I'm just not ready for it to be over...

“Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.”

As a teacher, my least favorite time of the year was the end of May. While others were anxiously awaiting the last day of school and the freedom of summer, I was a depressed wreck. I am no good at goodbyes and never have been. All I could think of at the end of the school year was that there were students moving over the summer that I would never see again, and even those that came back the following year would be in the opposite wing of the building and would rarely cross my path.

When the last day of school finally came, I was always a mess. I never slept the night before because my mind would race with thoughts that I wanted to remember to share the next day - the last bit of wisdom that I just MUST bestow upon my students. So I was always tired and would have tears before I even pulled into the school parking lot. Students would always have cameras to take pictures, and I always looked like I was suffering from a horrible allergic reaction that had swollen my face. The day went by way too quickly, of course, and before I knew it...it was over. Another year in the books, another 130 students that I may never see or talk to again.

What a horrible way to look at the situation! I am so happy to say that I have a much better attitude now. This is only my second year of teaching ETP, but I can tell you that the feelings I have this year are exactly like those of last year. And I can honestly tell you that I have grown in the way that I approach the last day of class.

Instead of crying, I now whine and complain to anyone that will listen ("I can't believe there isn't SOME other CADRE class that UNO will let me teach!" "It's just unbelievable that they give these people credit for spending just 16 days in class - they should have to do at least twice that!") Instead of staying up all night worrying about forgetting words of wisdom, I stay up all night giving feedback on assignments.

And really, why worry about not seeing any of the CADRE cohort again? I know where every single one of them will be for at least the next 12 months! I know that I will see them when they all attend CADREpalooza in July. I know that if I ask, they will let me come visit their classrooms. And, most of all, I now know that when I teach again next summer, they will pop in and say hello and tell me how their year is going and how crazy it is that the year has flown by as fast as it has.

Seriously, I have so enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you in these weeks that have sped by at lightning speed. I have learned so much about and from each of you and my life has been made richer for knowing you. Please know that my work with you does not have to end when you get your grade. If you ever need anything - a letter of recommendation, someone to read to your class, a teaching idea, help writing a paper, research on a topic, a new kidney - I am always available for you. You have given me so much just by bringing your energy and enthusiasm to class each day, you re-energize me and remind me why I became a teacher in the first place.

I wish you all the best of luck this year. You will get tired of being asked to reflect, but do me a favor and do just that. Take a quiet moment every now and then and reflect on all that you have accomplished, on the wonderful people that you have met and become friends with, and on the students that have enriched your lives just as you have enriched mine. And then smile because it happened.

Water and Worry

Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.--Arthur Somers Roche

I love this quote...especially today when I am so sick of rain and have spent the evening dealing with water in my basement and all the worrying that comes along with it. I am going to try not to encourage this particular worry that my whole house is going to fall in upon itself as I sleep...Speaking of sleep, I hope no one that cares about this blog is awake right now to read it. If you are, I'm going to take a little liberty with another mom moment and tell you to get some sleep...My mom would be telling me the same thing if she were here and saw how little shut-eye I have actually been getting over the last couple weeks.

As I perused several of your blogs tonight, I started getting this tense feeling because I could feel all of the pressure you were putting on yourselves to make sure that you turn in the most perfect paper you have ever written. While that would be wonderful for both of us, my wish for you is that YOUR best would be just as good as THE best. All I ask is that you do your best. That's it. Plain and simple.

And let me clarify something...I gave a lot of papers back last year - with a lot of corrective feedback. However, please know that there were only MAYBE four people in the whole class that had extensive rewrites to do. Last year we didn't have peer review time in class, we didn't have a little get together to talk about the papers, and they didn't have this fabulous blog to read - If we had, I doubt that those four people would have had to do some major work on their papers. My point is this - the thing that is most likely to happen is that you have some corrections to make on your paper. Nothing that will take long...nothing that will require you to rewrite entire pages or sections...maybe a sentence here, a little formatting there...you get the idea.

