Should we show the kids the money?

Should students be given financial rewards for getting good grades on standardized tests? Vote in the Question of the Day.

 

In the latest study of student-incentive programs, researchers examining a 12-year-old program in Texas found that rewarding pupils for achieving high scores on tough tests can work. A handful of earlier studies of programs in Ohio, Israel and Canada have had mixed conclusions; results of a New York City initiative are expected in October. Comparing results is further complicated by the fact that districts across the country have implemented the programs differently.

Still, school administrators and philanthropists have pushed to launch pay-for-performance programs at hundreds of schools in the past two years. Advocates say incentives are an effective way to motivate learning -- especially among poor and minority students -- and reward teaching skills. Critics argue that the programs don't fix underlying problems, such as crowded classrooms or subpar schools.

In Texas, high-school students enrolled in Advanced Placement classes who got top scores on math, science and English tests were paid up to $500. (AP classes are considered more difficult than traditional high school curricula, and some colleges award credit for AP coursework.) The research, by C. Kirabo Jackson, an economics professor at Cornell University, found that over time, more students took Advanced Placement courses and tests, and that more graduating seniors attended college. Most of the gains came from minority students in the 40 high schools studied, accounting for about 70,000 students in all. The study, set for release on Thursday, will appear in the fall issue of Education Next, a journal published by Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
ACADEMIC AWARDS
 
Ways schools are rewarding students:
• Schools in Texas and six other states reward high scores on AP tests with up to $500. New York City schools award up to $1,000.
• Students in Baltimore, New York City and Coshocton, Ohio, get cash for scoring well on standardized exams.
• Perfect attendance comes with cash for some students in Chelsea, Mass., and Tucson, Ariz.

"There's a lot of buzz about pay-for-performance, but we still only have a small amount of studies on these programs, and a lot of them don't come from the U.S.," says Jonah Rockoff, a professor of finance and economics at Columbia University who is familiar with Mr. Jackson's research. "I think he's done a very careful job of doing the evaluation," he adds, noting that the study was not a true randomized experiment.

Previous data collected by the nonprofit Advanced Placement Strategies Inc., which runs the Texas program, found that in the 10 schools where it was initially launched, passing AP test scores doubled in the first year, quadrupled in the second year and have continued to increase. The program is now used in 61 schools statewide.

But exactly how much the cash incentives contributed to the improvements remains unclear. Teachers in these districts received additional training and bonuses of up to $10,000 when their students scored well. So it's inconclusive whether paying the students, rewarding the teachers or a combination of these led to the improved test scores.

In New York City, 31 high schools with large populations of poor and minority students last school year offered rewards of up to $1,000 for passing AP tests. In some subjects, such as chemistry, the number of passing scores leapt by as much as 82%. But overall, the number of students who passed AP tests slightly decreased from year ago. On Wednesday, nearly $1 million in private funds was awarded to 1,161 students. Starting this fall, additional teacher training will be offered.

"If we are going to invest, why don't we invest in something that we know does work, like reducing class size or extended learning time?" asks Pedro Noguera, a New York University sociology professor, who is critical of cash-incentive programs. Many students have trouble learning because they "are just not going to good schools, and no incentive is going to fix that," he says.

This school year, six states -- Arkansas, Alabama, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Virginia -- will begin replicating the Texas program, each with five-year grants of $13 million from the National Math and Science Initiative, a nonprofit organization launched last year with funding from Exxon Mobil Corp. and other private sources. About a dozen schools in each state are participating this school year, with plans to add more in following years.

The cash helped persuade Christopher Means, a senior at Marion County High School in Lebanon, Ky., to take his first AP classes. "It's definitely piqued more interest [in AP classes] than it has in the past," he says.

Overall, 60% more students will take AP courses at the participating schools in the six states this year over last year, says Tom Luce, chief executive of the initiative and a former official with the Department of Education. The organization plans to expand to 20 states within five years.

The initiative hopes eventually to expand nationwide. "I'm not Pollyannish -- it is not going to happen overnight, but it's certainly our goal," Mr. Luce says.

Previous studies of cash-incentive student programs have shown mixed results.

"It's harder than we thought it was going to be," says Joshua Angrist, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor who has co-authored two studies on cash-incentive programs, one at Israeli high schools and another at a Canadian university. He found that females respond better to cash incentives than do males. Researchers in Texas and Ohio found no significant gender difference in scores.

