root, the sky of the sky, of a tree called liked that holds the force of keeping us together.”
“October is the cruelest month.”
“It simply crashes like a plane without warning.”
“Music makes us feel like we can do anything.”
“But, THUD… RRRRRRROSSSSSCCCCRRRR… This sound I could live without.”
“It’s simple. Black, silver, and very shiny.”
“It saved me.”
“There it was- bright and shining; a white polar bear.”
“I love my cell phone culture.”
“My trace fossil is not just a trace fossil, but an elusive spyglass to the unknown.”
“Fading memory. It is a fading memory.”
“I play like it won’t be there anymore.”
“Do what you love and do it good no matter what.”
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
“In 300 years, my trace fossil will be a piece of junk.”
“My iPod is my shrink.”
“As I change, my trace fossil changes with me.”

These lines are but a small sampling of the work presented in students’ trace fossil papers. There were wonderful and compelling lines, thoughts, clauses, and ideas presented in each students’ papers. It was an honor to read, and while extremely challenging to grade in a weekend, the papers turned out to be a success. We take another step on our journey with the Road to the American Revolution. I invite all stakeholders to examine the handouts for this unit by clicking the hyperlink, "Upcoming tasks and assessments/ handouts for 7-1 Social Studies with Mr. Kannan" on the top left hand pane. Students should expect an exam on Chapter 5 to be administered the week of October 13. The writing task for this chapter will commence soon thereafter.

From trace fossils to Scholarly Sparknotes, to Concept Attainment and Polar Opposites, this will be an interesting unit with interesting challenges to all students.
Progress Reports in Language Arts and Social Studies were distributed out last Friday and the signed cover letters are due on Wednesday of this week. Midterm progress reports in all classes will be sent home with students on October 10. Finally, those students who will be having their Student- Led Portfolio Fall Conferences with me will be receiving written confirmations this week. My Conference List is posted under the "Upcoming tasks and assessments/ handouts for 7-1 Social Studies with Mr. Kannan" hyperlink. For those who wish to meet with me and have conferences with another team 7.1 teacher, you can examine which times I have open and contact me so that I can expect to see you.
Writing extensions, exams, authentic assessments- To quote the great football coach, “Is this fun or what?

All best and Happy hunting!
Mr. Kannan

One mountain climbed, another awaiting: The Road to Revolution

2008-09-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

I want to open this week’s blog with an expression of gratitude to all of those who were able to attend Curriculum Night last Thursday evening. I appreciated all of you who came into my classroom and allowed me the chance to explain to you my philosophy, its implications, and the manner in which how I plan to deliver our students, your children, to the pantheon of scholarship. Although I found myself hoarse by the end of the night, I felt it was a wonderful opportunity to meet and greet you all, the parents who will accompany your children on this journey we call American History, the quest we call 7.1 Social Studies. If you need an additional copy of the Powerpoint Lesson I delivered, please do not hesitate to check on the Julian website, under “Parents/ Community” or on this blog under “Recent Powerpoint Lessons.”
In terms of what is transpiring in the class, the trace fossil writing tasks have been graded and will be submitted back to students on Monday, September 21. I will make general comments tomorrow, but I can state with certainty that this was the year that the records did fall by the wayside. This year’s 7.1 students posted the highest number of A’s and B’s on this particular task. What was even more inspiring was that the papers delivered represented a high quality of craftsmanship and inspiration. It was not unusual to read papers open with a quote from Dante or Toni Morrison, Shakespeare or Steinbeck. It was not an isolated incident to see students discuss elevated notions of cultural identity and delve into personal experiences that represented the essence of authenticity and sincerity. Students delivered papers that rose to the challenge. Many papers were submitted and resubmitted in the drafting process and this resulted in a higher caliber of work. Being the ever present realist/ cynic that I am, I will be explaining to students that now that many of them have done well, the challenge will be to keep doing work that represents the best of their abilities (One is reminded of the Aristotle quote of “Human beings are what they repeatedly do.”) Students who wish to pursue the avenue of revising their work, regardless of the grade, have until Friday, October 3, to revise their work. A revision would involve rewriting the paper with the needed corrections included and submitting both the original and the new version by the deadline. Successful revisions will receive half of the points originally lost. Students who demonstrated success on the trace fossil writing task should find Social Studies Progress Reports that are being sent home on Friday, 9/26 a relatively pain free process. All students will need to have these reports signed by a parent/ guardian and returned back to Mr. Kannan by Wednesday, 10/1.
The next two to three weeks will be critical in our advancing journey. As we temporarily close the books on the trace fossil writing task, we open our textbooks to the Road to Revolution. We will be starting this week with a review of the French/ Indian War and supplement this with Chalk Talk, an open forum where students post messages of intellectual context in the hopes of starting a transparent dialogue open to all. Scholarly Sparknotes will follow this, where students will be responsible for charting out a section of the text, creating a visual that possesses multiple components, and then explaining this visual to the class. After our presentations, we will engage in a reciprocal reading task on the steps towards war. Once the reading from chapter 5 is completed, we will engage in a study of intellectual metaphors that might allow our examination of the road to revolution to gain further complexity. Agent Smith’s idea of inevitability, from The Matrix, and Salman Rushdie’s conception of midnight, from Midnight’s Children, will form the basis of our first two historical metaphors. There will not be a cumulative exam on chapter 5, but we will have an assessment on the material presented. Prior to this, we will step into the terrain of educational training by examining the four dominant learning styles and which methods of understanding best represent our students at this time in their academic careers. Grasping such a conception will allow them a strong footing to make judgments as to which of the chapter 5 assessments will be best suited for them to demonstrate success.
One mountain fades into the distance while a more daunting one stands in front of our students. I imagine that they will express the some of the same sentiments they expressed the last time an impressive summit obstructed their path. Two weeks ago, students felt disgust, reticence, fear, and some level of academic confusion regarding the trace fossil paper. Yet, fourteen days of crafting, and recrafting, draft and multiple drafts, frustration and elation have led to one of the best batches of graded papers on record. Many will feel comfortable with how they fared on this paper. They will express some level of satisfaction at having scaled such a height. It is because of this that I have confidence that if they demonstrate the same tenacity and relentless nature for academic success, they will climb this summit, as well and experience even greater pitches of prosperity.
Ask your student how they fared on the trace fossil writing task. If it went well, congratulate them and ask them to identify where they think they “got it.” If it could have better, ask your student to identify where they think they needed to devote more attention and encourage them to revise it. The lessons they take from the trace fossil writing task will enable them to find greater success on that which lies ahead.
Next week’s blog will include lines from student papers in order to validate the presuppositions I have put forth in this missive.

Please remember that all Social Studies grades are available online at mygradebook.com and that progress reports in Social Studies will be sent home with students this Friday, 9/26. The signed cover letter will be due back to me, Mr. Kannan, by Wednesday, 10/1. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at school via email or at my home phone number.

Climb Ev’ry Mountain and Happy Hunting.
Mr. Kannan

Postmodernism, Lennon/ McCartney, and Questioning Identity: Just another week in 7.1 Social Studies

2008-09-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

This week brought another week of strong progress, measurable growth, and the bourgeoning intellectual inquiry that will prove to be useful in 7.1 Social Studies. The trace fossil papers approached and moved past the halfway point. They will be due Friday of this week.
As students reached this critical point of construction, the questions and dialogue reflected advancement. Students were asking questions such as, “What is culture?” or “What is my culture?” Many were critically dissecting the question of who they were, in what they believed, in which social setting does their identity lie. These are the questions that not only help form the definition of the trace fossil paper, but also help to form the constitution of who we are as people. For seventh grade students to engage on this journey is powerful to behold. Students also began the examination of their trace fossils. From literal descriptions and striving to find the different ways to express physical reality to emotional connections and resurrecting memories that might have lay dormant, students demonstrated a great deal of progress and improvement in articulating objects that represent their voice, their experiences, their narratives. In philosophy, the post –modern movement emphasizes that human beings are the authors of their own stories. If this is true, then we have many writers on team 7.1 for many are continuing that tradition of seeking to establish authorship of who they are and in what they believe.
This process comes to its summit this week. Monday will be the last mini lesson. The topic will be leads, symbolic meaning, and time capsule. From this point, students will be on their own to complete their handwritten or typed final draft by this Friday. It is my hope that all papers will be submitted on this day. Progress Reports in Social Studies will be going home the following Friday, and the Trace Fossil Writing Task will be included on this report. After this, we will begin our study of American History- a living, breathing trace fossil. Our first unit will be the Road to Revolution, a study of events leading to the American Revolution. A short term goal will be to be at the construction of the Constitution by January.
This week marks the annual celebration we call Curriculum Night. Thursday evening at 6:45 in your child’s Advisory classroom or area will commence this yearly tradition of PowerPoint slide shows, handouts, and the wonders of navigating through student schedules. It is my hope that all of our 7.1 parents will attend this year’s Curriculum Night. Those who attend will receive first opportunities to sign up for conferences and will also receive their child’s log in password and classword for all student grades via mygradebook.com. To quote Lennon and McCartney, “a splendid time is guaranteed for all.” Of course, they were talking about a circus. On the other hand, some would argue that Curriculum Night might fit such an interpretation.
As always, if I can be of any assistance to students or parents, I encourage both sets of stakeholders to contact me at school via email or at my home number. This week is a very big week for us. I am confident that like so much I have thrown at students in this embryonic stage of the year, they will rise, endure, and triumph over what is presented.

All best and Happy Hunting.
Mr. Kannan

Tonight’s Homework for Social Studies: Successfully embody the traits of a classical hero

2008-09-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

Our journey into the deep recesses of scholarship continues with the explication of the trace fossil writing task. Students were able to receive its introduction well. We analyzed the notion of culturally historic artifacts in Aztec, Mayan, and Incan culture. Then, we analyzed objects from a culture that seems to reside in ancient desolation: That of the Social Studies Teacher on Team 7.1. Students gained much insight into how this culture operates, in what he (as the sole member of the culture) believes, and the values of such a bizarre setting. It was insightful to read about how Mr. Kannan believes in “dressing nice for work” or in how “he believes in scholarship” or the fact that “he believes everyone chooses their own culture.” Absorbing such insights into their own mind, students were able to turn their high powered lens of precise insight and analysis on themselves. As they greeted the trace fossil writing task, our students seemed to paraphrase the words of Dr. Lecter as they “looked deep within themselves.”
The lambs might not have stopped screaming, Clarice.
Certainly, our focus for the next week is the hopeful progress of our writing tasks. We have mapped out the dates and times for completion of this task. In the process, students have been reminded that nightly and incremental completion of this paper, as outlined in the timeline for completion, is a critical component for success. Each day, our in class focus will be on some new aspect of the paper’s growth and development. Students have been reminded that they should expect that their sole focus in Social Studies should be on the successful completion of this paper. To that end, students should know that the copies of the mini lessons I will feature are online, under the “Recent PowerPoint Lessons” link on this blog. Each day’s notes will address the topics as outlined on the timeline for completion. I believe that if students access these files and can possess hard copies of the notes prior to class, they might be able to use their in class time with greater autonomy. I will be encouraging students to access these files this week. Should computer usage be a challenge, I will also be inviting students to utilize my computer or those in the Media Center.
There is a theme in literature about the notion of the hero. Part of the heroic archetype is that when faced with a seemingly insurmountable quest, the hero retreats to some type of meditative and reflective location. This locale is either a physical place of solitude or a mental place of rumination. Such musing allows the hero to gain insight on how to approach the challenge that lies ahead and how to eventually claim triumph over a daunting adversary. Eventually, the knowledge gained on how to achieve victory rises above all, like a phoenix from the ashes, or as a house of worship towers over an entire population. I imagine that nightly homework for our students should be to find this place of intellectual sanctuary where they can reflect and mentally map out what they are going to do to slay this demon, a force that will dwarf in comparison to the forces that lie further on in our journey.
Now that would be a great assignment to write in student daily planners: “Tonight’s homework: Be like brave Hector, be like strong Ulysses, approach the paper like Dante, slay the demons of doubt as Lord Rama, and avoid repeating the mistakes of Faust.” (I can only surmise as to the emails I would get as a response to such an assignment. Talk about answering voice mail!)
Nevertheless, it is one of my hopes that in the successful completion will lie some of the elements of strength and austerity that I seek to impart consistently and repeatedly in all of our emerging scholars. We will construct temples of intellectual worship that will tower over all.
Final red tape issues need to be integrated into this missive. I look forward to seeing all of you at Curriculum Night on September 18 at 6:45 PM. Information should be forthcoming. Please also be aware that the Trace Fossil Writing Task is due on September 19, with Progress Reports in Social Studies going home with students on September 26, 2008.

Happy hunting and even happier ruminating! Go find your trace fossil!
Mr. Kannan

Trace Fossils and the Emergent Spiral of Student Voice

2008-08-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

The first week of students’ 7.1 Social Studies experience has passed into the realm of what has been. Within such a small period of time, students learned much about what lies in front of them. They grasped the importance of the table, the music stand, reading “signs,” taking out their daily planners, and handling one’s own problems and challenges. We endured a week of PBIS training and emerged from it stronger, more capable, and more appreciative of in class instruction time. I stood impressed with how students were able to “read” me from such an early stage. My hope is that this continues as we face more challenges, more arduous tasks, more moments of tension and growth. (Certainly, the look of readiness that all students grasped would help them in these trying periods. Ask your emerging scholar what “twiddling thumbs” looks like and why it’s important.)
As this transition phase ends, the new and more lasting one of intense work and emerging to scholarship commences. This week, students will engage in the process of identifying and explicating the notion of living history. We will be accomplishing this through the Trace Fossil Writing Task. After a year hiatus from assigning this task, it has reappeared in a more substantiated and impressive form. The purpose of this writing task is for students to identify one particular item from their lives and explain it as an artifact of history, their history. The definition of a trace fossil is an object “that represents or shows an animal’s or human’s behavior, evidence of life and patterns of existence.” The question that Trace Fossil Writing Task seeks to answer is how students can use an artifact to draw out a narrative of their own existence. On one level, the task seems elemental. As long as children have been in school, they have been asked to write about “my favorite thing.” This has been a staple in essay prompts from all walks of academic life. Yet, the trace fossil writing task takes this rather obvious essay and attempts to invert it. Rather than students merely explaining their “favorite thing,” the paper seeks to explore their subjective links to the object, and then how this particular object represents their aspect of culture. It is in this stipulation where the paper reveals fascinating notions for students must define their own culture in relationship to their object. By being compelled to “choose” their notion of cultural identity, I believe that students explore a part of themselves that might not have been so readily evident. On one hand the paper is extremely subjective and personal, yet on another level it is collective and broadens what was individual to a larger scope. It becomes fun for me to see students define and explain their culture in unique terms. When students to state that “My culture is that of the Cubs, we who have suffered for 100 years” or “My culture is that of basketball players who seek to sink a jump shot and make a free throw” or “My culture is that of an artist and our identity is enhanced with each stroke of a pencil on paper or paint brush on a canvass,” I believe we see something emerging within the minds and souls of our students. This lotus is that of change and understanding that they are the authors of their own narratives. As students are compelled to define their culture and choose their individual trace fossil, they also engage in a form of historiography- the construction of history, in particular, their own personal history. By the conclusion of the Trace Fossil Writing Task, students will see themselves, their artifacts, and their cultures in new lights. The purpose of writing is to seek exploration and, as E.M. Forster says, “to connect.” I believe that these goals are accomplished in the Trace Fossil Writing Task.
There are some small items of housekeeping that need to be relayed. The first set of Social Studies Progress Reports will be going home on September 26. These reports have to be signed and returned by October 1, 2008. Curriculum Night is rapidly approaching and will be held on September 18 at 6:45 PM. This is your first opportunity to sign up for Conferences, so as those slots vanish in a very small amount of time, my hope is to see as many of you as possible. Finally, if I need to be contacted, I have instructed students and implore all stakeholders to contact me via email (akannan@op97.org) and have also given out my home phone number to all students. Please do not hesitate to access additional copies of in class handouts and work or copies of the next two syllabi on the option pane in the upper left hand corner of this blog.

Happy Hunting!
Mr. Kannan

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,” or “Sleeping Beauty Awakens” or What steps can be taken in that fragile first week?

