Both of my class's productions of What, No Santa? went really well. We had three classes attend out morning production. The kids were very nervous bit did a great job. We only had one class attend the afternoon production and that class did great too!
I am still blown away with how engaged and how quickly they put that show together. They rehearsed, made the props, and the costumes in four days! One of my Santas even memorized most of his lines! I was one proud momma.
Now it's Christmas break. I got super sick Friday evening and have been on the couch recovering most of the week. I will start some of my lesson planning this weekend once the Christmas excitment is all over.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
What, No Santa?
This week is all about getting kids engaged in learning something new and keeping them focused. Most kids are more concerned Christmas shopping, family get togethers, meeting up with friends, opening presents than they are about learning.
I decided that I wouldn't start the next science workshop. I did some searching and thought a little reader's theater would be just the thing to get the kids excited about a new project. Instead of just reading through it, and having the kids take turns reading different parts in an attempt to increase fluency, and strength voice. I held auditions for the major parts, assigned minor ones. Anyone who didn't want to perform became a prop master.
In both of my classes, we created a cast of actors. We discussed emotions of the characters. Santa is sick and can't possibly deliver toys this year. Mrs. Claus is taking care of him and insists she can may the deliveries. Santa doesn't believe Mrs. Clause, a woman, can do it. There is a flurry of rhyming elves running around and a voice over Narrator who describes the actions of the characters. Once we got tricky words understood, and dug into the emotions and how those emotions should look on their faces...we started to block.
Today, I read the script line by line and the kids just acted with their bodies and faces. We'd stop periodically to make sure they were still facing the audience or that they were using a prop right. We'd check in the crew for the placements. Then they ran a "dress rehearsal" with the blocking.
The prop masters sat together and read the play, line by line, and made a list of what they would need. Then they divied up the props. What they have come up with entirely on their own has been amazing! I can't beleive how detailed their backdrops are, their hand held props, and their costumes! I will post the videos to school tube and link to them once we are done.
I decided that I wouldn't start the next science workshop. I did some searching and thought a little reader's theater would be just the thing to get the kids excited about a new project. Instead of just reading through it, and having the kids take turns reading different parts in an attempt to increase fluency, and strength voice. I held auditions for the major parts, assigned minor ones. Anyone who didn't want to perform became a prop master.
In both of my classes, we created a cast of actors. We discussed emotions of the characters. Santa is sick and can't possibly deliver toys this year. Mrs. Claus is taking care of him and insists she can may the deliveries. Santa doesn't believe Mrs. Clause, a woman, can do it. There is a flurry of rhyming elves running around and a voice over Narrator who describes the actions of the characters. Once we got tricky words understood, and dug into the emotions and how those emotions should look on their faces...we started to block.
Today, I read the script line by line and the kids just acted with their bodies and faces. We'd stop periodically to make sure they were still facing the audience or that they were using a prop right. We'd check in the crew for the placements. Then they ran a "dress rehearsal" with the blocking.
The prop masters sat together and read the play, line by line, and made a list of what they would need. Then they divied up the props. What they have come up with entirely on their own has been amazing! I can't beleive how detailed their backdrops are, their hand held props, and their costumes! I will post the videos to school tube and link to them once we are done.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Break is almost here!
The three weeks between Thanksgiving break and Winter Break are a flurry of activity. At my school we conduct most of our second round of testing for the school year. This testing allows us to see how each child is growing throughout the year, gives some projected idea of how a student may do on the FCAT, and allows us to see how we are doing as compared to other schools in our county.
Both of my reading classes were able to complete their FAIR (a webbased reading assessment that the whole state is using) and Math PCAS tests. This upcoming week we will do the Science, and writing will be done after the Winter Break.
Somewhere between all the testing my class was able to complete a five day science workshop. It was called roller coasters. The kids explored concepts such as gravity, force, motion, kinetic and potential enery, and friction by building models of roller coasters out of insulation foam tubing, tape and marbles. The groups had to construct a coaster with a loop and a hill. In my AM class, only one group was successful. In my PM class, most groups were successful. In the AM almost all groups tried to create a hill and then a loop. After the debrief, we talked about some of the forces at work. Students quickly realized they should have made their loop first.
This is one of the reasons departmentalizing is wonderful. I immediately learned what kept the kids from building a successful model and was able to ask some guiding questions to the PM class. After asking which "track trick" they thought would need the most amount of force to get the marble through (a question I had not asked the AM class), the groups began talking about the best way to get the marble successfully through the track. The conversations I heard in the AM class were more about how cool they could make their track look, regardless of how successful it may be.
This unit didn't make me change much about my practice except finding a way to lead students to successful outcomes without point blank giving them the 'how-to'. I took some pics of their coasters. I will post them when I have recharged the camera.
Happy Holidays!
Both of my reading classes were able to complete their FAIR (a webbased reading assessment that the whole state is using) and Math PCAS tests. This upcoming week we will do the Science, and writing will be done after the Winter Break.
Somewhere between all the testing my class was able to complete a five day science workshop. It was called roller coasters. The kids explored concepts such as gravity, force, motion, kinetic and potential enery, and friction by building models of roller coasters out of insulation foam tubing, tape and marbles. The groups had to construct a coaster with a loop and a hill. In my AM class, only one group was successful. In my PM class, most groups were successful. In the AM almost all groups tried to create a hill and then a loop. After the debrief, we talked about some of the forces at work. Students quickly realized they should have made their loop first.
This is one of the reasons departmentalizing is wonderful. I immediately learned what kept the kids from building a successful model and was able to ask some guiding questions to the PM class. After asking which "track trick" they thought would need the most amount of force to get the marble through (a question I had not asked the AM class), the groups began talking about the best way to get the marble successfully through the track. The conversations I heard in the AM class were more about how cool they could make their track look, regardless of how successful it may be.
This unit didn't make me change much about my practice except finding a way to lead students to successful outcomes without point blank giving them the 'how-to'. I took some pics of their coasters. I will post them when I have recharged the camera.
Happy Holidays!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
This week was hectic. The kids worked on their glogs all week during science time. Another teacher needed the computer lab this past Friday so we didn't get a chance to finish up. I'm extending the deadline until after the break but encouraged them to finish them at home over the break if they could. I don't think anyone will. They were as eager as I was for their nine day vacation break.
Almost every student turned in their Choice Board Environmental Changes homework. They have been working on these for the past two weeks. On Wednesday, they did peer assessments. Thursday night they did self-assessments and wrote justifactions for their score. Friday we celebrated. I missed my AM class since I left to attend my daughter's Fall Feast presentation. Our reading coach stepped in to facilitate the celebration. She said they did very well. I haven't had a chance yet to look at their work but at first glance I see that students seemed to take my direction of raising their level of quality.
I noticed that most students included a typed synthesis of their work, even if their project was hand written. Several of the students who conducted surveys chose to create graphs using Microsoft Word. The power points seemed to be colorful and interesting. And all the students who did second grade lessons were able to teach, record, and have at least one other person watch it to get them feedback. My goal is to help them increase the level of qulaity in their original product creation. I can see that most of my students are rising to the occasion.
I have noticed a drastic difference in myself this year. While I have always felt it was important for students to create to demonstrate understanding, during this past unit, I was able release a large portion of creating their own understanding of environmental changes through the use of a scavenger hunt. My students spent a lot of time really hunting for answers and reading a lot of different online sources to find them. It was a huge step for me to release the control of learning to them. Once done, though, it felt wonderful.
I have overheard my students saying things like, "This is hard...but it beats reading a chapter from the science book." or "I'm so frustrated with this search engine! I wonder if I could use a different one." They know the work I'm asking them to do is difficult and can be exasperating...but they are willing and they know they are able.
I think they know this because I set them up for success. By searching for websites ahead of time, creating the search engine and hot list, by showing them how to analyze a website before they cite it as a reliable source...they know the answers are there...they just have to search critically. I see some of them emerging as critical thinkers.
This is no easy task as these fifth grades not only adjust to hormonal changes but to all the social nuances that happen this school year. Problems always crop up...we deal with them. But I think down deep they all know I care for their success and just want them to particpate in their own learning. What more can I ask?
Almost every student turned in their Choice Board Environmental Changes homework. They have been working on these for the past two weeks. On Wednesday, they did peer assessments. Thursday night they did self-assessments and wrote justifactions for their score. Friday we celebrated. I missed my AM class since I left to attend my daughter's Fall Feast presentation. Our reading coach stepped in to facilitate the celebration. She said they did very well. I haven't had a chance yet to look at their work but at first glance I see that students seemed to take my direction of raising their level of quality.