Stanford professor Eric Bettinger, one of Dr. Angrist's former students, is studying elementary schools at Coshocton, Ohio, where students are offered up to $20 for high test scores. Students there did significantly better on standardized math tests, but there was no effect on science, reading or social-science tests.

Many researchers and policymakers are looking to Roland G. Fryer, an economics professor at Harvard and "chief equality officer" of the New York City public schools. He oversees a privately funded program in New York City separate from the AP rewards program. In the Fryer initiative, about 10,000 elementary and middle school students earn cash and prepaid cell phones for high state test scores and good grades. He recently launched a study of the program and expects the initial results to be complete by October.

One question is whether gains attributed to cash incentives will continue if students no longer are offered rewards.

"You pay a price in motivation," says Barry Schwartz, a cognitive psychology professor at Swarthmore College. Cash incentives could ultimately diminish students' desire to learn for non-financial reasons, he says.

Dr. Fryer says he's just looking for anything that will improve student achievement, particularly for low-income and minority students: "If [incentives] don't work, I'm going to be the first person to call a press conference and tell everyone to stop."

Write to Jeremy Singer-Vine at jeremy.singer-vine@wsj.com


Something Out of the Box:


What about bringing the Super Subs to your school?

When you bring 20 Super Subs to a school it is like having one big reward for the whole class.  Better still, for the whole school.  How does it work?  First of all, Super Subs are a group of teachers coming right out of the local community.  They are made up of musicians, choreographers, professional dancers, technology experts, commercial artists, photographers, and journalist, math, science and language arts specialist.  The Super Subs work like a team of substitute teachers.  There is a big pay off for the original teachers at the school. They get the day off.  Well, not completely.  They spend the day planning with the school principal. 

The kids get to spend the day learning new things from the Super Subs.  At the end of the day, all the Super Subs play a concert for all the kids.

For more information about Super Subs visit http://KidsTalkRadio.pnn.com. You can get answers to your questions at Suprschool@aol.com.

The Super Subs are coming to a high school near you.

Who are the Super Subs and why are they teaching in California High Schools?

Super Subs at State Conference

Super Subs Appear at the 39th Annual JACCASC State Conference 2008

Super Subs Light

Bob Barboza and his team of Super Subs were presenting information on Kid's Talk Radio and PNN news and playing jazz music at the  39th. Annual JCCASAC, Juvenile Court, Community and Alternative School Administrators of California State Conference 2008.  The conference dates were May 21-23, 2008, and this special event was held at the Hilton Hotel in Long Beach, California.  The Super Subs were the special guests of Mary Lou Vachet, Program Administrator Division of Alternative Education Orange County Department of Education. 

Bob Barboza's presentation title: "What Does it Take to Get Your Students Excited about Learning? Kid's Talk Radio" was well received.  At 5:00 P.M. the Super Subs Jazz Band entertained the teacher and administrators to an evening of Brazilin and American Smooth Jazz.  Jazz Barboza played flute, Jon Hartmann, Piano, Ronnie Ciago Drums, and Bob Barboza was on bass.


The Super Subs have services for schools that are in the light, medium, and large categories.  Large is when the group of substitute  teachers show  up at your school with 18 or more substitute teachers. Medium Super Subs are when 10  substitute teachers are needed.  Super Subs light is when we bring four members to your school or educational conference. 

For more information about getting the Super Subs to appear at your school contact:

Suprschool@aol.com

Super Subs Teach at La Puente High School

I love my job as a Super Sub.  We get to work with teachers that love to teach.

 On May 9, 2008, the Super Sub went to La Puente, California to motivate the students at La Puente High School.  My job was to teach three classes and then play the bass in the Super Sub Band.  

My teaching partner was Ronnie Ciago.  Ronnie is a professional drummer with a wide list of credits.  Our job was to motivate our students and integrate some math into our music lessons.  We had no discipline problems.  That not bad for a couple of substitute teachers going into a school that they had never been to before.  

I cannot tell a lie.  We had a few tricks up our sleeves.  We were playing Roland electronic drums.  Our assignment was to teach kids different rhythms from around the world and to get kids up on stage participating with us.  We got lucky.  The students cooperated with us and everyone learned how to play a wide variety of percussion instruments, how to count in different time signatures and the relations that music has with math.  

