I hear teachers say that they don’t want to change to standards-based or competency-based grading because it’s easier to keep doing what they’ve always done. Competency-based grading has simplified my grading process in a way that saves me hours of work! I never have to count points—a point for this, 2 points for that, ½ point off for “this one little thing missing.” Competency-based grading isn’t really about the points; it’s about the student’s ability to show what they know and what they can do. I can see competency very quickly when I am using a rubric. Often a quick glance is enough to give me the information I am looking for, especially if the assignment is visual. If the work is research-based and designed to show critical thinking and use of relevant sources, I spend more time on grading, but competency-based grading is still faster than adding up individual points for each little thing.
Students also know what to expect with competency-based grading because I try to be specific with a rubric. If they don’t score 4 points on the first try, I give them feedback offering them an opportunity to improve their work.
Let’s take the example with the following objective from FCS
Exploration:
I can effectively use fashion as a means of expression (Strand 3, Standard 4).
The assignment itself looks like the one below. Although my own fashion drawings lack the seemingly effortless style and movement of professional design drawings, I love to draw clothing, and I can capture clothing construction details, so I feel these drawings are a helpful guide when students are unfamiliar with design drawings.
“Fashion as Communication and Expression” Canvas Assignment
After explaining the assignment to the class, I point out
the rubric and go over the rubric with them so that they know exactly what to
expect.
As the students submit their work, I give them feedback
based on the rubric, so that they always have the opportunity to improve.
Here are four samples of student work matching the scores of 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the rubric.
This student had a good start–but the work is only that–a start.
The second assignment sample is rushed and low in quality. However, the student did make effort to include at least some design details that show personality.
This student work shows an understanding of fashion as expression while still lacking professional detail.
The final sample shows high-quality, professional details with accessories, closures, movement, etc. This student has clearly mastered the idea of fashion as expression.
Is there a way that you could simplify your teaching practice by using a 4-point, competency-based grading scale?
A week ago, I had the opportunity to attend one of the best professional
development conferences I have ever attended. Teachers attend a variety of
required trainings every year to maintain licensure. Some of the trainings are
mandated, and many are redundant. I’ve been at full-day trainings that go from
7:30-3:30, and teachers are counting the minutes after lunch until the training
is over. This training was totally different. It ended at 5 p.m. both days, but
few people left that early. The first day we stayed 45 minutes late; then
arrived an hour early the next morning with a large group of others all excited
to continue work on their projects. What kind of training would make us want to
put in so much of our own time? It was the annual USU Clothing and Textile Training.
I had been looking forward to this training for over a
month. I knew I was going to get a couple of mental health days at the
conference, even though I would be working at the same time. I was so excited
to attend the conference, that my substitute joked that she was going to tell
my classes that I was going to a sewing spa day.
I have long understood the mental health benefits of sewing
in my own life. There was an emphasis on those benefits for students at the USU
Clothing and Textile training. The subject came up during multiple workshops.
One presenter talked about research showing that there are specific mental
health benefits that go along with hand-eye projects, and that we have lost a
lot of those benefits in our society as young people rarely participate in such
projects anymore.
In her young-adult novel, Sparrow Road, (Puffin Books,
2012) Sheila O-Connor describes a teenage girl named Raine, who is trying to
find the solutions to some difficult problems in her life. An adult mentor begins
to teach Raine to sew. After several days of sewing, Raine says, “I still didn’t
have an answer, but the steady act of sewing gave my heart some peace” (page
154). I love that line! I truly believe that creative activities have a healing
property.
Creativity, and the peace that comes with it, is a gift we
can offer our students. Sewing, when projects are personalized, is
automatically engaging. There are adults who tell me that sewing stresses them
out, and I know there’s a story behind that. Actually, I’ve heard the story
over and over. I know it’s a true story because I saw it happen during my junior
high years. There were some sewing teachers who were so strict, they scared
their students half to death. I’ve had grown women who have faced difficult
life challenges tell me that they are terrified to try to put in a zipper
because of the way their sewing teacher made them feel when they were just 14.