I noticed that most students included a typed synthesis of their work, even if their project was hand written. Several of the students who conducted surveys chose to create graphs using Microsoft Word. The power points seemed to be colorful and interesting. And all the students who did second grade lessons were able to teach, record, and have at least one other person watch it to get them feedback. My goal is to help them increase the level of qulaity in their original product creation. I can see that most of my students are rising to the occasion.
I have noticed a drastic difference in myself this year. While I have always felt it was important for students to create to demonstrate understanding, during this past unit, I was able release a large portion of creating their own understanding of environmental changes through the use of a scavenger hunt. My students spent a lot of time really hunting for answers and reading a lot of different online sources to find them. It was a huge step for me to release the control of learning to them. Once done, though, it felt wonderful.
I have overheard my students saying things like, "This is hard...but it beats reading a chapter from the science book." or "I'm so frustrated with this search engine! I wonder if I could use a different one." They know the work I'm asking them to do is difficult and can be exasperating...but they are willing and they know they are able.
I think they know this because I set them up for success. By searching for websites ahead of time, creating the search engine and hot list, by showing them how to analyze a website before they cite it as a reliable source...they know the answers are there...they just have to search critically. I see some of them emerging as critical thinkers.
This is no easy task as these fifth grades not only adjust to hormonal changes but to all the social nuances that happen this school year. Problems always crop up...we deal with them. But I think down deep they all know I care for their success and just want them to particpate in their own learning. What more can I ask?
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Glogster to Demonstrate Learning
We have almost made it the whole way through our environmental changes unit! Most of my students have nearly completed their Focus Questions scavenger hunt. I explained how they will be using their research yesterday. If you'll recall earlier in the unit, I introduced my classes to Glogster as a way for them to demonstrate their learning through a graphic representation. They caught on very quickly since I had spent time during the first six weeks teaching them how to save pictures and insert them into word documents.
After working on the assignment sheet and rubric, I realized I was being very specific and this was the most intricate project creation I have asked for this year. I decided I should create an example for them. I also created a resources sheet since we are starting to learn how to cite our sources, as well as a How To sheet for them to refer to if they forget how to save an image, insert an image, save their glog, or create a hyperlink.
Here is my environmental changes glog.
I have been encouragecd to not just talk about what my students are doing in this blog but to also reflect on how what I'm doing is changing my own practices. A well taken point. I am a completely different teacher this year than I have been in the past. The past three courses I have taken have changed how I think about my lesson plans. It has been extremely easy to simply go with the flow of public education. They give you everything so you don't have to think. Teacher's editions, pacing calendars, top-down directives due to low testing scores. Not to say that my administratio or district doesn't encourage "out of the box" thinking. That is said often but with the next breathe often comes something else they are requiring us to do.
I have decided what is best for my students is to encourage creative thinking, problem solving, and digital creation of products to demonstrate learning. I am a constructivist at heart. I desire my students to build on what they already know and seek out answers to questions they have. I want them to build their own learning. If I were a secondary teacher, I would be researching ways to create PLE (personal learning environments) with my students. Some of my peers may consider me to be obsessed with using the internet. Maybe I am right now because of the class I was in.
The bottom line is that the internet can be a useful tool to students when they learn how to yeild it. Books are great but the slow publishing process can mean that their information is dated and inaccurate as the world changes constantly. The internet changes constantly and so we can find very updated information when we look at websites critically.
I have spent a lot more time finding resources that are useful to my students. As fifth graders, I want their frustration levels low so they can feel successful and are willing to continue to try to create new and more innovative items. For their choice board homework, two of my students are trying to use Dipity to create an digital timeline of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Some others are creating Museum Box presentations to present a pollution problem and solutions.
So in reflection over the past few weeks, my efforts to infuse my lessons with technology have been met with enthusiasm by my students. I have gotten feedback from several parents that they are pleased their students are learning to use the internet savely. And I have seen my kids trying new ways to learn about a subject they are intersted in. I feel like I'm finally become the type of teacher I had envisioned myself being when I first got my certificate.
After working on the assignment sheet and rubric, I realized I was being very specific and this was the most intricate project creation I have asked for this year. I decided I should create an example for them. I also created a resources sheet since we are starting to learn how to cite our sources, as well as a How To sheet for them to refer to if they forget how to save an image, insert an image, save their glog, or create a hyperlink.
Here is my environmental changes glog.
I have been encouragecd to not just talk about what my students are doing in this blog but to also reflect on how what I'm doing is changing my own practices. A well taken point. I am a completely different teacher this year than I have been in the past. The past three courses I have taken have changed how I think about my lesson plans. It has been extremely easy to simply go with the flow of public education. They give you everything so you don't have to think. Teacher's editions, pacing calendars, top-down directives due to low testing scores. Not to say that my administratio or district doesn't encourage "out of the box" thinking. That is said often but with the next breathe often comes something else they are requiring us to do.
I have decided what is best for my students is to encourage creative thinking, problem solving, and digital creation of products to demonstrate learning. I am a constructivist at heart. I desire my students to build on what they already know and seek out answers to questions they have. I want them to build their own learning. If I were a secondary teacher, I would be researching ways to create PLE (personal learning environments) with my students. Some of my peers may consider me to be obsessed with using the internet. Maybe I am right now because of the class I was in.
The bottom line is that the internet can be a useful tool to students when they learn how to yeild it. Books are great but the slow publishing process can mean that their information is dated and inaccurate as the world changes constantly. The internet changes constantly and so we can find very updated information when we look at websites critically.
I have spent a lot more time finding resources that are useful to my students. As fifth graders, I want their frustration levels low so they can feel successful and are willing to continue to try to create new and more innovative items. For their choice board homework, two of my students are trying to use Dipity to create an digital timeline of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Some others are creating Museum Box presentations to present a pollution problem and solutions.
So in reflection over the past few weeks, my efforts to infuse my lessons with technology have been met with enthusiasm by my students. I have gotten feedback from several parents that they are pleased their students are learning to use the internet savely. And I have seen my kids trying new ways to learn about a subject they are intersted in. I feel like I'm finally become the type of teacher I had envisioned myself being when I first got my certificate.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Character Celebration
Like our Reading Unit 1 celebration, I wanted to find a way for the kids to demonstrate thier learning from the mini lessons. Unit 2 was focused on character study. The learning points I used were:
1. Readers describe their main characters by envisioning what they look like, feel like, and act like in their book.
2. Readers collect ideas about their characters personality by paying attention to what they say, what they do, and what they think/
3. Readers envision scenes in our books by sketching that scene on a post-it, keeping off stage characters in our peripheral.
4. Readers connect the text to their lives by saying, "This reminds me of..." and "This makes me realize..."
5. Readers make personal connections to the main character by discovering how the readers like the main character and how they are different from the main character.
Small groups work consisted of identifying character traits, sketching our characters to help with envisioning, self-questioning techniques when we don't understand, etc.
I was going to have them do another choice board project but I just felt like we all needed something different. Ruth Eckerd Hall sent their production of 100 Dresses to our school for the fourth and fifth graders. I noticed how interested my students were in the production and actors. I thought to myself, 'Wow! What if I had the kids literally step into the shoes of their characters?!'
I immediately called my brother and asked him how I could prep the kids for this kind of work. He said to have them work on pretending to be someone else with some improv games he uses with his students (he's a drama teacher). I asked him if he had some kids that he could send over to demonstrate and talk to the kids about being a character and memorization. It worked out that two of his students had a free period one day at the end of the school day and were able to come work with my kids.
It was a fantastic experience for my students. They got tips on how to memorize and how to fill in what the author doesn't tell you about the character. They also got to play some improv games that I think we may start to incorporate into our morning meetings.
Next I taught the kids what a monologue was and we started digging really deep into our characters. I had the kids think and record the responses to such quesitons as: what is my character's background, how did you character change through the book, what is your character's greatest disappointment, happiest mement, deepest fear. We also examined how certain emotions change the pitch of the voice or facial expressions or even body movements. Students four or five different monologues then chose one they felt strongly they could perform well. They were required to design a costume and memorize their monologue.
The past two days the kids have been performing their monologues. They were very nervous and I only had three students who were too painfully shy to do it. One of them asked to play a song on her guitar that reflected an emotion the character was feeling. The other two decided to write book reports. Only one student didn't complete their monologue on time. It was a great time!
Next stop...nonfiction!
1. Readers describe their main characters by envisioning what they look like, feel like, and act like in their book.
2. Readers collect ideas about their characters personality by paying attention to what they say, what they do, and what they think/
3. Readers envision scenes in our books by sketching that scene on a post-it, keeping off stage characters in our peripheral.
4. Readers connect the text to their lives by saying, "This reminds me of..." and "This makes me realize..."
5. Readers make personal connections to the main character by discovering how the readers like the main character and how they are different from the main character.
Small groups work consisted of identifying character traits, sketching our characters to help with envisioning, self-questioning techniques when we don't understand, etc.
