Encoding

 One of the things on my PDP this year is to connect back to current theories and research in the field of education in general and English specifically.  It's to varying degrees of success.  One of the things I did do is to subscribe to a few email publications in these areas.  

I've given up on many of them because they are pushing hard for using AI to develop lesson plans.  I have strong feelings on that.  One email that I still have coming is Peps Mccrea.  It's not that I am in love with this weekly email, but it seems to be focused on how kids learn and think and while I know this, it's always a good reminder.  When I see something, I can look at my current practices to make sure that I am still doing it the way it needs to be done.  Take this week's email, for instance:

Big idea  The best teachers use lots of quick activities during their explanations. Choral response, turn-and-talk, MCQs. We tend to think of these as ways to check for understanding, or to sustain student attention. Both are super important… but there's something even more fundamental going on. Every time we ask our students to briefly use an idea we've just introduced, we're catalysing encoding: the process by which learning gets embedded in the brain. When we just explain, our students have to try to encode by listening alone. It's a bit like trying to press a shape into hard clay without actually pushing down. The information touches the surface, but doesn't leave much of an impression. This is weak encoding. Which is why, when we explain lots of new ideas back-to-back without encoding along the way, most of it gets forgotten. It's like someone reading out a long string of numbers and expecting us to remember them all. So why does actively using knowledge make such a difference? When we have to produce an answer (rather than merely receive it), our brain treats it as a much more valuable thing. Even something as brief as a true-or-false question forces our students to rehearse and reorganise the idea. That creates a much deeper neural impression than merely listening alone. And further: brief encoding moments don't just strengthen what came before... they also improve our students' ability to encode what comes next. Retrieval seems to clear working memory and reset attention, making the brain more receptive to new information. So when we pause to encode after introducing each new idea, we're not just consolidating existing knowledge: we're prepping for more. In short, if we think of these moments primarily as checks for understanding, we’re likely to underprice and so underuse them. But if we see also them as vital encoding opportunities, we'd do them far more often. Which would be a very. good. thing.  For more, check out this paper on retrieval practice.

Summary Effective teachers frequently use quick activities to check understanding, often catalysing encoding without realising it.  When learners actively use knowledge, learning is strengthened. Encoding moments both consolidate prior knowledge and prepare the mind for what comes next.

Little updates  Study on praise → finds mixed impact on motivation & performance depending on setting. Paper on psychological needs → links need fulfilment to improved motivation & resilience. Research into curiosity → suggests it may drive science learning more than intelligence, once prior knowledge is considered. Paper on long-term memory → suggests retrieval depends on similarity, not storage location.

You are doing this, I know.  But it helps to serve as a reminder when I am looking at materials that I am creating and ask myself if I can be doing this more.  I would be remiss if I used their content without providing a link (no, I am not getting anything from this - I use their free service only): https://snacks.pepsmccrea.com/subscribe?ref=ynYI2eKayJ

Shamless Plug: Title Punctuation

 

Here's a quick and cheap ($2.50 - its a steal!) lesson activity ready to go complete with online self grading quiz for assessment.  Put this lesson in Slideshow mode and just walk your students through how to properly capitalize titles.  It's easy and takes about 30-45 minutes of class time.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/XET-Title-Capitalization-and-Punctuation-7065284

I use it every year for my regular, honors, and AP Lit students.  

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/XET-Title-Capitalization-and-Punctuation-7065284

Some Literary Term Blookets for you to use

 

Here are a few Blookets I made for my class that you can use so your kids don't get tired of the same wording on yours:

• Literary Terms
• Literary Terms II
• Literary Terms (Backwards)
• Tone Words
• AP Lit Literary Terms
• AP Lit Literary Terms (Backwards)
• AP Lit Poetry Literary Terms
• AP Lit Literary Terms III

Teaching Inference with "The Chaser" by John Collier

John Collier has an excellent short story for teaching inference to high school students.  It is called, "The Chaser."

You can get a copy of it here: https://eerdalsblg.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the_chaser-collier.pdf

If you've never read the story, do so now.  It won't take you long.  I'll wait.

For lower reading level classes, I like to put groups in teams and let them read it together and figure out why  the glove cleaner does.  The story is short (the version I found above has it in three pages, but the hard copy of the one I use in class is one page front and back) which is important to me.  I need my works short so we can focus on the matter at hand.

