Benjamin Karl

English Language Arts

Facing Future

On day one and every day thereafter, students will be greeted at the door. They will walk into a room with desks arranged for discussion. Depending on the size of the room, the number of students, and the makeup of the desks, this will preferably be one large circle. As the semester progresses, Socratic seminar and Harkness discussion, along with group work, will increasingly become the mode of the room. Adopting a workshop technique, I will model critical skills for the entire room and then work with groups and individuals who need additional support.

Students will write in their notebooks or journals daily, reflecting on the previous night’s readings; these journals will occasionally be audited, but will primarily be meant for reflection and writing practice. Likewise, students will engage in silent pleasurable reading two-to-three times per week for 20-to-30 minutes at a time, and journal briefly about those readings.

I will engage students in various forms of communication production, including writing for different genres, and producing both graphic art and video pieces. Once per week, students will have a one-page writing assignment using MLA formatting and at least one reputable source as a means of practicing academic writing. This will be followed by a mix of peer and teacher review. The length and complexity of writing assignments will increase and their frequency will decrease as the semester progresses. Final assessments will be portfolio-style with students choosing their best work to represent them. All work prior to the portfolio will be eligible for revision so long as it was first turned in on time. Grades will be based on weighted final pieces and homework will be used for low-stakes formative assessment.

Though homework will be low-stakes, students will not be allowed into the classroom without having completed it (except for excused absences or extenuating circumstances). As noted above, they will be greeted at the door and students without completed homework will finish their work in the hallway before joining the room.

Students will be out of their seats and/or moving around as they write on the board, gallery walk, work on projects, or perform/read-aloud literature and plays. The walls will be adorned with student projects. A space will be dedicated for interclass communication; exit tickets will occasionally consist of creating insightful questions that later hours will answer as entrance tickets.

I will utilize a flipped classroom approach. I will record my base lectures for students to revisit as necessary on their own and class time will be dedicated to project-based learning, in as much as is feasible. This will give me more opportunities to make meaningful connections with students and to provide additional help to those who need it most. Students will be able to access all classroom resources through a centralized webpage and I will hold office hours at the school twice a week for additional assistance. Unless it becomes problematic, students will be allowed to keep their phones, but not headphones except where necessary as a documented accommodation.

Parents will receive a welcome letter and an invitation to brag to me about their child at beginning of each new semester. By the end of the year, I will make some additional form of contact with every student’s parent (phone/message/email) to tell them something positive about their son or daughter. Even with 150 students, that’s still less than one contact per day. I will likewise conference at least once individually with every student each semester.

Students will produce work that that prepares them for their final assessments. They will receive regular reports on their progress and they will have the opportunity to provide me with regular feedback on my work as their teacher.

This will be our classroom.

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