Ask yourself if you have done your best...If you have, take a few deep breaths and relax. It's a safe place to learn and a few corrections won't be the end of the world. If you haven't done your best, then I suggest you take those same deep breaths before kicking it in to gear.

And for now...for heaven's sake don't be worrying about the frameworks! You have a whole week to work on that after Thursday, and it will take you about 1/10 of the time it has taken you to do your lit review...

That's it for now...I have taken my deep breaths, have you? We don't want those little streams of worry to be cutting channels in your minds!!

Themes

I hold any writer sufficiently justified who is himself in love with his theme.

Henry James

One of the most common struggles in writing a literature review seems to be determining what the themes should be. There are probably many ways to figure this out, but I am going to describe two of them.

1. Using what you want to know. Sometimes writers will use the questions they have about a topic to determine their themes. For example, when Sally decided that she was interested in using differentiation for her lit review topic, she had several questions she wanted to answer about differentiation: What are the benefits for students? What are the benefits for teachers? What are different ways that the curriculum can be differentiated? Are there some specific strategies that I could learn? She kept those questions in mind as she read through her research, marking things she found that were relevant to each question.

2. Letting the research determine the themes. What if Sally knew that she wanted to research differentiation, but wasn't sure what themes she should select? Well, then she should let her research help her decide what the themes are. As Sally reads, she finds that many articles discuss the need for differentiation, the benefits for students, and the different ways that content can be differentiated. Because she has seen these themes again and again in her research, she decides to use them as her lit review themes.

Another common question is how broad or narrow to make the themes. This is also a decision that you get to make. In the two examples above, Sally found enough research to write about three broad themes on her topic. She may decide in the end, however, that she is more interested in just one of those themes and wants to devote her lit review work only to the different ways that content can be differentiated. In this case, she would take that theme and subdivide it into more the more narrow themes: differentiating by process, differentiating by content, differentiating by product. She now has narrowed the topic of her paper from "Differentiation" to "Ways to Differentiate" and both the title and introduction of her lit review should reflect that.

Other examples could include taking the broad topic of "Reading Comprehension" where you might address why it is necessary, ways to assess, and strategies for improving and narrowing the focus to "Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension." In this narrower topic, your themes might each be a different strategy that you will describe and explain how to use in the classroom.

The long and short of it is that there is no one right depth at which to address your topic. If you are in love with your theme, then you will determine what you want to know - whether that is more of a broad overview or a narrower look at one aspect.

Miscellaneous Questions

The power to question is the basis of all human progress.

Indira Gandhi

This post will be a hodge podge of a variety of questions that have come up in class, email, on the index cards, or in this blog...Thanks to those who asked so that others can learn!

Q: How many sources do we need? How many citations?

A: I think that there has been some confusion in this area. You will need to have 10 different sources listed in your references. There is no limit to how many citations you will have in your paper - probably many more than that.

Q: Can we use books as sources?

A: That depends. If the book is based in research, definitely use it! However, many teacher books are collections of activities to use in the classroom and there is no research associated with them. These would not be books that you could use as one of your 10 sources. If you aren't sure which kind of book you have, look in the back and see if they have a reference section of their own where they list all of the research they used.

Q: What are you grading on?

A: The literature review is worth 30 points. The breakdown in grading is:

• 10 points for Content (Major concepts supporting the topic clearly evident, significant research findings summarized, multiple sources incorporated, relationships between different work evident)
• 7.5 points for Organization (Introduction gives a quick idea of the topic such as central themes or organizational pattern, the body contains the discussion of sources and is arranged chronologically or thematically, the conclusion summarizes the research, discusses what you have drawn from the research so far, may address where the research may proceed next, may discuss how you will implement in your teaching.)
• 7.5 points for Conventions (Paragraphing is sound, grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation is correct)
• 5 points for APA style (Guidelines from APA followed for the title page, in-text citations, quotes, paraphrasing, and bibliographical information.)

Q: What are the sections of the paper?

A: You will need a title page, an introduction, the body, a conclusion, and a reference section. NOTE: You do not need an abstract!