2008-08-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

If one can hear close enough, one can hear the sounds of stirring prior to the start of the year. These sounds reveal quite a deal. They show excitement, nervousness, anticipation, and wonderment. I have always admired how Kindergarten children view their first days of school. They lay out their outfits, make sure their shoes are new, and aerate their backpacks with pencils sharpened. They are ready for the new dawn, excellent and fair. In harkening to this image, I believe that some of our students possess the same mindset. Just as the Democrats are preparing for something new and unique, I hope many of our students carry the same mindset as they begin their 7.1 experiences.
Yet, I thought that I would offer some thoughts for 7.1 students in this, their first week. These small items might provide some guidance in the amazingly harrowing terrain presented within the first week. They might also give students the ground where they can “plant their feet” in the name of taking steps to accomplish something that represents “the good, the true, and the beautiful.”
* Report on time on Tuesday- The first day of school is on Tuesday. The doors will open at 8:50 AM and students should consider reporting around that time. My advice would be for students to find their advisory teachers as soon as possible in the gym and check in with all possible haste. It is important for the 7.1 experience to begin immediately. Students who check in quickly with their advisory teachers can start the process that awaits.
* Know your schedules, your two schedules- When students move to their advisory classroom, they will be in possession of two schedules. The first schedule is their “real” schedule. It will have a “Core Extension” class period, and should be similar to the one they received over summer, prior to the first day. The second schedule will be given to students on Tuesday. It will have a “Health” class period. This schedule will be in full effect for the first six to seven weeks of school. Students will be expected to follow this schedule immediately. They should consign this to memory.
* Know your locker combination- Naturally, students should spend the first advisory period memorizing the locker combination that will be given to them. Place this in memory as quickly as possible and refrain from giving this combination to anyone.
* Read the “Signs”- There are two kinds of students in this world: Those that see signs as something important and those who discard them as not important. My hopes are that the 7.1 student is closer to the former than the latter. When students begin their class rotation and daily schedule, my advice would be for them to pay attention to the signs that will greet you in the hallway, on music stands, and on top of tables. These signs will tremendously assist students. The beauty about such signs is that they confirm that “we are not alone.”
* Use the first week to develop a successful pattern of academic behavior- Sometimes, students do not pay attention to what is asked of them in the first week. They mistakenly believe that “it’s only the first week, or only the first day, so why complete homework?” In the words of the 80s commercial, “Bad Idea Jeans.” I think it’s really important for students to hit the ground running and complete the first homework assignments presented in the first week. This would include reading over the opening day document and generating at least three questions, completing the personal inventory, and identifying five personal items and developing thoughts on how “outsiders” would view these items. It is essential for students to develop a pattern of academic success as early and as quickly as possible. This cannot be done if homework is deferred or not completed.
* Use the first week to observe without being observed- Sometimes, students view the first week as an opportunity to “test” the teacher/ student boundary. This might be a natural part of the growing up process. Yet, I would like to offer something different. It is essential that students, in order to be successful, understand their “bosses” or their teachers. I think that it would behoove students to gain a better understanding of their teachers by using the first week to examine how these teachers operate. What is it that these teachers respond to in a positive manner? What repulses them? Rather than testing boundaries with arbitrary and silly displays of power and tension, why not observe these teachers in a manner that shows precision, depth, and awareness? Sometimes, we learn so much more by observing and noting that speaking and annoying.
* “See” the journey- One theme that will present itself throughout the first week is the notion of “the journey.” Each year is a journey and each journey is a lifetime. Another conception of “the journey” is how this class will bring students farther along the path of intellectual scholarship and this voyage is an integral part of this classroom’s experience. As we commence our first week, we take the first steps of this journey, our journey. Students might want to consider “seeing” this journey even in the first week as it will bring a better understanding to the weeks and months that will follow.
Fairy tales and noble lies aside, students can use the first week, this week, to help bring more understanding to their experience as 7.1 emerging scholars.

All best and happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan
P.S. Have you paid attention to the items present on the blog? Wacky metaphoric analysis? Quotes to place the journey into context? The homework links? Investigate, my curious scholars, query, analyze, seek a better understanding of what lies in front of you.

P.P.S. To my former students, I mailed out letters last week. I did not have some of your addresses, so I will be delivering your letters through your 8th grade teams within the first week of school. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Emerging from Hibernation: Welcome back to another year with the Jayhawk

2008-08-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

It is with the deepest of pleasure that I say welcome back to all of the Percy Julian Middle School students. We are on the precipice of commencing another year replete with intense scholarship and intellectual growth. It is good to be back home.

I just returned back from India earlier this week. It was a pilgrimage that afforded me many moments of understanding and clarity. It also allowed me to perceive both past and future experiences in a new light. I will target this opening blog entry of 2008- 2009 to two sets of people that have served to create meaning during my time at Percy Julian Middle School: Former Students and Prospective Students.

To my former students, I want to take this opportunity to wish you best of luck for the upcoming year, your last as a Percy Julian Student. I hope you enjoyed your summer. I am certain that you spent time escaping from the demons of the Final Assessment, Outcome Sentences, Daily Planners, Teaching Assignments, as well as paying attention to the LCD Projector. Yet, like all of those who seek refuge from that which stalks them, I believe that “you can run, but you cannot hide.” It is close to the time where you will assume the leadership of the student body, and be expected to embody “those things that are best” as you prepare for your departure and your entrance into the new domain of high school. I will be mailing out letters to all of you by early next week. Each letter begins with the same opening paragraph, but is personalized to each of you. The purpose of this letter is to wish you best of luck for this upcoming year and explicate the meaningful nature of my time teaching you. I hope you enjoy your letters and I look forward to you gracing my doorway in the upcoming year.

To my prospective students, I want to take this opportunity to wish you all the best in enjoying the remaining time you have in summer. I hope you were able to do all of the things you told yourself that you were going to do at the start of it. I am confident that you told yourself that you would visit the Art Institute, spend a day touring the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field, study the great architecture of downtown Chicago, and read the great works of Western Philosophy to discover meaning in existence.

… Or maybe you stayed at home, hung out, and simply vegged.

Whatever it is you did, I hope you enjoyed it. I also hope you are preparing yourself for the start of school, and in particular, your time as a 7-1 Student. Allow me to welcome you to such an experience. You will be a part of something special, unique, powerfully difficult, and intense. It is my belief that your time as my student will represent some of the most difficult time you will spend in a classroom. It will be “the toughest job you will ever love.” I believe that it might be the first time where you will be introduced to the pantheon of scholarship. I will assure you that I will do my best to move as many of you as possible into the domain of intellectual analysis.

If you have me for advisory, you will have received your advisory letter. (See you on Tuesday, as I don my Edmonds jersey.) For all of this year’s 7.1 students, if you are wondering what is awaiting you in Social Studies, feel free to examine this blog. You can see the first two syllabi of the class, and also see the handouts and distributed items for the first three weeks of the course. Please be mindful that the syllabi featured are a guideline as to what will be covered. As with all first weeks, there will be time commitments outside the realm of academics that might compel us to alter when we reach certain topics. You can also see what this blog features, and read over some of the topics covered from last year. I hope you ruminate and contemplate what this class will be like for you. I promise that you will work… oh, you will work, my emerging scholars.

Expect another entry as the start of school creeps closer and closer. The Jayhawk has a hold over us all, indeed.

All best and happy hunting to both former and prospective students.

Mr. Kannan

The end of the beginning: The last week

2008-05-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

This week will see students working on their Final Assessments in class and at home. My hope is that students have chosen well. I remind all stakeholders that making strong and intelligent choices about work samples will be critical. At this point, grades for the third trimester have been finalized and can be seen at http://www.mygradebook.com/.

Our journey comes full circle this week and I do hope that this Social Studies experience has been a worthwhile one. I do hope that many of our students will come back to visit next year and maintain contact.

It has been an honor and privilege to guide so many of our students this year, our emerging scholars.

Best wishes in the future.

Mr. Kannan

Beyond the Blue Horizon Waits a Beautiful Day: The Last Lecture, The Final Assessment

2008-05-18T05:49:00.001-07:00

We engage in our last lecture this week on the causes of the Civil War. After this, students will embark on their last assessment, the Final Assessment. This is a task that will seek to bring together all that we have done this year. I thought I would offer a glimpse of this by reprinting a copy of the letter, the last letter, that I will be sending out to all stakeholders (Can one sense a recurring theme, here?)

Dear Parents/ Guardians of __________________:

The purpose of this letter is to detail the ingredients of this year’s Social Studies Final Assessment. This year’s collection of tasks that represent this last foray into the domain of scholarship are as eclectic as our students and will prove to test our students one more time, as we approach the end of our journey of 7-1 Social Studies.

There are four tasks and students will have to choose one of the four. All work will be done in class and at home. Student work will be due at the end of class on May 30. Students will be graded on a 4-3-2-1 standards rubric in the areas of quality of ideas, organization/ coherence, support, and style. This task will not be graded on the basis of points. My explicit hope for all students is that they average a 4, 3, or 2. There will be no change in students’ overall grades unless they average a 1 for this task. At this stage of the year, students should be striving to demonstrate their best quality of work, on this their last work sample for the year in this class.

All four tasks have been distributed to students. The following is a brief synopsis of each task. Once again, students will choose one of the following:
* Textbook Based Analysis of Chapter 15- This option is a direct analysis of the Civil War. Students will engage in study of specific battles, figures, Lincoln’s role in the conflict, and result of the conflict. This task will conclude with reflective questions about students’ work in 7-1 Social Studies.
* Task Rotation Assessment of chapter 15- This option is an interpretive analysis of Chapter 15. The options presented to students highlight the four dominant learning styles, of which students are expected to complete a minimum of two. This option is designed for students who feel comfortable with the textbook, yet feel the need to express their ideas and take risks with such a knowledge base.
* Modern Injustice Task- This option is geared for students to engage in an analysis of American History and the current landscape of America. Students are being asked to identify one example of a “modern injustice,” something that denies the principles and ideas outlined in Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, The Preamble to the Constitution, and/ or Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” Students will then have to link this current example of modern injustice with a past example from American History that parallels the modern example of injustice. Finally, students will compose a collage or manifesto that demands attention to the current injustice as well as a call for change. Students who enjoy applying history to a modern context will find this task to be enlightening.
* Academic Obituary- A reflective piece for students who wish to merge personal experience with American History, this task is to serve as an intellectual memoir or academic legacy of time spent as a member of the 7-1 Social Studies classroom community. This is a task that merges creative thought with analytic precision.

It is my hope that students can harness their energies to display their best work on this, their last assessment in my class. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at school or at my home (___________________). You can also reach me via email at akannan@op97.org . It has been an honor to be your child’s teacher and my privilege to have served as their guide through American History.

Thanking you in advance for all of your support.
Mr. Kannan

It is the last line that causes the most amount of emotion. I will probably post one more blog entry, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for all of your support.

Many thanks and happy sojourning into a new horizon.

Mr. Kannan

P.S. Monday's quiz has been posted underneath the link for "handouts". You will also find lecture notes for this week's lecture, as well as the Final Assessment tasks/ descriptions/ information. Small group breakout was fun, but nothing can surpass working as a collective unit. One last point: With grades in my class concluding Friday, the notations listed in mygradebook.com are accurate indications as to how students will fare for the trimester. The only change would be a deduction should a student average a "1" for the final assessment.

The Growing Renegade of Change Army

2008-05-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

For this week’s blog, I thought I would reprint an open letter that students will be hearing this week. I feel that it covers much of what we are doing both as emerging scholars in American History as well as stakeholders at Percy Julian Middle School. It is in response to a situation or two that has proven to be a situation or two too many. I place it in this context, but its application lies beyond American History, beyond C105, beyond Team 7-1 and to the future of all of our students and Percy Julian Middle School:

I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss the context that envelops it. I think it is a sad affair whenever such situations must be addressed, but I believe this is where we are. To neglect it as both a teacher and a student of history would be tantamount to a sin of omission that would give strength to the forces of oppressive silence and emasculate the power of hopeful change that must embrace our school, our community, and our nation.

As your history teacher this year, I felt that I have gone to great ends in assisting your maturation as thinkers, as bourgeoning scholars. I told you at the start of the year that “each of you will be a scholar or farther along the path by the end of the year.” I have held true to this each and every day this year. Whether it is posting the schedules with quotes from Rodin or President Kennedy, or utilizing the LCD projector with a PowerPoint Slide explaining what our daily goals are to be, or individually speaking with students about where we need to be and how we are going to get there, the critical ingredient that has underscored our work, yours and mine, this year has been this notion of growth, emerging scholarship, and making progress. While this has all been true, I am committed to the idea that the journey of scholarship is not an isolated and atomized process. Rather, it is a vision that embraces all members of the community. We are not alone. We are inextricably linked to a social setting where all stakeholders have to share our vision. There is a distinct line- a frontier or border- drawn between those who share our vision and those who do not.

America has been a nation of these borders or frontiers, lines that demarcate where we are and where we hope to be. Our history is one of pursuit of horizons. Whether it was the sun drenched terrain that allowed us to envision a world where freedom was a reality, or the wilderness that met our eyes as expansion became a reality, our history has been one where we seek to appropriate our dreams, our visions. A theme in our nation has not to be content with what we possess, but rather actively seek to change our world by focusing on new borders, or frontiers as attempting to configure ways in which these arenas can move from what would be into what is. Sometimes, we have succeeded and other times, we have failed. When we have succeeded, our history has told us that we regale in what had worked, and when we have failed, there has been a process in which reflection has allowed us to see the error of our ways. In both situations, we, as a nation, have understood the importance of lines, and drawing them. We have sought to gain greater appreciation for being on the right side of these lines. This is an ongoing process that a young nation like ours has learned to appreciate.

I believe that our school, our academic community known as Percy Julian Middle School, is much the same way. We seek to expand our territories guided by new horizons and the desire to appropriate these vistas into our understanding of who we are and who we hope to be. As long as I have been working at this school, and as an employee of District 97, I have been guided by this particular understanding. I believe in the ideas of evolving, continually seeking new horizons, and reflection so that something better can be achieved and grasped. These ideas have worked their way into my teaching, and as my students, I am sure you can see where they are at work in every day that I have joyfully served in the capacity of your guide through the harrowing terrain of American History. As you approach the end of your journey, it would be a good opportunity for you to engage in this reflection in seeing how far you have come and how far you need to go in order to achieve your particular horizon, your specific border, and where you will need to be in terms of where you are.

I also believe that we, as an academic community, must focus our energies on forces that seek to take away from this growth, this maturation, this dialectic. In order to do this, we have to take dialogues that exist in the private and confront them in the public. Recently, some members of our community have spoken and articulated ideas that attempt to take away from our good work. They have spoken words that do not seek to enhance community, but rather divide us. They have attempted to present a vision that detracts from what it is we do at this school. While it has not been many who have engaged in such reprehensible and repugnant behavior, it is one too many. One of the most beautiful aspects of our history as a nation has been the self corrective measures that we, as America, have embraced at many points in our history. When wrongs have been committed, we have confronted these realities. It might not have been a perfect process, but we prove to be one of the few nations who can prove to be strong enough to engage in a reflection of what we have done wrong. Sometimes, this process is as important as any notion of product. I believe that we, as members of Percy Julian Middle School, must emulate this right now, at this time, at this moment.

In the last week, there have been statements, jokes, and words whose expressed purpose is to divide us, attempting to separate us from achieving our greatest of horizons and vistas. I would like to take this opportunity to denounce and reject such statements. These words and sentiments do little to build bonds between one another, and do even less to contribute to the academic community to which all of us have to be committed. I cannot surmise as to why these jokes or ideas were articulated. I can only presume that they were said to demonstrate popularity, or to falsely believe that in speaking them, one would enhance their own reputation. Regardless, I would like to condemn these statements in the strongest manner possible. As a teacher, I find them repulsive and disgusting. As a learner of American History, I have to find them as representing the antithesis of democracy, goals to which the Founding Fathers would have suggested tear us away from achieving our vision of the world’s oldest and most enduring democratic government. Under most circumstances, when students do wrong, I believe that the disciplinary channels best do their part and I neednt comment. Yet, with this particular transgression, to remain silent would be sinful and, in a bizarre manner, would actually embolden those who speak such horrific words and those who stand idly by allowing such terror to happen.

I believe that all of us, adults and students, alike must draw a line. We must create a border, or world, where such sentiments cannot be felt or articulated in this, a house of learning, a community of scholarship. I feel quite strongly in this, as evidenced by your learning experience on 7-1 this year. I believe that your teachers have done a very stellar job in articulating how elitism and division cannot exist in the “more perfect union” we call America and Percy Julian Middle School. When we speak of the Colonists and the American Revolution, we recalled this struggle for identity as applying to all inhabitants of the new nation. When we spoke of Don Quixote, we spoke of a world where justice and dreams could be realized, where the monsters and windmills had to be slain at every turn. When we articulated the conception of the Constitution, we spoke of “The Dream” for all citizens and how the most powerful document in American Society was compelled to speak for all of its citizens, and to this day, such a standard is still applied. When we examined the growth of economic America, we noted that there was a countervailing force that sought change at all costs. Finally, the emergence of what Senator Obama calls, “the original sin” of slavery, is something that was worth fighting for and even dying for in the minds of Americans. At many points, your teachers have instructed you on how the concept and applications of stratified structures that reaffirm segmentation in a democratic society are opposite of its professed values and cannot be tolerated.
This same line must be drawn at this moment in the life of Percy Julian Middle School. As adults and children, we must all decide on which side of the line we will stand. On one side would be the forces of divisiveness and the corresponding reality of disgust. On this side would be those who seek to separate students from one another. These forces seek to separate on the basis of race, gender, choices in friends, fashion, popularity, or any other factor that would prevent all of Julian students and staff from realizing the goals that we, as a building, are driven to achieve. This side of the line is met with its other side. On this side are individuals who are committed to building community, and respecting individuals’ rights to be free and to even be left alone. This side of the line is filled with people, students and adults, that understand how all of us are invested in recognizing our goals, as a school, as a community, as a people. We must pull as many people as possible to this side of the debate. We must seek to enlist as many individuals as possible for we on this side face an uphill battle. This is nothing new to us because being on the side of reform has always been a challenging battle. Yet, we smile at this challenge for we are “Renegades of Change” and we will not be deterred from recognizing our goal. We will stand tall with our label of “Renegade of Change.” As renegades, we recognize on what side of the line we stand. We also understand who we are and we understand the most important fact: We are the majority. We are the ones in control. There are more of us than there are more of them. As renegades of change, we understand who we are, in what we believe, and we must embrace the fact that there are more of us. Take a look around and see how many of us stand on this line and will be willing to stand up for it by taking a step across it.