We can alleviate stress in our sewing labs first of all by
helping young students understand that there will be mistakes. I make mistakes
every time I sew. Secondly, we must assure our students that when those
mistakes occur, we will be willing, available, and patient as we help them
understand how to fix those mistakes. We can also reduce stress by teaching
problem-solving skills and allowing students to take short breaks as needed if
their stress level begins to rise. Sewing should be joyful. When it is joyful, teachers
will naturally build their programs.
During the USU training we heard stories of schools that
have eliminated their sewing programs. Principals or districts may feel that
sewing is no longer practical or necessary, but when we take into consideration
the enormous need our current students have for mental health support, and when
we understand that sewing provides that mental health support, we recognize
that eliminating our programs is simply not acceptable. The critical-thinking
and problem-solving skills learned in a sewing lab are important academic reasons
to include sewing classes in our schools. I encourage both students and
administrators to see sewing classes as the perfect place to incorporate the
engineering design process. I also love to point out how sewing and clothing
design are all math; textiles are all science; fashion is communication,
history, and social studies; and fiber arts are art.
The USU Clothing and Textile training combined everything I
love about sewing and design. We had two fantastic keynote speakers. Carina
Gardner, who currently designs fabrics for Riley Blake, talked about fabric and
paper design and marketing, and how designers who understand the marketing
aspect can achieve financial success in the design field.
Melissa Clark, professor in the USU Outdoor Product Design Department, described the USU program for Outdoor Product Design. I’ve been watching this program since its inception. I love what they are doing, and I encourage young, aspiring designers to consider that program in their future.
Melissa was generous enough to let us try out her own outdoor product design by sewing a lightweight rucksack. This project was probably our most challenging project of the 2-day conference, and I was especially excited about this project, because my son has been telling me how much he needs something like this.
The patch on the backpack was not part of the original design. My daughter brought it home from a work-based learning experience at her own school, where someone from Hill Air Force Base had presented to her class about Homeland Security. My daughter didn’t feel strongly about keeping the patch, and my son loves everything about military planes of any kind. He hopes to become an aerospace engineer. I knew he would be excited about the patch, and it was a perfect match for this bag, so I couldn’t resist adding it on.
Besides the rucksack, we had opportunities for service sewing. This is just the beginning of the pile of mastectomy pillows we made for donation. You should have seen the way we worked together to get these done.
We made this lovely, lined travel jewelry clutch with pockets, zippers, snap-on attachments, and places for earrings, rings, and necklaces.
I was skeptical about learning to make macrame keychains, but this turned out to be a fun workshop.
We made swimsuit cover ups, and we did some hand sewing with
this cute “circles to hexagons” quilt block. I don’t do much quilting. I’m much
more focused on clothing. But I enjoyed the hexagon project, partly because it was
a great opportunity to feel the mental health benefits of hand sewing. Does it
have mistakes in it? Sure enough. Same as all my projects. But it turned out nice
anyway.
One of the best parts of the conference was the opportunity
to visit and collaborate with a teacher from my own school and with teachers
from across the state. I loved to hear their stories and find out about the
projects they are doing and how they are finding success!
If you teach, I hope I see you at the USU Clothing and
Textile Training next year.
There’s something special about using authentic
international recipes in a school foods lab. It gives students the opportunity
to build global fluency and perspective in a way that is non-threatening and
not political. It allows students the meaningful chance to explore unfamiliar
cultures.
I have a whole unit where students work in teams to research
and explore authentic international recipes and then choose and prepare a “signature
dish” for their international restaurants, but that’s a topic for another day.
Today I want to share a Ukrainian cookie recipe. This isn’t a recipe blog, but hopefully sharing this recipe can be a way to open up conversations with kids who are struggling, just as adults are, to understand difficult situations in the world.
I got this recipe from a Ukrainian immigrant woman in Philadelphia when I lived there for a short time in the early nineties. Liudmila not only gave me the recipe but encouraged me to watch her make it. I’m not sure I could have successfully made her cookie recipe without a tutorial. I grew up baking cookies! In fact, there might have been a time during my teenage years when I made cookies nearly every weekend. I thought I knew exactly what to expect from any cookie recipe. This one felt unusual.