I was going to have them do another choice board project but I just felt like we all needed something different. Ruth Eckerd Hall sent their production of 100 Dresses to our school for the fourth and fifth graders. I noticed how interested my students were in the production and actors. I thought to myself, 'Wow! What if I had the kids literally step into the shoes of their characters?!'
I immediately called my brother and asked him how I could prep the kids for this kind of work. He said to have them work on pretending to be someone else with some improv games he uses with his students (he's a drama teacher). I asked him if he had some kids that he could send over to demonstrate and talk to the kids about being a character and memorization. It worked out that two of his students had a free period one day at the end of the school day and were able to come work with my kids.
It was a fantastic experience for my students. They got tips on how to memorize and how to fill in what the author doesn't tell you about the character. They also got to play some improv games that I think we may start to incorporate into our morning meetings.
Next I taught the kids what a monologue was and we started digging really deep into our characters. I had the kids think and record the responses to such quesitons as: what is my character's background, how did you character change through the book, what is your character's greatest disappointment, happiest mement, deepest fear. We also examined how certain emotions change the pitch of the voice or facial expressions or even body movements. Students four or five different monologues then chose one they felt strongly they could perform well. They were required to design a costume and memorize their monologue.
The past two days the kids have been performing their monologues. They were very nervous and I only had three students who were too painfully shy to do it. One of them asked to play a song on her guitar that reflected an emotion the character was feeling. The other two decided to write book reports. Only one student didn't complete their monologue on time. It was a great time!
Next stop...nonfiction!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Using a customized search engine and hotlist
I created a customized search engine using google for the environmental changes unit we are in right now. I spent hours scouring the internet for websites that would help my students gain information about environmental changes.
First, I identified the Essential Questions my district says students need to be able to answer by the end of the unit. Next, I developed focus questions that would help lead to understanding those Essential Questions. Finally, I create a form with the Essential Quesitons and guiding questions on it Students read the guiding questions, record the URLs for the websites that have the answers, then record notes in the information box. The students use the customized search engine and hotlist to find these answers. They are allowed to work together in partnerships but each student records their own. This assignment is worked on a couple times a week but I encourage students with internet access to work on it from home.
When I introduced the form, we read through it, I showed them where the links were on Portal and how I found the first answer. Then I did the second one with them. I set them off and circulated as they worked. Almost immediately, I had to stop them. I had to remind them that the computer is not a magic box. It's isn't just going to spit out answers. They will have to READ to find the answers. Skimming is a useful skill but sometimes you will have to really read the webpage to find the answer to the question.
I was surprised that I was able to keep my own frustration down. The kids didn't have as much frustration since they knew the websites were going to have the answers they needed as long as they read.
These are the links to the search engine and hotlist.
I wish I could attach the document I created but it looks something like this:
Questions Websites Information
What is pollution? http://www.dictionary.com/ introduction of harmful substances
http://www.especiallyforkids.com/ Examples: urban runoff, grass
clippings, oil,etc.
I learned today that kids can pick out keywords in a question to run a search. I also learned that I have about four kids in each class who need more guidance than to be given these questions. This assignment is a scavenger hunt. When they have completed it, we will share out, and students will create a glog (http://www.glogster.com/) to demonstrate what they learned during the unit.
First, I identified the Essential Questions my district says students need to be able to answer by the end of the unit. Next, I developed focus questions that would help lead to understanding those Essential Questions. Finally, I create a form with the Essential Quesitons and guiding questions on it Students read the guiding questions, record the URLs for the websites that have the answers, then record notes in the information box. The students use the customized search engine and hotlist to find these answers. They are allowed to work together in partnerships but each student records their own. This assignment is worked on a couple times a week but I encourage students with internet access to work on it from home.
When I introduced the form, we read through it, I showed them where the links were on Portal and how I found the first answer. Then I did the second one with them. I set them off and circulated as they worked. Almost immediately, I had to stop them. I had to remind them that the computer is not a magic box. It's isn't just going to spit out answers. They will have to READ to find the answers. Skimming is a useful skill but sometimes you will have to really read the webpage to find the answer to the question.
I was surprised that I was able to keep my own frustration down. The kids didn't have as much frustration since they knew the websites were going to have the answers they needed as long as they read.
These are the links to the search engine and hotlist.
I wish I could attach the document I created but it looks something like this:
Questions Websites Information
What is pollution? http://www.dictionary.com/ introduction of harmful substances
http://www.especiallyforkids.com/ Examples: urban runoff, grass
clippings, oil,etc.
I learned today that kids can pick out keywords in a question to run a search. I also learned that I have about four kids in each class who need more guidance than to be given these questions. This assignment is a scavenger hunt. When they have completed it, we will share out, and students will create a glog (http://www.glogster.com/) to demonstrate what they learned during the unit.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Mind Mapping Environmental Changes of the Everglades
Yesterday, my students worked collaboratively to create mind maps about environmental changes to the Everglades. Before starting I demonstrated how to create a mind map using the topic of bullying. I gave each group a piece of manilla paper and two boxes of crayons. I posted three questions to help prompt conversation and thinking: (1) What plants and animals did the storyteller describe? (2) In the story, what changes happened in the Everglades environment? (3) Think about our learning point, how did changes in the environment affect the organisms that live there?
I gave five minutes for conversations, then started our work music. Some groups had decided their main ideas that would sprout off of the topic and immediately started to write and illustrate. Others took turns and passed the paper to each member to make a contribution. Some groups seemed to bicker or argue. In both classes I had one group that had a very difficult time getting along because of leadership issues. Too many chiefs and all that. It was a pretty typical work period. Most groups were able to lay aside their disagreements and move forward.
My AM class seemed to really struggle with the mind map format since it was their first time ever doing one. During my lunch, I found examples of mind maps to show my PM class. My PM class seemed to understand the concept of mind mapping a little better because of it.
Here are the pictures of the bulletin board I made with some close ups of their mind maps:
I wish the text on this was clearer. Their four main ideas were pollution, Over-harvesting, colonization, Poachers. Their sub-ideas were worded in a very mature way. They lack the connectivity between main ideas but their main ideas are very well thought out and detailed.
I gave five minutes for conversations, then started our work music. Some groups had decided their main ideas that would sprout off of the topic and immediately started to write and illustrate. Others took turns and passed the paper to each member to make a contribution. Some groups seemed to bicker or argue. In both classes I had one group that had a very difficult time getting along because of leadership issues. Too many chiefs and all that. It was a pretty typical work period. Most groups were able to lay aside their disagreements and move forward.
My AM class seemed to really struggle with the mind map format since it was their first time ever doing one. During my lunch, I found examples of mind maps to show my PM class. My PM class seemed to understand the concept of mind mapping a little better because of it.
Here are the pictures of the bulletin board I made with some close ups of their mind maps:
This is the bulletin board of both of my classes mind maps. You can see that while the format was similar, each groups product was unique.
This is an exemplary example for the format. This is the only group that found connectivity to the main ideas off the topic. They did not discuss changes like drainage or settlement, and how that would affect the animals and their habitat.
I wish the text on this was clearer. Their four main ideas were pollution, Over-harvesting, colonization, Poachers. Their sub-ideas were worded in a very mature way. They lack the connectivity between main ideas but their main ideas are very well thought out and detailed.
This is a simpler mind map but This group wanted to use pictures. In this group were several students who struggle with writing. They opted for labels and pictures to illustrate.
We will be doing the next workshop day on Friday (Oct. 29). The water quality lab. I'm actually pretty nervous because there are lots of hand outs and steps. I want them to be successful but there is one of me and 20 of them. I'm sure it will be fine.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Launching Environmental Changes
I launched the Environmental Changes workshop yesterday. Students came to the carpet with their science journals and started this entry
Day 1: Everglades read aloud (10/25/10)
Learning Point: Impact of changes in the evironement to plants and animals.
I then had students do a 30 second jot of any animals or plants they thought lived in the Everglades. I was surprised that in each class there were at least three students who said they didn't know what the Everglades were. After I displayed a map of Florida highlighting the Everglades, they seemed to know what I was talking about. They paired and shared this jot and we made a collaborative list.
Jot: Animals you think live in the Everglades
alligators, cranes, crabs, snakes, lots of different birds, etc.
I then had them make a triple T-chart with the headings: Animals, Environment, Changes. I gave them directions to record any animals, environments (habitats), and changes they encountered in the read aloud. After the read aloud, they did another pair share, and collaborative list. I was hoping they would be more specific in this list and my hopes were met.
Triple T-Chart:
Animals: panthers, racoons, alligators, herons, anihingas, lizards, various types of fish, water moccasins, etc.
Plants: orchids, sawgrass, sawgrass islands, mudflats, river, Lake Okeechobee, etc.