This is where we are right now. All of us, students and adults alike, must choose on which side of the line we are. There is no middle ground. Either we as individuals will speak out and/ or act by separating ourselves from the forces of division and disgust. There can be no such thing as trying to straddle both worlds. All of us have to choose. I think that since you have one more year left in this building, all of you will have to engage in some serious reflection. All of you will have to decide where you are. If someone around you speaks words or sentiments that are meant to achieve cheap laughs at the cost of someone else, then you must decide what you will do. If you stand by and allow it to happen, you are as guilty as those who utter it for you are not a renegade of change, one who will not be able to act upon the promise of such a great nation as America. If you allow it to happen to one person today, it will invariably come to you tomorrow. We have always argued that America is a collection of people “who sat at the loser lunch table.” This is who we are, and it is our La Mancha, or stain. There is no way to avoid it. The only thing we can do is declare our allegiances. It is something that is in our DNA as Americans. For us to divide amongst one another, whether it is through elitism, through the forces of self belief in superiority, or through the idea that certain people can be demonized and targeted is a betrayal of who we are as a people and a nation.

This will be the hardest thing for all of you. Some of you are afraid to speak out and actively take a stand against these forces. You rationalize these forces of intolerance by believing in ideas such as “I cannot change them” or “It’s not me” or “They didn’t mean it.” Allow me to suggest that these are paths of “false consciousness” or simple lies. These are ways for you to avoid doing what you know is right, what you know has to be done. Simply put, if you believe these untruths, you “haven’t done the right thing.”

Now is the time for you to stand up and do the right thing. I cling to the fact that there are more of us renegades of change. As I strongly denounce and reject the recent statements that make light of terrible events in our history as a nation, statements that seek to make humor at terrible moments of our scars or our stains, I ask for all of your support. I ask for all of you to take a stand and actively distance yourself from such actions that bring a bad name to all of us. I ask for all of you to recognize that which I have strove to impart in you. This is everyone’s problem for it goes at the heart of to who we are. I ask all of you to embrace your natural tendency, that of being a renegade of change. I ask all of you to denounce and speak out in the strongest terms possible statements and people that seek to reduce all of us to the lowest common denominator.

I ask all of you to embrace those things that are best as we seek to establish a new horizon in our community, a new border that recognizes who we are and what our dreams seek to be.

From gardens and nightingales to renegades and embracers of change, I wish you happy hunting in the time we have left.

All best.

Mr. Kannan

Continuing Dialogues

2008-05-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

At this point, we are passing the halfway point of our unit on growth in America. Some students are flourishing under the independent focus of this course of study, while others are learning how to utilize their spirit of independence in achieving a goal consistent with its positive use. For this week’s blogs, I would like to bring out specific questions that each group of students should engage upon in reflection in order to ensure that a successful process is matched with a successful product.

Option 1: Secondary Source, American History Textbook
* Are the Check Your Progress questions completed in a strong and compelling manner? For each chapter, there is some type of task associated with it. However, the one consistent thread is the completion of the Check Your Progress Questions for each chapter. These questions are graded on more of a production level, to ensure that the work has been done in good faith in a reasonably accurate manner. They are worth 50 of the total 200 points for the chapter. Such a point value makes these tasks extremely important. For example, if a student could only to manage to muster a 110/ 150 (73%) on the chapter ending task, but earned 50/50 on the questions component of the task, their overall grade would be a 160/200 (80%). Naturally, the tasks for each chapter will occupy a great deal of attention , but these quick hitting questions could prove to be extremely important.

Option 2: American History Primary Source Analysis
* How’s that Thesis Statement on the DBQ? When writing the DBQ for each chapter, I believe that the thesis statement determines success or the lack of it. It’s hard to comprehend the notion that one sentence can be indicative of how a paper is written, but in this case it is quite a valid notion. I think that when students are writing their DBQ, they must pay attention to that Thesis Statement, and engage in a process of crafting and recrafting it. I believe that when students finally settle on a thesis statement, they must ensure that the evidence from the documents help to support it. Aligning the thesis statement with what is present in the primary sources selected will be of critical importance and a dialogue worthy of having.

Option 3: Political Philosophy Primary Source Analysis
* Can we have a dialogue on your dialogue? I think that the questions that come out of this particular group will be on the dialogue that is due on May 21. I think that students need to start determining how their dialogues will look, how they can start assembling the dialogue and which thinkers upon which they wish to focus. I believe that students should begin the process of how they use the voices of these thinkers to enhance their voices in creating the dialogue. It will be a challenge, but these philosophies cover a wide variety of topics within modern consciousness and students must begin the process of that examination. I think the dialogue that has been vetted through reflection and rumination will stand a better chance of success than one that has been “thrown together.” The guidelines for the dialogue will be given out to students this week and thus the process of reflection should begin.

I think that in each setting, the more thoughtful analysis that is given, the better the process of creation, which will yield a better final product. The growth of scholarship can only happen when a transformative dialogue on work process and product occurs.

Happy hunting.

Mr. Kannan

Confessions and Challenge

2008-04-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

We must be approaching the end of the year if I am to open a blog entry with a personal confession. I stand before you as a man filled with a sense of relief as I divulge a portion of my identity that few (albeit now many more) will know.

I am a fan of the musical The Sound of Music.

And now that I have said it and actually don’t feel any better having done so.

However, I admit that I fall victim to its charms. From the opening sequence of the hills of Austria to the whole “I Have Confidence” montage to the stolen moments at the gazebo, to cursed puppet shows, I have to admit I love it all. When Captain Von Trapp sings, “Edelweiss,” and recalls a time of history that has long since past, I become overcome with emotion and cry without much shame. Hardly a moment can pass when I don’t fixate upon it if it is on late at night on cable or prominently displayed on network television. Yet, my favorite moments have to be when Mother Abbess counsels Maria with the song, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” When she sings that song in the shadows with the lost soul of Maria watching on, seeming to gain strength with each note replete with crescendo and accentuation, it is almost as if I am gaining strength with her. (I will not forgive any student who dares approaches me and compares me with the flighty Maria!) Yet, when Mother Abbess sings proudly about “climbing” mountains, “searching high and low,” and not relenting until one finds their “dreams,” I become moved.

For a while now, I have felt that this song represents both this experiment we call democracy in America (long live Alexis de Tocqueville!) as well as the journey of scholarship that many students have started with their entry into this class. This process of climbing mountains seems to be quite appropriate with the work we have done this week.

Our first week of examining Growth in America through different vantage points proved to be quite insightful and powerful. Students responded well to the idea of seminar teaching, identification of short and long term goals, as well as multitasking throughout different elements transpiring. I tried to “step out of myself” and examine what the class “looked like”. At moments, I was able to accomplish this and what I saw was a tapestry of students engaging in different modes of analysis, creating new paths for process and product, and carrying multiple dialogues simultaneously about different topics. It felt strange, on one level, but oddly enough natural on another. I thought that it was revealing to see secondary source people pouring through the book to find answers, or the Primary Source people attempting to configure the geography that enveloped Mark Twain, or how the group on Philosophy attempted to figure out the ideas of Locke and Mill. The other interesting point here is the self sufficiency I have seen out of our students. For the most part, I have seen students embrace the idea of working on their own and flying “solo.” Many students have embraced this level of tiered instruction where students demonstrate independence of thought and actions. When students frequently approach me with questions like, “When do we meet because I have some questions that need to be answered” or “Could we work while you are talking” or “Can we meet during lunch to make sure I am clear on these ideas.” The level of discussion emerging seems to be one where independent scholarship is placed at the forefront of students’ minds. If we can continue this trend, I believe that one of the primary goals of this unit could be met. Like the Von Trapp family at the end, the summits await as we cross one threshold and enter another.
In terms of planning for this week, I would suggest that all stakeholders examine the online syllabus, specific to the individual student choice. Secondary source students will start their process of composing their Top 10 Lists, while the Primary Source students will work on their second DBQ. The writings of Karl Marx greet the Political Philosophy students as they study chapter 12. I believe that challenge in the domains of content, process, product, affect, and learning environments will be evident. Not to quote the Mother Abbess, but examine the syllabus “every day of your life, for as long as you shall live.” (At least, until the end of the year, perhaps.)

Happy hunting and scholars of the world unite… at least, scholars of team 7-1! My best wishes to you as you learn how to effectively “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.”

Mr. Kannan

Grazing upon intellectual fields and Reliving College Times: Embarking on the journey of student choice

2008-04-19T06:08:00.001-07:00

The 7-1 student- led teaching experiences were extremely successful. If one wanted to use statistics (knowing very well that liars can figure and figures can lie), about 95% of the students on Team 7-1 will see A’s or B’s in Social Studies for third trimester progress reports. Given the time of year we find ourselves, this is an astonishing number. All teaching groups met their 70% class average benchmark. Finally, all students who taught saw their overall grade on the teaching assignment at either an “A,” “B,” or “C” level with the lowest grade turning out to be a “C+.” These are very impressive indeed, given the scope, required planning, and sheer anxiety ridden nature of students teaching their colleagues. From an anecdotal plane, success was also evident. Many students developed a newly discovered notion of metacognition, in terms of being able to clearly define which environments best support their learning styles and adaptations. Students began to understand the difficulty of reaching all students within instruction of concepts. However, the most revealing aspect of this experience was how students understood the notion of teaching being synonymous with community. The most successful examples of student teaching were ones where all students were included into the learning process. Never have I been more forcefully confronted with the reality of how teaching is an inclusive process than when I bore witness to these successful forays into the realm of teaching and learning.

With the successful completion of such an experience, I offered a day after where students were asked to “intellectually graze.” I considered it a generous gift of “down time,” something which is rare in my class. As I walked around the room, I found it so interesting to simply observe how some of our students conducted themselves. Perusing through different parts of the textbook, engrossed in a silent reading work, or simply constructing different aspects of their reality, it was insightful and instructive to not directly instruct. There was something powerful, almost entrancing, about it. It served as the confirmation of how we, as educators, need to provide an intellectual kingdom of ideas constructed upon the firmament of student choice. This field of academic freedom is where all of our students will find meaning and direct construction of knowledge and understanding.

This brings us to where we are now. This past week has brought a great many moments of “smile” to my teaching and learning. To hear students break down which choice best fits them has proved that many of our students have evolved in their thought. It was a true moment to hear students indicate that “this is the best for me,” or “I know it’s going to be tough, but I want to take the challenge.” As we have concluded the first day of in class work, I have been able to experience the very best of our students who are immersed in primary sources, analyzing modes of economic growth, or tackling the works of Locke and Mill. There is a genuine sense of maturation, excitement, and evolution that has taken hold of many emerging scholars on 7-1. My only hope is that this continues throughout the tenure of the unit.

As many of you know, I didn’t have many positive memories of my undergraduate experience. I spent much of it roaming through three different colleges/ universities, in search of elusive ideals. (That search still continues today.) However, one of the most special memories had to be my Western Civilization class as a first year student at Kenyon College. The course was entitled “Integrated Program in Humane Studies,” and it covered the standard “Plato to Nato” curriculum. The course met three times a week in a lecture hall that was a throwback to Oxford. Yet, the most distinctive aspect of the course was the three hour seminar each Wednesday night. This consisted of fifteen students sitting around Professor Brint’s office while he led us through the text and ideas of the week. Some of my most poignant memories in a year replete with challenges were in those seminars discussing economics, freedom, the limits of choice, and the pain that seems to exist at the heart of consciousness. Good times, indeed. In attempting to replicate some of those seminar moments, next week will mark the start of the mini teaching seminars. I will be meeting with different groups on different days, and our conversation topics will range from Industrialization, freedom, primary source based history, Document Based Questions, as well as the theories of Locke and Mill. This will be exciting and worthy of our students’ energies.

Some red tape items. The homework pane on the left hand of the screen and on the calendar will be deliberately vague, as there are different assignments for each group of students. In order to gauge what student assignments are, I encourage all students to download this week’s and next week’s syllabus. I have given students a sequence for the next two weeks. This scope will allow students to plan their time accordingly in order to meet all deadlines and expectations. I will also be emailing out students’ Social Studies grades this weekend and will be delivering a hard copy of student trimester grades on Friday. The last extra credit assignment will be due on Monday, 4/21. Finally, please allow me a shameless self promotional plug. I will be amongst the featured teachers speaking about the Middle School concept in front of community stakeholders, in a forum sponsored by the Julian PTO. I invite all interested members to attend. (Yes, there will be a powerpoint show.)

As we engage within a quest filled with student choice, seminar breakouts, and challenging content, our nightingales sing once again.

Happy hunting!
Mr. Kannan

The unveiling of what lies ahead: The choices and intellectual legacies of our students

2008-04-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

Our teaching tasks have concluded. We now focus our attention on what lies next. I thought that I would enclose the letter that will be sent home with all students on Wednesday. It explains what students will have to endure, and eventually claim triumph over, for our next phase:

Dear Parents/ Guardians:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you of our upcoming unit on Growth in America. The focus of this unit is to analyze the development of Modern America from economic and social points of view. Some of the concepts addressed will be industrialization, immigration, social awareness, differing approaches to economic growth, Westward Expansion, as well as the growing divide between North and South with regards to the institution of slavery. The chapters covered in our textbook will be 11, 12, and 13. As with so much this year, change is a compelling concept. In past years, I have engaged in a series of direct instruction lectures designed to accomplish the comprehension of content in these chapters. However, this year I am proposing a different way to grasp the essential concepts that arise from these chapters. As with so much that we have done this year, this differentiation will rest on the broad shoulders of our students who will have to choose which option best fits their particular talent sets.
Each student will be presented with three options for their course of study and will have to choose one. These options are presented in more detail in the notes attached to this document. (Will be distributed on Wednesday). One of the options is a textbook based, secondary source analysis, another one is an American History primary source analysis, and the last option is a Political Philosophy primary source analysis. Intrinsic to all options is that, all students will have to read and absorb all the sections of chapter 11, 12, and 13. There will be individualized tasks within each student choice. The point values will be the same for all students, but the specific tasks will be different for different students. For example, a student who chooses the textbook based secondary source analysis will have a different set of tasks to complete than the American History primary source student. Direct instruction will be conducted by groupings, so not all students will receive directed instruction each day. Hence, on the days when students are not engaged in direct instruction, they will have class time to work on their specific task at home as well as time at home. Students will be asked to make a commitment to their choice on Thursday of this week.
I have outlined the three choices to all the students. The choice is going to be left to them. I encourage you, as parents/ guardians, to discuss which option is best suited for your particular student, your emerging scholar. While the problem here could be the choice, it could also be the source of liberation, as students can find their academic voices through an appropriate choice. I stress to all students that their choices are for them, and them alone, and they should choose what they think is best for them. These tasks will be done individually, so collaboration with colleagues will not be an option in the completion of each grouping’s tasks. As with all choices, it is my hope that students make the right choice, for the right reasons.
The last point I would like to make here is one based on the notion of differentiation. Over the year, I believe that I have taken special strides to differentiate the content in American History in order to reach every student. However, I have always claimed that a large component of differentiation of content is contingent on student choice. When students choose to find their academic voice, choose to inject their passion and zeal into their work, and choose to display their heart within the paradigm of intellectual discourse, differentiation has been accomplished as content has gained more purpose. In this particular unit, groupings have been offered and within each designation, further differentiation is even more evident. Yet, students will have to choose which task is best suited for them. Every student will be granted equal access to all options. All students are entitled to a pasture within which their intellectual sojourn can take place.

If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at school or at home (__________________________). In the final analysis, as we begin our mad dash towards the end of the year and the Final Assessment, it is the choices of our students, your emerging scholars, which will be able to demonstrate the best chance of success.

Thanking you in advance,
Mr. Kannan

P.S. Students will receive the calendar of events, a sequence that lists due dates of all specific assignments, once choices have been declared. Our journey begins with all students reading chapter 11, so if students wish to move at their own pace, they could begin here. In the words of the great coach, “Is this fun or what?!?”

The nightingales will be singing new songs soon.

All best and happy choosing.
Mr. Kannan
P.S. What might be the last extra credit assignment in this class will be distributed out to students on Monday, 4/14, and will be due next Monday, 4/21.
Encourage your emerging scholar to test their academic will against this formidable and reflective task.

“I am trying not to bury the lead!” The brevity of this week’s blog

2008-04-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

As we progress and conclude our teaching assignments, this week’s blog will be a brief one. All stakeholders should keep the following days in mind:
* Wednesday- All groups will assess all students on their in class presence and homework completion. Grades will be recorded by the end of Wednesday’s class.
* Thursday- In class review for exam on chapter 9. The use of a student generated, handwritten index card will be contingent on how students collaborate with one another this week.
* Friday- Take exam on chapter 9.

Taking from the news media, I am deliberately downplaying expectations and insinuation from this week’s blog because of what will lie ahead. Few can accuse of my burying the lead story, so tune in next week where more will be divulged about what lies ahead. Accordingly, I have not added a quote for this week and the Wacky Metaphoric Analysis has remained from last week. As always, these represent the fleeting opportunities for extra credit.

All best, happy teaching and hunting (after these assignments, some would say the two are synonymous).
Mr. Kannan

“Are you nervous, kid? Well, you should be!”- The Threshold of Realization as students become teachers.

2008-03-26T09:48:00.001-07:00

The week that welcomes back from a hopeful and restful Spring Recess finds students making last minute preparations as they foray into the realm of teaching. As they commence into teaching, I would like to offer some last moments of counsel for as they become teachers, I become a student (Is this fun or what?).

