Apps That Can Help Support Your Health and Wellness Journey

by Kelly Trapani, Health and Wellness Teacher

The utilization of technology has vastly altered the state of our day-to-day in both positive and negative ways. Though the argument can be made that more screen time can yield to more sedentary and distracted lifestyles, various technological advances can help to make getting and staying healthy easier than ever and as a cyber-school health and wellness teacher, I see those innovations first-hand. Through the usage of applications, health and fitness enthusiasts are able to more readily able to monitor their performance and create more attainable goals for themselves. Taking a holistic approach to overall health and wellbeing, here are a few of the apps that I have found most helpful on my fitness journey:

My Fitness Pal: This is actually the most popular health and fitness app in the world, and for good reason. This is used to record your physical activity as well as your nutrition habits. It will ask you what your goals are and tailor a plan to healthfully reach your goal. It is extremely easy to use and provides instant feedback on monitoring said goals. Also, it will discourage you from eating too few calories, a mistake oftentimes made by those who wish to lose weight very quickly. It will steer you to weight loss/maintenance in a healthy manner. In addition to that, it also provides a social network to encourage and motivate your friends. Occasionally, they will promote a “challenge” and if you log into your account for a certain number of days you will be entered to win prizes. 

Waterlogged: This app is super simple, but super effective. The premise of the app is to ensure that the user is consuming enough water throughout the day. To start, you set how much water you wish to consume, and as the day progresses, you “fill” your water jug. You can allow for push notifications for an additional nudge. The importance of staying hydrated cannot be overstated, and this app makes drinking enough water very simple.

HappyFeed: As I have said before, health is comprehensive and a combination of your physical and mental states. One cannot be healthy without the other being healthy. According to a study conducted by Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, expressing gratitude daily can cause individuals to not only become more optimistic but also cause them to exercise more and have fewer medical issues. HappyFeed is an app that houses a gratitude journal. The goal is to log three things you are grateful for every day, and you can also include pictures. In addition to this, it creates a running list of all the things you have been thankful for in the past. This can cause a paradigm shift in your mentality when you are having an awful day and can most definitely turn any day around.  

Headspace: Headspace is an app used for meditation beginners. Running on the premise that “10 minutes could change your whole day”, it is ideal for those who would like to practice mindfulness, but are not yet ready to commit to a long program. This guided meditation can help those even with very short attention spans, like me, become more mindful. 

SleepBot: I have been using this app for a few years now, and I honestly cannot imagine my life without it. I wake up every morning at 4:30 a.m. and part of the reason I am able to do so is through the use of this app. The coolest function in my opinion is the “smart alarm”. The app tracks your nighttime movement and wakes you up during a 30-minute time frame you provide. So, because the latest I can wake up is 4:30 a.m., my alarm clock will go off anywhere from 4:00-4:30 a.m., dependent on my movements. Because it monitors your movements, it is able to tell when you are in the “lightest” stage of sleep and will wake you up during that phase. This makes waking up much less painful. I am an actual gremlin in the morning, so I need all the help I can get. In addition, it provides a detailed sleep history it can tell you exactly when you fell asleep and woke back up. You can provide notes to log your slumber in even a more detailed fashion. This can allow you to know how to get the best night sleep possible. Also, it will let you know if you have any “sleep debt” to notify you that you need to be getting more sleep. 

Strava: Strava is a running/biking app that has a fully featured GPS tracking service. It will track your runs but you can also use it as a social networking app to see your friends’ most recent runs and compete with them in various “challenges” like most miles ran in a month or fastest half marathon. You can also compare your run against other random users who have run or biked certain routes. Strava is even more motivating if you are competitive!

Transformed: This is a 12-week weight lifting program created by BodyBuilding.com. It can easily be used from beginners to more advance lifters and is designed for both men and women. I completed this program last month and was really impressed. It creates new plans every week. Each week has 5-7 workouts, with an optional rest day. It also includes videos for every lift to go over how to safely and effectively execute each move. The app also offers nutrition plans to supplement your exercise program. 



These are the apps that have worked the best for me, feel free to share your experiences with one of these apps or any others that you have found.