After lunch Ronnie Ciago and Bob Barboza joined the rest of the band and the Super Subs in a big musical concert with all of the students in attendance.  

As a Super Sub I get to sign autographs, talk with students after the show, and give suggestions about playing musical instruments.   I love this job.  

Note: We took lots of photos, interviewed students and teachers, shot action videos, and recorded the band.

At La Puente High School we used student photographers, student journalist, PNN staff members, and Kid's Talk Radio reporters to bring you the news that you can use.

Oh no! We have a Sub today. Our teacher is out sick.

What is all this talk about Super Subs?


    The good news is that the "Sub" is a "Super Sub".  This means that we are going to have math, language arts, and technology taught in a slightly different way.  We are are going to have our subjects taught through the arts.  Is this even possible?  

The Super Subs in the 60's

Super Sub History

Most of the Super Subs met at Los Angeles City College in the late 60's.  Yes we are old.  We even had on wierd colthing.  We were what you call old school.  One day our guitar player Bob Wolin and Ron Knight was in the middle of our college quard and they started singing and playing.  Before you knew it we were a band.  We stayed friends for all these years and decided to put the band back together again and to play for kids.  We are all teachers at heart so we teach and play.  Bob Barboza called us all up on the phone and everyone said yes!  Yes, we want to be Super Subs.  Bob said we are going to have to teach math, computer science, language arts, job skills, and music.  It is all part of being a Super Sub.  We are just like the "Blues Brothers".  We the phone rings, we drop what we are doing.  We are Super Subs.

When you look at the photos you will see that we love what we are doing.  There is nothing like jumping up on that bandstand and backing up lead singer Ron Knight. 

On Super Sub day no one joined a gang.  No one was unkind to a Super Sub. No one got in a fight.  Teachers  got excited about teaching and kids got excited about learning.  On this day the public schools worked and no child was left behind.

Who are the Super Subs?

ROCKING SUPER SUBS TAKE OVER L.A. HIGH SCHOOL FOR ONE DAY.......

Movie directors, musicians, composers, computer programmers, storytellers, dancers, entertainers and journalists descended upon Animo Locke Tech Charter High School for a day of performing, storytelling and exciting technology projects on March 13. The upshot? An entire school community re-energized.

Teachers are heroes, serving students in tough conditions day in and day out. When you bring artists and musicians into their classrooms, releasing staff for a day of planning and collaboration, the results are startling. The visiting substitutes learn about the lives of students by engaging with them in curriculum-related arts and technology projects. The teachers gain a day of collaboration, as well as brief visits with some of the super subs. The students win big-time: a different workshop with each class rotation, multiple opportunities to perform and create, and a culminating concert at the end of the day. To document the day, three of the students themselves, led by a career journalist from Personal News Network, capture interviews, video, and still photographs of their friends in action.

Let's follow a student recently arrived from Mexico through her day last Thursday with the Super Subs. Denise began with a dance workshop led by two professional choreographers, then moved on to the computer lab, where she learned how to store her favorite CD tracks using a database called FileMaker. A professional storyteller held the class spellbound during third period, using gestures, mime and humor to bring his words to life. After lunch she participated in a class taught by two guitarists and the head of a recording studio, where she learned about the parallels between music and math and saw her classmates record an improvised birthday rap song. In a creative writing class she and her classmates constructed a poem using phrases they had created spontaneously after smelling different vials of scents. She capped off the day singing and dancing with Ron Knight and his Social Security band, backed up by Super Sub guitarists, and percussionists.


The idea of the Super Subs was conceived by Robert Barboza, as a solution to the perennial need to release teachers from the classroom so that they can collaborate on improving their craft. Barboza, a teacher, musician and educational software designer from Long Beach, California, works with Personal News Network (PNN), a website designed to capture peoples' life stories and launch them into cyberspace in a protected niche. His Kids Talk Radio, born of his work encouraging students to write and read for authentic purposes, is housed on the PNN website. Barboza drew upon a network of musicians, writers, storytellers, dancers, journalists and software engineers accumulated over the years of work in his various fields of interest and convinced them to share their talents with ninth grade students in a new charter high school in South Los Angeles. Principal Dinah Consuegra was only too happy to take him up on his offer: a day of release for her teachers, while her students engaged with professionals from a wide range of careers who used every opportunity to link their teaching to the academic standards addressed in the classroom. PNN CEO Lauren Elliott added his support by sending a software engineer, teacher consultant and journalist to help out in the classrooms. Among the Super Subs were a number of credentialed teachers and administrators, and the school's staff remained on site to assist in the event of an emergency. All free of charge.