I think one of the most critical elements that teachers should keep in mind is how they envision their classroom. What does it look like? How does the first five minutes run? What are the students doing? I am hoping that teachers can envision the start of class and try their best to anticipate how to set the climate of learning and understanding. I sense that there would be a level of nervousness present in our teachers, and there can be some level of neutralization of this threat if there is a plan, a vision or model of how their teaching should function. The second point I would stress to teachers would be to know their story. What are the important points that they are going to “punch through” to students? It is my hope that teachers have discovered the most compelling concepts to relay to students. I think that instruction would be more meaningful if they can frame the discourse in one of meaning and relevancy of content and this would be accomplished in a clearer manner if there was a strong “story to be told.” Finally, I think that all of our teachers should ensure that there is a level of organization and clarity apparent in their instruction. Even the worst of teachers (and this I know very well being one myself) earn a level of respect for their students if organization and clarity are apparent. I think that this could be a valuable lesson as both practitioner and learner. Teachers who approach the threshold of revelation in an organized and clear manner stand a better chance success. This could be a life lesson, as well.

Once our teaching is concluded, teachers will assess student work and their performance in class. Then, teachers will help prepare their students for the exam, which is scheduled for Friday, April 11. After that, teachers will grade and record the exams. Our next phase commences on Wednesday the 16th, when students will have to make some critical choices about the shape of their learning. These choices will be critical and shall be detailed to students over the course of the next three weeks.

The threshold of revelation allows new insights to be gained, new understanding to be unveiled, and new songs to be sung. Our garden grows richer and more vibrant as all 7-1 students approach the threshold of revelation.

Best wishes.
Mr. Kannan

The dialogue of empowerment: Students as teachers

2008-03-15T11:58:00.001-07:00

Over the last week, I have been hearing a great deal of discussion from students about teaching. At first glance, such a statement seems odd. Yet, it has been enlightening hearing students talk about teaching. They believe that they are “teachers.” This is something that is revolutionary for a student. Yet, the reality is that they are “learners.” They are demonstrating that being a teacher is being the lifelong learner. It is interesting to examine the dialogues about “traditional” vs. “non traditional” methods of instruction. It is fascinating to hear groups debate the merits of multiple choice or short answer exams. It is powerful to witness students asking one another what they think the critical components of content are. It is meaningful to see students carrying three different textbooks, trying to obtain as much research and information as possible about Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, or the War of 1812 and what precipitated it. I have enjoyed this assignment for it marks a benchmark in the time of learning in C105. It is the moment where students truly wonder about what it means to be a teacher, what it means to be a learner, and what it means to be a scholar.

The definition of a middle school has come under great debate over the last year. I think we can appropriate it to mean “The climate of a developmentally responsive middle level school is safe, inviting, and caring; it promotes a sense of community and encourages learning.” (NMSA, This We Believe, 1995). Another component of it can include a type of education structure that “centers on the intellectual, social, emotional, moral, and physical developmental needs of young adolescents.... Exemplary middle level programs foster appropriate programs, policies, and practices that foster the development of these tasks in positive ways… through varied instructional methods” (http://www.designshare.com/Awards/2000/10031/10031_POE_4a.htm). When examining how students are working in their student led teaching assignment heterogeneous groups, one sees how the promises of a middle school education are being fulfilled. When students are asking if they can teach “in extended periods,” or if they are allowed “to take the class outside”, students approach their teaching and learning in different ways. This helps account for the differences in learning that are evident at this age. When we, as teachers, engage in tasks where each students’ learning can be accounted for in different and varied ways, I believe that the possibilities for education can be exceeded. All students are actively engaged in their learning because they are teaching, and responsible for how their students learn. The empowerment is evident, and in striving for this end, we highlight the best aspects of a middle school education.

The deadlines for this week are impressive. Handouts and all photocopying are due on Tuesday. Test questions are due on Thursday. All teaching assignments have to be ready to go on Thursday. This week will be an impressive one. Report card envelopes go home on Thursday, with the signed envelope due on April 3, 2008. Students will be ready to teach on the day of fools, April 1st.

It’s an exciting time indeed as new songs will be sung.
All best.

Mr. Kannan

P.S. The website featured above is an article which analyzes a successful Middle School in Massachusetts. It is interesting to note how many principles of the middle school philosophy, as outlined in the article, are in practice with our unit on student led teaching assignments. Of particular note is the concept that "the corridors are an extension of the classroom." Ask your emerging scholar where most of the lesson planning for their unit occurs. All groups meet and plan in the hallways, while one group has control of the entire classroom for their planning purposes.

Taking Ownership: Student Led Teaching Assignments and the Middle School Philosophy

2008-03-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

We begin our foray into student led teaching assignments this week. I have always enjoyed this particular section of the curriculum. We take about three weeks examining different aspects of Thomas Jefferson’s Presidency. While the content is important, the format of having students lead the instruction is the portion that is the most satisfying. Students are charged with the responsibility of absorbing the material as a group, then developing a plan of instructing students. Then, they have to compose a lesson to instruct their colleagues, develop a visual aid to help students retain the information, create handouts that students can use while instruction is transpiring, develop an authentic homework task, collect and assess it, and then finally compose and grade a portion of the exam. Students have to teach their colleagues, develop a plan of instruction, and bear responsibility for others’ learning. One of the greatest components of this unit is when I become a student as well as an observer. As the students teach, I will be typing comments on my laptop regarding their instruction, and then students have to grade and assess my homework assignments. Former students come back and reflect on this particular task as one of their most fond.

Something formidable this way comes...
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been noticing that students are listening to the current discourse of the constitution of a middle school. As we concluded the examination of the political parties, the issue of a middle school under the philosophy of republican and federalist factions was scrutinized. Students voiced the divergent reactions of our stakeholders. While I held my opinions to myself, I found the discussion interesting. As we progress through this discourse and find a level of authentic resolution, I believe that as middle school teachers, our tasks and methods should reflect tenets of the middle school philosophy. One such idea is the notion of differentiated instruction. Stakeholders seem to be rightly concerned with the idea that their particular student is not challenged through content. Differentiated instruction meets this need for it matches instruction to the particular learner. I believe that the student led teaching tasks for chapter nine is an example of differentiated instruction on two levels. The first is that students, themselves, match up their understanding with the task’s aims of how to teach this content to others. The second example of differentiated instruction is the students must develop different means to communicate this content to themselves and their colleagues. One of the beautiful aims of this task is that if forces students to consider multiple paths to meaning and understanding. As middle school teachers, we account for this with almost every breath. When students are discharged with this responsibility, the promise of more relevant teaching and learning is exhibited.
Another particular aim of middle school philosophy is the notion of community. The middle school was conceived as a social experiment in developing community. Our institutional language fosters this. Wings, teams, core extension, flexed schedule, and advisory are a few of the terms which daily address the idea of community and learning as a social construct. I believe that this particular task meets this aim because it forces all students to consider the social dimensions to learning. Initially, when students collaborate with one another to divide up responsibilities, one sees the social construction of learning. The dialogues that build this discourse enhance this: “I can do this....” “Can you do this...?” “I can help you with this…” “I think this might work….” When students are determining how to teach their material to their colleagues, one sees the analysis of material in others’ eyes. When students hold study sessions and distribute back assignments to their peers, explaining what was done well and what required improvement, and when students have to maintain a 70% class average on their particular component of the exam, there is a social construction of learning and community is highly evident. One last point here to be made is the idea that communitarian notions of learning best happen when there is a heterogeneous and intellectually diverse presence. When students are engaging in the analysis of how others’ learn, it is important and almost essential to gather as many points of view as possible on the topic. This happens best when divergent and multiple voices are included in the discourse.
The last component of a middle school philosophy that I will offer in this missive is the role of teacher. As already extensively detailed, middle school is a time of change. It is accordingly fitting that the conception of the teacher be changed, as well. When students assume control of teaching content, the role of the teacher is one of advisor, practitioner, and collegial learner. When the teacher submits homework assignments that are to be graded, there is a change evident. Even the discussion between student and teacher changes; from one predicated on power to one where the discourse is more level and more productive towards a higher end.

We start this task on Monday night, when students receive the task description. I believe that our students, emerging scholars, and soon to be teachers will exceed standards and develop a new and unique stamp on the curriculum. As with all that we have done this year, a new and fascinating song in the garden is waiting to be sung.

All best, happy hunting and even happier teaching.
Mr. Kannan

The last act awaits: The Third Trimester

2008-03-01T15:35:00.000-08:00

As we move into the last phase of our journey, 7-1 students should acclimate themselves to embracing a rousing finale to their journeys of scholarship. The final exam for second trimester is now of the past. Students can access their grades online through mygradebook.com and see how they fared. The extra credit tasks for the Constitution will be the last official grades of second trimester (due Thursday, 3/6). If students are content with their performance, then the grade listed in the summary is the grade that will stand. However, should students feel the need to improve their current standing, then completing the extra credit tasks this long weekend might prove beneficial.
In terms of next week, we begin our study of the presidencies of Washington and Adams. The discussion will also reveal the growth of political parties and the pros and cons of partisanship. We will close the week with a speak/ write lecture on the Alien and Sedition Acts, as well as a prologue into the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. The next major assessment for students will be a teaching assignment where they will have to assume the burden of designing a unit around a particular theme of the Jeffersonian presidency. This will lead us into Spring Break, with the actual teaching to take place upon our return. After this, we will be sprinting towards the end with a study of American modernism and the growth between North and South, culminating in our study of the Civil War.
The expectation is that this trimester will be the hardest students have endured. Social Studies extra credit opportunities will be phased out as the trimester progresses, as the work will increase in difficulty. After their teaching assignments, students will have to make some critical choices in terms of coverage of material. One of my hopes for this trimester is that students employ their sense of autonomy in making critical decisions about their academic states of being. I hope to be laying out options to students in methods of covering chapters 11- 14 in different and unique manners. We will be relying on the textbook, primary sources, literature, as well as other tools which will help illuminate the growth of America, and clearly highlight the themes and challenges of modern America.
In the final analysis, third trimester should offer diverse and multiple approaches to content. One of the themes of a middle school education is creating different paths that brighten a child’s way on the path of understanding and scholarship. In our current state of “reexamining” middle school philosophy, I can only hope that we do not “throw the baby out with the bathwater” and gear everything towards the needs of the few, while sacrificing the needs of the many. I hope that third trimester creates settings where all children are offered their own senses of individualized instruction and differentiated modalities that show the execution of the learning process. (It would be exciting if all students engaged in independent study projects. This would no longer be a terrain dominated by the few, but open to all and able to be embraced by all.) By making the connection between choice and learning, I believe that we fulfill a primary tenet of middle school education in creating the life long learner, whose constructivist base allows them a greater success in all realms of learning.
As students enter the third trimester, perhaps they can best understand the experience as beginning the process of departure, where a new door of perception will be opened as more songs in the garden await their arrival into the world. The songs of this trimester, the last one, await.

All best.
Mr. Kannan

Visions of Greatness: Words of Hector, Deeds of 7-1 Students

2008-02-23T16:24:00.000-08:00

"My doom has come upon me; let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter."

- Spoken by Hector facing Achilles, after a missed spear-throw, Iliad Book XXII Lines 299-305.

There is little else to say. This week, students will take their second trimester final exam for Social Studies. The exam will be tough. The only nightly tasks for students this week would be to either lightly brush up on concepts that they witness on the exam or to rest well.

I have been surprised at the amount of realism many of our students have possessed in regards to this exam. As I spent last week observing them and have to calibrate and assess their focus in the upcoming week, I believe they will demonstrate the strength of brave Hector, who demonstrates a level of discomfort with the task which has been discharged to him, but also knows how bound he is by honor to "do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter." I sense that the glory of Hector would be appropriate to many of our academic warriors facing yet one more challenge.

I think that on the eve of this mammoth encounter between emerging scholar and assessment little else needs to be said. We await the outcome of this battle with swords (pencils) drawn and results suspended... at least until 3:30 Friday, 2/29.

Happy hunting to all of the kings and queens of historical inquiry on Team 7-1.

Mr. Kannan

P.S. Next week's blog will have some advanced "exit poll" like results of student achievement on this exam. To our perceptive thinkers, please don't think that I will actually post the results on the blog... tempting as that might be!

“Here they come around the turn…” One week before the Final Exam

2008-02-17T10:09:00.000-08:00

We are closing out strong. The Social Studies final exam starts on Monday, 2/25 and lasts until Friday, 2/29. For this week’s blog, I thought I would focus on 10 things that can be done this week for all students to enhance their chances of doing well on this important exam and help strengthen their status in the class for second trimester. All of these items should be integrated into student academic habits not merely this week, but throughout their remaining time in this class.

* Focus this week’s in class and on nightly assignments- With one week to go, students should pay attention to all the nightly tasks this week. Our discussion will address the Civil Rights amendments and final points that need to be made on the Constitution. I believe that while students are studying all that will be present on the Final Exam, there might be a tendency to forget the items discussed this week. This would be a mistake, so being mindful of this week’s content might prevent such a miscalculation from happening.

* Work on the study guide each night- Students were given a two page study guide which addressed all pertinent items on the final exam on Friday, 2/15 (Extra copies can be found on this blog under the hyperlink of “Handouts.”) It is strongly advised that students make nightly progress on this packet, one section at a time. Students should use their notes, any work they have created, as well as their textbook in addressing what each concept is and why it is important. Naturally, since the format of the test is multiple choice, students should be able to state specific facts relating to each concept as well as its overall general importance or significance. The study guide is comprehensive, so time should be devoted to it on a nightly and incremental basis.

* Generate questions about study guide and compose them on a separate list, segmented out by chapter/ concept- As students work on their study guides, any areas of question or wonderment should be noted in a separate list. My hope is that they understand much of the study guide, as it is review of material that we have discussed throughout the trimester. Yet, areas that require further analysis should be noted on a separate list, and as these areas are addressed, there should be a stronger sense of confidence developed about these topics.

* Attend study sessions with questions that need to be answered- There will be lunchtime study sessions held this week, as well as a Friday morning study session. This puts the number of study sessions at 5. Students can attend any and all of these, as all study sessions will be generated by student questions which make them all uniquely distinctive and different. The study sessions could be excellent opportunities where student questions can be answered. While these are informal question and answer sessions, where there will be no formalized reteaching of concepts, attendance will be taken. Students who are having challenges with the format of the exam, or the concepts presented should use these sessions as opportunities to open the dialogue and minimize confusion about what is being presented. Passes will be made available on the table outside of my room. It will require a sacrifice from students, as they will have to make a choice between the opportunity to socialize with colleagues and gain further understanding about the exam and what is expected form students on it. This is a choice they will have to make. The opportunities to maximize student success are there, and the hope is that students will seize it.

* Examine the blog- Complete some of the extra credit offered this week. As we are taking stock of where students are and what is laid in front of them, the reality is that at the time of composing this blog, there are over 1300 points for this trimester. In addition to this, there have been over 100 points of extra credit offered. Perhaps, this week would be one week where students might seek to bolster their standing in the class before the final exam by completing some of the extra credit offered on this blog. The “Wacky Metaphoric Analysis” could yield up to nine points of extra credit for well composed written answers, and identifying the speaker of the quotations has proven to be quite lucrative for a handful of 7-1 students. Finally, if we generate 100 votes on this week’s poll question, every student on the team will receive 10 points for exercising their democratic sensibilities. All of these could be dismissed as “easy points,” but the looming storm of a 500 point exam might require students to secure their grade before it hits. I see little wrong with building up some “rainy day” points, in the event it pours next week. (There's one more piece of advice similar to this one soon enough.)

* Extra credit- As long as there have been teachers and students, there has been the question of extra credit. I think there is little doubt as to where I stand. Extra credit is an opportunity for all students, made available to all students, and designed in order to assist all students. At this point in their academic careers, I believe students must understand that academic success can take different forms. Students can be proficient at taking tests, demonstrate strength in their writing, and excel at assembling projects. I also believe that students should strive to go beyond the content in acquiring as many points as possible. Perhaps this means dong more work, or opening a dialogue with parents/ guardians about what is transpiring in the classroom via obtaining signatures. Last week, students were given a series of extra credit tasks offered on the Constitution and the current political climate. Exploring one or more of these options could prove to be both academically lucrative and intellectually enlightening for all students. The due date for completed tasks to be submitted is Thursday, March 6, 2008. While these reside in the long term, students can get this week’s syllabus and progress report signed for extra credit. Again, this opportunity is made available to all students in the hope of helping all students.

* Completing the daily points questions- Another opportunity open to all has come in the form of daily points. Over the last two weeks, students have been greeted with their entrance into class with “Daily Points.” These are random questions on the Constitution and serve as an excellent source of test question material on the Constitution. Each student receives one random question and a successful answer yields fifteen points. If a student wanted to test their knowledge base on the Constitution, these questions are posted on the blog (under the handouts link) and can be printed out, completed, and submitted for extra credit points. In a larger sense, completing these questions helps to gauge student understanding on a concept that will be prevalent on the Final Exam.

* Examine the blog, part 2- As long as I have taught, I have always featured a “Final Exam.” I think there is something quite powerful about demonstrating what is known in one setting, displaying focused energy throughout. This week, I will be posting previous Final Exam questions from the last couple of years on the blog (under the handouts link.) Former final exam questions will be on the exam. These questions will be posted on Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night. I will have the answer keys posted in the Team 7-1 Team area, so students can check how they fared with these and any questions can start a discussion. While the questions will be different on this year’s final exam, I think it might help to serve as a good guide to familiarize students with topics covered. Exam questions will be posted on Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night.

