Rediscovering the Golden Oldie

I posit that one of the best feelings in the world is when you’ve forgotten about something that you previously treasured, something lost to the clutter and chaos of life, and then you discover it again. That comforting piece of clothing still fits. That handy tool still works. That beloved dish is waiting for a new recipe. 

You ask yourself: How haven’t I used this? Or worn this? Or displayed this in so long? And I think the answer is that we are surrounded by so many things, so much information. It’s too easy to lose track of the really great stuff when it becomes buried by the more and new stuff.

Returning to the classroom after eight years has been a whole study in this phenomenon. When I first became a vice principal, I described the experience like watching video from a drone as it speeds upward, making greater and greater amounts of space visible. What’s lost is that cool little dot over there in the corner. 

Now, I have the chance to go back and examine those little dots.

Case in point: I recently attended a professional learning opportunity on writing instruction. As pretty much a toss-off statement, the presenter said, “I don’t see many Word Walls these days. We should bring those back. They’re really effective.”

And I thought, “Indeed! Challenge accepted!”

At the time my students were working toward a culminating writing project on fake news in which they argue who is most responsible for stopping the spread of misinformation. It was a meaty unit, covering lots of text, video, visuals, etc. Tons of academic vocab. Perfect for a Word Wall.

To determine the effectiveness of this strategy, I observed students as they wrote. I saw at least a third of my students glance over to the Word Wall while writing.

And then, in typical Ms. Leoni fashion, my data-focused self kept track of how many essays used words from the Word Wall as I scored them. But I have an extreme sticky note addiction, and made hashmarks on sticky notes instead of using - oh, I don’t know - a spreadsheet? And of course, in the chaos and clutter of life, I lost a few sticky notes.

So, yeah. At least 50% of my students’ writing projects used words from the Word Wall, absolutely elevating the academic vocabulary of their work. 

That’s definitely a sweater that still fits and a crockpot that still works.

Music to My Ears

For as long as I can remember, music was a big part of my classroom. I played intros, I play outros. I had music for firing everyone up and music for chilling out. I had playlists with particular beats per minute for gallery walks or writing sessions. And my favorite - videos of pop music, performed in American Sign Language. All these playlists were a thing of beauty, and that was three jobs ago, so none of it is at all accessible.

Super bummer but also a great opportunity to lean into the main reason I wanted to return to the classroom - to become much better at being student centered.

I did curate music previously, but what I did was ask adults for music in other languages, especially Spanish, that I could add to my classroom playlists.

This time around, I asked the kids.

It’s amazingly simple. I sent Google forms to each class, asking for song suggestions for our playlist. I organized each spreadsheet first by class period and then I made one copy of all songs I didn’t know and sent that to my new AVID/Spanish teacher friend for review. (AVID teachers are automatically friends. I don’t make the rules.) She was able to green light the Spanish songs for me.

For songs in English that I didn’t know, I checked lyrics. And good thing because a child in one of my classes suggested a song so inappropriate my head almost spun. When I asked him why he felt the lyrics were OK, he said, and this is a direct quote: “What?” We had a laugh about it, but I cannot emphasize enough - Google the lyrics.

However, checking lyrics was a quick task. Then I created playlists on YouTube for each class period. It will warm your heart to learn that so much of what students suggested is music from previous generations.

The Beatles - “Anything. It’s all good.”

The B52s

REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling”

Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses”

Queen

Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind”

I mean, people, we’re doing something right if this is what students want to hear in class. My theory is that students spend so much time on TikTok, and the only silver lining is that they are being exposed to a wide range of music. Take wins where you can. It’s beautiful.

Case in point: Friday afternoon. Halloween. The day after the big rivalry game. Students had a writing assignment, and for the most part, they were writing. At one point, while a fun song in Spanish was playing, a student said, “Turn it up!” I responded, “If everyone is quieter, you’ll all be able to hear it better.”

And then all I could hear was this excellent Tejano tune, whispering about the task, and the lyrical sound of pencil upon paper, due at the end of class.

The kids are all right.