There’s not really a quote for me to start off with from this chapter, since the chapter is made up of seven different quick writes that can be implemented in the classroom. As with Subjects Matter, I do like how Daniels and his colleagues set up the explanation of each strategy by giving a general description of it, when it can be used, how to use it, and telling the reader just what can go wrong. I think just about any student could easily use these strategies. I’m betting even those students who tend not to be visual (read: Claire and Pam) could successfully complete the one that seems to be more visually based (Drawing and Illustrating). Hmmm…perhaps that shall be an experiment for our next study group meeting! J
I’ve asked each of you to try one of these strategies with a class and to share with the rest of us how it went. I will share my comments about the Exit Slips I have y’all complete at the end of each class. The Exit Slip provides me some good feedback on the class. It’s always interesting to see that different parts of class and strategies strike a cord with different teachers. Sometimes one teacher will love a strategy and can’t wait to use it with his/her class while another didn’t like it at all. That just goes to show why we have to have a toolbox of strategies to use with kids because not all strategies will work well with all students. The Exit Slips are also helpful in letting me know when I haven’t done such a hot job of presenting something. (Can we say Britton’s Continuum?) By having y’all complete the Exit Slip, I realized that I needed to go back and revisit the Continuum (on more that one occasion!) so that y’all could have a better understanding of it. Had y’all not written about your confusion, I would have just gone on with other topics during the year, and there really would have been mass confusion when you had to turn in your portfolios at the end of the year that include writing samples from each end of the spectrum! So, please keep up the honest feedback…it helps me tremendously!
I’ve asked each of you to try one of these strategies with a class and to share with the rest of us how it went. I will share my comments about the Exit Slips I have y’all complete at the end of each class. The Exit Slip provides me some good feedback on the class. It’s always interesting to see that different parts of class and strategies strike a cord with different teachers. Sometimes one teacher will love a strategy and can’t wait to use it with his/her class while another didn’t like it at all. That just goes to show why we have to have a toolbox of strategies to use with kids because not all strategies will work well with all students. The Exit Slips are also helpful in letting me know when I haven’t done such a hot job of presenting something. (Can we say Britton’s Continuum?) By having y’all complete the Exit Slip, I realized that I needed to go back and revisit the Continuum (on more that one occasion!) so that y’all could have a better understanding of it. Had y’all not written about your confusion, I would have just gone on with other topics during the year, and there really would have been mass confusion when you had to turn in your portfolios at the end of the year that include writing samples from each end of the spectrum! So, please keep up the honest feedback…it helps me tremendously!
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October 13, 2007
Chapter 3 Teaching Adolescent Writers
I have used exit slips frequently in the past especially to help gauge whether my students mastered content essential to their understanding of the overall standards being addressed in class. After reading chapter 3 I decided to use the STAR method for an activity that I had planned for my psychology 101 class. My students were learning about memory and as a culminating activity I had my students to read an article on the research done showing how music increases memory capacity when used in conjunction with learning. I asked my students to weigh in on the subject and then we had a class discussion on their thoughts. Then I decided that I would demonstrate how much music can be linked to memories; particularly episodic memories. I had a country song by Reba McEntire that is very old cued up and ready to play the actual video of her early hit “Fancy.” I let the class listen to the song and then wrote on the smart board about what time and place hearing that song transported me to many years ago. I told the students that as a proof operator in a bank in college I remember getting a copy of that cd and listening to it repeatedly because I had forgotten my cd case that day and after listening to it for 6 hours of check processing it was ingrained in my head and no matter when I hear the song it always takes me back to that time period in my life.
I then gave the students time to create their 1st draft of a song that transported them to a particular place in their life or event. Then I allowed 4 students to tell me their songs and played their videos of a variety of musical genres for the class to hear as the students each voluntarily read their first draft in their ‘music memory’ STAR writing. Then I demonstrated my draft being cleaned up highlighting what I intended to substitute, take out, add or rearrange and then allowed the students to do the same thing with their own writing. It was a very quiet and productive essay writing experience for many of my students but I will assure you that they clearly understood that I was not grading the personal nature of their essays but looking for them to then clearly be able to agree or disagree with what the original research said about memory and music through writing about their own experience. It was a pretty good experience with the activity starting with kids looking around the room wondering why in the world they were watching a music video to actually writing and revising something meaningful to the students. One such example was from a student who listed her song as “ I can fly” and described the song playing the first time she ever held a basketball and how no matter how many games she plays or how successful she is the song always brings back the memory of that day as it was playing in the gym. Instead of just telling about her song and experience she developed a well-written essay that definitely had to be shared once she finished playing her song for the class. Imagine, students excited about what they are writing and willing to share it with others? It goes back to students not actually hating to write but hating the writing we ask them to do.
Jamie--that is so wild that you had your students write about a song that makes them think of a particular personal experience. Just this weekend, I was thinking that it would be cool to use Kenny Chesney's "I Go Back" to do that! If you're not familiar with the song, he sings about how certain songs take him back to memories in his life--"Jack and Diane," "Keep on Rockin' Me Baby," and "Only the Good Die Young." The lyrics include, "We all have a song that somehow stamped our lives/
Takes us to another place and time...Every time I hear that song, I go back."
Content Area Writing
Chapter 3
I am looking forward to all the different strategies that we have done with our students. Sometimes I get nervous when I try something new and it also helps to have the advice of my talented colleagues! I have to admit something: I really want to use exit slips but with 124 students, I was afraid that I just would not have time to read them! I have used it in the past and it is always helpful but UGHH it is frustrating not to have time to read the slips. And I don’t want to waste time if I am not going to read them!