* Pay attention to the guide on how to study- Students were given a handout on Friday, 2/15, which outlines a method on “how to study” for this Final Exam. I realize that all of our students have their own methodology for exam studying. Yet, in giving students some of my personal advice on how to prepare for this comprehensive assessment, I believe that it might help students engage in a worthy internal discussion of metacognition; How do I know what I know? I believe that some professionals simply “assume” students “know” how to study, and while this might be true for some, I believe that other students simply have been told to “study.” This document might offer some strategies on how to proceed with this element of being told to “study.”

* Make the commitment and keep the commitment to doing well- As students focus on wanting to do well on the final exam, the reality is that students will have to work as hard as they can to do so. I have told students to assume or take as a fact that this exam will be the hardest exam they have ever taken. I sense that a tendency of 7th grade students is to demonstrate a sense of pride, sometimes hubris, that indicates that little can surprise them. My hope is that we can seek to minimize this. Students who anticipate challenge and embrace its reality are lifelong learners and true scholars. 7th grade students who choose not to study because they believe that they “know it all” demonstrate arrogance. One need only examine literature such as Sophocles or Shakespeare or examine the narratives of American History to see what happens when one demonstrates hubris when modesty should be displayed. I sense that if students want to do well, they must make a commitment to doing their best in preparing and ensuring comprehension of the components on the final exam. If they do and are willing to uphold their commitments in the face of those who might not possess the same sense of zeal, they will find success.

When I envisioned all the goals for this year’s Social Studies classes, taking this final exam was one of the benchmarks that would serve to measure our journey. We continue our voyage this week with final preparations and execution next week.

The nightingales are waiting to sing their songs. In the silence of preparation, one can hear emerging notes whose harmonies remind us of the promises and possibilities of what we do and to what idylls we commit ourselves.

Happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

A play on Perlstein: “Assessed: One team of students struggles to sojourn on through the Constitution.”

2008-02-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

The title for this week’s blog entry is a respectful salute to Linda Perlstein’s recent work, Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade. It was suggested that I read the book and as I absorb the lessons in it, I sense much meaning in my own pedagogical experience with this year’s students. The book centers on the world of education in the age of No Child Left Behind legislation. The aspect of this work that resonates with me is the idea of how our students struggle. Listening to the voices of student struggle throughout the nature of battling through the challenge posed within modern education seems to be a theme that I can sense in the hearts and minds of our current 7-1 students. Certainly, Social Studies on 7-1 occupies a different position of challenge than other disciplines as it is the only subject not to be tested on our upcoming ISATS. This creates a unique sensibility towards the class. On one hand, this would make the class somewhat more approachable than other courses because the spectre of “external assessment” is removed. Yet, the reality of the type of teacher that is driving the class is what casts a more looming and, perhaps, more formidable adversary than any other. I can sense that students do not sense the lack of a state exam as a reason to understand this class as any easier. I could sense that some students might be more willing to have an external assessment than wrestle with the demons of the second trimester final exam that is less than 15 days away and focuses on the study of the Constitution.
Bearing this in mind, I wanted to compose a blog entry that addresses the reality of what students need to be doing and what parents should be doing in order to help them achieve this particular goal. I sense that this blog will be a bit more direct, and less on the academic/ analytic level. My hopes are that this missive will help provide a bit more clarity to all stakeholders in addressing the challenges which exist in the next two weeks:
To all 7-1 Social Studies Students:
* Are you keeping up with the nightly assignments and playing a good game of catchup in case you fall behind?- One item that is critical is to ensure that “No Constitutional Legacy is Left Behind.” In this vein, completing all nightly tasks is an absolute. Make sure that if you need more time, you are communicating with me and coming up during lunch or during the morning. Weekend time should be spent reviewing ideas and preparing for upcoming lessons and concepts. The daily questions are adding up. At these checks of nightly study, you have to be able to “man up” and ensure you are obtaining your points. If you are “lost” are you communicating with Mr. Kannan? Home calls, emails, or even discussions at free moments. These are the steps that can allow for greater success. Even if you assumed that you could do nothing and then study the night before the 25th on everything, you would lose daily points at a rate of 15 points a day. It has already wreaked some damage on some of your grades, so make all attempts to ensure that you are focused on the course of study that has been charted for you.
* Have you taken advantage of all the opportunities made available to you? This would mean revising items that need to be revised (quizzes on the Supreme Court, writing prompts) and completing extra credit (signed progress reports/ syllabi, extra credit outcome sentences, Constitution extra credit writing tasks.)
* Are you engaging in the discourse?- Successful students are ones who are constantly immersed in “chatter.” By this, I mean that students that engage in dialogue about the academic concepts fare much better than those who remain in silence or discuss non- academic items. If you are talking with others about items such as the first amendment, judicial activism, or amending the Constitution, you stand a better chance of success than not doing so. One of the hopes I have is that when all of you line up outside of class waiting for your questions, you start talking to one another about what principles you know, what goals the person in front of you know, or the amendments that the person behind you knows. I have told all classes that the climate of the building will dramatically change when we can see and hear students engaging in academic discourse. Reflect for a moment if the lunchroom became the pantheon where tables of students feverishly debated if the 2nd amendment applies today as it did in the times of the framers. How about a “Social Studies Evening Jam Session”? Bring your snacks and your ipods as a group of friends get together to hang out and discuss… the Constitution! Wouldn’t it be great to hear one student say, “Let me plug my ipod into the dock so that we can hear the ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ version of the Preamble!” These discussions make for stronger students, and in doing so, relegate adults to the margins, and increase the likelihood for academic greatness to be evident.
* Are you engaging in the discourse, parte dos- The reality is that if students approach their teachers willing to talk about content issues, we create the bridges to intellectual glory. One of the hopes of the “Meet Social Studies” sessions is that it would be a great opportunity for students to talk with teacher and peer alike about “Social Studies.” This brainstorming session between both parties will yield stronger thought. The other element revealed is that the barriers of an adversarial relationship between student and teacher are dissolved. In place is a new foundation built on trust and collegiality. The reality facing students and teachers alike is how both sides can trust one another. This would be a good step in creating a realm where this is evident.
*Do you know that you can run, but you can’t hide?- I sense that some students will do none of the above and think that this is “no big deal.” I can say that this is not wise, and an advertisement for “Bad Idea Jeans.” The reality is that all “chickens will come home to roost” on the week of the 25th. A five day final exam that covers everything and no notes made available is the reality that faces all students. What is done to ensure success, accept academic and moral responsibility, and demonstrate a mature sense of greatness will be tallied at that time. There is a reckoning. Joe Louis was right when he softly spoke about Billy Conn, trying to evade the champ in the ring: “He can run, but he can’t hide.” So true.
To all 7-1 Social Studies Parents/ Guardians:
*It’s their battle and we can help them win it. I believe that the best way for parents/ guardians to help is to keep our emerging scholars on the path of scholarship. The reality is that neither the teacher nor the parent can take the test or assessments for the child. The student will have to work harder than anyone else in their pursuit of glory. We can assist them through intellectual, emotional, and physical encouragement. This can take the form of allowing time for your students to check the blog and creating a plan to assist them in developing a greater focus outside of class on what needs to be done in it. One theme that I loved hearing from last week’s conferences was how families created specific times for particular tasks. “Monday night syllabi night” or “Wednesday night blog night” were not only humorous, but underscored how important it is to develop a pattern that represents classroom success even when a student is outside of it. I believe creating this habit of academic vigilance creates stronger students, and successful warriors.
* Engaging families in the discourse. I also enjoyed conference narratives that included how parents had to field Constitutional questions from their children. I thought that spoke volumes. Students who take the classroom concepts with them to their homes, bringing them to their families will fare better than those who do not. It’s a challenge speaking to any child. I can personally testify to this. Yet, I think some “intellectual conversation starters” between parents and chlidren would help out in this process:
“Which amendment is the most important to you?”
“ What mistakes did the framers make in their forming of the Constitution?”
“What items of the Constitution are in the news today?” (Watching the news as a family or with children is invaluable. Some of the best discussions happen right there.)
“Which amendment/ branch of government does Mr. Kannan like and why?”
“Which goal of the Constitution do you think you need to embrace in order to deal with Social Studies?” (Hint: The securing of the right to be left alone…)

A large fear of parents/ guardians is “How do I know that my kids are right?” I think it’s a natural concern. My feeling is that if students can convince you of their point of view with detail, support, and analysis, this would mean that they are on the right track. If they can reason their way with all of you, then I believe that they are going to be just fine in Social Studies. In this respect, I am confident that the intellectual discussions which emerge within the homes find their way into students’ pattern of recognition.
*"Your Social Studies teacher writes a lot of stuff- let’s try to go through it together.” One of the best aspects of this year has been my desire to break my dependence on the District 97 server. I had a webpage on the district server for the last two years and when the server went down, so did the webpage. I credit some of my more technologically driven colleagues for moving me to the blogspot and box.net domains. I have become addicted to both. I am the first to admit this. Yet, I think if all stakeholders collaborate on discussing what is present in this blog or in the classroom handouts that can be downloaded from box.net, a sense of solidarity can emerge. If American History has taught us anything, it is that when stakeholders develop a sense of community and unity through trying times, they stand a better chance of succeeding through them and emerging into a vision of triumph. Certainly, I don’t mind being the force where parents/ students align themselves in order to demonstrate academic glory. (I am targeted in so many ways that at least this way can help our students learn. I will take it, and no, I do not have a martyr complex, but I sense that my choice of profession would move me closer to it.) Building from this would be when students and parents sit down together and check their online grades. I experienced several moments when students and parents used the computer in the team area to examine online grades together and a pointed and direct discussion between on strengths/ weaknesses emerged. We seek to create the dialogue, and steps such as these can go to great ends in securing these.

I believe that our students, your children and both of our emerging scholars, can achieve the notion of success that we both want if these items are being followed. For many of our students, these steps are already integrated into a pattern of recognition and acceptance. The goal would be for all of our students to experience this. Small measures can help to achieve the greater and more formidable goal of academic success. I can only hope that like Principal McKnight, our own nightingales can sing “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” with absolute clarity in our garden of scholarship.

Happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

CNN is now ready to project that T.S. Eliot was wrong and February, that’s right, February, will win as “the cruelest month.”

2008-02-02T17:53:00.001-08:00

As political candidates rage against the darkness intrinsic to the political nomination process, 7-1 students themselves are "fighting against the dying of the light." February greets these tired warriors with their most formidable of foes. As we continue our study of the Constitution, we will engage into the battlefield of personal freedom, judicial activism and restraint, the many rulings that have formed the backbone of the Constitution, as well as the memorization of the many concepts that must accompany the unit of such a magnitude. It has always been challenging to be in 7-1 Social Studies, yet right now, it is downright tough.
Perhaps, a more educational friendly opening would have been more appropriate. In our study of the Constitution, we have outlined the principles and goals of great importance to the framers. We will now move into the study of Supreme Court Rulings, as well as issues that seem to be inherent in the Constitution. The objective here will be to move students from a fact based interpretation of the Constitution to a level of greater synthesis, where higher ordered thinking skills will be required to problem solve targeted areas in Constitutional Theory. The methods of assessing student understanding will be through traditional quizzes, memorization tasks, as well as writing prompts and outcome sentences. Students will be encouraged to match independent work with successful valences of in class and out of class peer collaboration.
Finally, I use the words of a current 7-1 student: “Dang, this stuff is tough!”

I think all three approaches would describe where we are. We are just past the half way point of our study of the Constitution. Notice the progression: From goals and ideas, we have progressed to principles, execution, as well as specific hermeneutics of the institutions developed as part of the Constitution. We now place focus on individual amendments, the role the Supreme Court has played within the enhancement of Constitutional Theory, as well as the dilemmas that are inherent within such notions. It is taxing and difficult. Students will have composed over 100 outcome sentences on the topics presented in the Constitution, submitted multiple writings on the nature of the Constitution, and collected a vast number of handouts and items pertaining to increasing their understanding of the Constitution. Yet, this builds up to the unit assessment. The first will be a second trimester final exam, starting from the Path to Revolution to the Constitution. This standardized exam will take four to five days to complete, as it should amount to about 120- 150 questions. It is going to be intense. There will be study sessions held, study guides distributed, as well as high expectations placed on students in order to demonstrate their best. Such an assessment will be an excellent precursor into our domain of school wide standardized testing. The second assessment will be more interpretive, and will allow students to access multiple learning styles. This will take about two weeks to complete. Upon the conclusion of both assessments, students will have engaged in a rather intense course of study on the Constitution of the United States.
At this point, students must reaffirm to their commitment to doing well in Social Studies. I suppose that since we are at a point where we are closer to the end than we were to the beginning, it would be imperative for students to find ways to strengthen their standing in the class. It is understood that both assessments will be challenging. This would mean that in order for success to be present, students will have to face these assessments without worry and excessive fear. I have always believed that students fare better on assessments knowing that they have taken all needed steps through their successful preparation, and have secured every possible point prior to them, so in the event that something should “go wrong,” there is support and backup to ensure that the results are not of too disastrous a nature. For example, if a student knows that an upcoming exam is a challenge, I believe that it would be wise for them to keep up with nightly assignments, take advantage of any and all extra credit opportunities, and ensure that their focus is present in classroom instruction. When students learn how to embrace the Sun Tzu idea that “every battle is won before it is ever fought,” I believe that they not only have a greater chance of finding success, but they adopt a mentality that allows them to not acquiesce to defeat. True scholarship is when success is an embedded part of one’s state of mind. It happens at the moment where a student is able to say that they have prepared in a strong manner, done everything within their power, and are focused on the outcome, as opposed to the result. At this point, one can sense the empowerment that happens within the psyche of a student and this transformation happens on both academic and emotional levels.
At this point, students can take an active role to allow them to reach this plateau of transformation. This role can take on so many forms, that when students determine that their state of being reflects this habit of success, they will find what it is they sorely desire. It can be evident when students are proactive on assignment completion, attentiveness in class, and organization with the many handouts and items having been distributed. It can be evident when students focus on getting parent signatures on syllabi and extra credit progress reports. It can be evident when students seek to revise work that could be better. It can be evident when a student makes a commitment to arrive into class, follow instructions, and pay attention with silent focus, and steadfast determination, showing the signs of focus and readiness. It can be evident when students show this model amongst a setting of others who cannot, and receive extra credit on a syllabus that can be redeemed at the end of the week for points (Ask the student who organized her desk/ work area and showed focus while her colleagues were entering class conversing about non- Social Studies items. She obtained 15 points on a syllabus to counter the envious eyes of others.) It can be evident when students examine this blog for extra credit opportunities, as well as downloading advance copies of syllabi, in class handouts, as well as lecture notes posted. It can be evident when students read their daily schedules posted in the hallway and copy down the quotation framing the order of classes and find out who was the speaker for extra credit. It can be evident when students attend “Meet Social Studies” sessions and ask questions about the content and applications of it. It can be evident when students do what is needed to understand the material and ask questions when they open a new neurological pathway in their brains. It can be evident when a student sees me in the hallway in the morning or if by happenstance during an off team moment and issues a challenge: “If you have a minute, could you ask me a question about the Constitution?” Successful answering could allow them to receive a coupon for extra credit points. The ideas presented help to prove that when students assume the persona of an active agent of change in their academic worlds, success is a given. When students become the independent arbiters of their intellectual journey, instruction has reached its zenith. When students embody what it means to pursue “the good, the true, and the beautiful,” the songs of the garden enter their full cadence of sonorous melody.

February might be the cruelest month, but like the ending to Eliot’s work might be an opportunity to find some level of “shanti” in their learning experiences of not only the Constitution, but within this class, in general.

Happy Hunting.
Mr. Kannan

The Teacher- Encouraged Peril Within Challenge

2008-01-24T18:42:00.001-08:00

The Constitutional journey continues this week. Thus far, we have explored the Preamble, the goals of the Constitution and the principles to accompany it. The reality is that we have much more to go in this voyage. Our focus this coming week will focus on attaining concepts regarding the different branches of government. The very nature of this inquiry is differentiated so that students of all levels can probe deeply into the nature of United States government as well as the structure of political institutions. Evidence of this would be how students sought to forge connections between goals and principles, as well as methods how students seek to understand modern applications of the topic of the Executive Branch. The use of Outcome Sentences also differentiates as students are the active agents of understanding in the concept of creating a one sentenced result of their learning. Students are being asked (and, in some cases, forced) to raise the level of commitment, focus, and heart in emerging into the domain of scholarship.

In a larger sense, the middle school ideals can be seen in this idea of student responsibility and accountability. The idea of differentiated instruction works best when the student conducts the differentiation. When students can be trusted to be the arbiters of academic conceptions of the good, we place a level of advocacy and autonomy on students that allow them to be stronger scholars. This aspect of freedom is integral to the middle school concept. When students are encouraged to take chances and engage in intellectual risk in the protected domains of a middle school, the results yield a critically discerning author of their own intellectual journey. Our unit on the Constitution is one of those instances where students can take risks in their thought and their production. Yet, these risks can only be taken if students are willing to put their imprint on their time in this classroom. One of the questions that I have started to pose to students is how are they going to leave their mark in their time in 7-1 Social Studies? What will they do with their time that shows meaning and purpose? The study of the Constitution has been peppered with statements such as, “You will be coming back here next year and telling the student sitting in this seat to listen to these notes on the Preamble” or “You will be appreciative of how you memorized the Preamble next year.” These ideas force our current students to start playing with the image of time in so far as seeing themselves as future students for a moment in the present coming back to speak to the future beings who will inhabit their present space. For a moment, I can catch some of our students creating a mental projection into this time/ space continuum and at that moment, I can see the precursors to understanding develop. I believe that the current stress on differentiated instruction can be understood in a more coherent and, perhaps, healthy context if we empower students to be authors of an emotional and intellectual journey. If they are willing to undergo it and endure the trials and terrors that seem intrinsic to it, they will find triumph in the final analysis. This dynamic of endurance and triumph is not only a Faulknerian theme, but one that injects purpose and relevancy into instruction. Once this dynamic has been accomplished, students have become scholars, instruction has been met to students’ needs, and all have raised their capacity for greatness. It is not only a goal of a middle school, such as Percy Julian, but embodied in the principles of 7-1’s Unit on the Constitution.