Normally, when eggs are used, it is raw eggs that are used in cookies as a sort of glue, to hold everything together. These Ukrainian cookies use crushed, boiled egg yolks.
I asked Liudmila if these cookies have a special name, and
she said, “Pechenie,” which means cookies. I asked again if they were a special
kind of pechenie, and she reaffirmed that their name is pechenie. I call them
Ukrainian cookies in my recipe file. Here’s how to make them.
Hard boil 4 eggs. Remove the eggs from the shells and
separate the yolks from the whites. I like to use the whites for a salad. Place
the yolks in a small bowl and crush them with a fork.
Crushed, boiled egg yolks
Melt 1 cup butter or margarine in a glass bowl in the microwave.
In a large bowl, place 2 ½ cups flour, 1 cup melted butter,
4 crushed, boiled egg yolks, and 3 tablespoons sour cream.
Melted butter, flour, egg yolks, and sour creamAdding the baking soda and vinegar
Finally, put ½ teaspoon baking soda in a tablespoon. Add 1
teaspoon apple cider vinegar to the tablespoon (yes, the whole thing will
bubble like a science experiment). Pour the bubbly soda and vinegar combination
in with the flour, butter, egg yolks, and sour cream and mix everything
together. You’ll have a thick dough. It’s ok to see bits of egg yolk in the
dough.
The finished dough
Roll out the dough to 1/8” thickness on a large, floured board. Then cut the dough into strips about 2 ½” long and ¾” wide. They don’t have to be perfect!
Place a small amount of jelly or jam on the center of each
strip. It’s probably more than ¼ teaspoon of jelly but less than ½ teaspoon.
Fold or roll up the strips with the jelly in the center and place all the jelly-filled
rolls onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. You’ll have
approximately 6 dozen little cookies.
Bake at 325⁰ Fahrenheit about 15 minutes or until slightly golden, like biscuits.
Before baking
After baking
Remove the cookies from the oven and dip them in powdered sugar
while they are still warm. You’ll need a cup to a cup and a half of powdered
sugar in a cereal-sized bowl.
These little bite-sized gems are irresistible. My daughter didn’t
want to stop eating this batch!
Here’s the recipe:
Ukrainian Cookies (Pechenie)
2 ½ cups flour
1 cup butter or margarine (melted)
4 boiled egg yolks (crushed)
3 TBS sour cream
Soda and Vinegar (put ½ tsp soda into 1 tablespoon. Carefully pour in 1 tsp apple-cider vinegar until the combination bubbles to the side of the spoon).
Mix all ingredients. Roll dough very thin. Cut into small strips. Spoon jam into the center. Roll up the strips. Bake at 325⁰ Fahrenheit approximately 15 minutes or until crisp and slightly golden. Dip in powdered sugar while still warm.
Flexible seating is just one way to help students feel safe, wanted, and respected in the classroom, but how do you make it work in junior high, especially when funding is limited? I’ve used flexible seating for several years, both in elementary and junior high school. If you want to try flexible seating I would say, just like with everything else, start simple.
One of the easiest ways to start is with a few yoga balls. Along with other items, these have gone up in price over the last few years, but you don’t need many of them to get a start on flexible seating. I get mine on Amazon. If you’re a Utah teacher, you can use “Class Wallet” money to buy them. Right now I have 6 in my classroom. They will need to be replaced from time to time, but having just a few makes buying and replacing them manageable. The 65 centimeter size is a great size for junior high school.
Not all teachers like yoga balls. The up-and-down or swaying movement makes some teachers dizzy. That’s another great reason to start small until you know if this option will work for you. If you are going to use yoga balls, you have to set up some rules, and you’ll also have to be careful how you present the whole thing to students. Junior high boys will snicker if you get the wording wrong. When I share my expectations with the kids, I always talk about “yoga seats.” That helps avoid problems. And here are the rules. Yoga seats are on a first-come, first served basis with no saving and no fighting. Yoga seats are seats, not toys. They should not be dribbled or thrown. It’s ok to get movement on a yoga seat, but it’s not ok to distract others. Yoga seats are not for doing the “Superman,” or rolling under the table and kicking your neighbor. If someone is sitting on a yoga seat, nobody else should kick that seat. If you are sitting on a yoga seat, you can’t bang it on the sides with your hands or otherwise make noise with it. If any student has difficulty meeting my expectations with a yoga seat, I will ask them to put it away. The kids understand my rules, and I’m consistent in enforcing those rules.