After their resounding success last week, the Super Subs have been asked to repeat their performance in other schools. In the future, the Super Subs plan to incorporate different genres of writing into each of their workshops in order to assist schools in preparing their students for high-stakes testing1. Each participating student will carry along an eight-page "passport" in which to record URLs, dance steps, Venn diagrams for comparing and contrasting, narrative paragraphs, poetry, and story elements. Super Subs stamp their students' pages during class, and by the end of the day, students and their teacher have a written accounting of the day's learning.

Following are sketches of the visiting Super Subs:

Robert Wolin teaches guitar and mathematics. Among his former music students are the guitarists of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Guns and Roses. Robert is a graduate of UCLA with a degree in mathematics. He is currently playing in several bands, teaching guitar, math, and test preparation in the Los Angeles area.

Lauren Elliott is the founder and CEO of the Personal News Network. Considered one of the top educational software designers in the world, he is the creator of 26 award-winning software programs for the Broderbund Software Corporation. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado with a masters in Engineering and Architecture. He teaches students how to publish a website and post to a digital yearbook on PNN.

Bob Barboza is the founder and CEO of Kid's Talk Radio. Bob taught in the public schools for 30 years and is an educational consultant for the FileMaker Corporation. Bob is currently on tour presenting at local and national educational technology conferences. Bob created the Super Subs and has a Masters degree in special education.

James Valentine is a visual effects and animation expert who is created with working on more than 70 major motion picture credits. Yes, James Valentine does work in Hollywood, California. Mr. Valentine started his work in 1979. He credits include working on all three Spiderman features and he makes his own films. Mr. Valentine taught the Animo Watts students about the relationship of drawing to math. He wanted to expose students to the information that might help students to consider careers in the arts. Valentine works on a team that puts the animation magic behind the movies.

David Storrs is an electrical engineer, music producer, Los Angeles commercial realtor, and guitarist. David produced the rap artist Ice-T and has published numerous musical compositions for television and the radio.

Ronnie Ciago is the recording drummer with Bill Ward from the group Black Sabbath. He has been a featured drummer on the Sam Ash Musical Tour and is a graduate of the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Skip Spiro is a movie editor and trumpet player with his own group, Little Big Band. He graduated from UCLA as a film major and has worked for some of the major television studies in Hollywood.

Michael Morera is a jazz saxophonist and financial consultant who has designed a radio show to educate people about investing.

Michael McCarty is a professional storyteller who performs nationally and internationally.

Caren Singer, a Phi Betta Kappa, summa cum laud graduate from UCLA, is currently teaching language arts, writing, and test preparation in the Los Angeles area. She has worked as a production manager and assistant director for movie studios in Hollywood. She especially enjoyed working on the movie "Rock 'n' Roll High School."

SarahTuttle-Singer, a graduate of UC Berkeley, has been in the field of education for over ten years. She is currently a children's photographer in the Los Angeles area.

Boaz Hachlili, recently relocated from the San Francisco Bay area, works as a freelance photographer and bass player in the Los Angles area.

Isahi Hachlili, has recently arrived from Israel and is a computer specialist and a videographer. He did all of the professional video work on the Kid's Talk Radio Super Sub project.

Michael Vlatkovich is a professional composer and trombonist. He is featured in the March 2008 issue of Downbeat magazine. He speaks not only about the role of wind players in a band, but also about the art of improvisation.

Richard Rohner is a sales manager for the FileMaker Corporation. He worked for Apple Computer and is considered an expert in the field of computer technology. Richard demonstrates the importance of relational databases to students.

Donna Hyatt is the director of education for the PNN Personal News Network. She is a credentialed teacher and helps to coordinate the language arts programs for the Kids Talk Radio Super Subs.

Ron Knight is a professional Las Vegas entertainer and inspirational speaker. He teaches a class on the skills of composing, performing and being a DJ.