How Young Adults Can Develop a Growth Mindset

By: Mr. Jesse Danka, Special Education Teacher

“In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than threatening.  So rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow, here’s a chance to grow.”  ~ Carol Dweck  

As we become young adults, many of us are faced with variety of daily challenges. These challenges provide us ALL with the opportunity to learn and grow individually. From the time we open our eyes in the morning, until the time that we close our eyes at night, we are forced make choices that will ultimately determine our journey towards individual success. At the Pennsylvania Distance Learning Charter School, some of these important choices include: attendance in your live learning sessions, participation in these sessions, daily lesson completion and communication with teachers outside of regularly scheduled sessions.  The Iceberg Illusion is a great way help young adults visualize how our choices may affect individual success.  It is not an easy journey around the iceberg, but with hard work, dedication, discipline, sacrifice, failure, and persistence, a young adult can strive to be his or her best and continue to grow as an individual.     

Carol Dweck’s idea of a growth mindset is all of the things that we see happening under the surface in The Iceberg Illusion.  A growth mindset, as Dweck calls it, is exactly what it sounds like: a tendency to believe that you can grow individually in all aspects of life. It is important to understand that individuals with a growth mindset thrive on challenges and view failures as a springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. 

On the flip-side, she explains that a “fixed mindset” assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative abilities are static and are unable to change over time.  These individuals tend to avoid challenges, give up easily on harder tasks, ignore constructive feedback and view effort as pointless.   

The differences between these two mindsets are found in the image below.   

Here are 10 Ways that Young Adults Can Develop a Growth Mindset:

1.  View Your Challenges as Opportunities for Self-Improvement 

(All growth is developed through challenges)

2. Acknowledge and Embrace Your Imperfections/Weaknesses 

(Focus on overcoming your weaknesses)

3. Replace the word “Failing” with “Learning” 

(Mistakes are not failures, they are learning experiences)

4. Focus on Growth over Speed 

(Learning well sometimes requires allowing time for mistakes)

5. View Criticism as Positive 

(Believe that the feedback of others can produce growth)

6. Take Time for Self-Reflection 

(Take the opportunity to reflect on your learning at least once a day)

7. Place Effort before Talent 

(Put forth maximum effort in all that you do)

8. Use the word “Yet” 

(If you are struggling with a concept, understand that you haven’t mastered the concept yet)

9. Think Realistically About Time and Effort 

(It takes time to learn, you can’t master everything in one day)

10. Take Ownership over Your Attitude 

(Once you develop a growth mindset, OWN IT!!!)

Please head on over to https://blog.mindsetworks.com/my-mindset?force=1&Itemid=908 and take your own Mindset Assessment.  This will allow you to determine what your current mindset is at this moment.

Also, please feel free to leave a comment below on how you have individually overcome adversity in the past or utilized growth mindset concepts from above to work through a difficult task.  We look forward to hearing your responses.

Work Cited

@sylviaduckworth. “The Iceberg Illusion.” Twitter, 15 Jul. 2015, 8:05 a.m., 

https://twitter.com/sylviaduckworth/status/621334733901983744.

Dweck, Carol.  Mindset Works.  Mindset Works, Inc., 20 May 2015, https://www.mindsetworks.com/.  

Accessed 2.10.2015.

Top 10 Reasons We Love Being Students at Pennsylvania Distance Learning Charter School

 Co-authored by Kiara Millie (Junior) and Garrett Pelkofer (Senior)

People have many views about cyber schools versus brick and mortar public schools. In brick and mortar schools, there’s constant contact with other people which is a plus for some. At Pennsylvania Distance Learning Charter School, students get to learn and experience new things. Independence is one of the most important factors of a cyber school student. Students are expected to learn and do things for themselves, this helps create lifelong learners and students who are driven and motivated. 

Below, we have listed our top 10 reasons why Pennsylvania Distance Learning Charter School has helped us grow as students.

1. Teachers 
Pennsylvania Distance Learning Charter School teachers are some of the most helpful teachers we’ve had. They make themselves available to you if you’re struggling, and they’re understanding about all student needs. Teachers are willing to meet every need and answer every question. Not only are they helpful and understanding, they all seem to take a genuine interest in the lives of their students. Many often engage in meaningful personal conversations that create a deeper student-teacher relationship. 

