An Open Letter to St. John's Faculty

Below is the body of a letter sent to the SJES Faculty on Wednesday, November 30. 

So just take a breath! Breathe, just breathe. 

I wanted to follow up on what we are currently practicing in chapel.  Staci and I planned to present in January some of what we experienced at the latest conference by The Momentous Institute, but as we are now implementing some of the research-based practices, I thought I’d provide a bit of context to those interested. The science isn’t really that new, but it was well explained, and, unlike many brain research conferences I have attended, they did provide some concrete things we can do in order to assist students in preparing the brain for learning, dealing with stress or anxiety, and becoming more altruistic.

What is always funny to me, is when scientists are surprised by the fact that some things which religions do consistently are more than dogmatic ritual, but that they actually work! The same is to be said of the military (if there are ever any organizations where results matter, they would be the ones!).  And so, I giggle at times when these very brilliant and well-educated people are shocked to discover that some of the basic tenants/rituals of Western and Eastern religious practices have physical and measurable impacts.  After hearing the research results and some concrete ways to utilize these methods, Fr. Thorpe was excited to blend them in with our advent lessons.

Vagus Nerve

Breathing: The breathing, slow in, hold, slow out, hold, repeat (about four seconds for each inhale, hold, exhale, hold) has been shown to affect the Vagus nerve in very real and measurable ways. The Vagus nerve reaches from our amygdala to our digestive tract. It is the amygdala which is responsible for our fight or flight reflex. This will come in later. The breathing (far from really resting or shutting down the brain as scientists expected) is shown to activate many parts of the brain (especially our neo-cortex) while calming our more primitive and instinctual brain functions.  In short, the breathing practice has been clinically shown to increase students’ readiness to learn with marked and measurable improvement for students who practice the breathing for only about 2 minutes (or 16 breaths) at the beginning of the day. Over time, this has a positive, measurable, physical effect on the actual brain as well. Thus, the infusion of this with our quiet time in chapel.

Vagus nerve is in contact with everything from our primitive

Holding a person in your mind: A long tradition in Christian prayer is this act of praying for the gift of God’s grace directly to a specific person. Testing has shown that simply the act of wishing good things directly to individuals (praying for a specific person for a couple minutes each day) increases altruism in the person praying/wishing by a substantial percentage. If you consistently wish good things for others, you actually act in more generous ways toward society at large. Thus, the holding a specific person or people in your mind and praying directly about that person during our prayers of the people.

Fr. Thorpe has gone one step further in combining these steps (similar to Eastern meditative practices) of breathing while concentrating on prayer to specific people.

One last concrete step:  In my advisory, we are piloting/beta testing a method of dealing with student stress, anxiety, fear, or anger. Based on the aforementioned studies of the amygdala’s influence on our brain, scientists at the conference boiled down several approaches to assist students (or anyone) in independent ways to handle and overcome stress. I combined them into this strategy (Stop, Breathe, Think/Plan, Act) with which we are experimenting.

Our ancestors needed a fight or flight response daily when dealing with the perils of nature.  There are times when we still need that.  But, most of the time, the amygdala is more of a hindrance to our daily life. It is on the constant look out for danger (to personify a bundle of neurons), and when it perceives a threat, it tends to hijack our thinking brain and we experience a flood of emotions. They

described it as if the amygdala requests an immediate explanation from our cortex of what the danger is and an immediate solution (fight it or run from it).  While this works great when dealing with a saber-tooth tiger, it works very poorly when dealing with an argument with a friend or a hard test question. Emotion, first-impression decision making, and the flood of adrenaline resulting from this hijacking often leads to improper decisions and actions.  It’s why in the heat of an argument, even with someone you love, you might think or even say terrible things: “I don’t want to know this person anymore,” “my best friend is out to get me!”  etc. This is the explanation your cortex has given for the danger.  There is an enemy, a danger, an opposing force, let’s fight it/run from it. The trick is to turn the amygdala off and then reconsider the problem rationally. This same breathing technique does just that (as mentioned above); it activates the thinking and rational brain and turns off the instinctual brain through the Vagus nerve bundles. Then, you are able to rationally consider and solve the problem. Below is what we are experimenting with in class: a suggested method for performing this process based on brain science.

In times of stress, anxiety, fear, or anger, students are practicing:

STOP

·                Stop what you are doing/thinking.

·                Settle yourself.

