Setting Expectations Gives Students Direction

Teacher Scott Carolan took quite a risk - assigning the first draft of a one-page paper on the Friday before the long Labor Day weekend.

On Tuesday morning, it was clear that a few of the students in his third-period English class at Freeman High School had taken advantage.

“Due? What was due today?” tries one student.

Unfazed and knowing how capable his students are, Carolan launches into a review of his expectations:

The students are to brainstorm on the topic of their favorite childhood toy. They should use a diagram to note all their connecting ideas. Next, they have to work out a sensible sequence for those ideas, organizing what would become paragraphs in their paper.

Carolan use simple examples. If a bike was the topic, connected ideas would include its speed, its wheels, the people you rode with, the fun you had with your family.

He talks in very specific terms about the basics: proofreading, spelling, indentation. First draft, second draft, final typed paper.

As he helps the students brainstorm, Carolan is quick to suggest connecting the ideas of family and fun. He’s a young dad himself, and readily brings tales of his children into class.

Carolan is prepared to be flexible with this topic. He knows that once in a while he’ll have a student whose childhood included more hardship than toys.

Sophomore Larry Reierson chose Monopoly, a game he loved to play. But he’s found it’s harder than he thought to organize his thoughts for his paper.

“I’m stuck on the specifics,” Reierson says.

Zack McDonald, who managed to get his homework done over the weekend just fine, writes about model cars. He has the voice of experience: “Model cars take time and lots of glue.”

Corey Collins, a junior, settles on his first motor-scooter.

Carolan objects: This is about childhood toys. But Collins wins; he got that scooter when he was just 4.

Once the class settles in, they get quite a bit done. Collins opens his essay this way: “The day I got the scooter, it opened a new life for me.” He writes about the fun of riding every day, and his advance from just riding on the grass - “so in case of a dramatic accident I would be OK” - to riding on pavement and the accompanying spills.

K.C. Storro, a sophomore, writes about the thrilling stunts he loves to do, jumping on his BMX bike, jumping off the Argonne Bridge, even cliff jumping.

“When we were building our house in the winter we got a lot of snow. So, I would go to the second story and jump off it. Then I got enough courage to jump off the third story. My feet and legs got stuck in the snow,” Storro writes.

Carolan’s room is what’s called a resource room. His students have documentation showing various degrees of learning disability. A seventh-year teacher, Carolan says his students’ abilities are perfectly normal in some cases. For some, though, being labeled by adults and other children when they were so young led them to expect failure.

“They’re scarred by it,” he says.

Early in the year or not, Carolan makes it clear that this writing assignment is more than just looking back at warm fuzzy memories. He stresses proofreading, grammar, spelling and organization.

“We’re emphasizing a lot on writing this year,” he said.

“Why?” asks a senior who’s sitting in the back row.

Carolan talks about the state essential academic learning requirements, which teachers often abbreviate to an acronym pronounced “eelors.” He explains that clear writing skills are what employers want young people to have.

The senior in the back row yawns.

Carolan knows that motivating his students is his biggest challenge. He gives students time every so often simply for open dialogue, talking about things that interest them. And he’s got a plan for rewarding hardworking students this year, something that you never would have seen in yesteryear’s classroom.

Hint: It has to do with model cars. And, no, I’m not going to give it away.

WV band earning money

West Valley High School band members and supporters are putting on a yard sale and car wash on Saturday.

The yard sale will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the West Valley School District administrative building, 2805 N. Argonne. West Valley Kiwanis is helping the band boosters with the yard sale. Crafts and refreshments will be on sale.

The car wash is to be held 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 8915 E. Montgomery. The car wash is for cars, trucks and RVs. Band members and color guard members will be competing to see who can raise the most money.