Changes: settlement by man, over hunting of animals, overharvest of orchids, pollution from fertilizers and pesticides, draining, etc.
They enjoyed the activity and seemed very engaged if not thinking critically. Today, in our spare time because of several school functions planned for the day, they will create concept maps for what they know about how animals and plants are impacted by changes in their environment. They will do this in groups. They table teams are made by Gardner's multiple intelligence levels. More later and pics to follow!
Day 1: Everglades read aloud (10/25/10)
Learning Point: Impact of changes in the evironement to plants and animals.
I then had students do a 30 second jot of any animals or plants they thought lived in the Everglades. I was surprised that in each class there were at least three students who said they didn't know what the Everglades were. After I displayed a map of Florida highlighting the Everglades, they seemed to know what I was talking about. They paired and shared this jot and we made a collaborative list.
Jot: Animals you think live in the Everglades
alligators, cranes, crabs, snakes, lots of different birds, etc.
I then had them make a triple T-chart with the headings: Animals, Environment, Changes. I gave them directions to record any animals, environments (habitats), and changes they encountered in the read aloud. After the read aloud, they did another pair share, and collaborative list. I was hoping they would be more specific in this list and my hopes were met.
Triple T-Chart:
Animals: panthers, racoons, alligators, herons, anihingas, lizards, various types of fish, water moccasins, etc.
Plants: orchids, sawgrass, sawgrass islands, mudflats, river, Lake Okeechobee, etc.
Changes: settlement by man, over hunting of animals, overharvest of orchids, pollution from fertilizers and pesticides, draining, etc.
They enjoyed the activity and seemed very engaged if not thinking critically. Today, in our spare time because of several school functions planned for the day, they will create concept maps for what they know about how animals and plants are impacted by changes in their environment. They will do this in groups. They table teams are made by Gardner's multiple intelligence levels. More later and pics to follow!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Survival Skills Unit...all done!
Holy cow! We finally wrapped up the Survival Skills unit. We had our celebration today. The kids who wrote plays performed them, then the kids put their projects out and wandered the room looking at each others projects. I love the buzz that hums in the room during these celebrations. The kids who are on task get excited to see what their peers created. I see a lot of shy but proud smiles when they receive praise.
There are still some kids who did not finish (even thought they were given three weeks to complete it). During the next science choice board homework for the environmental changes unit, I will be sitting in a small group during the academic contract planning time with those students so we make sure they are organizing their time.
After we were done with the gallery walk, I had students place their compliment stickies in their science journals and respond to the following: Discuss how you feel about having a choice for project type and explain why you feel that way. I encouraged students to consider writing, whether or not they like choices, are there too many/not enough. I haven't read their journals yet but I'm eager to find out if their responses were similar to the reflection they did on the reading unit.
Speaking of the reading unit...today was day 3 of Unit 2. I am really enjoying the unit. My read alouds are off. I should have started another character book by now. We just finished Junebug by Alice Mead. It's such a great character book but I need to start another. I just can't seem to decide on one! I realized that beyond the read aloud I choose, my classes had no shared reading. So now, on Mondays, we read the story out of our reading adoption. I then use that story and the skill lessons in my small groups. It makes planning my small groups much simpler, gives us a shared text, and the kids get to hear a story that uses our vocabulary.
My inquiry this year has to do with vocabulary. I noticed that my ESOL student's vocabularies are very limited. My wondering question is: How will using American Sign Language (ASL) in conjunction with Reading Instruction affect my ELL student’s use of fifth grade level vocabulary words?
I am using ASL to teach my vocabulary and during my reading lessons. I created a pre-assessment for my five ESOL students to take. I will meet with these students three days a week for small groups. Two days a week we will focus on vocabulary. I just got their FAIR data and these accomodations seem appropriate for their areas of weakness. I will use this data and weekly vocab quizzes on Portal as my hard data. I will give students a survey to find out if using ASL had an effect on their confidence using more complex words.
Overall, things continue to go well. The afternoon class continues to be a challenge. The kids came up with a strategie to help some of my student monitor their distractive behavior. Four of the students put a peice of masking tape on their desks. Everytime they disrupt the class they get a tally. If they have fewer than five tallies, they get a Parker Pay ticket for the day. If they have five or more tallies, they have to move their conduct stick to Rookie (or Cadet...depending). Our goal is that they become more aware of how often they are being disruptive so they can adjust it. One of them really struggled and got frustrated with me when I kept "catching" him off being disruptive (as if you could miss it). However, two of my students were less disruptive than they have been in a long time and earned their Parker Pay. The fourth student had exactly five and didn't get his pay. I'm hoping after a while we can lower the tallies to under three or >3. Then...eventually we wont need it. I hope. What's really nice is their classmates came up with this...not me.
There are still some kids who did not finish (even thought they were given three weeks to complete it). During the next science choice board homework for the environmental changes unit, I will be sitting in a small group during the academic contract planning time with those students so we make sure they are organizing their time.
After we were done with the gallery walk, I had students place their compliment stickies in their science journals and respond to the following: Discuss how you feel about having a choice for project type and explain why you feel that way. I encouraged students to consider writing, whether or not they like choices, are there too many/not enough. I haven't read their journals yet but I'm eager to find out if their responses were similar to the reflection they did on the reading unit.
Speaking of the reading unit...today was day 3 of Unit 2. I am really enjoying the unit. My read alouds are off. I should have started another character book by now. We just finished Junebug by Alice Mead. It's such a great character book but I need to start another. I just can't seem to decide on one! I realized that beyond the read aloud I choose, my classes had no shared reading. So now, on Mondays, we read the story out of our reading adoption. I then use that story and the skill lessons in my small groups. It makes planning my small groups much simpler, gives us a shared text, and the kids get to hear a story that uses our vocabulary.
My inquiry this year has to do with vocabulary. I noticed that my ESOL student's vocabularies are very limited. My wondering question is: How will using American Sign Language (ASL) in conjunction with Reading Instruction affect my ELL student’s use of fifth grade level vocabulary words?
I am using ASL to teach my vocabulary and during my reading lessons. I created a pre-assessment for my five ESOL students to take. I will meet with these students three days a week for small groups. Two days a week we will focus on vocabulary. I just got their FAIR data and these accomodations seem appropriate for their areas of weakness. I will use this data and weekly vocab quizzes on Portal as my hard data. I will give students a survey to find out if using ASL had an effect on their confidence using more complex words.
Overall, things continue to go well. The afternoon class continues to be a challenge. The kids came up with a strategie to help some of my student monitor their distractive behavior. Four of the students put a peice of masking tape on their desks. Everytime they disrupt the class they get a tally. If they have fewer than five tallies, they get a Parker Pay ticket for the day. If they have five or more tallies, they have to move their conduct stick to Rookie (or Cadet...depending). Our goal is that they become more aware of how often they are being disruptive so they can adjust it. One of them really struggled and got frustrated with me when I kept "catching" him off being disruptive (as if you could miss it). However, two of my students were less disruptive than they have been in a long time and earned their Parker Pay. The fourth student had exactly five and didn't get his pay. I'm hoping after a while we can lower the tallies to under three or >3. Then...eventually we wont need it. I hope. What's really nice is their classmates came up with this...not me.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Reading Units of Study #1 Celebration!
This past week (since last Monday, Oct. 4th), my students have been working on their Unit 1 Choice Board Celebration Projects. They had to plan out their week and try to stay on schedule, they had to do homework when they didn’t meet personal deadlines, they had to assess a peer’s project and give them specific feedback. Today, we celebrated all our hard work. We did a gallery walk of the projects. Students set up their games and put computers out with headphones for the video interviews. They set out their flip books and setting pictures with explanations. Students walked around and wrote compliments on stickies to give specific praise to their peers. Everyone was on task and seemed to be enjoying themselves. Mrs. Owens and Mrs. Colson popped to see our hard work and they seemed impressed with the quality of work displayed. I’m so proud of my kids! There were more challenges in the PM class because of the behavior issues that exist in that room. But most were able to stay on task for the most of the celebration in that class.
It was hard to let go of controlling their every moment and letting them decide how to spend their time. It was especially hard to watch as some students struggled and others soared. It’s the goal to keep them all on track and in the same place…right? I don’t really think so. All kids work at different paces. I noticed that one female student, who knows she needs more time to work on projects, scheduled nights of homework during the week even though it wasn’t required because she knew she’d need the time to create a quality project. One boy wrote that he was going to finish his project by Friday so he could take it home and have a parent review it and he could make adjustments. The majority of the students set realistic goals and made adjustments as they worked to ensure they met the deadline. I found that the students who did not fill out their contract schedule were the only ones who did not meet deadlines or who struggled to meet them.