Not all students like yoga balls, which is another reason to start small. I have a handful of students in every classroom who can benefit from the movement that comes with sitting on a yoga ball, but many students are irritated by that movement. I’ve added other options to my seating to allow all students to find something that matches their personality.
Most of my students choose to sit in traditional student chairs at one of my 7 classroom tables where students work in teams. Each team usually has 5 students, but I have some larger classes where I have to have 6 students on some teams. I can lower the size of my teams by moving a few students to my soft seating area. I always have students volunteer for these soft saucer chairs, which are quite comfortable, and which I also found on Amazon. This is a great seating area for students who want less movement or want to be away from distractions.
The “tall table” is another option. I can almost predict the personality of students who will choose to sit at the “tall table.” Some will be rowdy or more likely to need redirection to stay on task. Often these kids are independent and creative thinkers.
For a few years my tall table was a regular classroom table on risers, just like the kind you could use to raise up a bed. The table was less stable that way, and even on risers, it wasn’t tall enough for me to use as a cutting table when I’m cutting fabric. This year my principal agreed to purchase a 36″ Nasco cutting table for my classroom. I absolutely love this cutting table! It saves my back when I have to cut fabric, and it’s a great surface for students working as well. The Nasco table has a larger surface area than the other tables in my classroom, and because some students naturally gravitate to that tall table, I often have 6 students seated on 24″ stools there.
I let students choose their seats on the first day of class with the understanding that if there is a problem, I will change their places. I also change their seating from time to time if I need to adjust teams for various projects. When I do adjust seating, I try to keep student preference for types of seating in mind.
Last week we started our third and last trimester of the year, which means that I am meeting four new classes of 7th graders for the first time. I have one student who came to class on the first day anxious and unsure about staying. I noticed how this student swayed and rocked while talking to me and asked the student if it would be more comfortable to sit on a yoga ball. The student lit up. Sometimes students have needs that I can easily meet by providing legitimate movement, and I’m happy to be able to do so. Every student can succeed. My challenge is to find a way to make that success possible.
The title of this activity is a play on words, because
students will be building community with their team, but they are also building
a 3D community out of paper at the same time.
Many courses have strands and standards that involve
teamwork and collaboration. For Family and Consumer Sciences Exploration in
Utah, this activity works well with the following strands and standards:
I
can explore the importance of employability skills (Strand 4 Standard 1) including
the following:
Effective communication
Problem solving
Teamwork
Critical Thinking
Dependability
Accountability
Legal Requirements/Expectations
For Utah College and Career Awareness classes, this activity gets
even more bang for the buck, meeting the following standards:
I
can discuss the benefits of strong workplace skills and the negative
consequences of underdeveloped workplace skills. (Strand 2 Standard 1)
I
can complete tasks on time. (Strand 2 Standard 2)
I
can exhibit self-motivation and self-discipline. (Strand 2 Standard 2)
I
can show respect for others. (Strand 2 Standard 2)
I
can be responsible for my own actions. (Strand 2 Standard 2)
I
can demonstrate strong work ethic. (Strand 2 Standard 2)
I
can explore various methods of communication and can use effective and
appropriate communication for the given situation. (Strand 2 Standard 3)
I
can identify and demonstrate effective collaboration and teamwork skills.
(Strand 2 Standard 5)
3d
Community Building takes minimal preparation and supplies but provides a lot of
engagement. Students love this activity!
Here’s
what you need to have ready in advance for each team or table.
4
pieces of cardstock
1
tape dispenser
Colored
pencils
Scissors
And here are the rules for the activity which you can also find posted on the Canvas Commons as “3D Community Building.”
Your teacher will
give each team 4 pieces of paper or cardstock and will allow you to use tape,
glue, colored pencils, and scissors. Each team will have the same amount of
time to create the following 3-dimensional items:
At least 1 building
At least 1 vehicle
At least 1 tree, shrub, or other plant
At least 1 person
Any other elements of a city you would like to build
All items you
build should match each other in scale and should be similar in style. That
means that as a team, you should choose a theme for your community so that the
items look like they belong together. When we finish building, each team will
share their work and their process with the class.