2. Low Stress
Our school is so flexible, and the hours to submit assignments to complete work are wide open.  This creates a very low stress environment for students. One of the pluses of any cyber school environment is the ability to complete school work on your own time. You aren’t pressured to complete something in a hasty manner. Students can always take a moment to catch their breath and relax in order to avoid being too flustered. This allows students to slow down and make sure assignments are done completely and correctly. It also encourages them to build a complete daily schedule for sleep, work, and play. 

3. Freedom to Access Schoolwork Anywhere
In cyber school, you’re not limited to one place to do work or go to class. You’re free to

access work and classes on vacation, at Starbucks, at  your grandma’s house,  and on your break at work. We’ve personally done all four. (Also, working from home allows our furry friends to study along with us.)

4. Resources
For families who may be low-income or have to follow a very tight budget, at our school there are many resources the school helps provide families at little to no cost to them so they can focus on what is truly important - education. Our school provides each student with a computer, printer, calculator, textbooks and school supplies to ensure quality education. Field trips are typically covered by our school’s FLEX funds and we offer reimbursement for internet, tutoring, and some recreational activities in relation to education. 

5. Friendly Students
It’s easy to make friends in classes. We’ve met really cool people in our classes and clubs that we’ve joined. Most students are willing to help you out and are always welcoming to new students. 

6. After School Clubs
The clubs after school are of growing importance to our school ecosystem. As members we look forward to our weekly student government sessions that allow us to make a definite impact on the school. Not only do clubs allow students to change and improve the school, but it also allows students to get to know one another and build friendships with other students. These clubs are a great platform to share interests, make friends, and make student voices heard.

7. Flexible Schedule
Another benefit of the flexible nature of our school is the ability to complete schoolwork whenever students are best able to. Work can be done at any time before 11:59 p.m., and this really comes in handy with longer assignments. Students can also incorporate other activities into their school day, like work, sports, or other extracurricular activities. Another cool benefit of Pennsylvania Distance Learning Charter School is the ability to work ahead. If students find themselves tossing and turning at night, they can knock out some work rather than stare at their ceiling, and thus, it gives them a head start on tomorrow. (Plus there is no dress code so pajamas are encouraged. :) ) 

8. Great Courses
Our school offers a wide variety of courses that meet a range of student interests and that students can dive into and learn about in-depth. Students are also offered clubs to participate in which can help build character and experience to ready you for college or the work force. 

9. Promotes Independence and Responsibility
Cyber school is extremely helpful for a student’s maturity and responsibility. You set up your own schedule and learn in the best way for yourself.  In addition, you are responsible for reaching out to peers and teachers when you need help. This is also a good form of college and workforce preparation. Students are entirely responsible for their assignments, learning the material, and being motivated to complete tasks. This foundation teaches students skills early that they will need to prepare them for higher education or the work force.

10. Field Trips
Field trips are a quality way to encourage students to get together to see really cool places as a school. They create opportunities for students to get to know each other and meet in person. Students also get the chance to meet with their teachers and experience new things alongside them. 


Cyber school can be suitable for anyone, but it isn’t for everyone. Here at Pennsylvania Distance Learning Charter School, however, the school creates a suitable, enjoyable, and flexible environment for all who attend. Students are able to obtain life skills, experience a liberating education, and take their schooling with them wherever. Despite the distance. 

Learning is Messy: Group Work in the Online Setting

By Allison Harvey-Benedum, English 7-12

Learning is Messy

Learning is messy and group work is even messier. Question marks, emoticons, and a rainbow of text fill the corners of the chatbox to the brim. The chatter flows like mud through your toes. Squiggles, shapes, and text boxes appear on the once pristine whiteboard. Nothing a little bit of cleaning can’t clean up when we’re done. Learning is digging deep into the muck with your bare hands and searching for the treasures buried within. 

In my English IV classes, we wade deep into the BOGs for our messiest learning adventures. In our online setting, BOGs is an acronym for Break Out Groups.

