Like me, you might still be finishing up grading for Quarter
1. And, like me, you might not yet have finalized your Quarter 2
calendar. If you haven't yet finished etching each of the 91 second
quarter days into stone, you might consider planning some cushion into the
calendar. Here are five places you might add a day of cushion to your Q2
schedule:
1. Paper Return
Day, I. Remember how Jim DiDomenico talked about how he scheduled
a “mechanics/grammar fixing” day when he returned a paper? On this day he
invited Lit Lab in to help students identify and fix grammar and mechanics
problems that he had simply indicated with an X in the margin. I borrowed
this technique last year and asked students to do one small piece of revision,
things like: provide more detail in the narrative opening, or clarify the 2nd
and 3rd the topic sentences, or make the other side's argument
stronger by including an expert. Don't forget that Jim always emphasized
that he didn't spend any time checking if the grammar mistakes were perfectly
fixed (after all, he and the lit lab teacher were circulating for the entire
class).
2. Unexpected
reteaching. I have yet to hear from anyone that adding formative
assessments makes you get to the summative assessment FASTER. Instead,
formative assessments uncover misunderstandings in students earlier in the
learning progression and make us want to circle back give some students another
at-bat. This doesn't mean that you "don't go on until everyone is at
100% proficiency.” Instead, it means that we should expect that at some
point this next quarter, we'll overestimate our students' abilities and,
because of a well-timed formative, we realize that we need to touch base with 6
or 12 or 24 students. Do you need to create an extra lesson plan for the
kids who did WELL on the formative? Nope. These students can read
their outside reading book or do a No Red Ink assignment that is due at the end
of the week or help you reteach the concept. You might schedule one of
the "formative cushion days" once every two weeks at least to make
time to be a more responsive teacher.
3. Writing
conferences. In twenty years of teaching I have always
underestimated the amount of time that I should be conferencing with
students. And I always regret rushing what I know to be an extremely
valuable teaching practice. Instead, I
end up running over class time and meeting with students during their study
halls or lunch periods (and during MY prep periods or lunch periods). So,
this quarter, I'm just adding a day to my planned 1:1 writing conference
time. I'll be less stressed and I can go a little more in depth.
4. Paper Return Day,
II. Do you ever feel like students flip right past your comments
and focus just on the grade? I think that we all know that that describes
the standard student behavior. Many teachers have built in time for
"charting progress" (the Sarah Scholz rubric) or "goal
setting" and "reflection" to ensure that students are reading
and making use of your feedback (whether its whole class feedback or individual
feedback). Justin just told me today of his technique of withholding the
grade until students have done two important reflective steps (you can ask him
about those steps)... and that it has worked so well that he is determined to
use this technique from now on. In any case, put this reflection/goal-setting
day on your calendar now – even if you’ve already added a “grammar day” from
the point above.
5. 90 divided by
50=3. I'm showing "The Cove" this week in class and
asking students to put into practice some of the analysis skills they have been
developing during first quarter. The film is 90 minutes long. I
used to cram the movie in two days (after all, a 90-minute movie should
completely fit in two 50 minute periods, right?). But I've added a day of
cushion and am scheduling 30 “film minutes” for each day. During the
"extra" time, I am reviewing what we learned the day before, asking
students to name the "rhetorical things" that they noticed the day
before, previewing the final question ("Is 'The Cove' persuasive or
manipulative?") and providing a little time to make sure that I'm just
checking in with students as humans.
And, while you're at it, you
might consider sprinkling a couple more days of cushion because -- you never
know -- we might have to deal with our own sick kids, or ditch days, or administrative
calendar changes, or unexpected professional conference opportunities, or your
spouse’s winning raffle ticket that allows you a long weekend in Pittsburgh, or
unexpected dental surgery, or snow days, or college visits for you children, or
a sprained ankle, or Cubs world series parade... Because life.