BREATHE

·               Military Tactical Breathing:

·               IN for four counts

·               HOLD for four counts

·              OUT for four counts

·              HOLD for four counts

·              Repeat this for a couple of minutes or about 16 breaths.

THINK/PLAN

·             Why did you feel/react that way?

·             What story did your brain try to tell you?

·             What’s the real problem?

·             What should/can you do to solve the problem?

·              PLAN the solution.

ACT

·             Do it!

·             Perform the actions that you planned.

This is not new in any way; however, I am always struck at how our students can struggle coping with stress, disappointment, anger, etc. We are going to try to experiment with this method, and I’ll let you know if it is internalized and worthwhile. Staci and I will have more to share around January. 

Sincerely,

Thor Herrin

5th Grade English

5th Grade Advisor

Head Coach:  Volleyball, Basketball, Tennis

214-538-1533

Breaking the Temporal Barrier

Collaboration is as much a buzz word in educational circles and professional communities as it ever has been.  We have never really produced in a vacuum, but we now see collaboration as a skill with a position on par with reading comprehension, study strategies, or any other typical skill learned in the traditional classroom. And, it's not as if great teachers have not required and instructed this skill for decades; they have, and they've done it well. However, with the virtual world flattening the working space, destroying typical borders, and allowing ideas to be generated quicker and with multiple minds involved in the engendering and creative processes, the need for successful collaboration (in concert with individual competence) seems of paramount importance in order to be successful in the world a decade from today.  I'm struck by the many futurists (insightful people who posit the real future and the changes the world will experience as a predictor for governments, think-tanks, corporations, etc.) who see humans working more and more as a hive-mind as thoughts and ideas begin to be generated and developed by multiple intelligences, virtually linked at a basic level and including the artificial and possibly even the deceased (we can argue the possible moral complications of this later!). To bring us back to 2025, though the world will not be a Borg Collective of linked hive-minds, collaboration is essential, and St. John's is replete with the teaching of collaborative inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving, and creative presentations of ideas.

As I have watched technology change and grow, capabilities rise and even fall, I have endeavored to continue to produce collaborative opportunities.  We work together on presentations involving independent reading, Greek Mythology, poetry, debate, and myriad small group and class activities that are surely similar in scope and purpose to what so many wonderful teachers do at our school. Technology began to present opportunities that were new, or at least it provided the methods to attempt to accomplish what before might have seemed impossible. Barriers or constraints that had existed in the traditional classroom might be breached and overcome.  And, collaboration across distance and even language became possible; students could visit far away places; and teachers were sharing ideas so quickly that information could become overwhelming.  But, there was one barrier that we have always worked hard at eliminating, stretching, or at least cheating- the constraint of time.  We could break down physical walls, pass over thousands of ocean miles in seconds, possess the wealth of human knowledge and opinion about any one subject with a simple hand motion, and yet we needed to find a way to break down the barrier of time as well as space.

This began by employing technology in a way that allowed students to collaborate virtually on the same project or problem even though they were in different traveling groups or sections. Now, several different classes were working together toward a common goal, even though they held no actual English time in common.  We used wikis and Google Docs to accomplish this.  We wanted students to engage in conversations about literature in a way that would allow each of them an opportunity to gain knowledge and insight from the entire grade; we were able to find programs that allowed this.  I wanted to bring in experts and people of experience during our Debate/Witch Trial unit, and Blogs served this purpose.  Technology was helping to break down barriers, but there was something missing. A lot of the work began to feel cold, dispassionate, detached.  And, even though I still use most of these methods, I really wanted the discussion and sharing of ideas to move to something physical, something semi-permanent yet malleable and modular that provided a platform for idea sharing that could span the different class periods and eliminate time from the list of prohibitive elements. So, what is old is new again!  The Idea Wall I have written of previously was an answer, and it is now becoming so much more than a simple depository of student humor or a useful space for activities, as shown in the last post.  Taking a cue from a passing comment from our Head of School, the students took it over, transformed it into a concept map or mind map of their collective experiences during our novel discussion on "The Watsons Go to Birmingham- 1963."  They brainstormed concept categories, voted and chose five, had an illustration challenge to determine the artists who would illustrate each category, then selected quotations that represented those categorized emotions or concepts.  By the final chapter, students were coming in at lunch and break to add their thoughts, and by our final essay, students were using the collective mind-map as a resource for selecting quotations in their formal, analytical writing.  It's time I begin thinking about providing more usable physical space, more student space, more collaborative space in my room.  It should be space that echoes the vastness of the virtual world that is at their fingertips.  A place for them to explore, discern, create, and refine. Right now my eyes are searching; I will find room for more!