Enter the BOGs


Group work is an important, albeit messy, step in the learning process. A step that I prioritize in my English classroom. Working together in small groups encourages students to take intellectual risks and ask questions they may not feel comfortable with in front of an entire class. Small groups can also offer a space to play and try ideas without penalty. Small groups offer a safe space to dig your hands into the mud and enjoy learning. According to a Carnegie Mellon University’s Eberly Center, “Group projects can help students develop a host of skills that are increasingly important in the professional world (Caruso & Woolley, 2008; Mannix & Neale, 2005). Positive group experiences, moreover, have been shown to contribute to student learning, retention and overall college success (Astin, 1997; Tinto, 1998; National Survey of Student Engagement, 2006)” (What are the Benefits of Group Work?). While our online setting helps students quickly adapt to 21st century tools and become independent learners, it is also a space to work together collaboratively.

BOG Activities

These are some of the activities I've done this year in our BOGs:

• Color Coding - In the BOGs, I have a list of character and thought bubbles. This was an activity analyzing internal conflict and character motivation in the Shakespearean play Macbeth. Students worked in small groups to color the thought bubbles to match the different characters. Their small group discussion focused on digging deeper into the characters and differentiating between subtle motivational changes. This could translate into a history review with key historical figures and their thoughts/decisions in the thought bubbles or a chemistry review with attributes of different family groups from the periodic table.
• Graffiti Walls - This is a discussion technique where they rotate from room to room writing/drawing as quickly as possible to a prompt - I have used this to introduce units with Big Questions/Ideas from the unit. They have 90 seconds or so to respond to the topic on the board and I “throw” them from room to room when time is up. As they go through the rooms, the conversations grow and they can start responding to each other as well. They can also respond in unconventional ways by drawing, using emojis, and adding hashtags. When they make it back to the beginning, they work in their small group to star good responses and present a summary of the conversation. It’s messy, fast-paced, fun, and students learn to analyze, discuss, and debate in a low-stress environment.
• Quote Analysis - In each BOGs, students have different quotes to analyze. They have directions to highlight, underline, summarize, and answer analysis questions. For one activity, during our Renaissance unit, students received different sonnets to scan the meter, summarize the stanzas, label the rhyme scheme, and decide the form type. To differentiate, I was able to use various sonnets from different eras. To extend, students could illustrate the imagery in the sonnet to create a themed whiteboard.  
• Gallery Walk - At the end of each BOG (time permitting), we travel from BOG to BOG and share our work. This offers an audience for students and a chance to present their ideas. When groups had different topics, students are able to teach the rest of the class about their topic.

Embrace the Mess

I encourage every teacher, student, parent, or any member of our learning community to go ahead and get a bit messy. Dig your hands into the mud and enjoy the process of learning. Go ahead! Laugh. Make loaves of mud bread. Get frustrated. Mix ideas. Have an epiphany. Change your perspective. Take a chance. Fail. Fall in the mud. 

Just make sure you always get back up embrace the mess and continue to progress in your learning adventure. Learning can be messy, but it is a beautiful mess.

Works Cited

“What Are the Benefits of Group Work?” Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation.     Carnegie Mellon University, 2015. Web. 12 Dec. 2016. 

Townsend, Alison. “The Literature Collection: What the Body Knows: Poems: Mud Poem.” The Literature Collection: What the Body Knows: Poems: Mud Poem, University of Wisconsin, 2002, digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=turn&entity=Literature.Townsend.p0011&id=Literature.Townsend&isize=M&pview=hide.

How Do You Teach Music in a Cyber Setting?

By Elisa Carpenter, K-8 Music Education Teacher

When I have a colleague, family member or friend ask me what I am currently doing with music, I tell them I am an online K-8 Music Teacher.  The FIRST thing that is asked 99% of the time is the question, “How do you do that?”  Some other questions that are asked are,

• Do you even see the kids?
• I bet playing instruments is really difficult, right?
• Isn’t the value of music depreciated because it is not in person?
• How do they participate in games?