I will launch Unit 2 tomorrow. Unit 2 is all about character study. I have most of my MiniLesson teaching points prepared thanks to the Reading Units of Study planning calendar but I have to create charts, make ASL follow-alongs, etc. I will also create out next Choice Board Celebrations. It will be a challenge to continue to create project ideas that challenge students and are unique.
On another subject, the kids are taking their Survival Skills Quiz today on the computer. It is two essay questions. One is about physical adaptations of animals from the African plains, the other is about animals in the arctic. I am optimistic after all the work we did that they will do well. I am looking forward to moving on though. I am very far behind in Science. We are going into Environmental Changes. I wrote a differentiated instruction lesson plan for this workshop in my DI class over the summer. This unit will be for a portfolio artifact so I need to make sure to document every step of the way.
I have done so much better this year with journaling. I am taking lot of pictures of their work to put in my portfolio. This is an exciting year and I’m so thrilled to find that many of my fifth graders are extremely capable at product creation.
It was hard to let go of controlling their every moment and letting them decide how to spend their time. It was especially hard to watch as some students struggled and others soared. It’s the goal to keep them all on track and in the same place…right? I don’t really think so. All kids work at different paces. I noticed that one female student, who knows she needs more time to work on projects, scheduled nights of homework during the week even though it wasn’t required because she knew she’d need the time to create a quality project. One boy wrote that he was going to finish his project by Friday so he could take it home and have a parent review it and he could make adjustments. The majority of the students set realistic goals and made adjustments as they worked to ensure they met the deadline. I found that the students who did not fill out their contract schedule were the only ones who did not meet deadlines or who struggled to meet them.
I will launch Unit 2 tomorrow. Unit 2 is all about character study. I have most of my MiniLesson teaching points prepared thanks to the Reading Units of Study planning calendar but I have to create charts, make ASL follow-alongs, etc. I will also create out next Choice Board Celebrations. It will be a challenge to continue to create project ideas that challenge students and are unique.
On another subject, the kids are taking their Survival Skills Quiz today on the computer. It is two essay questions. One is about physical adaptations of animals from the African plains, the other is about animals in the arctic. I am optimistic after all the work we did that they will do well. I am looking forward to moving on though. I am very far behind in Science. We are going into Environmental Changes. I wrote a differentiated instruction lesson plan for this workshop in my DI class over the summer. This unit will be for a portfolio artifact so I need to make sure to document every step of the way.
I have done so much better this year with journaling. I am taking lot of pictures of their work to put in my portfolio. This is an exciting year and I’m so thrilled to find that many of my fifth graders are extremely capable at product creation.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Choice Board Creations
Today was the third day of Choice Board Activity work period. AND for the third day in a row ALL my kids were on task for the entire 40 minutes. I love watching them make decisions. About three of my kids had done really nice sketches of the most important setting. The kids who chose this project are visual/spatial learners. They found some watercolors in my cabinet and want to create a more detailed painting. They are coming right along. I'm surprised by the level of quality from most of my kids. They are taking their deadlines seriously.
I am concerned for about five kids across both of my classes. I see them working and researching. However, I have see little progress. I plan on sitting with those kids in a small group tomorrow during our work period to help keep them focused and spark some convesations about product creation. Monday we will be doing peer assessments. This is what I am very excited about working on.
I started meeting with my small groups today during independent reading. I met with my highest readers to work on roots, suffixes, and prefixes. We will study the meaning for prefixes the next time we meet. The goal is to help them deal with the more complex words they encounter in their books during independent reading.
I am hoping to get some help from the reading coach at my school. Small group work has always been my weakness when it comes to ability groups. I love doing table conferences and one on one conferring. Just pulling up to a table and teaching/reviewing a skill on the spot is simple for me. It's the planned skill groups that I am struggling with.
Hopefully I will get stronger in this area so that it will make a difference in reading scores for FAIR and FCAT but also in their ability to deal with more complex texts.
I am concerned for about five kids across both of my classes. I see them working and researching. However, I have see little progress. I plan on sitting with those kids in a small group tomorrow during our work period to help keep them focused and spark some convesations about product creation. Monday we will be doing peer assessments. This is what I am very excited about working on.
I started meeting with my small groups today during independent reading. I met with my highest readers to work on roots, suffixes, and prefixes. We will study the meaning for prefixes the next time we meet. The goal is to help them deal with the more complex words they encounter in their books during independent reading.
I am hoping to get some help from the reading coach at my school. Small group work has always been my weakness when it comes to ability groups. I love doing table conferences and one on one conferring. Just pulling up to a table and teaching/reviewing a skill on the spot is simple for me. It's the planned skill groups that I am struggling with.
Hopefully I will get stronger in this area so that it will make a difference in reading scores for FAIR and FCAT but also in their ability to deal with more complex texts.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Choice Boards
This year I am using Choice Boards as a way to differentiate my instruction. The first time I introduced this, it was for a survival skills workshop within Life Science. I designed six choice activities with several learning styles in mind. Once student understand each of the activities, they are to reflect on which one best suits their mode of learning. Students then fill out an Academic Contract to plan their time and make them accountable. These science choice board activities are homework with one or two days of classtime to check in with me and make sure everyone is where they need to be.
The other choice boards we are doing as a celebration to our first reading unit of study. This is done completely in class but still uses an academic contract.
I'm apprehensive that students will produce top quality products the first times we do this work. This will be messy the first few times. What I am excited about is the peer assessment part of these boards. Getting kids to become more reflective about projects they just did will hopefully help them become better planners for the next set of choice board activities.
The other choice boards we are doing as a celebration to our first reading unit of study. This is done completely in class but still uses an academic contract.
I'm apprehensive that students will produce top quality products the first times we do this work. This will be messy the first few times. What I am excited about is the peer assessment part of these boards. Getting kids to become more reflective about projects they just did will hopefully help them become better planners for the next set of choice board activities.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
ASL takes over
This year I have been determined to incorporate ASL into my classroom daily. The first step I took to do this was to use Power Teaching and instead of gestures, I use ASL. I have only done this for my reading instruction so far. I took the second step yesterday. I found a great video of a teacher teaching students how to sign The Pledge of Allegiance. So we are learning that now. The end goal there is to record ourselves for the morning news. WE are studying the words and talking about what they mean. Because ASL is a conceptual language, not a literal one, the kids must understand the meaning of a word within the context of the sentence. They have started to notice this because we will use the same sign for different words. Overall, the kids love learning another language.
But I want this to go deeper. I have to conduct an inquiry during the school year. I have it narrowed down to two right now. The first has to do with giving students choice to construct knowledge. It's very similar to my inquiry from last year and to that of another teacher. The second deals with how student's use of vocabulary broadens in the oral language and writing areas when they are using ASL. I'm still working on the wording of this but it fascinates me, it's relavant to my current practice, and although I'm sure there have been studies on this, I have never studied it first hand.
My mini lessons have been going really well. Even with sign and the turn/teach moments, which take longer than a turn and talk, I have gotten most of my mini lessons down to 10-13 minutes. They were 20 at the very beginning. I have done 11 so far and I have recorded 3 of them. I really should be recording more. I have send my videos to several teachers. They are impressed but I haven't received any critique-type feedback which is what I'm really looking for. It's very difficult to critique yourselve. The only thing I've really noticed so far is that there are 1-3 students that need to sit closer to me so I can keep them focused.
My next step is to start really conferring with them during indepdent reading to research whether or not they are using the lessons. I have noticed them using some more than others. I beleive that after next week, when I do our project celebration week, I will a demonstration of their thinking. Cross your fingers people!
But I want this to go deeper. I have to conduct an inquiry during the school year. I have it narrowed down to two right now. The first has to do with giving students choice to construct knowledge. It's very similar to my inquiry from last year and to that of another teacher. The second deals with how student's use of vocabulary broadens in the oral language and writing areas when they are using ASL. I'm still working on the wording of this but it fascinates me, it's relavant to my current practice, and although I'm sure there have been studies on this, I have never studied it first hand.
My mini lessons have been going really well. Even with sign and the turn/teach moments, which take longer than a turn and talk, I have gotten most of my mini lessons down to 10-13 minutes. They were 20 at the very beginning. I have done 11 so far and I have recorded 3 of them. I really should be recording more. I have send my videos to several teachers. They are impressed but I haven't received any critique-type feedback which is what I'm really looking for. It's very difficult to critique yourselve. The only thing I've really noticed so far is that there are 1-3 students that need to sit closer to me so I can keep them focused.
My next step is to start really conferring with them during indepdent reading to research whether or not they are using the lessons. I have noticed them using some more than others. I beleive that after next week, when I do our project celebration week, I will a demonstration of their thinking. Cross your fingers people!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Classroom Pictures
Here are the pictures of my Classroom from the day I got in this year to the day of Meet the Teacher night. Despite some clutter here and there it, has remainded pretty organized. I will take new photos this week. I moved the word wall from the south wall to the west wall. My west wall (along the back of the classroom) is plaster so I'm able to staple into it...a lot cheaper to buy staples than tons of sticky tack that may not keep my words up anyway.