The Video below provides a time lapse series of pictures with students moving through the mind-map of our novel.

The Art of Writing

Philosophy

Too often, writing is seen as formula, as a scripted act ruled by expectation and attention to instruction.  And though formula is important and required for adequate communication, writing is an act of individual expression; and, as such, it more closely resembles those curricula that mainstream education continues to debase, de-fund, and exclude: the arts. Teaching writing is not simply a matter of focusing on structure and form, but of inspiring and encouraging individual work ethic, creative text manipulation, and the effective persuasion required to amply communicate original thought and ideas. Though we focus on structure and process at the beginning, this is simply learning the brushstrokes, the keys and scales, the differing instruments and media by which artists convey elements of the human condition.  The goal is that the artist must learn the basics before true expression becomes paramount and supersedes technical ability.  The same is true for the effective writer.  The rules must be learned before they can be broken, before expression supersedes format.

The Beginning 

I've been watching my two year old learning how to run.  At first, it was a series of jerky leg movements, a quick time of tiny steps that increased his speed only marginally but perhaps required four times the effort of a simple walk.  Since then, he has begun to learn to trust his balance and take longer strides, and he is beginning to become a little dangerous in his speed as his mother and I try to contain him in the yard.  There's the haggard phrase "one must walk before he runs" that is thrown around whenever we start something new, something hard, something that requires effort, patience, persistence, and resilience.  But really, it's completely true.  There aren't that many ten year old writing prodigies in this world; nor are there fifth graders creating masterpieces of sculpture; nor do we really want to listen to a concerto composed by a tween.  Like all great art, writing requires that we conquer the basics, and, as teachers, the basics are where we must begin.  Sentence Structure, Paragraph Organization, Topic Sentence Construction, Thesis, Detail, Support, Explanation, Introduction, Body, Conclusion, Brainstorm, Outline, Draft, Revise, Edit, Proof, Publish...the vocabulary and process of writing must be internalized, absorbed, mastered before the words are polished, gleaming in musical phrases, and the voice, once hidden and unrefined, fills our inner ear with its unique rhythm and complex tones.  And yet, to the beginning, to the process we must bend our efforts.  Until writing is not some daunting mountain, but an instinctual process, we have to stay with the bland and necessary beginning, we must teach the basics, instruct the process, facilitate their eventual breakthroughs.

Work Ethic

There are myths out there that our geniuses, our most celebrated minds, casually work toward their ends.  That somehow the greatness that has eluded their counterparts for centuries or even millennia simply falls about them and follows their every whim.  "Mozart wrote whole symphonies without making an error; Einstein failed math and simply played mind games to come up with his theories; Newton watched an apple fall and suddenly understood gravity."  Ridiculous.  Mozart drove himself mad due to his obsession and constant work on his music- that had several drafts; Einstein built a machine to wake himself up in the middle of the night so that he could record his dreams in case they should shed light on his work (it is said he slept 4-5 hours night and worked continuously); Newton invented an entirely new type of mathematics in order to explain his theories.  Genius is not easy. We are not going to be a janitor one day and suddenly, with little effort, solve extensive and complex geometric theorem left on chalkboards by conceited professors.  Success in any endeavor requires practice and effort and, perhaps most of all, stamina and resilience. We so readily accept this when it comes to sports. We are willing to schedule our kids for six or eight hours a week in practices; and yet, we shy away from expecting the same dedication in other pursuits. We would never expect our ten year old to be a master at the piano after a year of once-a-week lessons and little home practice. We'd say, "Well yeah, that's what I expected.  He never practiced."  We'd say the same if our child missed the free throw in the big game when he only practiced from the three point arc, or if he tried to build a simple chair without ever having held a saw.  Though, we still often wonder why his writing skills seem to remain stagnant or are only improving at what seems like a snail's pace.  What is acceptable practice for writing?  One half that of sports?  A quarter?  Considering the artistic nature of writing, can gains be as appreciable as they are in sports?  Can we see the development in front of us in the same way?  Hopefully, the advent of electronic data capture and virtual portfolios will help, but that's definitely not as exciting as watching your daughter finally get that ace in the game when just a few months ago she could barely serve over the net.  What does work ethic truly mean, and when it comes to artistic yet academic endeavors, what sort of expectations should we set?  I think relying on the geniuses whose examples began this section seems most appropriate.  Michelangelo comes to mind: "If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all."