These are all wonderful questions…..but these are also the most common thoughts that people have about teaching music online.  Teaching music online has recently been limited to specific fields most related to technology and the creation of music. Fields such as Music Technology Performance, Professional Sound Recording, or even Technology Composition, emphasize real-time products and computer-assisted access to the latest digital technology.  This technology assists instrumentalists with the ability to work with notation software, digital performances, sound boards and mixing professional tracks, synthesizers, multi-track digital audio workstations, audio engineering, advertising, radio, music publishing, marketing, MIDI instrumentation, and much more.  To live in an exciting time where technology and music are one in the same, our students in a cyber school setting deserve the very best in an online environment, regardless of the materials to be learned.

All of the above mentioned careers in music technology are important to our rapidly expanding use of technology as a classroom.  The careers above are normally discussed with students once they reach high school.  This is after they have had their general music education and time to experience music in many simpler ways. In a cyber setting, we can foster an interest in music, and technology at the same time, at the Kindergarten level, and the possibilities are endless!

So where do we start? We can’t possibly limit students in a cyber setting to experience music from 9th grade and up only…….and if we limit it to the career paths listed above, we completely leave out Music Therapy, Music Education, and most importantly…..Music Performance!  The students in our cyber setting receive an all-inclusive elementary music education curriculum that allows them to explore music through singing, playing instruments, composing, notating, listening, analyzing and performing individually and in groups. This is the kind of education that traditional brick and mortar schools offer, so why should we be any different?

This brings us to the meat of the article….how?

It truly starts with the elementary students. The youngest of minds can be the most inspiring and imaginative, the most creative and comprehensive.  Zoltan Kodaly, a famous musician and master in music education says the following about children:

"Let us take our children seriously! Everything else follows from this...only the best is good enough for a child." (1941) 

Kodaly had it right from the start – when we invest in our youngest students, our students will invest in

themselves and others as they continue to grow. So our investment is two-sided.  Yes, we as music teachers need to be concerned with the material taught and how they receive the experience in a cyber setting, but also that the material is authentic and exciting!  It is like telling your kids you are going for ice-cream, and you go to the grocery store to get yogurt…..kind of a letdown!

Here is how, as an elementary music teacher, I make my musical experiences for my students engaging, achievable, but also fun!

1. I have general goals for my students as musicians and people too!
2. The curriculum has music that stands the test of time, and is developmentally appropriate.
3. What we do is relevant to the music industry today, fun, and has goals that they can reach!

My utmost priority as a music teacher is to not create the next Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Michael Bublé…..although that would be pretty awesome……it is to have a classroom environment where my students can learn about music, and explore what their musical purpose is in life.  I want to aid in the well-balanced social and artistic development of my students, and to offer the opportunity to become a musically literate adult. I want my students to be able to sing to their children when they go to bed, or sing Happy Birthday to celebrate another year.  Music is about sharing the gift of expressing who we are, and how we are effected by the world around us.  My students don’t have to be the next big thing, just a big thing in their own lives.  I do this by implementing the following rules in my classroom:

1. At all times, we are respectful of the level of musicianship of our friends, and choose to support their learning.
2. We always have some class time to perform for our friends, and practice audience etiquette.
3. We give helpful feedback during a presentation of what we have listened to.
4. When working in small groups, we keep each other accountable – following rules and being polite helps us all learn better!
5. If you or a friend is struggling, offer encouragement, or ask for help!  Learning music in any way is like learning a second language, and that takes time!

I put in place activities, performance opportunities, progress checks and games so that my students can consistently be encouraging and well-minded musicians.

Second……the huge elephant always in the room….is the curriculum.  The two most important aspects of my curriculum are that the music being played stands the test of time, and that it is developmentally appropriate.  I feel as though having these firmly in place allows for some really wonderful and musical things to happen! When the curriculum is built upon how children develop physically, vocally and mentally, their achievement rate will be much higher, and the sense of accomplishing musical tasks will become intrinsically valued and later built upon, rather than just another check on the to-do list.  Music that stands the test of time simply is music that intrigues their musical ears and employs them to move. See the example below:

Setting: Student in a kindergarten classroom, at home currently in their music class

Activity: Gross motor – Skipping

In this class, a student will practice skipping to 5 different types of music: A classical overture with a rhythmic skipping value, Irish tap dancing music, to the beat of a lollipop drum, to an unaccompanied children’s folksong and to a short piece of rhyming literature.