My bulletin boards are still pretty bare. I'm hoping to get some student word up this week and add my science essential questions and vocab. My kids seem to be enjoying the Mystery Theme. I will launch science workshop this week since we've gotten our first technology unit wrapped up. I am going to do a new technology unit every couple of months to work on a skill they will need to have during the upcoming unit. This is time consuming but important.
http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/mrshparker/2010-2011%20Classroom/
My bulletin boards are still pretty bare. I'm hoping to get some student word up this week and add my science essential questions and vocab. My kids seem to be enjoying the Mystery Theme. I will launch science workshop this week since we've gotten our first technology unit wrapped up. I am going to do a new technology unit every couple of months to work on a skill they will need to have during the upcoming unit. This is time consuming but important.
http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/mrshparker/2010-2011%20Classroom/
Friday, September 17, 2010
Readers build the world of the story...
by making movies that tell about the character and setting. This was a great learning point. The signs were simple and made sense with the worlds so the kids were a lot more animated. I realized after a few of these reading lessons using PT that I was skipping over the active engagement "try it" section. After having them sign and teach each other the teaching point, I modeled how I make mental movies. Then I read a section of our read aloud and had them tell their partner their mental movie.
There are two ways to that readers build the world of the story. The first is to pay attention to descriptive words and the second is to imagine the moment in your where mind, thinking "where the characters are and what they are doing". This was my teaching point yesterday. Today, I will be conferring with readers to see if they are using this strategy and I to make sure they are in a just right book. I noticed as I looked out over my readers yesterday while I was doing running records, that some of them have switched to books 3 or 4 levels higher.
In fact, today's learning point is going to be about making sure we are in a just right book. I usually teach this the second or third day of the Reader's Workshop but I thought that by fifth grade, most of them would know how to do that work...apparently not.
Time to head to school! I'm coming down with a cold my little darlings have bestowed on me so this will be a long day.
There are two ways to that readers build the world of the story. The first is to pay attention to descriptive words and the second is to imagine the moment in your where mind, thinking "where the characters are and what they are doing". This was my teaching point yesterday. Today, I will be conferring with readers to see if they are using this strategy and I to make sure they are in a just right book. I noticed as I looked out over my readers yesterday while I was doing running records, that some of them have switched to books 3 or 4 levels higher.
In fact, today's learning point is going to be about making sure we are in a just right book. I usually teach this the second or third day of the Reader's Workshop but I thought that by fifth grade, most of them would know how to do that work...apparently not.
Time to head to school! I'm coming down with a cold my little darlings have bestowed on me so this will be a long day.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Social Butterfly
Today felt like a really social day for some reason. I started my school day with a Technology Committee meeting. Seems like it'll be a pretty simple committee to be on and it's a subject that I care about. There aren't a whole lot of responsibilities other than being a Tech Rep to other teachers to free up our Technology staff member who wears more hats that I ever hope to own (she is also the gifted teacher).
Today was the first day of the hallway Open Court. Building 5 is comprised of just four classrooms. Not many of our kids earned Cupid Tickets so we didn't have that many kids standing in the middle doing the Cupid Shuffle. Of course, I felt compelled to join the meager few that get this reward. Cupid tickets are given out by teachers (5 per week) to students who demonstrate our schools committment to character traits: responsibility, safety, self-motivation, respect, and honesty. I am going to make a bigger effort this next week to hand out mine to intermediate students.
My lessons went fairly well. Since Wednesday is early release day, I only have time to teach reading. I was surprised, and slightly pleased, that so many of my students were upset that we weren't going to hold Headquarter Meetings (HQMs) on Wednesday due to our time constrictions. My reading lesson was all about getting ready to talk with a partner by picking out important parts and explaining why they were important. I used the Power Teaching technique to deliver the learning point. Then I modeled the sticky note work, then had the kids try it out. It went pretty well and I heard a lot of kids thinking deep about the spot they picked.
The best part of the day though with the kids, was Independent Reading. They read for 40 minutes sustained silent reading! It's so impressive that they are able to do this in the fourth week of school. I was able to do some more running records...only a couple more left in each class. I know have a pretty good idea where all 44 of my kids are as readers. I'm going to spend this weekend really planning out my small groups and setting up a schedule to follow.
We had Walk to Achievement meetings afterschool to get our small groups set up for our 30 minutes of intervention. I am planning the groups, the skills, and materials, but the implementation has to happen in my teaching partner's room because those 30 minutes is coming out of math. I have to say, while there is a lot of grumbling about the fact that we are losing math instruction time...the people in charge of planning it out and implementing have been extremely available and clear about how it will look and work. It makes it easier to feel like it will be successful for the kids.
I spent a long time after school talking with my old teammates. I miss working with them on a daily bases but I get to work with them in various other ways; newspaper staff, technology committee, vertical PLC, etc. I get such wonderfully honest feedback from these guys. It keeps me motivated and working hard to hear their opinions of lessons I'm trying out or behavior plan issues. They help and support have been crucial to creating the teacher I am. I am excited to see what my career holds. There are so many creative and motivated teachers at my school. It is comforting and exciting to be in a community of like-minded educators.
Today was the first day of the hallway Open Court. Building 5 is comprised of just four classrooms. Not many of our kids earned Cupid Tickets so we didn't have that many kids standing in the middle doing the Cupid Shuffle. Of course, I felt compelled to join the meager few that get this reward. Cupid tickets are given out by teachers (5 per week) to students who demonstrate our schools committment to character traits: responsibility, safety, self-motivation, respect, and honesty. I am going to make a bigger effort this next week to hand out mine to intermediate students.
My lessons went fairly well. Since Wednesday is early release day, I only have time to teach reading. I was surprised, and slightly pleased, that so many of my students were upset that we weren't going to hold Headquarter Meetings (HQMs) on Wednesday due to our time constrictions. My reading lesson was all about getting ready to talk with a partner by picking out important parts and explaining why they were important. I used the Power Teaching technique to deliver the learning point. Then I modeled the sticky note work, then had the kids try it out. It went pretty well and I heard a lot of kids thinking deep about the spot they picked.
The best part of the day though with the kids, was Independent Reading. They read for 40 minutes sustained silent reading! It's so impressive that they are able to do this in the fourth week of school. I was able to do some more running records...only a couple more left in each class. I know have a pretty good idea where all 44 of my kids are as readers. I'm going to spend this weekend really planning out my small groups and setting up a schedule to follow.
We had Walk to Achievement meetings afterschool to get our small groups set up for our 30 minutes of intervention. I am planning the groups, the skills, and materials, but the implementation has to happen in my teaching partner's room because those 30 minutes is coming out of math. I have to say, while there is a lot of grumbling about the fact that we are losing math instruction time...the people in charge of planning it out and implementing have been extremely available and clear about how it will look and work. It makes it easier to feel like it will be successful for the kids.
I spent a long time after school talking with my old teammates. I miss working with them on a daily bases but I get to work with them in various other ways; newspaper staff, technology committee, vertical PLC, etc. I get such wonderfully honest feedback from these guys. It keeps me motivated and working hard to hear their opinions of lessons I'm trying out or behavior plan issues. They help and support have been crucial to creating the teacher I am. I am excited to see what my career holds. There are so many creative and motivated teachers at my school. It is comforting and exciting to be in a community of like-minded educators.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Power Teaching Narrative Elements
I had decided over the summer to try out a new-to-me teaching technique called Power Teaching. It is also known as Whole Brain Instruction (http://www.wholebrainteaching.com/). With this method, the teacher teaches content in short 30 second increments using gestures while the students whisper and gesture, then the students turn to each other and teach what the teacher just taught. Instead of using gestures, I pull out key terms and look up signs using ASL Browser.
Over the course of the past three weeks I have only used the First Steps. This include two attention signals 'class...yes' and 'hands and eyes'. In order to get the kids to buy into this and motivate them we play a Me vs. Them game. As long as they have more tallies than I do by the end of the period, they earn 2minutes of free time for Friday. They can earn up to 10 minutes for the entire week. They chose the reward. Reward options must be fair and reasonable for the kids and for me. They originally wanted 30 minutes of freetime...I asked them to tell me why that's not fair or reasonable. They told me it wasn't reasonable because that's too much time away from academic work. So we all discussed until we agreed on 10 minutes total. Better than nothing they said!
