Using an All-School Read to Create Community and Build Socratic Circle Skills

1. Using an All-School Read to Create Community and Build Socratic Circle Skills The English Department Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School Nashville, Tennessee

3. Why an all-school summer read?Kevin Edwards, English II Honors, English IV Honors, and AP Literature

4. Assignment given in spring 2013: Why We Can’t Wait (All-High School Read) The first few weeks of class will be devoted to the study of the summer reading selection. Be an active reader :take notes (highlighting or underlining important parts, writing notes in the margins or on the front and end covers) on the books as you read to help you remember important parts. Note how Dr. King uses rhetorical devices like imagery, allusion, tone, and diction to articulate the need to end segregation in Birmingham specifically and the South more broadly. You are responsible for the reading and creating meaning from it. Testing on the books will begin the second day of school. www.mlkmagnet.mnps.org

5. Teacher PreparationRita Bullinger, English II and III Honors In-service Planning: Discussion Categories Teachers Practiced the Fishbowl

6. How did we prepare our students for the fishbowl discussion?Rita Bullinger, English II and III Honors Why We Can’t Wait Questions Questions should come from levels IV-VI of Bloom’s Taxonomy (applying, analyzing, and evaluating) Text Analysis: structure, allusion, appeals, imagery, language/diction, symbolism, tone, style, author’s purpose, point of view, etc. History & Culture: Legacy of the South and Pearl HS, race, class, gender, sexual preference, etc. Community & Justice: all people’s struggle, nonviolent direct action, powerless can fight now, facing down power, bending towards justice, MLK’s “beloved community,” etc.

8. How did we handle the logistics?Damon Ray, English II Honors

9. How did we handle the logistics?Damon Ray, English II Honors Materials: Paper for notes Your copy of Why We Can’t Wait with annotations Pencil or pen Hard surface to write on

10. In-Class: Assignments Group Numbers Colors First, students were assigned their discussion group numbers (1-10), and a color (Red/White/Blue) for their inner-circle round. See numbered class below:

11. Regularity Issues Of course, not every class has exactly 30 students. Want to mix it up? Switch up the directions of the coloring/numbering. Have the kids draw the color out of a hat! Or box! Chances are, your own class won’t be as regularlydistributed as the sample chart.

12. To the Gym!9-12 English Classes Students join their number group, and sit in a circle: 3 4 4 3 7 9 9 2 5 2 8 10 5 8 10 4 2 8 1 6 5 6 1 10 1 5 4 10 9 7

13. Discussion Dynamics:Enter the Circle Outer Circle: Provide questions and take notes Outer Circle 1 1 1 1 Red: 10 mins. Then switch Then Blue 10 mins And Then White, 10 mins 1 1 1 1 1 Inner Circle 1 1 1 1 Inner Circle: Discuss questions, Converse, listening and Responding. 1 1 1 1

14. Why a common written assessment?Jesse Tidyman, English I Honors In “the long struggle for justice, freedom and human dignity” of the Civil Rights Movement as seen close up in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, Dr. King remarks that “once on a summer day, a dream came true. The city of Birmingham discovered a conscience” (King 132). Was there ever a time you discovered your conscience? For what or for whom (on whose behalf) did you realize you could no longer wait? What event, belief, or person did you know, in your heart and in your soul, you had to fight for? [This event did not have to have actually spurred you to act, but it has forced you now, looking back, to see that you could have or ought to have stood up and spoken out, or taken some sort of action.] Identify that situation and write a well-developed essay explaining what happened, why your conscience was pricked, and what you thought, said, or did (or wish you had done). You have 40 minutes.

15. What is a Conscience? Just like this, but with morals.

16. How Can We Feel It? No! It’s wrong! Don’t undermine academic rigor! Just cheat. No one will know!

17. Working With Essays Our Department set aside time to score the essays together afterschool. But with 140+ essays each, we needed a way to speed things up. We needed a time-saving stamp:

18. Stamp Streamline

19. Stamp Streamline (Support/Elaboration) Boom.

21. The Grind Bringing stacks of pre-stamped student essays, we met. Rita, with help from Christi, established anchor papers for reference. We sat and scored together! But…how do you put a 12 in the gradebook?

22. Common Grading Conversion Tennessee Writing Assessment Rubric Essay Score  Grade 14-16 100 11-13 92 8-10 84 5-7 75 1-4 50

23. Wrap-Up: Common Written Assessment • Personal Narrative Essay Prompt • Same prompt for 9-12 • Different Implementation • Student Accountability • Writing Diagnostic • Departmental Group Grading / Scoring Calibration • Aligned with CC Rubric • Sweet stamp!

24. Contact Us Kevin Edwards, kevin.edwards@mnps.org Rita Bullinger, rita.bullinger@mnps.org Damon Ray, damon.ray@mnps.org Jesse Tidyman, jesse.tidyman@mnps.org Sue Gilmore, sue.gilmore@mnps.org Interested in a hard copy? See Rita!