The story itself is fun. Now, when you or I read the story, we immediately see how this old man is setting up the younger man.  We understand that this "love" he will experience can only be solved with the "glove cleaner", but the students don't.  Especially 9th and 10th graders.  They struggle. 

So I let them try and figure it out as a competition.  The first group to figure it out gets a prize (homework passes or team points).  The second group gets a little less. The third group a little less.

I also have hints that they can buy with their team points (but you can maybe use something else if you aren't playing a game in your class).

How long will it take?  Well, it depends on how good your students are.  I always have a homework assignment that they should work on while waiting for the other teams to finish.  It usually takes about 30 minutes total, but I've had it last for over 45 minutes before.

An easy, but slow, way to build a class sets of novels

 Here is part of my book shelf for class sets of my AP Lit class:

I have similar shelves for my non-AP classes too with class sets of Persepolis, Things Fall Apart, Night, 1984, No Fear Shakespeare Macbeth, and others.  I didn't pay for a single one of those books.  

The trick is quite simple.  I send out short emails to parents periodically and when I tell them of upcoming units, I put in a link to the book on Amazon if they would like to purchase the book for their child.  When the unit is over, I always ask the kids if they wish to donate their book to the class when finished.  I let them pick the value of the book (they ask for things like homework passes, team points for games that we play, etc.).  Each year my supplies grow and I don't pay a cent for them.

It's such a simple thing, yet one that has dramatically impacted what I can do.  The books are my personal books now and were I to change schools, I could take them with me.

New! Lord of the Flies Teaching Guide and Activities

 Currently at Introduction Sale Price - will not be $3 for long!

TPT Store

This unit reflects the past 31 years of teaching - all the notes, lead-ins, activities, follow-ups, and tests I've created for Lord of the Flies.

What's included?

• 50 pages of notes and commentary - not book summary, but rather notes for in-class discussions, talking points, how to adjust for struggling readers, how to adjust for AP level readers, and analysis of the book and author - enough notes to go as deep or surface-level as you wish for your students

  
• 25 activities to choose from to do before, during, and after reading including Who's to Blame, 3-2-2, book allusions, TQEPs, online self-guiding chapter readings, and character Venn diagrams

  
• Quiz/Review Questions for most chapters

• Map, conch sound, and other images to share during class discussions
• 3 tests (two for regular level and one group test for AP level)

This unit will give you everything you need to teach this book to any level class.

Get it here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/XET-Lord-of-the-Flies-Teaching-Guide-15663613

Did you miss the sale? No worries. I use TPT to get things for school purposes, not to get rich. The unit price will be far lower than other unit activity packs you see on TPT.

You may also like the Lord of the Flies Survival Game!

Make Your Board Dynamic

Many companies want their websites to be dynamic - something different every time someone checks it.  You can the same for your whiteboard, though it does take about a minute or two of your morning each morning (unless you assign a student to the task - pro tip).  

Here's my board:

WHY DO THIS?

Give your students a reason to check the board.  This won't work for everyone, of course.  We all know that there are times you can write the answer to a quiz question on the board and stand in front of it while asking the question and students will still miss it, but some students will start looking at what is new.  If I can get them looking over at the dynamic part, then they may see the The Plan (what we are doing this week) and Homework/Upcoming Due Dates. 

HOW TO DO THIS?

I've already done the heavy lifting for you.  Here is a link to the Extreme English Teacher Holidays - a holidays for (almost) every day of the year.  It has birthdays of authors, birthdays of fictional characters, holidays of note for an English class, and sometimes just a weird holiday for that day.  

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=dmhidG42M2RpMzU4YmRrMWVhcm1mcW5oc2NAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ

Here is a list of pun for the Pun of the Day: https://docs.google.com/document/d/138WJ2uQJVJ7HO1yz-ENInyvkixqTRXvO/copy  I just keep a print out of it pinned to the wall and I marked them off each time I use one so that I do not duplicate puns throughout the year.

That part at the bottom?  That was something that I did as a throw away joke after I had a sub write names on the board of bad students.  Turns out it was a fun motivator.  Under Smartest Students I have a spot for all my periods.  Then when a student does something amazing, wins a Blooket, scores the highest on a test, has an interesting comment in class, or basically anything that I want to reward - I go over and erase the name before them and write their name up instead.  

What about you?  What interesting things do you do with your white board?