Del Leon is a professional dancer and choreographer trained at California State University, Long Beach. Del has worked with student dancers in the Paramount Unified School District after-school program.

Kimberley Sanders is a professional dancer and choreographer, specializing in hip-hop and street dance.

Richard Luther is the senior programmer for PNN.com, and is an expert on current web 2.0 technologies. Richard is responsible for the technology behind sharing all the day's multimedia content with the world via the World Wide Web.

Jaimie Martinez is the senior editorial journalist at PNN, and took charge of a student Locke Tech High School Kid's Talk Radio/PNN journalism team for the day.

For more information about the Super Subs, contact Bob Barboza, at 562/221-1780; e-mail: suprschool@aol.com


RESEARCH SUPPORTS THE SUPER SUBS

1Research validating the use of writing to prepare students for testing comes from Dr. Douglas B. Reeves, in More Writing in the Classroom: Essential Transformations for School Success, California Curriculum News Report, April 2001, pages 2-3.

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We want the Super Subs.

The Kid's Talk Radio Super Subs

Who are you gonna call? Super Subs

Tell me more about the Super Subs.

What is a Super Sub?   We are members of the community that have decided to help our nations public schools.  We wanted to put our money where our mouth is.  Stop complaining about the public schools and start finding creative ways to help.

What do the Super Subs do?   We teach classes for the teachers that need extra planning time. 

What do the Super Subs teach?  We teach language arts, jounalism, public speaking, storytelling, guitar, drums, singing, dancing, art, and technology.  We teach your students to do a better job with listening, speaking, reading and writing.

How is Kid's Talk Radio connected with the Super Subs?  We are all members of the same organization.  Kid's Talk Radio's mission is to grow student journalism teams.  These teams of students use our "Journalist in a Box" educational training program.  We help student to publish their work on the PNN personal news network.

What is PNN?  This is a social netowrking super website dedicated to helping people to tell their stories to the world.  Kid's Talk Radio is an educatinal channel of the PNN social networking website.

Who do we contact for more information?  Bob Barboza is the founder of the Super Subs and he can be reached by e-mailing Suprschool@aol.com.

Bob Barboza and Bob Wolin are back in the band again!

Bob Barboza and Bob Wolin met at Los Angeles City College over thirty years ago. They both joined the Social Security Band at the same time. Wolin went on to UCLA to become a math major and Barboza went to California State University Los Angeles to become a teacher. They both spent many years playing music to help pay their way through college. They have united once again and this time they are all about helping kids. They both are Super Subs. Bob Wolin now integrates mathematics and guitar playing and Barboza combines his bass playing with his duties of the acting principal leading the Super Subs.

I want to be a Super Sub.

We did it! The Kid's Talk Radio Super Subs helped all the teachers at Animo Locke Tech High School by taking over classes so that teachers and their principal can have an extra planning day.The "Super Subs" taught classes, bonded with students, collaborated with each other, and played a "Super Sub" musical concert during period six. Students bonded with the "Super Subs" and great teaching was going on in every classroom. Our choreographers were able to get both teachers and students dancing in the classroom and on stage.

We have more stories to share with you. Stay tuned to Kid's Talk Radio.

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March 13, is National Super Sub Day

The United States observes aSubstitute Educator's Day, which was instituted by theNational Education Association(NEA). The purpose of this day is to highlight the role and importance of the substitute teacher by providing information about, advocating for, and helping to increase appreciation and respect for this unique professional. This day also focuses on the needs of substitutes, which include better wages and health benefits and continual professional development. Substitute Educator's Day is observed on the Friday duringAmerican Education Week. Other countries and jurisdictions have similar observances.

The Social Security Band

Congratulations Social Security Band members you are now on You Tube!

The Social Security Band was created at Los Angeles City College in the late sixties.  Yes we were hippies.  We also played a lot of soul music.  The band is still alive.  We are now part of the Kid's Talk Radio Super Subs.  Someone found our music video and put us on You Tube

We are now doing special concets in schools as a part of Kid's Talk Radio.  Some of us went ont to become professional musicans.  Some of us are even teachers.  We once formed an all teachers band and played at the California Cue Conference in Palm Springs.

Boaz and Ishai New Super Subs

Who are Boaz Hachlili and Ishai Hachlili?

