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Job application materials

Here are some additional materials I assembled as part of my job search. These student and administrator evaluations along with my examples of feedback give a sense of how I work with and am regarded by my students and administrators. Note: this is a "hidden" page and doesn't appear on my main site menu.

 

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Evals

  Teacher evaluations by students

These are the responses my literature students gave anonymously on the teacher evaluation surveys the school administered. I'm proud of them because I think they show my students feel they are learning in a creative, meaningful, fair, and fun environment.  Literature 9 E Full Text, Literature 9 G Full Text. Some highlights:

 

What has been the most interesting/provocative experience with Literature or Writing this year?

  • "I learned to love literature. I'm mostly a math and science person but I've learned to enjoy the hidden meanings within literature."

  • "One thing that I found really interesting this year was a website that we all made on wix. We did it to portray information on how we could survive in the wild, and trying to make the website look classy and artistic was really fun for me."

  • "The use of technology is incredible in this class. We use every form of it, more than in anyy other class."

  • "The most interesting experience in this class has been analyzing all the text and writing CEE paragraphs. I really enjoy deep, close reading."

  • "I think the most interesting in this class was when we made projects and had our own individual time to work on it and make it however we wanted to."

 

Describe the level of challenge you have experienced in this course.

  • "The level of challenge in this class has been perfect. It teaches me a lot, but at the same time, I am challenged, and you learn a lot when you are being challenged."

  • "It s a reasonable level of challenge. The material forces you to make inferences and think deeper and make connections to other things. (Like Penelope's entrance) I would have never seen those hints if it wasn't for this class."

 

Explain whether you feel the amount of homework assigned on average for this course is reasonable and meaningful.

  • "It is reasonable, and what we do in class reinforces our homework, so it is meaningful."

  • "I feel it is reasonable because it is always on topic and I never feel that I am being overwhelmed or stressed out because of the amount of homework in this class."

 

What are the best things about this class?

  • "I just love the analysis and meanings in the books we read or things we learn."

  • "I really like the oddesy and the bible. In addition I like Mr. Morrill's lectures (I don't really know what to call it; class discussions maybe) and the website work."

  • "It is very interesting and the class is relaxing"

  • "The best thing about this class is that Mr. Morrill has a good sense of humor."

  • "The best things about this class are our in class discussions and going over the notes we take at home to make sure that we understood what we read."

  • "Mr. Morrill is a fun teacher that has really fun "big" projects (Wix, Google sites) and it's fun to post and read stuff on Google plus."

  • "Creative projects; Mr. Morrill"

  • "The environment because I feel very calm when in the classroom"

  • "How the teacher has a sense of humor and engages the class."

 

List and explain which of the following methods/resources (papers, tests and quizzes, videos and other multimedia, lectures, discussions, group projects) you feel are valuable in helping you to learn the material.

  • "The videos help me understand certain things. I also thing the group project are useful because you can learn new perspectives from other people. The discussions also give you new insight and new perspectives. I also like how we use a lot of technology. It keeps everything more organized and lighter."

  • "I feel that group projects and projects on our technology help me the most. They are fun sometimes and that helps me learn a lot more."

  • "Definitely the "big projects" are REALLY awesome. It's a wicked way to 'spice' up the class every now and then."  

 

How has this class contributed to your becoming- a Well-rounded individual? an Insightful and critical thinker? a Self-motivated individual? a Clear communicator? a Respectful individual of character?

  • "In this class Mr. Morrill is very strict about playing games or being distracted during class. This has helped us become more respectful."

  • "I've learned a lot more about how to think through things and think more about the deeper meaning of things a rather than the face value."

  • "This class has helped because everyone gets to say there opinion."

  • "Well-rounded by the new ways the teacher is teaching. He uses the iPads and the softwares A LOT more than all the other teachers. I look forward to the class sometimes because we always do a cooler project than the others. Self motivated and insightful by encouraging us to make connections in the reading."

  • "It has made me communicate more clearly with my analysis of literature pieces. It makes me well rounded by focusing on many different areas as well such as creating websites. It has made me critically think by making me analyze stuff."

  • "Mr Morrill emphasises good behavior when on the iPads and when to focus and when you can be a little more relaxed which is always good"

 

observations

  Teacher observations by administrators

Here are the write-ups Pinewood's Curriculum Director and Principal did after drop-in observations. 

Essays

  Essay feedback

Here is an example of how I use Google Docs comments to give feedback. Students can make edits, then "Resolve" my comments, and I can easily see what changes were made from draft to draft. This assignment was an in-class essay on Odysseus' tact and diplomacy, which the student later revised. The arrows are here to help you connect feedback to the correct text.

website

  Feedback on a website project

I gave this feedback for a student's contribution to a collaborative website on ancient Greece. She was assigned Demeter and wrote up her research, included images and videos, and created a custom Google map, as the Myths Resources assignment requested. I used the Notability app to take screenshots of her work so that I could write on it and the rubric. 

Annotated screenshots of student's web page

TED

  Ancient and Modern: Mythology and the Bible meet TED

 

This was one of the questions on a Literature 9 final exam. 

 

Humanity: In Suzana Herculano-Houzel’s TED talk, “What is so special about the human brain?” she explains her research and theory about what makes us uniquely human. Listen to her talk, take notes on key elements of her argument, then write a 3-4 paragraph essay in which you relate Herculano-Houzel’s ideas to our discussions of Genesis and of the ancient Greeks’ account of Prometheus and the origins of humanity.  All three sources treat the idea of what makes humans special; explain similarities and/or differences you find.

 

Elements of grading rubric:

 

  • Central claim connecting 3 elements in thesis paragraph

  • Body / CEE paragraphs’ exploration of comparisons / contrasts

  • Sophistication of prose

  • Explanation / elaboration of ideas

  • Choice of evidence

 

Close Read, Writing

  Teaching close reading, writing

This is a passage from The Secret Life of Bees. I projected it on the board and annotated it with the ideas my students had generated in teams about archetypal and other symbolism. I then shared an example of an analytical "CEE" paragraph written about the same text (below), which teams also analyzed. This way, students see the thinking and writing process go from creative, messy generation to well-structured and supported composition. 

Close reading 

Modeling transforming raw close reading (above) into polished analytical writing (below): 

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