Today was the only the third time I used Power Teaching in a reading MiniLesson. The learnig point was: "Readers identify the narrative elements of a story". I had our reading coach come in to video tape the lesson. I haven't had a chance to review but her words of encouragement and support were enough to make this very tired teacher feel like a million bucks. The kids were highly engaged. It's still new to them so I have some that are struggling with this new way of work. They are so used to sitting and getting their lessons. This is much more interactive. However, those strugglers did much better by the end. Even my two most off task students were doing it!
I asked my students to write one comment about the new teaching method using these prompts..."I like Power Teaching because...", "I dislike Power Teaching because...", and "I think Power Teaching would be better if...because...". Most of the kids like it because they are getting to learn sign language. A few dug deeper and said they feel more focused during the lesson. Some were very honest and said it was too confusing and they couldn't remember the signs. Priceless feedback.
I will try and post the video later when I figure out how to do it. It's kinda long...about 20 minutes.
Over the course of the past three weeks I have only used the First Steps. This include two attention signals 'class...yes' and 'hands and eyes'. In order to get the kids to buy into this and motivate them we play a Me vs. Them game. As long as they have more tallies than I do by the end of the period, they earn 2minutes of free time for Friday. They can earn up to 10 minutes for the entire week. They chose the reward. Reward options must be fair and reasonable for the kids and for me. They originally wanted 30 minutes of freetime...I asked them to tell me why that's not fair or reasonable. They told me it wasn't reasonable because that's too much time away from academic work. So we all discussed until we agreed on 10 minutes total. Better than nothing they said!
Today was the only the third time I used Power Teaching in a reading MiniLesson. The learnig point was: "Readers identify the narrative elements of a story". I had our reading coach come in to video tape the lesson. I haven't had a chance to review but her words of encouragement and support were enough to make this very tired teacher feel like a million bucks. The kids were highly engaged. It's still new to them so I have some that are struggling with this new way of work. They are so used to sitting and getting their lessons. This is much more interactive. However, those strugglers did much better by the end. Even my two most off task students were doing it!
I asked my students to write one comment about the new teaching method using these prompts..."I like Power Teaching because...", "I dislike Power Teaching because...", and "I think Power Teaching would be better if...because...". Most of the kids like it because they are getting to learn sign language. A few dug deeper and said they feel more focused during the lesson. Some were very honest and said it was too confusing and they couldn't remember the signs. Priceless feedback.
I will try and post the video later when I figure out how to do it. It's kinda long...about 20 minutes.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Overextended
I'm starting to think I'm a workaholic. I love my job. It's easy to get caught up in everything about it. The kids, the lessons, the collaboration, the politics, the community. It's very hard to say no to new programs and committees. Here is my current menu of responsibilities (most of which are self inflicted):
I keep reviewing this list and asking myself why I can't give any of it up. The Newspaper and Science Club are both school improvement projects that I can document and put into my portfolio for UF. My involvement with the Lastinger Committee has the same benefit, as does the Recycling Program...you see the issue right? Then there is the voice in my heart that whispers to me when I am feel like quiting it all..."You do this because the kids love it. Becuase it is what is right to do for the students, the families, and your school." and I sigh at myself, with a small measure of guilt, for even considering that I should back out of one of these activities.
- Classroom teacher
- Newspaper Advisor/Editor
- Science Club Advisor
- Technology Committee
- Lastinger Leadership Committee
- Coursework for UF Masters
- Recycling Program
I keep reviewing this list and asking myself why I can't give any of it up. The Newspaper and Science Club are both school improvement projects that I can document and put into my portfolio for UF. My involvement with the Lastinger Committee has the same benefit, as does the Recycling Program...you see the issue right? Then there is the voice in my heart that whispers to me when I am feel like quiting it all..."You do this because the kids love it. Becuase it is what is right to do for the students, the families, and your school." and I sigh at myself, with a small measure of guilt, for even considering that I should back out of one of these activities.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Fastest Monday Ever
I'm realizing that being departmentalized really makes the day fly right on by! I have exactly 90 minutes before specials for my reading block and exactly 55 minutes for science after specials. Then there's the switch and lunch. And repeat it all over again. I'm tired but things are going really well.
I've slowed down teaching my processes a lot. I've give both classes a couple of different learning style inventories. I'm using them to group students and plan materials and teaching delivery. I've discovered that half of both my classes are kinesthetic learners! Now more than ever, I'm convinced that Power Teaching is going to be a highly effective teaching technique for these specific kids. I'm excited about.
I am enjoying getting to know my teaching partner. We have a lot in common and it has been easy to work together so far. Above all things, as long as we're always putting the kids first...everything will work out fine.
I find that I'm very busy with launching the Environmental Science Club and School Newspaper this week. I have to get applications out, read entries, make selections. Luckily, I have enthusiastic teammates there to help at every turn. I'm so lucky to be at my school with teachers who care and are willing to go that extra step to give kids new and worthwhile experiences.
I've slowed down teaching my processes a lot. I've give both classes a couple of different learning style inventories. I'm using them to group students and plan materials and teaching delivery. I've discovered that half of both my classes are kinesthetic learners! Now more than ever, I'm convinced that Power Teaching is going to be a highly effective teaching technique for these specific kids. I'm excited about.
I am enjoying getting to know my teaching partner. We have a lot in common and it has been easy to work together so far. Above all things, as long as we're always putting the kids first...everything will work out fine.
I find that I'm very busy with launching the Environmental Science Club and School Newspaper this week. I have to get applications out, read entries, make selections. Luckily, I have enthusiastic teammates there to help at every turn. I'm so lucky to be at my school with teachers who care and are willing to go that extra step to give kids new and worthwhile experiences.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Survived the First Week
I have resolved to blog a couple times a week this year. The first week the kids are back is always hectic and exhausting and exilerating all at once. I spent the entire week doing only processes and class/team building activities. My goal for the first day of school is always to get all the names down, get them to lunch and specials on time, and get them home safetly and quickly. I was successful at all but the lunch!
This year I am teaching fifth grade reading and science. My partner teaches math, social studies, and writing. There will be a lot of cross-over and integration in order to get everything in. I'm new to departmentalizing and was nervous about the switch half way through the day and with good reason. We switch at 11:45 and then lunch is at 11:51. On the first day, though, the kids don't know what to do or how to come into my room yet. It took 10 minutes to get them settled into their seats and answer some pointed questions about seating arrangements. I looked up at the clock and asked for full attention, "Class, we are very late for lunch but we are not going to rush out of this room like starving maniacs. I will call you in ABC order to stand in line at the door. You will walk facing forward at a 0 conversation level." I was impressed with how quickly they followed these directions without questions. So we were a little over five minutes late to lunch on the first day of school. Those of you who are teachers know this really screws up the lunch ladies. They were forgiving.
After lunch, I immediately went over how to come in after the switch. Unpack, hand backpacks, grab lunch boxes, and line up for lunch. During preschool, our staff watched the Ron Clark Story. One of things we noticed was his ability to INSIST that students meet expectations. We also studied being Warm Demanders. Be straightforward, blunt, firm, but temper it with warmth. I am attempting to embody this in how I interact with the kids.
Both of my classes have done very well with the new school-wide Guidelines for Success that we've implemented. I am following them to a T and insisting they follow them. I have been more consistent this week than I ever have before. The class developed rules and I explained our behavior management plan. I conducted our first "Headquarters Meetings". The kids seem to like these because we spent a lot of time getting to know each other. They seemed excited when they realized they would have a voice in how the class operates but there was still a layer of , "Is this lady for real?" I will earn their trust and respect in time.
I have a few kids from my class last year. Four in my AM class and two in my PM class. I rely on them but have not showed favoritism in a anyway. Both classes are great and very diverse. I even have a new to our school student from Greece. He speaks very little English. He's teaching me a word a day and I'm trying to get him a Greek to English dictionary. He can read and write in his language so there will be some good transfer over time there. His dad is an out of work Professor so he has a good support system.
I'm worried about four of my boys. They are exhibiting some strong impulse issues. I will have to add some tools to my toolbox to deal with their behaviors. They are nice enough kids...just some attention problems. I think it's going to be an interesting year to say the least.
I will post pics of my room next week since I forgot my camera there with the pics I took after I had everything set up and cleaned.
This year I am teaching fifth grade reading and science. My partner teaches math, social studies, and writing. There will be a lot of cross-over and integration in order to get everything in. I'm new to departmentalizing and was nervous about the switch half way through the day and with good reason. We switch at 11:45 and then lunch is at 11:51. On the first day, though, the kids don't know what to do or how to come into my room yet. It took 10 minutes to get them settled into their seats and answer some pointed questions about seating arrangements. I looked up at the clock and asked for full attention, "Class, we are very late for lunch but we are not going to rush out of this room like starving maniacs. I will call you in ABC order to stand in line at the door. You will walk facing forward at a 0 conversation level." I was impressed with how quickly they followed these directions without questions. So we were a little over five minutes late to lunch on the first day of school. Those of you who are teachers know this really screws up the lunch ladies. They were forgiving.