They are two very creative new Super Subs. Boaz is a master photographer and bass player. He has lots of passion in his photography and he makes it possible for the Super School to be captured through photography. Ishai is our new videographer and he helps the Super Subs to tell their story in video.

The Super Subs have a wonderful story to tell and Boaz and Ishai are the right people to help tell it. We will have a new video and 250 wonderful photos to tell the story of how the Super Subs took over classrooms for one day. The school principal met with her staff and had a wonderful day of team building and planning. Caution: This video is for teachers that love to teach.

Credits: Ishai Hachlili has taken the majority of the professional video. The Kid's Talk Radio Watts 1 News Team show some of the video along with the PNN news team.

Boaz Hachlili has taken most of the photography on the March 13th. Super Sub Day. He is just great photographer and we love his work. A picture is more than a 1,000 words with Boaz behind he camera.

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Lesson for Super Subs

Possible Lesson Plan Overview for Super Subs

By Donna Hayatt (PNN Director of Education)

<u>Introduction to Elements of a "Good" Story</u>

• Brief introduction of who you are, why you are interested in stories
• Pair/Share discussion - Think about a favorite story (can be a short story, book, movie, story from family member, etc.). What makes it such a "good" story? What do you think are elements of a good story?
• Pair/Share format - You pose the questions to students and they share with the person sitting next to them. I would recommend that they write out a list. Give them about three minutes or so, then bring them all back together as a class and ask each group to share one or two of their responses.

<u>Video Clips</u>

• If you have the time and the technology, students can view one video clip from the following PBS website:

http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/borders/stories/index.html

Here is the PBS lesson for the video clips. All of them are about "border" kids - their realities of living near the border and their hopes for their futures/college.

Reflect upon what was viewed; summarize web cast.

In Gilbert's story what do you see as context? What's the environment that surrounds him? Are there images, symbols, or landscapes that may help you understand Gilbert's story? Gilbert explores issues of self-identity. Do you think about your own identity? Do you talk about this issue with your friends, parents, or others?

In Cecilia's story, what economic, social, or cultural issues help explain her life? Why is Cecilia's mother organizing a benefit carne guisada plate sale, for what purpose?

In Kate's story, how do you see her story as a person taking shape? Like Gilbert and Cecilia, Kate is also from the border. But she also has a much different story to tell about the path her life has taken to get to the border. How do you see her story as similar? How do you see her story as different from the others?

What do you see as the beginning to Kate's, Gilbert's and Cecilia's story? What do you see as the climax of each story? Or, can you anticipate or predict what the climax may be? What do you see as an ending to each of the stories, if an ending can be predicted?

<u>Poetry as Story</u>

• Video is one storytelling format - poetry can be another. I have taught this poem a number of times, and it is a good example of a very short story.
• Have a student read this poem aloud. Brainstorm with students what they think the story being told is. You can do a Pair/Share activity or have a whole class discussion.
• How is this story different than the video clip? Is it possible to tell a story using so few words?

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die soon.

<u>Transition to Own Story</u>

• What is your story? If you had to tell your own story in four small poetic stanzas, as above, what would you say?
• Students can brainstorm possible story ideas - what makes them who they are, what story about their lives or experiences they would want to share with the world. I would give them about 10 minutes to write out some rough ideas. After 10 minutes or so, they could try writing their own story using the same format as Gwendolyn Brooks' poem.
• Ask for volunteers to share their work with the class.

<u>6 Word Narrative</u>

• Introduce the idea of an even shorter story - the six word narrative.
• Hemingway's story - For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
• What is the story being told here?
• Have students review their brainstorms/drafts and see if they can narrow their pieces down to six words (or have them write a new story or stories). What would they want to say in six words? You might want to share Haiku with them or talk about the significance of each word - that each one must reveal a part of the story.

Contest challenge: In addition to posting their stories on PNN, students should consider entering the Six Word Story contest. Not Quite What I Was Planning is a collection of six-word memoirs (see description below). They are accepting submissions for their next publication. Perhaps students could vote on their favorite two or three stories after they write and post them to PNN.

Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure collects almost 1,000 six-word memoirs, including additions from many celebrities including Stephen Colbert, Jane Goodall, Dave Eggers, and more.

Surprisingly addictive, Not Quite is both a moving peek at the minutia of humanity and the most literary toilet reading you'll ever find.