As I am
explaining this activity to students, there are a few things I make sure they are
clear on. The first is that they will only get 4 pieces of cardstock! If they
have 5 people on their team—4 pieces of cardstock. If they have 3 people on
their team—4 pieces of cardstock. They can’t ask for more cardstock. Using
their supplies effectively is part of the requirement. If they come to me in 15
minutes and tell me that they made a mistake and need more paper to start over,
I tell them that they need to figure out how to problem solve with the mistakes
they made and the supplies they had.
We talk about
what it means to make their items 3-dimensional. I do allow for paper people to
be flat, as long as they can stand.
We talk about scale,
and how a car should not be smaller than a person or taller than a house.
And we talk about choosing a theme. I have seen all kinds of creative themes chosen for this activity—old Western towns, alien towns, New York City street scenes, vacations on the beach, campsites, “under the sea” scenes, scenes from shows and movies, and the list goes on. I look forward to 3D community building because the kids often surprise me. Just last week, I had students create a pop-up beach scene. It was delightful! And yes, I do allow boats to count as vehicles.
Once students start working with their team, they need approximately 40 minutes to build their scene and feel ready to share with the class. Some teams go a little faster or a little slower. When a majority of teams have mostly cleaned up their scraps and mess and are ready to share with the class, I have a spokesperson from each team share what they made. After every team has shared, we have a class discussion using both pair/share with students at tables as well as whole-group sharing. The discussion is how I make sure we have met the day’s objectives. I tell students that as long as they have participated effectively and respectfully in both the building activity and the discussion, I can see that they have met the standards for the day, and I can give them points for this activity and its objectives based on their participation. That makes this activity quick to grade, even for a large class!
These are some of
the questions I typically ask during the class discussion, and I believe these
questions connect well to the standards, but you can use your own questions,
depending on the objectives for the activity in your classroom:
How
did your group split up the various responsibilities, meaning, did you share in
various responsibilities or did specific people do specific things, such as
leader, architect, artist, object designer, builder? Were formal assignments
given or did the responsibilities just happen?
What
made communication most effective for your team?
What
are some real-life workplace skills you used as part of this activity?
What
are some of the things that your group did that helped the group cooperate and
be successful?
What
did you learn about decision-making in a work or teamwork environment?
What
were the positives and negatives of working with a group?
What
are some things you could have done to work together better as a team?
I hope you love this activity! If you use it with your classes, I’d love to get some feedback on how it went. Also, what would you change to improve the activity? I can always make improvements to my own lessons!
Below is one of my favorite ever 3D communities. The 4-person team that made this creation was incredibly in sync! The figure standing on top is Willy Wonka on a green hill of candy trees over the top of a chocolate river. The vehicle is a violet, Viking-style boat floating on chocolate inside the chocolate factory.
Say the phrase, “Clusters, Pathways, Concentrators, and
Completers,” and your students will look at you with a sort of dazed look. The
words mean nothing to them. And yet, if they understand the meaning of this
phrase, it can give them a powerful tool to take charge of their education
throughout high school. The objectives for this lesson, based on the Utah State
standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Exploration are as follows:
I
can identify the 6 Family and Consumer Science career pathways and the
associated clusters. (Strand 1)
I
can define the difference between career pathways and career clusters and how
they are related. (Strand 1, Standard 1)
I
can define a CTE pathway concentrator and a CTE pathway completer. (Strand 1,
Standard 1)
There
could be multiple ways to introduce the vocabulary and meet the standards for
this lesson, but I find that it is most meaningful to personalize, which means
going a little beyond the standards. To start, I explain clusters and pathways.
I talk about how clusters are groups of things that go together, just like all
the cereals go on the same aisle at the grocery store, even though Grape Nuts
and Cap’n Crunch are quite different. For CTE, clusters are groups of jobs or
fields that go together, even though they may not seem closely connected.