Q: Do you require headings in the paper?

A: No, headings are not required. However, if you choose to use headings, please make sure that you follow APA format requirements for them.

Q: What can we assume about our reader? How much do we need to explain/define?

A: Excellent question! You can assume that your reader is a graduate level education professional. You do not need to explain or define terms that someone at that level should know. However, you should explain or define terms that not everyone in education would be familiar with. For example, you wouldn't need to define self-efficacy, but you should define safe harbor. In addition, if you are using an acronym you should give the long name the first time you use it (for example, the first time you would say NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and the following times you could just say NCLB.)

Q: How long should our introduction and summary be?

A: As long as they need to be. I know this isn't the answer you might have been looking for, but the length of either will vary for each paper. Think about what you want to convey in your introduction. Let's go back to Sally in the previous blog post. In her introduction, she wanted to explain what differentiation is, give a short history of its use in public schools, and introduce her three themes. She might need a page to do that. Or perhaps she decided that she wanted to give a short introduction about why teachers use differentiation and introduce her three themes. That might only take a couple paragraphs. Decide first what you want to include in the introduction or summary and then make it as long as it needs to be to accomplish that.

Q: What if we have three themes but one of them we'd like to discuss more in-depth?

A: It is perfectly fine to have three themes that you discuss at different lengths in your paper. Sally may write 2.5 pages on the benefits of differentiation, and then 1.5 pages on the different ways to differentiate, and a page on the potential pitfalls.

Q: Since this is going to be chapter 2 in our paper, how much of an introduction do we include in this paper?

A: Think of this paper as a stand-alone document. Here you are introducing the research that you have used as a foundation for the study you will be setting up next semester. The introduction you write here will be different than that in chapter 1. I believe next session your first chapter will be more of an introduction to the setting of your own study, an operational definition, etc.

Q: How do I cite [fill in the blank]?

A: My answer will always be the same, no matter what is in the blank...Go to the OWL website and search for it. This is something I think that you need to learn on your own. You will be required to use APA citations for the rest of your grad program and this site is a good one to bookmark for future use!

To every answer you can find a new question.

Yiddish Proverb

And now that you have answers, you may have more questions...If so, email or post a comment.

I've Lost My Voice!

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider

-- Francis Bacon, Of Studies, 1605

This post will address several questions that seem to be popping up, such as:

• When do I get to put my own voice into this paper?
• It feels like I am citing every sentence, is this right?
• Are we simply reciting what we are finding in our research?
• Any suggestions on how to do this without any of my own opinions?
• How do I write this without just putting quote after quote?

I think you get the idea...And for the answer, let's go back to what it is that we are writing. A literature review by definition is a summary of current research on a topic. If you think about it that way, what you are writing is a summary of what you have read. You won't use your voice, your opinion, or your experiences to write this summary. If you were to assign a summary of a book or chapter in your classroom, you wouldn't expect your students to include their opinions in the writing, and you may not even expect to hear their voice, or to make connections with their own life (unless you specifically asked for those things.)

Now to the questions about all of the citations...I grabbed this paragraph from a "how to" website:

A literature review is a piece of discursive prose, not a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another. It's usually a bad sign to see every paragraph beginning with the name of a researcher. Instead, organize the literature review into sections that present themes or identify trends, including relevant theory. You are not trying to list all the material published, but to synthesize and evaluate it according to the guiding concept of your thesis or research question.

I think the important words here come pretty close to the end and they are synthesize and evaluate. As you are going through the research, you want to be thinking not only of the current piece you are reading, but also how it fits in with the previous research you have read. If the current piece is in opposition to something you have read before, you can discuss in your paper how there are differing opinions on the topic. If they are in line with each other, you can talk about how several researchers share the opinion; or even that they share the opinion but have different suggestions about how it could be implemented in the classroom.

When you are citing the research in your paper, it may feel like you have one right after the other. This is very common in a lit review, because the only thing you are discussing is the research. If you look at the examples I have added to blackboard, you will see that it is normal to have many citations. That's probably one way that this assignment differs from the kind of writing you may have done in undergrad classes.

