I have been called to tutor for the next few days prior to the second administration of STAAR. My job is to give the kids that little push they need to get just a few more questions right to be considered passing. There are so many things that need to be addressed after writing that sentence. But, the main purpose of my writing today is to follow up on what Bryan talked about Monday in Super Jake Part I. He fully intended to write the follow up that he eluded to, but I arm wrestled him to finish out the series. I am not sure if I won or lost but here I am finishing the Super Jake series.
Jake wore a cape to identify himself as a Superhero and to evoke his super powers but, what if Jake didn’t wear the cape? That’s right, his powers didn’t work. Not wearing the cape is Jake’s kryptonite.
Wearing the cape = super powers
Not wearing the cape = no super powers/kryptonite
If Bryan were writing this series finale, he would talk to you about the fundamentals of content. Those of us teaching in Texas are well aware of the TEKS and what they are. And, no matter your feelings about the TEKS, love ‘em or hate ‘em, we should all be able to agree that they address vertical alignment. The vertical alignment is the important part; it’s the superhero cape. The TEKS allow teachers to see what was taught the year before so that this year I can build on that foundation. The kryptonite, is the clock.
TEKS /knowing what to teach = super power
Clock/ lack of time = kryptonite
In math, concepts and content are introduced with models and concrete manipulatives. But, that takes too much time. Unifix cubes are hard to control and kids just make towers with them anyway. So, well-meaning teachers speed up the teaching process. They don’t do it to intentionally hurt the student’s mastery of the concept. They almost feel forced to speed up because there are class pictures to be taken, and an entire textbook to finish, a Christmas program to attend, a PTO performance to practice for, Mother’s Day projects to assemble, and oh my goodness, the Principal just announced that there will be a fire drill sometime today. All of these things are crammed into the school day and the teacher knows that she must get everything in the TEKS covered. So they skip the models, manipulatives and processes and go straight to “this is how I do it”. Then everyone is left scrambling to fill in the gaps days before the Standardized Test Administration.
Content/Concepts to mastery = super power
All other events of the day/year = kryptonite
Like I said earlier I was called in 8 days before the second administration of our state test. I only get 7 instructional hours after school because one of the days is the District Teacher Appreciation Celebration. While I am certainly no super hero and I am not claiming to be but I am expected to “save the day”. Monday was my first session. I talked to the students and we worked through some activities. I had disaggregated their data the week before and knew what areas they struggled with. At the end of the session, my students left saying “this was cool. Can’t wait until tomorrow”. These kids already had super heroes, their classroom teachers. These kids did great with the stuff I brought for them. (I will be sharing my planning strategy and lessons in later blogs.) They know their skills. Their teachers have done a good job. These kids have super powers. But, I also discovered their kryptonite. Want me to tell you what it is?
VOCABULARY can either be a super power or it can be kryptonite. These kids knew how to use context clues. What they didn’t know was the meaning of the words in the answer choices.
So what does Super Jake do to overcome the powers of kryptonite?
He puts on his cape. What do we do as educators to help our students overcome theirs? We have to purposefully teach vocabulary in context. We have to read with them and to them. We have to encourage them to read and collect words. My job is to help you do just that. So, stay tuned for engaging vocabulary strategies to use with your students.
~~~ Cheryl with some help from Bryan
Math by Morrison 