In the example above, the student is at home, but still gets the opportunity to move in a way that they are already familiar with. They are also in the comfort of their own setting.  On top of that they are experiencing different cultures, and mediums as to how a rhythmic skipping pattern can be found in instrumental music, literature, dance music, and folksongs, while reinforcing gross motor development. You could also see this in a traditional setting.

Whew…almost done!

Lastly, the material is relevant to what they see today.  Most young musicians are exposed to music through the radio, television, mobile device or through music in their own home or culture. Technology is expanding quickly, so we must keep up with it, and offer learning materials that are just as exciting and new, but also attainable. Below you will see a chart of tools that I use for games, assessments, and some big ideas I cover in each of my grade levels. 

Student Learning is ascertained through keyboard performance. The students have supporting materials throughout their musical experiences.	Games	Assessments	Big Ideas in Music	Learning Theories Used
	-Circle Games used with online spinner http://wheeldecide.com/ -Prezi Presentations    https://prezi.com/ -Reading with an interactive book https://prezi.com/ -Flashcard review games https://quizlet.com/latest -Jeopardy    https://flipquiz.me/ -Resources: http://www.classicsforkids.com/composers/	- Google Forms -Quizzes -Tests -Written papers -Notated music -Group work -In-class performances	Google Document Link: Big Ideas in Music	Zoltan Kodaly Carl Orff Dalcroze Gordon Music learning Theory

I would like to encourage you to think of music learning as nurturing a mind to be aware of all facets of human life; that sometimes we don’t have the words to explain how we feel.  There are those who are better with mathematical computation skills, or others who use a written language to make human experiences tangible.  Regardless of our gifts or talents, music learning in a brick or mortar school or cyber setting should be the same; a chance to explore each bridge that music connects us to.  Whether the bridge leads to the divisions of note values and math, to describing the science behind amplitude and frequency to musical pitch, or the physical demands of practicing an instrument – music is in everything we do. Why not figure out how we can do it best?

The title of this article is “How Do You Teach Music in a Cyber Setting?”……and I hope this article has led you to answer the question in the title; that technology enhances music learning – not solely to make a way of living, but a way of life.

Writing Feedback that Cultivates Growth

by Hannah Lewis, High School English Teacher

In Virginia Woolf’s masterful and strange Orlando: A Biography, Orlando begins writing a long poem, “The Oak Tree,” when she is a young attendant on Queen Elizabeth I. She continues to work on it over the course of her 300+ year life, constantly revising, changing it, transforming it into something new. By the end of the novel, she plans to bury the poem under the oak tree of her youth that inspired the poem. That way, it can continue to transform and grow after she has passed away. 

An old adage says that “a poem is never finished; only abandoned.” I prefer to say that a piece of writing is never finished, only ready--to send, to publish, or to turn in! And while publishing a poem or turning in an essay for an English class might be a form of abandonment, it should also be an opportunity for that piece of writing--and the writer who created it--to go on growing like that centuries-old oak tree.

Why, then, do we English teachers so often assign numerical grades to a piece of student writing, then abandon it, along with its writer? 

There are decades of research that have firmly established that writing is a process. This may not come as news to any of us adults who have agonized about how exactly to word that email to our boss, that resignation letter, that message to a state representative. I suspect it isn’t really news to students, either, who agonize over how to word that text message to a crush or that comment on a friend’s Instagram photo. 

If we know, in the real world, that our writing doesn’t come out perfect the first time we write it, why does it often seem that school assignments expect students to get it right the first time? Or imply that there’s a right way of writing to begin with? If students are consulting their friends about how to craft that perfect text message, why aren’t they looking for feedback about how to craft that perfect thesis statement?

Part of the answer is student engagement, of course. The stakes seem a lot higher to a 14-year-old if her text message comes across wrong than if her “thesis statement”--whatever that is--isn’t quite right.

A more important part of the answer is the way we train students to write for school based on the type of feedback they receive on their writing. 

A student typically gets two pieces of feedback on her or his writing for school. First, she will get a letter grade, which seems awfully final and finished. Then, she might get some explanation of her mistakes. This feedback might include explanations about comma splices, inappropriate capitalization, or passive voice. Errors. Detractions from an otherwise seemingly “right” or “whole” or “perfect” piece of writing. 