Revise, Revise, Revise

Great writers improve their work.  This cannot be understated.  Most spend far more time (years even) revising their efforts than the initial drafting of them before finally relinquishing them into the world.  Hemingway's unfinished work, Islands in the Stream, is a great example of a master's work before the process of revision. It is said that he would go through his novels striking out every unnecessary adjective and adverb, every description that seemed superfluous, every turn of phrase that he deemed too cute, that muddled the truth he wished to express.  This process was unrelenting, personal, and time consuming. Islands never completed this process, and the novel is singularly distinct in his body of work. Personally, I find it un-Hemingway-like in many respects.  There is a reason: he wasn't finished yet. Of course, as I remind the students, writing -as art- cannot be finished. Calling once more to the artist for support, I lean on Leonardo da Vinci who once penned, "Art is never finished, only abandoned." And so it is.  We improve, we can always improve.  And this is the thrust of the process, where one must spend that energy, that time.  Revision, as taxing as it can be, as humble as it requires us in accepting our own fallibility, is the most necessary step in the writing process.  There should be appreciable improvement from draft to draft; there should be major changes- the questioning of one's own abilities and arguments; there should be mental capital expelled onto the page.

Let it Go

"If you truly love something, let it go.  If it comes back to you, it is yours forever."  I remember hearing this said about a variety of wounded animals my brother and I would find foundering in the tall grass of the field behind the house where we grew up.  If somehow it survived our makeshift hospital and constant poking, if by instinct or force of animal will it grew strong enough to survive on its own once more, then we we be told to let it go.  And every artist must go through the mental struggle of letting go of something that represents hours, weeks, years of effort, refinement, and personal investment.  My brother (a talented artist working out of Richmond and VCU) describes it as giving away his children, hoping they find good homes.  --Here's his gallery's website if you're interested. His work is amazing--  But, he has to let it go at some point.  And writing, like all art, is only truly art once it is shared with the world.  With written work, we call this the Publishing stage.  And, after multiple revisions, even though the work could be improved, even though it is not finished, because it is now a part of you or at least part of you is in it, you must let it go- you must send it out into the world.  As we endeavor to teach writing, even though this stage of the process is not time consuming or mentally taxing, we must continue to encourage writers to take pride in their work, to feel something for it, to understand the investment in it was purposeful and individually distinctive.  The work should be cherished by the artist.  Perhaps it is not to the degree of parental love and concern that my brother posed as analogous, but our students should feel something when looking at that finished piece. They should see it as an overcoming and a becoming: the next step on their journeys as writers, as artists, and as learners.

The End

Well, there isn't one.  Like a novel series that always leaves one wanting more and willing to spend $19.99 on the next new release, we're left hanging from a cliff.  We can take steps every day to become better writers, practice with letters, emails, journals, editorials, etc., or revise everything into polished glass; but, that's not the end.  Every artist learns from every piece of his own work; every artist improves. And, there is no real end.  I tell my students that their endings, their conclusions, should leave the reader thinking, not hanging.  I'm definitely still thinking about how to teach writing even as I close up this brief entry.  Unfortunately, perhaps from my earlier mention of him and his revision methodology, I am only able to think of the ending of For Whom the Bell Tolls- a novel in which Hemingway, knowing the rule, completely breaks it. Though we can assume what happens next, we never really know; we are left on the cliff, in a very similar place as the opening, our hearts pumping along with the protagonist: "Robert Jordan lay behind the tree, holding onto himself very carefully and delicately to keep his hands steady. He was waiting until the officer reached the sunlit place where the first trees of the pine forest joined the green slope of the meadow. He could feel his heart beating against the pine needle floor of the forest."

The Modular Classroom: Rethinking the Use of Space

Once I learned that we would definitely be receiving new furniture for this school year, I began working on a redesign in both the traditional usable space in the classroom and the space available on the walls.  The result is a more modular and flexible room allowing me to teach in ways that before presented challenges in transition and execution.  Please watch my video journal that highlights and explains the new use of space in the classroom at St. John's Episcopal School.

If you are new to this blog, feel free to explore the posts below from the previous school year.

Colonial Unit: Obstacles and Successes

Personal Reflection:

Overall Planning:

Students delve into the Colonial Unit in much the same way as any other unit. There are distinct and clear steps based on Brain Based Research and case study that assist them in establishing prior knowledge, connecting new information with that knowledge, synthesizing the two, and then creating and evaluating their work in a culminating experience.