As always, the middle of the year seems to embody more red tape items than originally thought. Conference sign up sheets have been sent home and confirmations will be or already have been sent home. (At this time, my conference schedule is posted under the link of “Handouts” on the pdf pane to the left hand side of the blog.) Additionally, we will be going “live” with online grades very soon. Our tentative plans are to be ready by the 29th of January. In addition to this, students will receive weekly progress reports in Social Studies that can be signed by parent/ guardian and submitted by Thursday of each week for five points of extra credit. In class news, the “Meet Social Studies” study session will start on Monday, 2/11, during 5th period lunch. Simply put, it’s a Tim Russert- like “Meet the Press” setting where students have the chance to ask questions and seek clarification about the curriculum or specific content. It’s not a moment to complete homework (students can make individual AM or Lunchtime appointments to do this). Instead, this “Meet Social Studies” study session is intended to enhance dialogue about the curriculum and offer clarity where confusion might be present. To paraphrase the words of the great Buffalo Bills fan, “If it’s Monday, It’s meet Social Studies!” Finally, students should be on the lookout for Election ’08 Extra Credit opportunities in the next week or ten days.

As the songs in our garden strove to be heard, their notes are struck through the emergence of scholarship through challenge and academic austerity. The only piece of advice I can offer is for students to keep singing their songs.

All best and happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

The Dawn of Understanding: Constitutionality in 7-1 Social Studies Students

2008-01-17T18:59:00.000-08:00

Progress Reports went out Thursday. I witnessed a variety of expressions at the receipt of progress reports. I believe that there was a contingent of students who awoke to the fact that first trimester is in fact over. This would mean that whatever success experienced before remains in that portal of the past and is not entirely reflective of future success. These students faced the dawn of a new mode of reality: Second trimester is here and is a force who is demanding the reality of reckoning. Another group of students saw their progress reports took a deep breath upon looking at their progress report. They smiled and marveled at how well they did. Yet, there was something in their sensibilities that indicated to them that there was much more to come. This progress report being held in their grasp was only a snapshot at a particular moment in time. They looked around the room, my room, and collected that what lie in store will be far more arduous than what was expected. Another group looked at their progress report and seemed to hope beyond a calculation that things “will get better.” Their hope resided in the ever present that there will be some awakening, some angel that will rescue them. It seemed that the students I witnessed on progress report day would fall into one or a hybrid of the above classifications.

I think a common thread in all of these test cases of student response to student achievement is the notion of an awakening. There seemed to be a maturation element which was present, one that might not have reared its head earlier on in the year. I believe this idea of awakening and dawning is critical in understanding where our unit in the Constitution has progressed. In the last week, I believe that there has been a level of dawning that has emerged in many of our students. Lining up outside of class to give an amendment, memorizing the Preamble, learning about sections of the Constitution, and wrestling with the demons that seem to be present in both the Citizenship Handbook as well as outcome sentences have all seemed to be create a new morn in the minds of our emerging students; “morning, excellent and fair.”

This metaphor of the dawn or awakening seems to not only be reflected in our students, but is a critical component within the Constitution. The framers conceived of a document that was living and breathing, a set of ordinances on first glance, but revealing so much more. Their creation can only function if there is a new horizon within which freedom can be exercised, a road that will continue, and an eternal sense of dawn and morning. This dynamic of allowing for opportunities to display the sense of excellence and glory intrinsic to the Constitutional employment of freedom seemed to be of critical importance to the Founders. This might explain why the notion of liberty seems to play such a vital role in the interpretation of the document. At the same time, I can sense that this idea seems to be present in our students. For some, freedom is becoming more definable, as their choices are beginning to form the initial foundations or vestiges of who they will become. Middle school is an excellent domain to experience this aspect of freedom for it makes universal a subjective experience. The notion of individual identity is something that is emotionally and physiologically differentiated for all of our students. To experience the Constitutional dependence on freedom in a pure middle school setting enhances the meaning of the content. Like the framers, our students are beginning to scratch the surface of how immense the natures of freedom and choice are. Within this schema, students are beginning to see how their road, like that of the infant America, stretches for miles. Progress Report day seemed to illuminate to me the many level of dawn that lie inherent in our student.

The framers were wise enough to understand the complex nature of choice. They saw that choices could go in either direction, but there are more gains that result from positive choices, decisions and actions that seek to build a foundation, despite its difficulty, as opposed to seeking sanctuary in a negative one, or what Mill would label as the “lower” pleasure. I believe that our immersion into the Constitution is illuminating more about it. At an awkwardly simultaneously moment, I can sense more coming out about our students, as well. Choices begin to emerge out of cloistered halls of individual fear and into the wide open they present themselves and more about our students become evident. The framers saw this emergence of a nation that I see in 7-1 students.

As morning breaks, excellent and fair, we can hear that song of the nightingale that cannot be recounted or replicated, but only experienced.

The Red Tape Issues also seem to be guiding us at this time. Conference sign up sheets went out with Progress Reports. Please return them as soon as possible. Confirmations will be sent home with students. My conference schedule will be posted under the pdf link “Upcoming Tasks/ Assessments/ Handouts” on the top left hand pane of this blog. At the same time, grades are going to be going online on January 28. Expect to be able to experience both the joy of online grade acquisition combined with progress reports to be sent home with the same regularity that has defined 7-1 Social Studies thus far in the year.

As always, if I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at school or at home.

Mr. Kannan

The Constitution, February, Philosophy, and Tony Kushner: Where 7-1 Social Studies Might Finally Meet

2008-01-12T13:30:00.000-08:00

***PLEASE NOTE: Based on the extensive class discussion on Monday, 1/14, I have decided to spend an extra day on the Speak/ Write Lecture on 7-3. This means, that Tuesday night's assignment will be about The Bill of Rights and assigned in class. Students will be asked to note all changes in their daily planners and their syllabi for the week. We will commence the inductive learning task on the Constitution on Wednesday. All assignments will be moved down a day, and Thursday's work will commence on Tuesday, 1/22. I thank you in advance for your understanding, but the discussion necessitates another day. And now, this week's blog...

After some time having passed after our philosophy seminars, I have come to the conclusion that our progression into Constitutionality will yield some fascinating results. It was worthwhile to witness our students debate and discuss the intellectual points surrounding topics such as freedom, selfishness, violence, friendship, the existence of God, identity, ethical relativism, and happiness. The discourse allowed for different thoughts and ideas to emerge. Moreover, I believe that all of our students, our emerging scholars, understood the inherent intricacy of philosophic discourse. Our philosophy seminar embodied so many middle school principles. Heterogeneous composition of groups allowed students from different valences of experience voice their opinion on topics of meaning. The format of open forum where all strove to find common ground and understanding was also a concept unique to the middle school experience. Even the mere physical configuration reminded me of what the middle school mission was designed to be: Students leading and participating in discussions throughout a Wing, sitting on the floor, taking notes, and listening to the thoughts of others. There was noise, the type that indicates learning and discussion is present. When I stood in front of stakeholders at Curriculum Night and talked about how my goal was to create a “Construction Zone” of learning, the philosophy seminar was an operational definition of this principle.

As we move from Philosophy to the realm of Constitutionality, the same principles will be evident. We conclude our discussion of the Constitutional Convention this week and begin our descent (or ascent, if you are not a student) into the ideas within the Constitution. We will be identifying goals and principles, facts and applications, theories and practices. We will start our voyage with what is present in our textbook, in the section entitled “Citizenship Handbook” and then move into the relevancy of the Constitutional based issues. Finally, we will use the elements of political philosophy in examining the role of government in the lives of individuals and society. This would mean that students will experience both aspects of history in telling the narrative of the Constitution- primary and secondary sources. This will culminate in our second trimester final exam which will cover The American Revolution, post Revolutionary America, and the Constitution. I would anticipate this taking place towards the end of February.

A source of debate within our discipline of History is why students would require multiple exposure to concepts. Perhaps, this is a topic of discussion in any course of study. I have always maintained that the Constitution is a vibrant part of my curriculum and it is developmentally appropriate to illuminate this topic as often as possible into the world of Middle School Students. I began my discussion of the Constitution this past week by suggesting that the Constitution is “one of but a handful of documents that every adult in America wrestles or interacts with on a daily basis.” An implied foundation to Law and Order (including the long running television show) is a heightened awareness of the Constitution. The fact that our nation is currently in the process of selecting a president only brings further light to the relevancy of the Constitution. I have believed that the more exposure students have to the Constitution, the greater the chance they will understand its implications, which have managed to perplex, amaze, challenge, and comfort Americans since its inception. We can even see how our middle school relies on the principles and ideas of the Constitution. When we speak of student autonomy, the power of independent thought, as well as promoting a climate which enhances the general welfare, we speak in terms first coined in America by the Constitution. As a side note, it is worthy to note that the previous version of our Social Studies textbook included a discussion of the First Amendment which dovetailed into Justice Holmes’ idea of how the First Amendment does have limits and does not allow “one to scream ‘Fire’ in a crowded theatre.” In expressing my closing thoughts to students on the importance of the Constitution, I have used this idea to demonstrate why the practice of bullying and intimidation is not only antithetical to our ideas of a Middle School, but also lies in direct opposition to the aims of the Constitution. In expressing how the founding fathers conceived of freedom to be exercised in reasonable manner and not without regard for others, I feel that our curriculum empowers our institution, our community, and our hopes for a middle school. To stand at the starting stages of this journey for another year is a moment of excitement, indeed.
Students will have nightly work on the Constitution. I mean, if I could demand a 500 point writing task on the Revolution, one can only surmise what I have lying in wait for this particular lesson. Students will be working out of the textbook, and will be engaged in a variety of learning tasks with different learning styles evoked. Expect assignments to display this differentiated style of instruction for all learners. I would also posit at this point that the employment of Outcome Sentences is critical in order for this experiment of learning about the Constitution to yield fruitful results. A good conversation starter can be to ask your student to display some of their outcome sentence starters. One of my hopes in utilizing the Outcome Sentence forum is for students to develop many ways to redescribe the act of learning. (I would suggest that if you need further clarification, access the PowerPoint Slide Show on Outcome Sentences, which can be found under the link of “Recent PowerPoint Lessons” on the top left hand pane of this blog.) Students will be composing outcome sentences on a nightly basis. Students will be asked to reflect on readings that are out of their textbook and in packets that I will be supplying. It is my hope that they are able to gain much out of this lesson as it will be instrumental in both their learning as student and prospective participant in this experiment called American Democracy.
…. And now for something completely different. Progress Reports in all classes will be sent home with your student this Thursday. The signed cover sheet that has student grades in all classes is due back to me by Thursday, 1/24. Conference Sign Up Sheets will be sent home soon, as well. Please make sure you sign up for time slots and have your students return the sheets as soon as possible to ensure that your primary choices can be honored. In other news, please be aware that your students’ academic performance will be able to be accessed online in the near future. Details about this process will be sent home with information from Team 7-1 as well as administration. Finally, all stakeholders should be reminded of how important this particular stretch of time is in all classes. I have always believed that some of our best teaching and learning takes place in late January and February. Be vigilant and ready.
In Tony Kushner’s work Angels in America, one of the characters speaks a powerful truth about both the Constitution and our pledge as students and learners when he says, “Forgiveness might be where love and justice finally meet.” The challenges in both understanding the possibilities of and living within the promises made in the Constitution might require a level of compassion, understanding, and eventual forgiveness and wisdom that can help to bridge the chasm within love and justice. When the Greeks conceived of the term “Philosophy” to mean “love of wisdom,” this has to be what was intended.

Happy hunting to the students of Team 7-1, you kings and queens of intellectual inquiry, sojourners of truth and understanding.

Mr. Kannan

What Lies Ahead: Returning from a state of Winter Hibernation into the 7-1 Social Studies Wilderness

2008-01-02T19:46:00.000-08:00

After a hiatus from posting on the blog for about two weeks, I hold a great deal of excitement about what we will be addressing in C105 for Social Studies. There is much to behold as we will be adding more to our garden of scholarship.
The Writing Tasks on Chapter 6 have been graded and will be returned on Monday. It was another moment where our emerging scholars, your children, progressed on the path of academic scholarship. This can be viewed on both narrative and empirical levels. Of the 109 papers assessed, 95 possessed a score that would be at the “A” or “B” level, which translates to 87% of the team. No paper scored lower than a “C”, which means that with revisions due Friday, 1/11, all 7-1 students have the capacity to earn an “A” or “B” on the hardest writing task thus far in the year. In going beyond the numbers, I noticed a great deal of austerity demonstrated on this work. By far the most selected writing task was the “Identifications and Pictures” followed by the “A-B-C Summaries.” Regardless of their choices, students will be seeing each of these particular writing types of writing tasks again in the future in different forms. As a collective unit, our writing in history is developing more breadth and greater precision.
The first week back will be an intense one. As mentioned, Revisions of the Chapter 6 Writing Tasks will be due on Friday. In order for students to revise their writing tasks, they need to rewrite what needs to be revised with the areas of improvement added. I went to great lengths to make comments on each and every writing sample and outline on the attached rubric where improvement was needed. Revisions should be completed outside of class and be ready for submission at the start of Friday’s class. If students require further guidance, they should speak with me before school, during lunch, or contact me outside of class via phone or email. Examining the week, Monday will also be the introduction into the concept of Outcome Sentences, another method of gauging student comprehension. This tool rests on the idea that a student creates their own sense of understanding within a particular concept. They are asked to compose one sentence on a specific idea that must begin with “I” and some type of verb associated with learning. For students to derive different means of explaining how one learns is a challenge in its own merits. We will be using this activity often, so a benchmark is reached on Monday. On Tuesday, we will begin our Philosophy Seminars with students from the high school. Students will be broken into different groups that deal with topics such as selfishness, the presence of God, freedom, and the notion of happiness. Groups will consist of 2-4 students and a high school facilitator who will drive the discussion based off of a thinker’s ideas on the topic. Students will be taking notes on the thinker’s view on the topic and the nature of the discussion. There will be a reporting out session on Wednesday. The purpose of this experience is to familiarize our students with the elements of a philosophical discussion, the importance of active listening, and to gain a better understanding of the discourse technique. These benefits will be felt when we engage in a discussion of government and its purpose. Finally, we will conclude the week with a series of Speak/ Write Lectures, a method of direct instruction that compresses topics from the text into three minute “chunks.” The steps taken this week will lead us into the foray of the United States Constitution. Progress Reports in all classes will go home on Thursday, 1/17 with Winter Conferences to soon follow. Students should be aware of assignments this week. Student work during the philosophy seminar, the composition of outcome sentences, and the signed cover letter from all Language Arts Progress Reports all will be reflected in student grades. As we hit the ground running, work awaits our students with intense process leading to powerful product. All stakeholders are reminded that this blog contains pdf copies of class handouts, lecture notes, as well as syllabi for this week and the next week (See pane on left hand side of screen). Also present on this blog are extra credit opportunities. As we begin another phase of our journey, all stakeholders are reminded to use this blog as a resource to help advance expectations and achievement, promises and possibilities.

We are approaching a point of the year where it is becoming evident that we are closer to the end than we are the beginning. I hope that our emerging scholars have rested well over the Winter Recess as they will need a great deal of internal strength and academic and intestinal fortitude to withstand this particular leg of the journey from now until Spring Break. It is a great time, indeed! It is in this particular leg of our voyage where the emergence into scholarship will be most evident. That which appears to be a wilderness will serve to allow our garden to grow with more songs of the nightingales sung.

Happy Hunting!

Mr. Kannan

“So, now what do we do?” The second half of a journey designed to tax the mind and elevate the heart and soul

2007-12-15T04:18:00.000-08:00

It has been said that the 1970s represented the “Golden Age” of American Cinema. It was a time period where a representative sample of “the great ones” emerged. If one was to look at the American Film Institute’s compilation of the 100 greatest films, there would be a stellar sampling of American films in the 1970s. A small budget film that was groundbreaking (or what our writers of the traditional essay set of prompts would deem, “radical”) was The Candidate. Starring Robert Redford as a California gubernatorial candidate and Peter Boyle as the chief campaign advisory, the film foreshadowed what the modern realm of American politics had become: realpolitik, spin control, and the dreaded exit poll. In the film’s pivotal last scene, when it had become evident that Redford’s character had won the office of California governor, he looks back at his advisor and asks a haunting question amidst the celebratory sounds of a political victory:

“So, now what do we do?”

Not to categorize our students as a collection of Redfords, I believe that some are uttering the same question. We have completed our study of the American Revolution. This examination encompassed text- based reading and analysis, preparation on an exam, and intense writing tasks on aspects of the time period. Students will have the chance to use the break to regroup and reload for what lies ahead.