After lunch, I immediately went over how to come in after the switch. Unpack, hand backpacks, grab lunch boxes, and line up for lunch. During preschool, our staff watched the Ron Clark Story. One of things we noticed was his ability to INSIST that students meet expectations. We also studied being Warm Demanders. Be straightforward, blunt, firm, but temper it with warmth. I am attempting to embody this in how I interact with the kids.
Both of my classes have done very well with the new school-wide Guidelines for Success that we've implemented. I am following them to a T and insisting they follow them. I have been more consistent this week than I ever have before. The class developed rules and I explained our behavior management plan. I conducted our first "Headquarters Meetings". The kids seem to like these because we spent a lot of time getting to know each other. They seemed excited when they realized they would have a voice in how the class operates but there was still a layer of , "Is this lady for real?" I will earn their trust and respect in time.
I have a few kids from my class last year. Four in my AM class and two in my PM class. I rely on them but have not showed favoritism in a anyway. Both classes are great and very diverse. I even have a new to our school student from Greece. He speaks very little English. He's teaching me a word a day and I'm trying to get him a Greek to English dictionary. He can read and write in his language so there will be some good transfer over time there. His dad is an out of work Professor so he has a good support system.
I'm worried about four of my boys. They are exhibiting some strong impulse issues. I will have to add some tools to my toolbox to deal with their behaviors. They are nice enough kids...just some attention problems. I think it's going to be an interesting year to say the least.
I will post pics of my room next week since I forgot my camera there with the pics I took after I had everything set up and cleaned.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
time is always an issue
As a teacher, I find it so very frustrating that I simply cannot accept my time limitations. For the past three years, I have been a self-contained fourth grade teacher. I loved it. All my teammates were departmentalized. I watched as they struggled to keep their afternoon class caught up to their a.m. counterparts. I watched as they tried to fit in a full workshop daily. I watched as they skipped over engaging thematic units in favor of more regimented lessons that they knew they could fit in their giving time allotments. I watched as they honed those lessons and became experts in their content areas. In turn, they watched as I was able to do full thematic units based on novels. They watched as I flexed my subject times to accomodate students needs. They watched as I scrambled to various planning meetings for all my content areas.
While I was at times quite envious of their ability to focus on just their content areas. I was firm in my belief that a self-contained setting was a better fit for my teaching style. I had even convinced myself that it was better for kids. That is a different debate.
Then comes the news that I will be teaching fifth grade during the next school year. I was shocked, disheartened, excited, flattered to be chosen, bummed, and fearful in turns. My fourth grade team had worked hard, especially in the areas of math and writing, to become a collaborative unit of teachers. I relied on my teammates expertise, they seemed excited about some of the ideas I brought to the table and my ability to help them with technology. We became fast friends. I think of them still as my mentors and sisters in arms. I am going to miss planning with them each week.
On the other hand, I like the fifth grade team as well. One of them is my age and we attended college together. We are both teaching science and are passionate about environmental science. Another, I taught with during math camp two summers ago. She is a gifted teacher. Her energy and attention to detail are skills I feel I need to hone. I'm still not altogether certain why I was chosen instead of the administration hiring someone new but this is my reality and I have accepted it.
I have worked hard this summer to develop new curriculum reading units. I have poured over my districts' science workshops to figure out ways to differentiate them. I would be lying if I said I was dreading teaching fifth grade. After all, it was originally the grade I pictured myself in before I fell in love with fourth grade. I'm excited to be able to really have the opportunity to hone my reading instruction. I know I will have an ESOL cluster so I'm looking forward to working with our reading coach on some phonics skills. I have no experience in the primary grades and so I have a weak understanding of building phonics for reading. It will be a challenging year to say the least.
So, as I sit and ponder this conundrum of time, I will just take a deep breath and proceed with the knowledge that as long as I'm putting kids' needs first, everything will work out just fine.
While I was at times quite envious of their ability to focus on just their content areas. I was firm in my belief that a self-contained setting was a better fit for my teaching style. I had even convinced myself that it was better for kids. That is a different debate.
Then comes the news that I will be teaching fifth grade during the next school year. I was shocked, disheartened, excited, flattered to be chosen, bummed, and fearful in turns. My fourth grade team had worked hard, especially in the areas of math and writing, to become a collaborative unit of teachers. I relied on my teammates expertise, they seemed excited about some of the ideas I brought to the table and my ability to help them with technology. We became fast friends. I think of them still as my mentors and sisters in arms. I am going to miss planning with them each week.
On the other hand, I like the fifth grade team as well. One of them is my age and we attended college together. We are both teaching science and are passionate about environmental science. Another, I taught with during math camp two summers ago. She is a gifted teacher. Her energy and attention to detail are skills I feel I need to hone. I'm still not altogether certain why I was chosen instead of the administration hiring someone new but this is my reality and I have accepted it.
I have worked hard this summer to develop new curriculum reading units. I have poured over my districts' science workshops to figure out ways to differentiate them. I would be lying if I said I was dreading teaching fifth grade. After all, it was originally the grade I pictured myself in before I fell in love with fourth grade. I'm excited to be able to really have the opportunity to hone my reading instruction. I know I will have an ESOL cluster so I'm looking forward to working with our reading coach on some phonics skills. I have no experience in the primary grades and so I have a weak understanding of building phonics for reading. It will be a challenging year to say the least.
So, as I sit and ponder this conundrum of time, I will just take a deep breath and proceed with the knowledge that as long as I'm putting kids' needs first, everything will work out just fine.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A year....really?
It's been almost a year since my last post! I really want to journal about my year this year because there are big changes happening as usual.
First of all, I had a pretty good school year for 09-10! My class was challenging to say the least but we built a pretty good community once I started holding almost daily class meetings. They began listening to one another and more importantly, I began listening to them. I learned what they were worrying over, what scared them, what they were excited about. It changed how I looked at them. And the fact that I listening, and allowed them to care for one another, it changed how they looked at me and I liked it!
My coursework began Janury '09. I am enrolled at the Univerity of Florid's College of Education, Lastinger Center. I am working towards my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction for School Leadership and Improvement with a specialization in Educational Technology. It's a mouthful for sure. I have enjoyed each of my classes. Because it is a job embedded program, I am able to almost immediately apply concepts to my practice and reflect, share, and get feedback.
Over the summer, I had two classes at the same time, and even not working this summer...it was difficult! But I know how one whole reading unit planned out and one science workshop planned out.
Onto the changes! At the end of the 09-10 school year, I was told that I would be moving up to fifth grade. I was sad and shocked at first! I love my fourth grade teammates. We'd worked really hard over the past two years together! Why would our principal decide to change what seemed to work so well? I never really got a great answer for that but it is what it is. I can't say I'm completely unhappy with it either. The teachers on the fifth grade team seem really nice. I'm even working with one of them on an afterschool environmental sciences club.
This change also comes with departmentalization. I have always been self-contained. Now I will only teach reading and science. I am sad that I wont teach writing explicitly anymore but I'm sure I will find ways. I don't know my teaching partner very well and I'm hoping that we will be a good team. Team work is very important to me.
I will attempt to keep this updated this year!
First of all, I had a pretty good school year for 09-10! My class was challenging to say the least but we built a pretty good community once I started holding almost daily class meetings. They began listening to one another and more importantly, I began listening to them. I learned what they were worrying over, what scared them, what they were excited about. It changed how I looked at them. And the fact that I listening, and allowed them to care for one another, it changed how they looked at me and I liked it!
My coursework began Janury '09. I am enrolled at the Univerity of Florid's College of Education, Lastinger Center. I am working towards my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction for School Leadership and Improvement with a specialization in Educational Technology. It's a mouthful for sure. I have enjoyed each of my classes. Because it is a job embedded program, I am able to almost immediately apply concepts to my practice and reflect, share, and get feedback.
Over the summer, I had two classes at the same time, and even not working this summer...it was difficult! But I know how one whole reading unit planned out and one science workshop planned out.
Onto the changes! At the end of the 09-10 school year, I was told that I would be moving up to fifth grade. I was sad and shocked at first! I love my fourth grade teammates. We'd worked really hard over the past two years together! Why would our principal decide to change what seemed to work so well? I never really got a great answer for that but it is what it is. I can't say I'm completely unhappy with it either. The teachers on the fifth grade team seem really nice. I'm even working with one of them on an afterschool environmental sciences club.
This change also comes with departmentalization. I have always been self-contained. Now I will only teach reading and science. I am sad that I wont teach writing explicitly anymore but I'm sure I will find ways. I don't know my teaching partner very well and I'm hoping that we will be a good team. Team work is very important to me.
I will attempt to keep this updated this year!
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