• http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/

<u>Closure</u>

One idea is to have students reflect on the process -what did they learn about storytelling? What was the process of writing their own story like? They could describe why they wrote what they did - it would be great to do this as a video reflection activity<!--EndFragment-->

The Kid's Talk Radio Super Sub Lesson Plans

Kid's Talk Radio Super Subs Tips for Working With Students Learning English

We have about 15 students who are at beginning stages of learning English, and they will be mixed with more proficient speakers throughout the classes you meet.  With the exception of one or two, they are fluent Spanish-speakers who read and write well in their home language.  In general, you just need to think about what helps you when you are speaking a language that is not very familiar to you.  Here are some tips that will help English Learners to understand your message:

    Speak in a fluent, phrased way and make sure you say the words distinctly.  

    Avoid using a lot of slang or idiomatic expressions, such as "raining cats and dogs," or "Here's the skinny on  . . . . . "

    Whenever possible, use a visual or a demonstration to accompany what you are saying.  For instance, if you are explaining how musicians read music, have a piece of written music that they can see.

    Avoid putting individual students on the spot for responding to questions.  You can get everyone responding at once by using techniques like these:
Thumbs up/thumbs down.    Example:  Show me thumbs up if you've every touched a guitar.

Five fingers.  Example:  Are you ready to do this with me?  Show me five fingers if you feel confident and ready. Show me three fingers if you feel almost ready.  Show me a closed hand if you're not ready at all.

    In general, try to keep the students engaged and avoid having them listen to  long stretches of talking.

    If you speak Spanish, and a student says something to you in Spanish, respond in Spanish, but be sure to translate what's been said into English.  With the exception of the ESL class, there will be students in the room who don't speak Spanish well.


    If you don't speak Spanish, and a student says something to you in Spanish, ask another student to translate for you.  They will be delighted to help you.

    If it seems appropriate anywhere in your presentation, talk to the students about how important it is to be bilingual, how that helps people in your profession, and how it opens doors generally.  

Kid's Talk Radio Super Subs Tips for Managing the Classroom

The students will be excited to see you and very interested in what you have to teach.  To keep things on track, begin your session with a few reminders:

    We need to hear one person at a time.  If you have something to say, I'll expect you to raise your hand and wait until I call on you. (One warning)

    I'll let you know when it's OK to get up and move around the classroom.  Until then, I'll expect you to stay in your seat. (One warning)

    Every person here is to be treated with respect.  If you insult or laugh at anyone, I will ask you to leave the room and spend the rest of the period with  Mr. Barboza. (No warnings)

It helps to have these reminders written on the white board as well.  You can point to a rule as a way of reminding the group what you expect.

    Raise your hand to speak.
    Stay in your seat until my signal.
    Treat each other and the teacher with respect.

We just picked up a new Super Sub. Meet Vinny Fazzari

Vinny Fazzari

Award Winning Singer-Songwriter

Raised on Catalina Island, he used to hang speakers out the back windowof the house and play music to the buffalo in his backyard.

He always loved music and always wanted to learn how to play an

instrument. His mother turned him onto all types and once he heard The

Beatles and saw Ringo play, he knew exactly which instrument that was

going to be. He used to pound on everything in the house with chop

sticks.

Later in life, Vinny launched his career in the music business by

opening a recording studio in Santa Monica and gaining a reputation as

a professional engineer and producer. With his guitar he rapidly

evolved into a singer songwriter. No stranger to Los Angeles, Vinny has

graced almost every stage Los Angeles has to offer.

Some years back, he took his guitar and transplanted himself to the

other side of the Atlantic to venture and seek out the world. He

basically became missing in action. He just never came back!! He fell

in love with Europe and made Amsterdam his home base. Being so close to

other countries was a dream come true for he was able to fulfill his

his goal in performing all throughout Europe making a name for himself

performing as well as producing. He produced a Beatles album. "The Lost

Songs". Songs that john and Paul wrote but never released on any of The

Beatles Albums when they were together.

Vinny has just started production on his forthcoming album with Robin

Dimaggio on drums and Chris Chaney on bass and Mark Needham

engineering. His music emanates from his heart and soul. The songs are

sounding wonderful. Look forward to an innovative collection of songs

from Fazzari's new album.