When we return from break on January 7, 2008 (please accept my apologies for the mistake on the syllabus), we will begin our study of the formation of the United States Constitution. I have always believed that three documents guide the seventh grade Social Studies curriculum: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. When we return from the break we engage upon the analysis of the second leg of this triad. We open our study of the post- Revolution America in a vein of philosophy. We will be receiving visitors in the form of Philosophy students from Mr. Goldberg’s class at Oak Park and River Forest High School. They will be facilitating philosophical discussions about a variety of topics ranging from ethics, social obligation of the individual, and justice. Our emerging scholars will learn how to “argue philosophy” utilizing active learning and listening techniques. Students will engage in a variety of discussions and then report out their findings to the larger group. This entry into the domain of philosophical discussion and inquiry is an excellent stepping stone to our discussion of the Constitution. As we assemble our understanding about how the Constitution was formed, we will engage in a serious study of its varied and multiple components. Capping this intense analysis will be an introduction to thinkers of political philosophy and Constitutional philosophy in action. This will allow students to read primary and secondary sources in the domain of ideology and intellectual history. This will be a zealous and arduous undertaking, as I have never attempted any study in this amount of depth and breadth. One of the hopes of having the high school students visit our students is to allow them to envision where they can be on their journeys. The idea of engaging within an intellectual discussion where ideas and concepts matter is a worthy vision, a Parthenon of academia where few even dare to tread. In stressing philosophy in American historical development, I believe we will allow all of our students to make another bold step into the arena of scholarship. By now, students have learned to take this arena extremely seriously, as all are invited, but few have the courage to “walk the line” into it.
More pedagogical tools will be divulged to students in the next couple of weeks. The employment of speak/ write lectures, outcome sentences, as well as other tools to help increase student understanding shall find greater presence into the classroom setting. Our assessments will range from the standard multiple choice exam, as well writing tasks which compel students to access all four primary learning styles in order to find greater success. Students should be vigilant about their second trimester final exam, which is to take place in February. The best advice I could give all of our students is to invest in a good, durable two pocketed folder, as well as a series of good pens and paper. These will be needed as they face what lies ahead.

I guess Redford's question of “What do we do now” is a rather loaded one. The songs in our garden may take a small respite, but their sonorous notes will resonate quite clearly and distinctly in the months of January and February. Students will have a clear idea of “what to do now” and what shall be done.

Best wishes to you this holiday season.
Mr. Kannan

“If your mother says she loves you, check it out!” Validation of content through external and internal analysis

2007-12-07T17:15:00.000-08:00

It sounds odd to me to begin any message with the following phrase, “When I was a younger teacher.” Yet, I find myself having to do that in this particular instance.
When I infact was a younger teacher, I detested the notion of professional development. I felt that I had reached a particular point in my life where learning had reached its natural end. It is worthy to note that I experienced this when I was working at schools that were not middle schools. I have experienced the diametric opposite during my time at a middle school that stresses the whole development of the child and the notion of the “lifelong learner.” It would be a contradiction if I were to zealously advocate this to my middle school students and then not follow the same premises myself. Over the last seven years, professional development has helped to take my curriculum to new levels and broaden the reach of my instruction, students’ learning, as well as the methodology inherent within both domains. One element of this evolution has been the notion of validating one’s experience through internal reflection and external criteria. Simply put, it suggests that a middle level educator must constantly scrutinize their practices through their own eyes as well as the multiple gazes of “the other.” This postmodern web of analysis provides a prism where student learning can be maximized for one is constantly in search of how to enhance pedagogy and understanding, another essential component of the independent learner.
Bearing all of this in mind, I thought I would turn the “high powered laser” of reflection upon the chapter 6 writing assessments, our latest foray into the harrowing world of scholarship. Simply put, I used my own observation of student experiences as well as The National Middle School’s “14 Characteristics” of successful middle schools to examine my own curriculum. The results proved illuminating in terms of content, student learning, and pedagogical enhancement.
One of “The 14 Characteristics” centers on the idea that curriculum must be relevant, challenging, integrative and exploratory. Within this domain, the assertion is that successful learning activities “create opportunities for students to pose and answer questions that are important to them… Such a curriculum provides direction for what young adolescents should know and be able to do and help them achieve the attitudes and behaviors for a full, productive, and satisfying life.” Over the last week, I have witnessed students engage in thoughtful analysis as to which of the five writing tasks would best suit them and which would be the best to complete. In this vein, I had a moment of illumination on Monday. After divulging the writing tasks to students, I was approached by three students, who asked me to spend my lunch with them. I had little idea as to why these particular students would want to spend their lunch period with me and when I asked them, I was surprised to find out. After a period of brief silence, one of them spoke: “We want you to help us pick which of the writing assignments to do. This is like really big, and we want you to help us choose- whatever you think we can do, we’ll do.” I pretended not to be excited, thrilled, and completely overwhelmed. I have had some great moments in teaching, and at that moment, I could tell that this was working its way up that list: Three students that had never volunteered a lunch period throughout the year were approaching me about counsel on a writing assignment that was due three weeks in advance. We worked out a plan, developed a prewrite, and talked out a particular writing task. The discourse was intellectual, academic, and collegial. Naturally, whenever students take an active role in what they should do, it is inspiring. Yet, when middle school students take steps that will reveal hopeful patterns of success in life, one is awed. In another experience, a student said, “My mom wants you to listen to me explain why I should choose the ABC summaries over the letter.” In other instances, different levels of students have struggled with the element of choice and made peace with their decision, or found what could yield the best level of success for them. To witness these behaviors and attitudes enhanced through this particular task has been most gratifying.
The notion of dialogue with students is another characteristic of the successful middle school. I believe that the conferencing format with students over the next week will continue what has already been started: A work- based discourse between students and teachers. Engaging in dialogue with students about their work, their choices, their concerns, and their possibilities is a benchmark of my instruction. It has become more valid with the writing tasks on chapter 6, as students have understood how difficult the problem of choice is and how challenging it can be to navigate. A component of “The 14 Characteristics” is that “Since young adolescents learn best through engagement and interaction, learning strategies involve students in dialogue with teachers and one another.” Hearing students talk with me, and infinitely more important, themselves, has solidified my belief that learning at this particular age is a social construct. The idea of solidarity cannot be vitiated when one conceives of the best ways for a middle school student to learn. This social aspect is rooted in the idea of talking about the work, centering a dialogue on academics, and transforming a traditional school climate of opposition and boundary to one of collaboration and partnership.
A final component of “The 14 Characteristics” helps to articulate the best conditions to maximize student learning. This notion of assessment is critical in understanding quality instruction and learning at this age. It stresses that “continuous, authentic and appropriate assessment and evaluation measures provide evidence about every student’s learning progress” are primary components of a valuable middle school education. When I examine how students are encountering challenges and difficulties each day with the completion of this task, how the level of questioning is becoming more specifically intellectual, and how students are attempting to develop a level of greater understanding about their particular task in how it is linked to American history, I can sense that students are becoming stronger about the content of the American Revolution. This is an ongoing process that seems to develop momentum with each day of in class work. When the NMSA argues that “grades alone are inadequate expressions for assessing the many goals of a middle school education,” I understood this as a description of what we best do as a Middle School. In trying to address the needs, promises, and possibilities of all children, we create a setting that stresses academic importance, but does not do so at the cost of the understanding of a specific child. This notion of creating an experience that represents the “whole child” in all children is an absolute. In these writing tasks, their process of composition and their intrinsic dialogues, I believe that meaningful relationships between students, content, and teacher emerge. Within this cocoon of safety, the NMSA suggests that “intellectual risks can be taken.”
Journalists live by the doctrine of examination and reexamination. I am reminded of the veteran Chicago journalist slogan that opens this missive. In this connective thread, I believe that “checking out” what one does in the eyes of the inescapable “other” can yield a great deal of meaning. “Checking out” what we do as a Middle School can help to validate our practices and remind us of “those things that are best”. In the final analysis, the element of risk taking becomes an essential component of the Middle School conception of education. When placed in the context of this past year’s experiences, it is a logical component. Graduated difficulty, Don Quixote, Sancho, multiple learning styles, the metaphors of inevitability and midnight in conjunction with writing tasks and assessments have all formed the setting where risks can be taken. When I examine what we have done and what we will do, I understand that the Parthenon of greatness, to which I hope all of our students and emerging scholars aspire, will be within reach. The garden is still brimming with songs being sung and those waiting to be sung.

All best, happy hunting, and even merrier writing.

Mr. Kannan

Bollywood, Middle School Philosophy, and the Chapter 6 Writing Assessment

2007-12-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

There is a new Bollywood film slated for release the same week the writing assessments on Chapter 6 are to be submitted. While I don’t think this was conceived by design, there are some parallels. The film is the Aamir Khan work “Taare Zameen Par” and literally translated it means “Stars on Earth.” Contrary to most topics of Bollywood films, this film centers on teaching and learning. It is almost a certainty that the film will continue the current discourse about education in India. This is a vibrant conversation in a culture that places a primacy on education, yet struggles to understand its multi faceted nature in the modern setting. I was struck by the title’s implication of how human beings find themselves inexplicable trapped by a consciousness that is eternally earth bound, but a psyche that strives to achieve other worldly status. Perhaps, placing education in this philosophical conundrum makes what we do as teachers and learners even more provocative a topic for discussion as it seeks to provide a respite from a restless condition.
When I tried to conceptualize how to discuss the writing tasks on chapter 6 in this week’s blog, the great Aamir Khan’s film helped to clarify my focus and that of 7-1 students. The exam on chapter 6 has been written and will be taken this week (Tuesday.) Students designed it, wrote it, and taught its content to their colleagues. The second phase of the assessment on chapter 6, the American Revolution, commences. This phase will be centered on writing, but will also force students to address several issues. With the writing assessment valued at 500 points, this moment of reckoning will have strong repercussions. Students will have to select one of five tasks to account for such a major component of their grade. Moreover, they will have to select from a field of tasks that will comprise some of the hardest yet faced by our scholars, now a trimester old in this schematic. Some of the tasks offered are new to students (Point of View Guides and A-B-C Summaries), while others are familiar but feature a wider scope of focus (Traditional Essays and Identifications and Pictures), and some are plain bizarre and could only come from the mind of an equally odd Social Studies teacher (Sam Adams’ Letter.) The tasks are demanding in both quality and quantity, as they will take two weeks to complete. Students of all levels will be pushed to their maximum level. Then, they will rest for two weeks, only to repeat the process of challenge again as they commence with the study of the formation of the Constitution, the document itself, and its implications in the modern setting.
I have always given a writing task to complement the study of the Revolution, yet I felt this one was different. I wanted to create a task that would match the value of the content, develop the conditions of a difficult choice within students, and also mirror the drive of what it means to be a middle school student. I feel confident that the tasks represent a solid conclusion note to our study of the Revolution. I believe that the meaning that will emerge will be the meaning that our students place to this formative event in American History. They will take ownership of the content and apply meaning to it, a component of the definition of the independent learner. In a larger sense, I believe that the tasks represent the essence of a middle school experience. Over the last few weeks, we, as professionals of Percy Julian Middle School, have had to do a great deal of soul searching about what it means to be middle level educator and how do we best carry such a powerful burden on our already broad shoulders. I believe that writing assessment on chapter 6 can serve as my answer to these questions. An examination of the writing tasks reveals how they can reach the elusive domain of “the middle school child.” These prompts are designed with different learning styles in mind, to the extent that the dominant learning style is declared at the start of each task. I have always believed that the middle school experience is akin to drawing a square and a smaller square within that one and repeating the process until one cannot do so any longer. A series of squares emerges as well as the presence of a corridor that seems to progress infinitely. I feel that the first square is what our children are like when they enter Julian for the first time in the main spine, desperately seeking their advisory teachers in their initial start to both the school year and their Middle School experience. Then, as they grow within this experience and reveal more of their persona, as more depth is added to their characters and psyches, the corridor gains in length and complexity. In the same way, I believe that the writing tasks on chapter 6 reflect the progression and process of walking through the corridor and adding more dimensions to it. Students will have to make choices as to who they are, in both learner and person, and then have to undergo the process of becoming what they hope to be. I cannot find a better description of the middle school experience. When one understands that this sensation as an experience that all of our 7-1 students will undergo together as a community of emerging scholars, yet on an insightfully meaningful level as individuals, one can only marvel at what will emerge on December 20, the deadline for all submissions.
Philosophers have struggled to articulate the aspect of duality within the human consciousness. This conception understands human existence as something that transpires on this earth, as beings of a planet bound by the needs of oxygen and the reality of gravity. Yet, it seems than an inevitable part of our identities is to split this consciousness with a desire for something more, something outside of the setting in which we are inevitably chained. Whether we are Plato’s children in the cave wondering about the light outside, or whether we are Sartrean offspring who sit in one train and see another one pass on an opposite track, seemingly moving much faster than we move, or whether we are Kunderian creatures trapped between the weight of existence and the unbearable lightness of being, human beings seem to be poised between equally desirable, yet ultimately incompatible courses of action. We understand that this is a part of our state of life, what Cervantes would undoubtedly call “La Mancha,” or “the stain.”
As dour as this might be, have no fear because Bollywood is here!
While this condition is a part of our “La Mancha,” Khan’s film of “Stars on Earth,” reminded me that embracing an education process where teaching and learning for all reign supreme could serve as a temporary respite from this pain of consciousness. We achieve our hopes in our reality. Students are the stars on earth, and our potential salvation to the pain of division inherent in consciousness. We see in our students the chance for them to become stars on earth, to bridge the gap between where we are and where we wish to be, to bring harmony to the dissonant tunes of Quixote and Sancho. When we design learning as contingent on education for all and all for education, we find some reprieve from the pain of our being, the pain of “La Mancha.” In their last writing assessment, many students suggested that we “are both Quixote and Sancho.” Indeed, the triad consisting of Khan’s film title “Taare Zameen Par,” or “Stars on Earth,” his notion of how education can be a liberating answer to the pain of consciousness, and the presence of a middle school environment predicated on the promises and possibilities for all are linked to one another and can provide a sense of hope within a seemingly hopeless condition. This triad, which emerges through the writing tasks of chapter 6, reminds us of how all songs sung in the garden of scholarship hold beauty, harmony, and melody.
We await to see what songs will be sung by our 7-1 nightingales.
Yours in song, wishing you all the best and happy hunting.
Mr. Kannan

Giving the keys to the palace or a post modern vision: Students taking and administering student composed exams

2007-11-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

The writing prompts on chapter 5 are complete. Students have gained a greater understanding about inevitability, midnight, and colonial anger and resistance. Now, we commence second trimester by continuing our study of the American Revolution. Naturally, our assessment of chapter 6 will be challenging. One such aspect is that students will be creating the exam portion of the chapter 6 assessment.

The notion of test writing has always remained in the domain of the professional educator. When students reflect on one of the most powerful aspects of being a teacher, the idea of administering and grading tests is a hallmark of the profession. It has always intrigued me to see what would happen to students if they were given “the keys” and asked to write a test that they and their colleagues would have to take. Each year, I have created some type of activity where students write an exam and have to assist one another in preparation for their portion of such an assessment. There is a spirit of collaboration, healthy competition, and academic discourse that results from such an experience. Students ask questions such as “What would make a good test question?” or “Is this fair to ask students on a test?” We see students of all ability levels learn from and teach one another because everyone has “the keys.” All are actively learning and partaking in what is being taught because when students write the exam, they are all stakeholders in the process. As students finish reading chapter 6, completing their reciprocal reading tasks for each section, they should be keeping in mind potential areas of the material that could serve as topical areas for test questions. Their completed work on their reciprocal reading tasks will not only serve as good study guides, but also as excellent surveys of the terrain that students will map out through their exam questions. I believe that students have to work well within their own settings and with their colleagues for the writing tasks on chapter 6 will be even more demanding than their counterparts on chapter 5. I am reminded of a great coach’s challenge: “Is this fun or what?” (Extra credit if you can name the football coach who coined this phrase.)

One trimester has been completed. I believe that the second installment of our journey will yield more treasure, more challenge, and more work. I believe that students will have to give more of their hearts and souls in accomplishing the tasks that lie ahead. They will demand more commitment, more focus, and more of “those things that are best” if success is to be achieved.

The nightingale who sings the song of academic scholarship continues on where only the great ones dare to tread. Who knew that some of our students will begin to join this song in this learned garden of “the good, the true, and the beautiful”?