I did have my students do quick writes and I loved it. I took them up just to read them. My students groaned when I gave the assignment but then they wrote and wrote. I think that they liked having a voice. We were studying Athens and Sparta and had been comparing the 2 polises. I then wanted my students to decide which polis they would rather live in and why. I also finished the lesson with a Venn diagram on Athens and Sparta. I used another strategy that came from Gallagher’s book. It was called Reading a Movie. I have gotten into the habit of showing important clips. I decided to show 3 scenes from 300 and gave students the form to record ideas, thoughts, etc. After each scene, I stopped the movie and gave them time to write. Then after the clips were shown, I instructed students to reflect on the 3 scenes. I followed that up with a documentary on the actual battle of Thermopylae. Students loved this; they have been able to refer to the sheet in other discussions as well.
Exit Slip for Comfort by Carolee Dean
We have read approximately half of the novel. Chapter 12 ends with Kenny saying, "'Dallas!!!' I screamed. Then I turned and ran out the front door. But suddenly Dallas seemed very far away."
Please write a paragraph explaining the people or situations that are working against Kenny as he tries to achieve his goal of leaving home to live on his own in Dallas.
This the assignment that I gave my students yesterday in both of my Academic Support II classes (sophomores). A quick scan of them last night led me to a couple of positive aspects of this assignment and a couple of negative. First, they did a good job of recognizing that there are many people and situations in the story that are causing problems for Kenny. Most of the students did a nice job of constructing a good topic sentence using the instructions for this assignment. The negatives were that they focused too much on the more recent events, and I had hoped that they would bring out details from earlier in the novel. Many of the responses were short, only about five sentences. And of course, sentence structure was an issue.
Overall, I was pleased with most of the responses. I think I might go back and brainstorm with them all of the people and situations so far in the book. Then we might write a sample response together.
I like exit slips, and I have used them before with math problems in Academic Support. Unlike Christy, I have the luxury of a small group of students, so I could do these everyday if I wanted to; I would be able to respond back by the next class period.
I tried the Admit Slip strategy with my academic support students. We have been reviewing (and re-teaching) for their math quiz. I used the modified version by having my students start class by completing these instead of doing them as homework (maybe, just maybe, I can get to this point). I wrote three problems on the board with the equation being the only thing that changed in each problem. The problems were “To isolate the variable in (equation) multiply or divide by _______ and solve.” The students had to copy the three problems and then tell me three things: 1. multiply or divide, 2. (multiply or divide) by ______, and 3. solve the equation.
I could tell right away that the students were still confused with what they were learning in their math class. I even had a couple students who said “This is not how we do it in so and so’s class.” Sadly, it IS what they are doing in their math class it’s just being approached from a different standpoint. Once I showed the students a problem they were used to seeing and explained that the given problem is just the last step of the bigger problem – they seemed to get it a little better. Not only did this help me realize that my students may still be confused about what they are learning but also that my students have a very hard time taking what they do know and applying it or solving it in a different situation. This could cause a big problem for EOC exams as well as HSAP and because of this I know I need to continue to approach problems differently in order to help my students truly understand the material.
The strategy I used was the exit slip. In each of my six classes, we had spent the class period talking about addiction. What is an addiction? What can you be addicted to? How can an addiction be treated? How can you prevent an addiction? For an exit slip, I had students answer the following question: Do you think you are at risk for developing and addiction? Why or why not?
Simple enough, right? I was amazed at how easy it was to tell which students had a firm grasp of what puts a person at risk for addiction and which ones didn’t. Some of them made me laugh. One student thought she was addicted to doing hair. Another student said he was at risk for becoming a workaholic because he feels good when he works hard and accomplishes something. If you knew the kid, you’d laugh, too. On the other hand, some students’ exit slips showed great insight. Two or three students said they believed that everyone is at risk for addiction; some people are just at greater risk. Some students who have grown up around family members who are addicts recognized their genetic risk but said they were determined not to end up like the addicts they know. Had I not given kids this question as an exit slip, I would not have had the opportunity to clear up some misconceptions about addiction, nor would I have had the opportunity to encourage students to stay strong in their commitments to not become addicts.
I used the Exit Slip in my class for a couple of weeks. I expected to get some "Oh God that was boring!" comments, which I did. But a good chunk of them were asking questions for further understanding on what I had been teaching in US Hist.. One thing that I try to stress to my students is that history has a way of repeating itself. Try as we may there are times when people have ventured down the same wrong path (though it was thought to be the correct path at that time) as those before them and the results were the same or worse. The comments made by my students were also a wake-up call me to sometimes try a different approach to a topic. In other words, not try to teach it the way I have done before.
In the past (when I taught higher functioning students, I have used exit slips. They were a quick and very easy way for me to be able to judge very quickly how much a student truly understands and also gives them an opportunity to ask questions or ask for clarification if they are too scared to ask in front of their peers in class. Some kids do not take these very seriously and often some of them just jot down "stupid" statements or questions just so it is done and they can turn it in, but other students have made these work not only for me (to gain knowledge) but for them as well. Several students expressed that they felt these were helpful because they could ask questions that they were afraid to ask in class.
With the students I have taught in the past few years, I have not been able to use exit slips with them. However, should I ever be in a position with students who have the mental capacity to complete exit slips, I plan to utilize them again.
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