Then we go to the Utah Clusters and Pathways page so the students can see what I’m talking about. Here’s the link for the USBE website: https://www.schools.utah.gov/cte/pathways
Once students are on the USBE website, it’s important to click on the current school year. Otherwise, they won’t be able to find the information they need. This is January 2022, so the correct school year to pick for this year would be 2021-2022.
After clicking on the correct school year, students will find the “Utah CTE Career Pathways” page. Below is a screen shot of the current year page for illustration, but when you are on the current year page on the actual website, each line is a live link. All the headings in blue are clusters. The pathways are listed in black.
I ask the students to find a pathway they are interested in, and invariably, I have students ask why there is no pathway for pro football. I have learned not to argue about whether they are going to become pro football players. Instead, I point out that this list is a list of career and technical pathways, and they can all choose a pathway from this list, even though their pathway may not be connected to sports. For those who tell me they want to be famous game designers or famous YouTubers, I point out the Broadcasting and Digital Media pathway. Just about every student can find a pathway they are interested in, and from there we can look at the classes in their pathways and learn about concentrators and completers.
Pathways represent lists of courses available in high school for students interested in that field. Generally, concentrators complete 1.5 high school credits in the pathway, and completers finish 3 credits. To find out for certain how to become a concentrator or a completer in a given pathway, students click on the pathway. A page will appear that shows all high-school classes in the pathway and gives specific requirements for concentrator or completer status in that pathway.
What’s
the advantage of becoming a completer? Students who complete a pathway get a
special cord to wear with their robes at graduation. But more importantly,
students who complete a pathway can include their completion status in their
resumes. There are some businesses that will hire completers straight out of
high school. In fact, some career and technical fields have such high demand
that companies will not only hire completers in entry-level positions but will
also help pay for college so that students can move up into positions with
higher demand and responsibility.
Now
that students understand clusters, pathways, concentrators, and completers, the
fun part begins. I tell students how much I love Disneyland.
That
sounds like it’s way off topic, but there’s a purpose behind it. I absolutely
love Disneyland, but I suffer from motion sickness and rides make me sick. What
I love in the “Happiest Place on Earth” is the set design—the Imagineering that
turns an ordinary spot of ground into a whole new world—that makes something so
banal as garbage cans disappear into the background and brings the textures,
smells, sights, and sounds of distant and even imaginary places to the
forefront.
My students relate to the idea of a favorite vacation spot, and they relate to the idea of having a souvenir that helps you remember something important to you. Once I’ve planted that idea into their minds, I ask them to make a souvenir, somehow connected to a theme park or a favorite vacation, and I ask them to put their pathway on their souvenir. They need to include the classes necessary to become a completer in their pathway. For each student, the chosen list of classes could be different, even if they choose the same pathway. I tell them that I hope they will use their creativity with their souvenir, and I hope they will keep it, so that as they register for 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades, they can let their counselor know what classes they need to take to finish their chosen pathway. We talk about course options in their high school and in our local technical colleges. Technical colleges, such as Davis Technical College, provide excellent opportunities during high school for moving forward with career and technical education.
My students make all kinds of souvenirs—maps, signs, menus, t-shirt and mug designs, stuffed-animal and bobble-head doll designs. I even got an impressive song! With permission from the student who created it, I’ll include the song here, along with some of the other fun souvenirs I’ve seen.
Students thrive when they can choose to submit work that showcases their own personality.
This is a picture of my favorite bulletin board. It changes
every time I get new students in my classes as I soon will when we start a new
semester. On the day that I greet new students, I tell them this story.
In our family, we all have different favorite flavors of ice cream. My husband’s favorite is Rocky Road, but he’s so kind, if I ask him to buy ice cream, he’ll buy everyone else’s favorite flavor. My kids like Cookies ‘n’ Cream, Cookie Dough, or Mint Chocolate Chip. I used to practically live on chocolate—at least until I was diagnosed with an ulcer a few years back. My doctor told me that for some people, chocolate is a reflux trigger. I was in a lot of pain, and I decided to give up all the trigger foods in my diet. I didn’t think I could give up chocolate, but I did it! And even better, the pain is gone! As much as I love chocolate (and can still enjoy the smell) I haven’t eaten chocolate in a few years and don’t want to go back. When I want a frozen treat for myself, I buy fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt, and I’ve learned to love it.