This type of feedback provides students with two misconceptions about writing. First, we are saying that they are done with that piece of writing--their cue to abandon it. We are also saying that their “grade” reflects “deficits” from some kind of perfect whole--also, obviously, not true!

Of course, we cannot escape the necessities of applying a letter grade to student work. But we can and should change the way we approach student writing and the kinds of feedback we provide. If we want to convey to students that writing is a process, we must give them feedback beyond the kind that implies there are rules to writing that students are breaking, and that following those rules creates perfect writing.

When giving feedback both on rough drafts and on “final copies,” I try to use the following techniques:

Respond with Genuine Reader’s Questions

Amy, what do you mean by this sentence? Or Mark, I’m not sure who “you” is here--can you be a little bit clearer? These questions should come from a genuine reader’s response to the student’s writing, not a teacher-grader hunting for errors to deduct points. Often, I leave these kinds of comments using Google Doc’s “commenting” and “suggesting” features, and students will actually reply to my comments/questions, even if they were a part of the student’s final draft. They are still thinking about their writing, even after conventional wisdom tells them to abandon it.

Model Revision and Make Connections

Students need to know that Virginia Woolf and William Shakespeare and Ms. Lewis all write, re-write, abandon, start fresh, and constantly revise their writing. They need to be made to see that they do, too! Talking to students about their own literacy practices outside of school, as well as sharing my own, hopefully demonstrates to students that writing IS re-writing, and that writing is personal, organic, and messy!

Make Time for Revision

Students cannot appropriately revise based on teacher’s growth-oriented inquiry-based feedback in one day, or a few hours. If we are just giving them pointers about editing (e. g.: capitalize i,move the thesis statement from there to here, get rid of “you” and passive voice), that kind of a time frame for revision would be appropriate. If our feedback is genuine, students will need time to think about it, to play around with alternative ways of wording sentences, and to ask questions. 

Note: This one isn’t easy! It means a very quick turn-around time from when students submit drafts to when they get teacher feedback! There are ways to reduce the workload and turnaround time, but that’s a topic for another day.

Make Revision an Expectation for EVERY Writer

Every student needs to revise. If Virginia Woolf needs to revise, then a 15-year-old honors student is no exception! No piece of writing is perfect, and revision must be an expectation for all students. Otherwise, we are communicating to students that, actually, writing is about following rules and getting it “right.” We do a disservice to struggling and strong writers when we tell strong writers that their writing is “good enough” and doesn’t need to be revised. 

Ultimately, school writing is about learning how to do real-world writing better, and creating the illusion that there are specific rules to follow to create “right” writing in school separates school writing from the messy writing process of real life. 

Maybe most acorns don’t become trees, but when teachers give students feedback that cultivates growth we ensure that those germs that have the potential to grow aren’t abandoned prematurely. The most perfect acorn is still not a tree, and an imperfect seed may still sprout. Our job is to teach students that the acorn isn’t the tree, but that, with some sun, soil, and water, it can be. 

Photographs courtesy of Pixabay. 

When am I Ever Going to Use Algebra in Real Life?!

by Claudia Lee, Secondary Mathematics Teacher

Pushing a greased elephant up a hill – some people think it would be easier to do that than to do algebra.  Why is that?  Maybe they think they don’t have the “math gene.”   You know, the one that allows you to find that ever evasive “x”?  Even the letter x is mysterious.  Think about it.  It’s not the most commonly used letter in the alphabet, and just saying the letter seems to have a negative connotation.   There are those that think they’ll never find x – they think it’s constantly on the move like a fugitive, trying not to be discovered, hiding in dark alleys and behind dumpsters.  But what if we changed our thinking?  What if instead we thought of it as that poor little helpless puppy who just wanted to be discovered?  Wouldn’t you do anything in your power to find it?  