In Social Studies and Literature students begin with an introduction to the material/topic. Often this is kicked off with exercises and activities designed to activate prior knowledge and establish a foundation on which to grow. I always share plans with the students.  I tell them where I expect to be and when in a general way (which units and novels during which months) as well as more specifically: "here’s where we’ll be in the following days and weeks."  Of course, things don’t always go to plan, but I don’t shy away from admitting that it just didn't work out as planned. 

Before beginning the unit, I shared the plans to have a witch trial in the classroom, a movie about Salem, and I briefly explained the life of the Puritan and Colonist during the 17^th Century.

Exposure and Immersion:

Students are immersed in the colonial experience.  They are exposed to several different media forms: a discovery channel documentary on Jamestown, a simulation of Colonial life in Social Studies, and the class novel: The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  Reading is at a fast pace (15 pages per day) with required Study Guide Questions, Vocabulary, and Journaling.  New skills are utilized in order to understand terms in vocabulary study.  This links directly with the work being completed in Language Arts and the type of Standardized testing they will have over the next many years: they are given a text designed to be at their anticipated reading level then asked to infer, summarize, and make connections. Additionally, the practice at decoding new vocabulary based on root word recognition and context clues prepares them for other components of ERB, ICEE, and SAT testing to come.  

To assess their skills and knowledge, students are quizzed every three chapters on summarizing and inference making skills directly related to guided reading questions.  These become the basis for class discussion that replaces the individualized virtual discussion that was unable to be utilized this year. At the end of the novel, a cumulative exam is given including elements of all the above and an essay question that is known and prepared for in advance.  

Culmination (The end of the pupal stage of learning and the practice of higher order thinking):

Students watch a movie by PBS depicting the witch trials of Salem using actual court records to create dialogue and recreate hearings and trials.  They are inspired to make connections with their reading and their colonies (from the Social Studies Simulation).  Members of each colony are assigned specific roles: Accused Witch, Prosecutor, or Defender.  Using supplied fact sheets, students generate arguments either for or against the accused in an attempt to convince a jury of their peers (members of the other colonies). There may be tests or examinations performed by the teams in order to convict or acquit.  After carefully taking notes and weighing the facts, the jury makes its decision -keeping in mind that they must do their best to mimic the thought processes of the 17th Century, Puritan Colonist on whom they are now expert (in past years there were controlled deliberations; due to snow days, this year the majority is all that was needed).  

Final Thoughts:

I believe strongly in this type of unit that departs slightly from the more independent reading performed in preparation for the Explorer Project.  I find it very predictive of future success and ERB scores than  most other methods.  The Reading Workshop Model can be as equally predictive, but its full effect cannot be utilized in the shorter time period of the middle school schedule taking into account all the other subjects competing for time both in school and at home.  After the completion of this unit, scores on homework, quizzes, and the final test are highly illustrative of areas in need of attention.  A high quiz score with a low test score indicates issues committing information to long term memory, most likely caused by a failure to prepare adequately or an ignorance of preparation strategies that adults take for granted but that children may need to be directly taught.  A low homework average is indicative of an inability to keep up with daily work as it involves effort only and not precision in the answer.  Failure to plan or the inability to utilize organizational strategies are the most common causal factors.  A low quiz grade suggests one of three problems: 1- Inability to read and digest the basics of given literature at grade level. 2- Failure to perform reading on a regular basis.  3- A reading fluency rate (basic words per minute) that prohibits the reading and comprehension of grade level material on a time-dependent basis.  As these are important skills in every classroom (regardless of subject matter); discovering them now presents a great opportunity for intervention and practice.  

Those following the fifth grade classroom closely may have seen that I have devised a hybrid curriculum that molds pieces of reading and writing workshop model education with the more traditional components of a novel study based approach highlighted by Project Based Initiatives to serve in a reinforcing and assessing role.  Independent reading and sharing is constantly encouraged: students are required to read and present on at least three novels over the year, connecting these with elements taught in mini-lesson format and supported by frequent assessments to ensure mastery. In accordance with this hybrid model, students will embark on our study of poetry.  Multiple poems will be studied and different linguistic devices and techniques learned to further their knowledge of literature.  Each will begin to choose a poem that connects personally, study it in depth, break it down into a script, and then perform it as if it were a short one act play.  Our Poetry Parade is just weeks away!