If we have 10 people in a room, we might find 10 different
favorite flavors of ice cream. Whether you like all those flavors or not, you
can’t say that there’s a bad flavor of ice cream. There is a flavor I don’t
like. I think it’s called Bordeaux Cherry—the one with little frozen cherry
chunks in it. I think that flavor is gross, but some people must like it, or it
wouldn’t be available at the store. There just isn’t a bad flavor of ice cream.
People are kind of like ice cream. I let my students know that you’ll find different backgrounds, skin colors, ethnicities, religious preferences, gender identity, lifestyles, mannerisms, social skills, abilities, humor, language, etc. And you might not like every flavor, but there just isn’t a bad flavor of person. In my classroom, I expect every student to treat every other student as worthy of respect. I expect all my students to honor each other’s differences and make my classroom a safe and welcome place to be.
The first day of a semester always requires time explaining policy and procedure. Rather than expecting my students to sit still and listen through all that (they won’t), I give them something productive to do with their hands while I talk. I tell them they can make one of these people for my “Every Flavor” bulletin board. I provide the figures as well as colored pencils and scissors. They get to work and I can teach what I need to teach.
If you want to replicate my bulletin board, you can find outlines for people online. Look for free croquis (figures for fashion drawing). I tell my students that I want them to draw a figure that shows their personality. I point out that I’ve got a lot of variety on my board—sports figures, TV and movie characters, students from a variety of cultures, etc. Students may draw what they want on their figure, as long as it is school appropriate. I tell them that if it’s not school appropriate, it won’t end up on my board, but it will end up being a conversation with the office and their parents. They don’t push me on that, so I really haven’t had problems. I add in that I won’t put up figures dripping blood or with anything coming out of their nose or mouth. These are some of the things you have to explain to 7th and 8th graders, so you get what you want. I also tell them I don’t care which gender figure they choose, keeping in mind that their finished drawing must be school appropriate. Once or twice, I’ve had boys draw female figures that looked demeaning toward women. When I asked the boys to tell me about their drawings, they quickly threw those figures away. In contrast I’ve had a few students make high-quality, respectful drawings of non-binary figures.
Once the figures go on the board, I often see kids standing in front of the board just looking and pointing to their own person or pointing out what they notice. Students seem proud of the cohesiveness that comes from this diverse collection. I’m proud of the diversity they are willing to share because I see it as evidence that they feel that my classroom is a safe place to be.
For several years I had a custom sewing and alterations
business in a home studio. I put emphasis on the magic of a perfect fit. Clothes
that fit well are flattering and build confidence in the wearer. When we teach interior
design, we help students understand that effective interior design begins with
understanding the needs and wants of the client. In the food-services industry
every restaurant offers a menu with choices that will meet a variety of needs
and tastes.
It makes sense that if we want students fully engaged in the
process of learning, we need to offer them choice with opportunities that are
precisely tailored to their needs. Student agency must be built into everything
we do. Choice is not only the first step to personalized learning. It also
provides automatic differentiation, which, in turn means inclusion for students
from varied backgrounds and abilities. Choice allows us to offer our students
the magic of the perfect fit. That, in turn, builds confidence, and isn’t that
what we’re trying to do?
Teachers know that we should always begin lesson planning
with the end in mind. Activities and assessments should align with objectives.
That’s Teaching 101, and I’d like to go beyond that here. Keep all your
effective, research-based best practices! Activities and assessments should
still align with objectives. But when I’m lesson planning, I now add the
element of choice whenever I can. Choice is the scale or measure I hold up to
each new lesson plan. Students respond in amazing ways when they can make the
activities and assessments meet their needs.
It’s important not to go crazy with personalization. If I
could give one piece of advice, I’d say, “Start small. But do start.” Pick one
or two lesson plans you’re already familiar with and see if there’s a way to
add more choice into what you’re already doing. Once you feel steady with one
or two lessons, reflect on what you’ve learned and build from there.
What does adding choice look like in the classroom? Here’s
just one example.