I hear people say, “I can’t do math,” or “I have a mental block when it comes to algebra.” Or better yet, “When am I ever going to use this in real life?”  Well I promise you, when you get abducted by aliens and your only way home is to solve a system of linear equations, you’ll be glad you know how to do it.  OK, I might be exaggerating just a little.  The truth of the matter is, you may not need to know at what time Train A catches up to Train B if it is traveling at twice the speed of Train B but leaves one hour later than Train B, I’ll give you that much.  But you might need to know how to figure out how much material to buy to fence in a yard, or to tile a floor.  Maybe finding out how much solution is needed for the proper ratio of a chemical mixture is something you’ll need for your job.  You might want to know how to calculate earnings on different types of investments, or the probability of a certain event happening.  The list goes on and on.  Here’s the point:  in order to be able to do all of these things, you need to be able to think logically, systematically, and analytically, as well as be able to problem solve.  And guess what?  Algebra teaches you to do that.  Yup, I’m not kidding.  

I’ll prove it to you.  Ready?  Here’s a good one.  

You start with 1 penny on Day 0.  On Day 1, you double it, so you have 2 cents.  On Day 2, you double that, so you now have 4 cents.     Every day, the previous day’s amount is doubled.  Now, let’s say I hire you for only 30 days.  You have the option of one of the following two salary structures.  You could either take $1,000,000 at the end of 30 days OR I start you off with 1 cent before you even start working.  On Day 1, I double that 1 cent, and continue each day according to the algorithm above, for 30 days.  At the end of 30 days you will receive the sum of the 30 day’s earnings.  Which option would you take?  I’ll make it even more interesting…instead of $1 million I’ll make it $5 million.  That’s a lot of money for 30 days of work!  BUT, is it the RIGHT choice???  Let’s look at it more analytically, shall we?

If you start with one cent and double it every day for a week, here is what you would have:

Not very impressive after one week, is it?  I bet that $5 million is looking pretty good right about now, huh?  Well, let’s look at what happens after the second week:

It’s marginally better, but still nowhere near $5 million!!  You are probably thinking who would be foolish enough to choose this option???  Let’s keep going…

Now that’s starting to look a little more promising!  But it’s still so far away from $5 million!  How can this option reach $5 million in 9 days???

Now here’s the kicker…I said in the beginning that at the end of 30 days you would receive the sum of the 30 days’ earnings.  Want to see me really blow your mind??  If you add up all 30 days of earnings, you end up with…wait for it…

$21,474,836.47.  Boom.  Mic drop.

Now, this particular example is probably not going to happen in real life.  I’m fairly confident that a company would go out of business if they offered this salary structure.  But at first you probably thought the $1 million option was pretty good because there was no way that one penny could turn into over $10 million in 30 days.  We approached this very analytically, making a chart so that visually it was easy to understand.  Now, I’m not going to go into the mechanics of the formula and how it works, but suffice it to say, if we hadn’t done this example and I had just given you an equation and said “Here’s a formula for exponential growth”, you might look at me like I have 3 heads.  More importantly, the concept of exponential growth might not make any sense at all to you.  And quite honestly, I wouldn’t blame you.  That might be the equivalent of me saying, “You have 12 pencils and the mail is delivered at 4 pm.  If the dog’s bone is bacon-flavored, how long will it take the dog to bury its bone in the backyard?”  But if we can apply something tangible to it, so that it makes more sense to us, doesn’t that make it easier to understand?  And yes, my friends, this concept of exponential growth is actually algebra, and it’s used in the real world.  Biology, physics, economics, finance, and computer technology all use exponential growth.    

So let’s get rid of this notion of “when am I ever going to use this in real life?” or “I can’t do math.”  It doesn’t fly with me.  You can do it, you just have to do it.  I can’t make it any simpler than that.  You. Can. Do. It.  Is it going to be hard?  Probably.  Will you understand it right away?  Maybe, maybe not.  Will you get discouraged?  Most likely.  Does that mean you shouldn’t try?  Of course not!  I guarantee that even the most notorious mathematicians have made mistakes.  Even they have failed miserably at some things they’ve tried to solve.  But they persevered, and you should too.  Give yourself the chance to be successful – you really have nothing to lose!!    

I implore you to think of algebra not as some course you have to take to get through high school, but rather as a tool that will help you to function in the real world.  Even if a topic doesn’t seem like something you’ll ever use in your life, think of it more as learning how to process information, how to approach a problem systematically, how to determine if a numerical answer makes sense.  I promise you, if you change your viewpoint, you’ll be determined to find that little puppy!