One thing to remember, though, is that you need to balance direct quotes with your own words. If you are synthesizing and summarizing, you need to have your own words throughout the paper. Otherwise, you are just providing an organized list of quotes for the reader. Your job is to tell the reader how the research fits together.

When you summarize your paper, you may want to include how you will put this research into practice. Here you can use first person and your own ideas, but this would be the only place.

I hope this has helped answer some of those questions. As you read, weigh the ideas and consider how they fit with your other reading...and then decide how you want to share this with your reader.

How Do I Begin?

He has half the deed done who has made a beginning.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Ahhh...the beginning...the achilles heel of all writers. It doesn't matter if you are writing a story, a poem, a business letter, or a research paper, the hardest part always seems to be the how to begin. For me, I am convinced that the first sentence or two needs to be the most fabulous piece of writing I have ever created...and that stress induces the worst kind of writer's block. Part of the problem for me is that when I get ready to begin writing, I have sooooo many ideas in my head that I can't sort out the one that should get that premier spot at the beginning...The other problem, I believe, is the fault of my high school creative writing teacher who constantly extolled the importance of the well-crafted lead. The good news for you is that you are writing a research paper and the lead is, well, just the beginning.

You could start with a little history lesson:

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 required that all students receiving special education services begin transition services at the age of 16.

From there the writer may discuss how that law impacted the delivery of services in American high schools.

You could start with a need statement:

At some point, every teacher will encounter a student that exhibits a challenging behavior.

or

Teachers everywhere want their students to be independent thinkers, to reflect before they respond, to stick it out through higher-level inquiry problems, to consider options cooperatively, to apply their knowledge, and to take risks with their thoughts.

or

From the time we are born, we depend on others to show us right from wrong, up from down.

From there you could begin discussing strategies that address that need.

You could start with a metaphor or analogy and its explanation:

Motivating students can be easily compared to building a fire. It is not simply the "passing of the torch" of inspiration from one individual to another, but building a construct on which reading growth can be built and sustained.

From here you could begin talking about how teachers go about doing that.

When considering how to begin your paper, think about why you wanted to work with this topic to begin with. For example, are you working with ELLs and want to know strategies that work? Then maybe you could start with a statement about the changing face of the American classroom and how teaching needs to change as well. To begin, think back to your beginning and ask yourself why you chose the topic. This may lead you to a way to begin your paper.

I have known some people that feel more comfortable leaving the beginning for the end. They start their writing with the themes that they have chosen, writing each theme as its own piece. Once they have written their themes, they go back and work on how they want to transition between them, and then finally write the introduction and conclusion. If you have been staring at your computer for hours trying to come up with the perfect beginning, this might be a good strategy for you.

One request...please don't start with a question. That's a strategy we teach students when they are writing narrative prose, but it doesn't really work with research papers.

As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, half of the deed is done once you've gotten the beginning. If you are like me, once you get the first paragraph figured out, the rest comes much more easily. I wish you all a wonderful beginning.

P.S. Thank you to the CADRE group from last year for letting me use their work as examples above.

And the winner is...

O bed! O bed! delicious bed!

That heaven upon earth to the weary head.

~Thomas Hood, Miss Kilmansegg - Her Dream

Well folks, Glee lost out today...actually, as it turns out, the Glee party was canceled so I didn't even have to make the decision...But to be honest, I think I would have chosen sleep anyway...It has been really tough to stay awake at work today and I know I am not on the top of my game.

My plan is to take a nap and then get up and post some more helpful hints on writing a literature review. Several people have emailed me about not being able to find research, having too much research, and selecting themes. I believe I have answered all of those questions, but I'm looking for some more, so I'd like to know:

• what is getting in the way of forward progress for you?
• anyone stuck on where and how to start writing?
• any APA questions yet or are you just going to write first and format everything later?

Any questions...any at all. Just post a comment and I'll address them when I return to the living. For now, though, my bed, o bed, delicious bed is calling me.