Yours in song,

Mr. Kannan

Voices from the battlefield: 7-1 Emerging Scholars at work through their voices

2007-11-08T16:52:00.000-08:00

As I study the faces of our students who are working towards Friday’s deadline, I am struck by some of what their thoughts are. As I have been reading their work, I surmised that the best way to compose this week’s blog is to have them do it for me:

* “My friend and I were arguing about whether the revolution happened before the first shot was fired.”
* “Quixote no esta loco.”
* “Of course, the phone began to ring and then Quixote took his sword and chopped my lovely phone in half.”
* “Sheen would die to meet the real ultralord as Quixote would die for Dulcinea.”
* “The colonists didn’t have a say about the acts that were being passed. I think this is what made the revolution inevitable.”
* “To the townspeople, Quixote fighting windmills is absolutely pointless. But, to Quixote, Dulcinea (independence) is the one and only thing Quixote fights for. There is no Dulcinea, there is no Quixote.”
* “ We live in a world of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and many other things. Some of the other things are Quixotes and Sanchos.”
* “There are more Sanchos in the world because more people think of stuff as they really are (such as a dog as a dog), but Quixote thinks of them as a monster, or something that it really is not.”
* “I think that we should fight and win the freedom that we deserve and that we are willing to fight for.”
* “Quixote told Sancho that he would give him a twinkie every day if he went on a quest with him, called him “The Great Don Quixote” or “master,” and does whatever he says.
* “To all healthy, able bodied men in this neighborhood who have the will to join the troops now rising under General George Washington, take notice!”
* “There were many dragons to slay and monsters to kill, but for her it was worth it all.”
* “I can compare Don Quixote to the cartoon duo of Sylvester and Tweety Bird.”
* “The colonists weren’t happy about all of the fighting, they wanted peace.”
* “Alonso Quixano is no more in existence than a meteor. You cannot see it unless you try very hard, but it will become visible to someone as a once- in- a- lifetime experience.”
* “I don’t have a sheet with me.”
* “Incompatibility is something that can fatally confuse.”
* “I was not prepared to endure the state of this poor man that seemed to be disturbed far beyond the point that I or anyone else could help him.”
* “The colonists would be very happy if they were fought a war with Great Britain because if they won then they would have their own country and if they didn’t win, then they would have the satisfaction of trying.”
* “In a way, the Revolutionary War started before the first shot in Lexington.”
* “In order to pay off the debt from the French and Indian war, Parliament passed a new act.”
* “All right, kid, what’s your name?” “I am Don Quixote, knight of La Mancha!”
* “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death… or something else to do!”
* “Don, do you think you are crazy?” “Crazy, no, I am a knight.” Sancho, then says, “I am a man… a hungry one.”
* “He believes he is knight even though he is not.”
* “There will always be a windmill to be fought and always a stand slip to be given.”
* “I think that the colonists should have gone to war against England because it was something that had to be done.”
* “One cartoon character resembled Quixote, and one cartoon character resembled Sancho. Would that count as two or one?”
* “Where there are always beliefs, there are always haters to take them away.”
* “I don’t know…. Mr. Kannan told me to.”
* “Gosh, Jasmine- sit down.”
* “They’ve all just given up and renounced what they know is right.”
* “A pen with unlimited ink/ a notebook with no end/ a mind full yet so empty.”
* “People who have deep imagination and work with them are always left out.”
* “I was against the war because it would have put the colonists at a bigger risk with a greater loss of life.”
* “Happy Diwali… isn’t it supposed to be celebrated tomorrow?”
* “I don’t have anything… now, I will give you one. The bell rang and everybody went marching into school with their id’s for approval to be let in.”
* “There was once a book by Miguel de Cervantes, who wrote a masterpiece so clever, in it was a story and philosophy that would last forever.”
* “Hold back your hands from the jaws until the lion is asleep.”
* “It’s decent content and meets the criteria of how long it should be… It’s pretty awesome.”
* “I think this is my best work yet- you can fail me, if you want, but I know that I tried my best.”
* “What do you want…ok, ok, God- my work- don’t use my words- is good. Oh, my god. I’m leaving.”
* “All I can say is that you’ll know it belongs to me.”
* “ Me? I started off with the opening sentence of the actual work.”
* “Mac’s work is the best work of all these works.”

* “I believe that there are five major differences between the story and the play.”
* “ Fred and Shaggy are the ultimate Don Quixote and Sancho.”
* “ There’d be no reason for conflict if the first shot was not already fired.”
* “ To me, Don Quixote represents the colonies, Dulcinea represents liberty and independence, and the windmill represents Britain.”
* “Bring war to England.”
* “ I worked hard on my work and I cannot believe Mr. Kannan is making me make this dumb statement…. Oh yeah!”
* “I think that my work meets the standards, but I mean, they don’t just meet the standards. They meet Mr. Kannan’s standards, which are higher than all the other standards. I guess they are just high.”
* “Without colonial anger, there might not have been a revolution.”
* “The vision that I see is my sweet, beautiful Dulcinea. May I be with her soon.”
* “I think that a psychiatrist would have a real hard time with Quixote and Sancho.”
* “I know that hardly anybody reads the blog and if they do they won’t be reading what I am saying right now. So, if Mr. Kannan types up what I am saying and puts it on the blog and I print it out, everybody gets 20 points of extra credit.” Upon further review, this challenge was put down by Mr. Kannan.
* “It was the first time the Colonists had guns, but it was not the first time they fired.”
* “My work is very detailed, it gives many examples and connections about before and after the American Revolution, and provides an overall summary of it…” Do I have to say it?
* “No, I am just kidding- don’t write that.”

* “ My work made many connections to the present day world, not the real world.”
* “Is Quixote part of the Revolution?”
* “No, just being nosy…. And that’s my friend- what does that say about me?”
* “I hate you.”
* “In the statement, ‘The American Revolution started before the first shot was fired.’ I believe John Adams was saying that the fighting started before the shot was fired or else there would not have been a reason for the revolution to be started.”
* “My work is a mixture of myself and what we have learned about Don Quixote. I have learned in the process that everyone has a right to their own opinion and should be able to express that.”
* “I believe that the Revolution started before the first shot was fired at Lexington.”
* “My work has a bunch of details and effort… it does! It also caused me an unbelievable headache.”
* “ His advisory teacher is Mr. Kannan.”
* “It’s very difficult because you don’t know if what you put is going to be wrong… That’s pretty much it. In all frankness, I am a lame and trying to keep it real.”
* That’s power.
* “Mine’s better than Anna’s.”
* “My work is going great.”
* “ Stewey called his dad Fatman.”
* “ My work is great… no, no I’m not done.”
* “ The glory of the Spanish Empire was falling… I don’t know.”
* “ I’m not lame and I don’t know anything.”
* “ It’s good… cool.”
* “ Mr. Kannan vs. Don Quixote”
* “They were good questions and made you think and definitely enough to write about…. Does that make sense?”
* “ Sancho Panza is a realistic representation of the common man. There are more people like this in the world who see windmills as windmills and not monsters…. And that my work is better than Jack’s.”
* “ The British are even more evil than Mr. Kannan.”
* “I don’t know what to say… Don’t let the music die!!!”

Social Studies Progress Reports go home on Friday, 11/16. Happy hunting and best wishes to all as another step on the path of scholarship is taken.

Mr. Kannan

The Struggle for Recognition, or how 7-1 students are writing their essays on chapter 5 and Don Quixote

2007-11-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

This week’s blog entry will be relatively concise. This is because the students are doing most of the writing. At this time, as this is being written or read, students should be composing 4 essays. Two on colonial resistance, and two on Don Quixote. Students are working on the composition of these essays during class time and at home. I am seeing a variety of ideas being presented, accepted, rejected, and modified. It is evident that the struggle for literary recognition takes many forms within the psyche of our students. Some are trying to frame a collage within the contours of a clock to symbolize midnight, while others are seeking a way to connect lipstick to oppression and freedom. There are some who are trying to see Don Quixote struggle his way through first period PE, while others seek to link Spongebob to the exploits of the knight of La Mancha. Poetry seems to be present, with lines taken and others discarded. Students are feverishly approaching me with questions that begin with, “Can I try this…” or “Would you read this…” The atmosphere is one of construction within the classroom. There have been moments where I can “feel” student work. Students are beginning to believe that they are “the one.”

With all of the writing being done on the part of our students, I have little else to say. Final Drafts have been scheduled for submission at the end of Thursday’s class, but I might extend the deadline to the end of Friday’s class. I will try to grade the essays as fast as humanly possible, and while my goal is to have all work returned by Monday, I might not make such a lofty standard. Progress Reports in Social Studies are scheduled to be sent home with students on November 16.

I wish all the best and happy hunting to these warriors of the pen (blue or black) and princes and princesses of scholarly inquiry.

Mr. Kannan

“Either we shall all hang together or be hanged separately:” Standing on the threshold of yet another Social Studies Assessment

2007-10-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

7-1 students will commence their assessment on chapter 5. It will take about two weeks to complete. The first portion is a multiple choice exam on chapter 5. It consists of 25 questions that survey the steps taken to the American Revolution. This will be completed on Monday. The more interesting component of the assessment resides in the domain of writing. Students will have to compose four separate writing samples. The first two will be rooted in colonial resistance to British acts of encroachment. Students will have to choose two of four writing options. These options are designed for students to access their dominant, subdominant, auxiliary, or inferior learning styles. It will be interesting to see what kind of thinker each of the 7-1 students is as their choices will reflect their learning modality. I believe that making conscious choices about how we learn is as important, if not more, than what we learn. Again, the theme of metacognition will be emphasized through the assessment of chapter 5.
The second set of writing prompts will be on Cervantes’ Don Quixote. In reflection about the lesson from last week, I cannot express my level of admiration for so many of our learners. To reconfigure the experience shows how the growth of intellectual toughness within the 7-1 student. They approached the classroom and saw a foot and a half pile of lecture notes. Each set of lecture notes was 10 pages, back to back. They examined the document within the first moments of Monday’s class and then saw over 80 words in bold font and underlined, to be added to students’ personal dictionaries and to be incorporated within their frame of references. Then, the lecture began. Students settled in for three straight days of “bell to bell” lecturing about Cervantes’ work. While I was lecturing on many occasion, I marveled at how our students attempted to engage themselves in a novel that they might not have ever read, or possessed any sense of understanding prior to that exact moment. I looked at students who were locked in with a sense of focus at hearing about Quixote’s and Sancho’s adventures and how their experiences reflected philosophical reality and American history. I saw students trying to grapple with the fact that they are the authors of their own reality, and that they might be the characters in Cervantes’ text. I was able to see students realize the Nietszschean idea of truth being a mobile army of metaphors; students appropriated new recruits in their army whose name was Dulcinea, Cervantes, Quixote, or Sancho. At the conclusion of the lecture, students breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps, because it was over, but I did notice some of them taking a moment to tarry as they began to understand that while the lecture might have been intense (certainly, there is a cabinet, I mean, windmill, I mean, monster, that could concur), the assessment component that would follow would be that much more demanding. In the words of one student, “Only you would rob the fun out of a field trip.” We both smiled when we both understood the truth behind such words. When students attended Thursday’s field trip, I noticed that they were aware of what was happening on stage, and even critiquing it to some extent. At the conclusion of the excursion, I heard students arguing about whether the production was true to Cervantes’ vision. To quote another budding scholar: “That play was nowhere near what Cervantes’ wanted for Quixote.” It was a moment in time. It cannot be reflected in a test score or in some level of a notation, but to have students become a participant in an ongoing intellectual and historical dialogue is something that creates a sense of wonderment in both teacher and learner.
The notion of collaboration is a reality that must continue as students compose their writing prompts on Don Quixote. The 10 prompts are challenging, but like so much in this course, the toughness needed to succeed does lie in our students. I believe that if students display the focus and commitment that has begun to emerge within the conditions of scholarship, they will find success. In the final analysis, should a student be able to ruminate upon their time in a seventh grade classroom and conclude that they engaged in a study of Don Quixote, success would have been recognized. The difficulty of the tasks should not be a reason for retreat and silent isolation into a shell of helplessness. I believe that students will have to continue to keep the lines of dialogue open in order to find greater success. This is another aspect of intellectual strength developing in our students: The notion that collaboration and seeking assistance is not a sign of weakness, but actually a revelation of intense strength. If we stick together, students and teachers, we will find success. We will discover success. We will represent or be success.
Over the last week, I have been most amazed at how quickly our students, your children, took to the idea of learning about Literature in a History classroom. This embrace of interdisciplinarity has been something that left a distinct impact on my perception of these learners. It also is another benchmark of scholarship as it seeks to eliminate arbitrary and territorial boundaries in the learning process. Writing assessments will be collected on November 8, as students can compose the four writing samples at home and in class. I eagerly anticipate what chances will be taken, what intellectual gambles will be taken, and what exciting and zealous work will emerge from challenge and intensity. On a red tape note, I encourage all stakeholders to check out the “Helpful Links” on the left side of this blog. All classroom documents have been converted into pdf forms.
All best, happy hunting, and go battle a windmill.
Mr. Kannan

Requiem for dreams or Fighting Windmills: Don Quixote, American Independence, and 7-1 students post conferences/ pre chapter 5 assessment

2007-10-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

This week will bring about a rather unique combination of forces upon the shoulders of students. We have our focus placed upon the assessment for chapter 5, as well as the lessons of the man of La Mancha. Students will be introduced to the narrative and lessons of Don Quixote in preparation for Thursday’s field trip. I am confident that this will reveal much to students about a landmark of literature and allow students another metaphor with which to analyze the American Experience.
One lesson that I hope to evoke through the instruction about Don Quixote is the power of dreams. Quixote is a character who is animated through his dreams, but also crushed underneath the weight of those dreams. He is an individual who believes in ideals, yet never fully realizes them. His story is a tale of what it means to possess multiple narratives, the world of what is and what should be. In analyzing the story of Don Quixote, and the world of La Mancha (the stain), I hope to evoke a story of American Democracy, and the fight for freedom; one whose beat continues. As we examine how the colonists waged a fight for independence, similar to Quixote’s defense of the lovely, but invisible Dulcinea, one can see how freedom, as a concept, is a quixotic vision. I hope to counter the belief that the colonists knew the exact and perfect forms of freedom, liberty, and independence. When the world mocks and derides Quixote for fighting something that is not fully recognized, we are left to ask ourselves if this is not the fate of any person, group, or society who strives for something that is not recognized. One element of philosophy which is of personal fascination is the idea of introducing “newness” into the world. What happens when one brings sound into that which was silent? Certainly, a theme that was evoked through this week’s conferences was the development of student voice. What does it sound like when one evokes chords of scholarship through notes of inquiry in a domain of silence? What was it like for Quixote to fight his first windmill or fight his first battle for the honor of the dispossessed? What was it like for the colonists to first sound the call of freedom? I believe that all three questions are related for their answers lead to a new realm where the element of newness is brought into the world. Quixote, the colonists, and our 7-1 students are all linked to one another not merely chronologically, but thematically. Imagine our students as quixotic knights or visionary colonists and one has a new image of life in the C wing of the first floor.
Quixote relished the new quest, the new journey, and the language of newness. He spoke in dialects that others could not fathom. Quixote’s commitment to the chivalry way of life and the belief in nobility collided with Sancho’s platitudes and belches. Quixote’s faith in the role and power of ideas conflicted with a world where others lacked vision. Quixote was a living embodiment of his ideals and never showed fear. I believe 7-1 students must adopt a similar stance this week as they prepare for their assessment on chapter 5. In accordance to the idea of strength and honor, students will be asked to summon all of their powers without the assistance of study sessions or study guides. We will be reviewing essential topics of the exam in a station rotation task on Tuesday and Wednesday. We will spend Friday taking final questions on the exam and commence with the assessment on Monday. The first day will be a multiple choice exam, while the second day will consist of explaining the writing components. As Quixote sojourned with Sancho by his side, I hope 7-1 Students will travel the path of scholarship with their notes and understanding by theirs. As always, if I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me via email, post a response to this blog, or contact me at home.

All best, happy hunting, and safe travels you Quixotes of scholarship and inquiry!

Mr. Kannan

Articulating a Vision: Student Led Portfolio Conferences and the Journey

2007-10-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

As we approach the midterm of the trimester, we should take a moment to honor all the steps taken thus far in our journey. Simply put, I feel that 7-1 students have grasped how their Social Studies class works. When introducing a task, I sense a different perspective on how it should be undertaken. I see students asking for my advice on written work because they feel “that more can be there.” I am listening to students argue with one another: “Lexington and Concord were important, but not as important as the Boston Massacre- that started it all.” Students are trying to troubleshoot problems by posing workable solutions. I find myself hearing students ask if they can take a task in a way that I might not have seen. Their autonomy is becoming increasingly apparent. Students are becoming more open to the postmodern idea of truth being a mobile army of metaphors. Concepts such as midnight and inevitability have become part of the linguistic pattern of recognition of many a student. Some have even taken to developing their own arguments and ideas about how American history functions. I am having students develop ideas such as “We all live in our own universes,” or “The Revolution might not have been inevitable, but struggle for rights is inevitable,” or “What good are political rights if you have no money?” I see students studying my copy of Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, and asking to borrow it during a silent reading moment. Some will argue that this might not be a representative of all 7-1 students. I suppose that I borrow a gardening image for a response. I sense that the conditions have been created so that all flowers can grow and some take more time than others. Once the garden has been configured properly, growth is inevitable… as is the struggle. The midterm point has revealed flowers ready to bloom. Our garden is looking pretty good in terms of becoming into one where a thousand flowers bloom and the intellectual market of ideas is open for business.
Conferences will illuminate such growth this week. I hope that all of our student conferences reveal student maturation and evolution. I do hope that all stakeholders of the process can listen to how students describe their own world and their own sense of education. Traditional conferences have a tendency to silence the student voice in the discourse of student progress. Student- led portfolio conferences are unique. The students lead and drive the conference. The role of the teacher is more facilitating the dialogue. No doubt that this dialogue happens outside of class with parents and family members. Yet, rarely does it happen with the entire triad of student success: student, family members, and teacher. This is critical for this partnership locks in the highest caliber of student achievement. It is my hope that conferences display how far our students have come thus far on their journey and how much more they have to go.
With conferences this week, student homework might not be as much as one might have come to expect. Students have a writing task that is due on Tuesday, extended from its original Monday deadline. Additionally, students will have to finish reading chapter 5, section 4. The assessment on chapter 5 is forthcoming as well as an introduction to the world of Don Quixote, windmills and monsters, and the dream of democracy. This will segue into our fieldtrip. At the time of posting, my district website does not seem to be functioning properly, so if you require pdf copies of documents, please check back frequently, until I can determine the cause of this. Once again, technology and I seem to be at odds. As always, if I can be of any further assistance or clarification, I invite you to contact me at school, via email, posting a response to this blog, or contacting me at home.

All best and happy hunting. Happy conferencing, as well.
Mr. Kannan