My 8th graders have several State standards they need to meet in connection with sewing and textiles. These standards include using equipment properly and following safety requirements as well as using specific industry sewing techniques. In the past, we’ve met these standards over a 12-day unit with most of those days in our sewing lab. After two days focused on how to use equipment properly and safely, students create a drawstring backpack that incorporates all the techniques required by the State standards. Once students finish the backpack I have always let them work on optional projects in the sewing lab. However, this year, I was limited on the number of days my students could use the sewing lab because I have a class that meets during the same period as our ninth-grade full-semester sewing course. The teacher for that course was kind enough to arrange her schedule to give me nine days in the sewing lab so we could complete the backpacks. I knew my students would want more sewing, so we moved our sewing to the regular classroom with exclusively hand-sewing techniques and supplies.
Before we got started on projects, I let my students know what supplies and tools I would make available to them and asked them to submit a plan for a project they could complete using hand sewing. Some students found patterns online, and some students designed their own creations. I had all the necessary hand-stitching tools, embroidery thread, stuffing, small zippers, buttons, and beads. Fortunately, I also had several boxes of all types and sizes of fabric that had been donated to the school. My classes worked on their hand-sewing projects the last three days before Christmas break (usually among the most chaotic days of the year in junior high). And yet things were relatively peaceful in my classroom.
Not everyone will agree with me on this, but I feel that slow sewing has a calming, meditative effect. It was fantastic to look at my classes and see both boys and girls hunched over embroidery hoops or using other tools to hand make gifts, ornaments, or other small items. Each student chose what to make, which meant that the chosen project most likely fit each student’s ability level. Students were joyful and helpful as they worked. Most of them seemed excited to share what they had created.
The slow-sewing days were low stress for me, and I will
likely incorporate them into future sewing units, even if the sewing lab has a
higher availability. As always, when I reflected on these days there are things
I would change for next time. Students had to wait in line to get a hand needle
from me, partly because I wanted to make sure they got the right size and type
of needle for the project they were doing, and partly because I wanted to keep
an eye on the needles and make sure I got them all back at the end of class. Getting
all the needles back was the trickiest part, as a few needles inevitably fell
out of sight and ended up on the carpet every class period. Although I believe
I found them all, I might incorporate a check-out system next time around—a trade-your-phone-for-a-needle
option. They can get their phones back when their needle is safely returned.
Students also waited in line for embroidery floss if they wanted it, because I knew I needed to show them how to separate strands in the skene without making a giant, tangled mess. I would keep that process in place, but I would also streamline it by having the thread colors coordinated and wrapped on cardboard in advance. Overall, I’m happy with how the hand projects turned out, and even happier that I was able to allow my students so much choice with this activity while still meeting the standards with sewing techniques. Here are some examples of finished student work.
Did you ever come to see something, quite suddenly, in a whole new way? As a teacher of family and consumer sciences and career and college awareness, I thought it odd that in spite of the ways I love my job, I am often restless as I help my students explore careers. “Ooh, that looks interesting!” I’ll think, as I look at new career options, “I wonder what that would require?”
I’ve actually tried on lots of careers in my lifetime. I’ve worked in a library, been an adoption caseworker, a music teacher, an elementary-school teacher in various grades, and owned my own sewing studio where I did alterations and custom sewing and taught sewing classes to students of all ages. True, I’ve been frustrated not to be able to settle on “one true calling,” even ashamed to feel restless at times when I love what I do.
It was actually because of my job that I came across Emilie Wapnick’s Ted Talk, “Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling,” which took me completely by surprise. My life choices suddenly started to make sense.
I’m a multi-passionate creative. My current job as a junior-high family and consumer sciences teacher allows me opportunity to connect and to create. Besides working with students, I get excited about innovative, personalized, and project-based lesson planning that is inclusive for all students. That’s something I want to share!
Maybe you’re a parent trying to figure out how your teenager can stay engaged in learning either in-person or at home in online learning or a homeschool environment. Maybe you’re a teacher looking for lesson plan ideas or trying to navigate the world of personalized and project-based learning. I’ll have ideas and lesson plans to share with you.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, and please feel free to comment! I look forward to getting to know you better.
