My one year old is becoming increasingly independent. If she is not actively IN CHARGE of something, she melts down. Without letting her take over my life, I try to give her a little bit of ownership in every task I perform. That way I can actually get things done and she has a good time and learns new skills along the way.
Today we made french toast. (AKA... we have nothing in our fridge.) Camden makes egg scrambles every morning with me, and is usually in charge of whisking the eggs, until she starts whipping them right out of the bowl. She loves that she gets to stand in her Learning Tower and be right by my side. Today I decided to teach her a new task: egg cracking. You silly mommy, you must be thinking. She's only one and she will not be able to keep the shell from getting in the egg.. yadda yadda yadda. At the end of the day, if I have a happy toddler and a little shell in my egg, I'm okay with that.
I was surprised at how obedient she was when I told her to crack only one egg at a time, and she even waited for me to discard the egg shell and give her the okay before grabbing another out of the carton. The thrill of being a grown-up chef had taken over her normal toddler sensibilities.
As we cracked each egg and emptied it in the bowl, I combed through and got a little shell out. She whisked the eggs like normal, and I threw in some vanilla and cinnamon. At this point, I had lost her, and she munched on an entire slice of bread that was intended for the meal. Whatever keeps you happy, baby.
She's only one, and I wanted her to learn a part of the process without being burdened by the quality of the end result. I didn't ask her to measure vanilla in a teeny spoon or transfer dripping bread to a sizzling hot pan. She simply isn't ready for those tasks. Good teaching looks the same no matter if you are teaching a toddler how to make french toast or teaching a middle school student to write an essay. You have to take it one step at a time to ensure clarity, quality, and confidence.
How to take it one step at a time in a middle school writing classroom:
1. Define steps of the writing process for yourself for the assigned task as part of your planning.
While it's great for students to understand how all these skills fit together, they need some solid time discovering each skill in isolation first. I'm not talking about teaching each skill in order one day at a time until you've taught them all in a week. I mean really digging deep to teach, formatively assess, reteach, and practice each skill. In reality, each reading and writing skill translates to real world critical thinking. We don't want to send the message that these techniques and practices are for writing class alone.
In general, I like to use the APES writing structure, which stands for:
A- Argument (This is one sentence stating a concise argument.)
P- Provide Evidence (Usually in quote form embedded within your own words. I will embed from my above blog post to model.)
E- Explain How Evidence Proves your Argument (This is your analysis... say something that shows me you REALLY GET IT! Don't assume that the evidence speaks for itself, but don't baby the readers either.)
S- Significance (Or as I really like to say... SO WHAT? Why does this argument matter to readers? Can you connect it to universal theme or some meaning outside of this text or argument alone?)
By only expecting my one year old to master one task at a time, I am teaching a skill more deeply and instilling confidence in her ability. With her mind on the simple task of cracking eggs, she focused on her execution and "even waited for me to discard the egg shell... before grabbing another out of the carton." She broke down the steps of cracking an egg without worrying about if the french toast would burn in the end or how much cinnamon to measure into the egg mixture. With a few age appropriate and manageable tasks in her ownership, she felt in control and didn't feel the need to move outside the bounds of my expectations. I have a lot of years left to teach my little girl how to do things a lot bigger than just making french toast, and I hope to keep the mantra that less is more. If I can master little things with her at great quality, I know that those skills will last and she will be able to transfer them to much more meaningful tasks.
(And believe me... there are even steps within these steps... so LESS really is MORE! I will provide more insight and resources on breaking APES down in other posts.)
2. Write an Objective that Reflects Your Expectations
Too many times, I wrote lazy objectives that turned into vague understanding in the classroom. "Students will be able to write an essay to prove how Julius Caesar was a tragic hero." Sure. That's fine for an assessment, but not for teaching. When a student walks into your classroom, they should be able to look at your board, have a basic understanding of the one thing you will teach them HOW TO DO that day, and when they leave, they should be able to properly communicate HOW TO DO that skill. I've used an extreme example to prove a point, but you might need to break some of your objectives into even smaller bites to be effective.
Consider how these objectives would guide students in a classroom:
3. Assess only what you teach!
If you are teaching students to embed a quote, don't muddle their understanding by marking their comma splices in red. The human mind is fragile and is drawn to criticism. Let the criticism that marinates during this lesson be directly related to the lesson.. that way you pair criticism with a solid solution.
There is a time and place for grading more than one thing at once. In each step of the writing process, be aware where you are and what your goals are at the moment. Tailor your advice and critique to meet those goals directly.
How to take it one step at a time in a middle school writing classroom:
1. Define steps of the writing process for yourself for the assigned task as part of your planning.
While it's great for students to understand how all these skills fit together, they need some solid time discovering each skill in isolation first. I'm not talking about teaching each skill in order one day at a time until you've taught them all in a week. I mean really digging deep to teach, formatively assess, reteach, and practice each skill. In reality, each reading and writing skill translates to real world critical thinking. We don't want to send the message that these techniques and practices are for writing class alone.
In general, I like to use the APES writing structure, which stands for:
A- Argument (This is one sentence stating a concise argument.)
P- Provide Evidence (Usually in quote form embedded within your own words. I will embed from my above blog post to model.)
E- Explain How Evidence Proves your Argument (This is your analysis... say something that shows me you REALLY GET IT! Don't assume that the evidence speaks for itself, but don't baby the readers either.)
S- Significance (Or as I really like to say... SO WHAT? Why does this argument matter to readers? Can you connect it to universal theme or some meaning outside of this text or argument alone?)
By only expecting my one year old to master one task at a time, I am teaching a skill more deeply and instilling confidence in her ability. With her mind on the simple task of cracking eggs, she focused on her execution and "even waited for me to discard the egg shell... before grabbing another out of the carton." She broke down the steps of cracking an egg without worrying about if the french toast would burn in the end or how much cinnamon to measure into the egg mixture. With a few age appropriate and manageable tasks in her ownership, she felt in control and didn't feel the need to move outside the bounds of my expectations. I have a lot of years left to teach my little girl how to do things a lot bigger than just making french toast, and I hope to keep the mantra that less is more. If I can master little things with her at great quality, I know that those skills will last and she will be able to transfer them to much more meaningful tasks.
(And believe me... there are even steps within these steps... so LESS really is MORE! I will provide more insight and resources on breaking APES down in other posts.)
2. Write an Objective that Reflects Your Expectations
Too many times, I wrote lazy objectives that turned into vague understanding in the classroom. "Students will be able to write an essay to prove how Julius Caesar was a tragic hero." Sure. That's fine for an assessment, but not for teaching. When a student walks into your classroom, they should be able to look at your board, have a basic understanding of the one thing you will teach them HOW TO DO that day, and when they leave, they should be able to properly communicate HOW TO DO that skill. I've used an extreme example to prove a point, but you might need to break some of your objectives into even smaller bites to be effective.
Consider how these objectives would guide students in a classroom:
- Students will be able to decipher fact from opinion in a thesis statement.
- Students will be able to choose the best quote from the text to support their opinion.
- Students will be able to explain how their evidence furthers the argument in two to three sentences.
- Students will be able to compare their argument to at least two universal themes or real world connections.
3. Assess only what you teach!
If you are teaching students to embed a quote, don't muddle their understanding by marking their comma splices in red. The human mind is fragile and is drawn to criticism. Let the criticism that marinates during this lesson be directly related to the lesson.. that way you pair criticism with a solid solution.
There is a time and place for grading more than one thing at once. In each step of the writing process, be aware where you are and what your goals are at the moment. Tailor your advice and critique to meet those goals directly.
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