#Hacking

After our discussion about #hacking in class on Thursday, I realized that I had done exactly that when working with the I-Search common task in my classroom. When I was in high school, I can remember Common Tasks always being the most boring, cookie cutter assignments that I had to do in order to graduate. The teachers would throw a packet of "stuff" in front of us and expect us to produce a proficient product with little direction. As long as the rubric showed that you demonstrated proficiency, you were all set. Just another thing that you moved on from and forgot all about. No real learning was done. Now four years later, my little brother is still doing the same Common Tasks that I completed in high school. How original. 

When I learned that my first task as a students teacher in Mrs. Bachini's 9th grade English classes was to work with the I-Search Common Task I was actually excited. I was determined to #hack the packet that Stacey had photocopied for me (TEN whole pages might I add). As I flipped through I highlighted the important parts. I talked with Stacey about some things I was concerned about and was thrilled when she told me I could do whatever I wanted with it as long as the students produced a paper and made a visual as a final product (and assessed them based on the rubric) I could teach it in any way I wanted to. 

I began by giving them the benchmark that was in the Common Task packet. It was Elie Wiesel's nobel peace prize speech with a writing prompt. The goal of this benchmark was to see where the students stood with annotating, pulling out information from the text, and citing and incorporating it in their own writing. However, there was also a rubric attached to this piece. When reading through the papers I received and talking it over with Stacey, we both agreed that it was not fair to put a grade on something that was meant to be helpful for us as teachers to figure out what our students needed from us. We decided to throw away the rubric and give a grade based on effort. Students received a check for completing the assignment and a check plus if they went above and beyond the expectations. 

My next #hack was to throw away the graphic organizer and have the students create foldables. These are organizers that are made on colored paper (my favorite!) and help students to organize the different parts of their paper. An I-search paper is weighed heavily on three things. What students already knew about their topic, what the wanted to know, and what they learned. so, instead of the typical KWL chart, I decided to have the students make foldables. when they sit down to write their papers this week, they will have all their information in front of them already broken up into sections. 

This week the students will start writing and Stacey and I will be doing mini-lessons to target things such as introductions, citing sources in MLA, and other conventions of writing that will not only help them do well on this paper but also help their writing in general. My plan is to work hard to make sure that my students enjoy what they are learning about while growing as writers. I want to make this Common Task something helpful that they will remember, unlike my experience with Common Tasks as a student. 

#Hack away fellow CTs! It's fun and rewarding :)