As you continue on your journey to incorporate number talks into your classroom, this new video will show you how to facilitate the talk. Ideally, students are running the conversation and the teacher is guiding the students in this academic discourse. Click the Video link to watch!
If you're looking to find new ways to incorporate mathematical discourse with your students, then a number talk is right for you! Venture into a concept that gets your kiddos engaged and increases their number sense. This concept ranges for students from K-8. Over the next few months, we will discuss what a number talk is, how to create a safe space for students, implementing a number talk and beyond. Click this Video link to watch!
Welcome to 'Huddle Time' - the purpose of this time is to provide a short video that offers student centered ideas to consider for your classroom.
HUDDLE TIME VIDEO #15
Today's Huddle Time focuses on
- Displaying student data in the classroom to show growth
Standard Exceeded (>85%)
Standard Met (>70%)
Standard Nearly Met (>55%)
Standard Not MetRemember to believe in yourself, believe that you matter, and believe that you make a difference in students' lives every time that you interact with them.
Teaching and still loving it,
Kevin Stott
De Anza Middle School
Welcome to 'Huddle Time' - the purpose of this time is to provide a short video that offers student centered ideas to consider for your classroom.
HUDDLE TIME VIDEO #14
Today's Huddle Time focuses on
- Displaying student data in the classroom to show growth
Remember to believe in yourself, believe that you matter, and believe that you make a difference in students' lives every time that you interact with them.
Teaching and still loving it,
Kevin Stott
De Anza Middle School
My previous blog post discussed a strategy I have developed called Casual Conversation. I have found this to be an effective tool for teaching my students conversational skills and giving them a chance to practice the skills on a regular basis with a wide variety of partners. This strategy has numerous benefits, but the ostensible aim is to prepare kids for more structured, academic conversations down the road, particularly during UDL-friendly activities such as group projects and conferences with the teacher. In this post, I will discuss another strategy, Reflective Journaling, which helps me both bridge the gap between Casual Conversation and academic discussions and connect SEL skills and the Affective Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Don’t worry, I’ll explain) to other parts of my curriculum.
As I have discussed in my previous UDL-related blog posts, I believe that Engagement is the important first step in successful UDL implementation. For me, engagement is not about trying to entertain my students or motivate them with extrinsic rewards. On the contrary, I want the positive experiences of being in a safe, comfortable environment; having their interests and preferences taken into consideration; and being given ample opportunities to collaborate and communicate with their fellow classmates to be their own rewards. In order for my students to take full advantage of these experiences, they need to have strong SEL skills and be self-directed learners who value growing as learners and thinkers. To this end, I have developed daily journaling activities that allow my students to reflect deeply on their current skills in these areas and discuss how to improve them with classmates.
SEL Journaling
As you are likely aware, there are five SEL competencies that we humans need in order to thrive as learners, friends, employees, and family members. These are: self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Together, the five competencies make up half of the content of my daily journaling activities. The method I employ is to focus on a single competency for an entire week before moving onto the next one. On day one of a week, I introduce (or reintroduce) the competency and the first journal prompt. After being given about 10 minutes to reflect and journal on the prompt, students participate in a simple Kagan structure in order to share their thoughts with at least one other student. Finally, we share out with the whole class, except in instances where I feel the topic might be a bit sensitive.
The daily journal prompts for a given SEL competency are inspired by the following resource from CASEL.
I make a Google Slides presentation that can be displayed on the board; this includes CASEL’s definition of the competency and the bullet-pointed examples that accompany it. I have also embedded a YouTube link to a mix of calming music to be played while the kids reflect and write. I also write myself a note in the “speaker notes” section about which Kagan structure would work well with the prompt. See the example below.
I also make a student version of the weekly Slides presentation with room for the kids to type their responses into text boxes. One great thing about this activity is that the writing the kids are doing is low-stakes. I tell them to just write whatever comes to mind without worrying about spelling or grammar. This helps set the stage for more formal writing assignments that also address SEL, such as personal narratives. Here is an example of a student Slide presentation.
Writing Every Day,
Eric Lovein
Welcome to 'Huddle Time' - the purpose of this time is to provide a short video that offers student centered ideas to consider for your classroom.
HUDDLE TIME VIDEO #13
Today's Huddle Time focuses on
- Preparing students for the CAASPP Performance Task
Online Practice and Training Test - LINK
Performance Task Paper Version Cover Page - LINK
Performance Task Lesson - LINK
Remember to believe in yourself, believe that you matter, and believe that you make a difference in students' lives every time that you interact with them.
Teaching and still loving it,
Kevin Stott
De Anza Middle School
Welcome to 'Huddle Time' - the purpose of this time is to provide a short video that offers student centered ideas to consider for your classroom.
HUDDLE TIME VIDEO #12
Today's Huddle Time focuses on
- CAASPP Prep using Do Nows and Focused Skill Lessons
Focused Skill Lesson Sample 1 - LINK
Focused Skill Lesson Sample 2 - LINK
Focused Skill Lesson Sample 3 - LINK
Remember to believe in yourself, believe that you matter, and believe that you make a difference in students' lives every time that you interact with them.
Teaching and still loving it,
Kevin Stott
De Anza Middle School
"Top o' the mornin' (or afternoon or evening) to ya!" Thank you for accompanying me on my blog journey as I chronicle my pursuit to master the gradual release framework.
Before I continue with Part 4, here's a reminder of how I concluded February's blog:
Our administrators are going to observe my third-grade teammates and me trying out our new-found knowledge of gradual release. My lesson is going to focus on how to determine a character's point of view. You'll have to wait until next month's blog to see how my lesson went. See you then!
Can you believe it's already "next month"? I'm fairly confident that you have been eagerly awaiting this post to find out how my lesson went, so I won't keep you in suspense. Below you will find two lists. The first shows what went well overall on my and my students' part. The second column addresses instructional, managerial, or organizational needs that I need to focus on and what my next steps are. (The wise saying below is the lense from which I have approached this new learning.)
Welcome to 'Huddle Time' - the purpose of this time is to provide a short video that offers student centered ideas to consider for your classroom.
HUDDLE TIME VIDEO #11
Today's Huddle Time focuses on
- A new book I am reading "The New Classroom Instruction That Works" by Bryan Goodwin and Kristin Rouleau, 2023.
The book examines six phases of learning and 14 teaching strategies that support them. The 105 research studies referenced in the book encompass all grade levels and subject areas - which means there is something for everyone in this book.
The book has reinforced several strategies I currently employ in my classroom. At the same time I am challenged to close learning gaps and support the success for each of my students through the use of researched based teaching practices identified in the book.
As I start my journey, I am challenged with the strategy of 'High Level Questions'. The strategy is embedded in the phase of learning where students are trying to make sense of their learning. In an effort to be more strategic in my questions, I am asking students to consider 3 questions during the lesson - a comprehension question, a strategy question, and a connection question. The purpose of the three questions is for students to think about their learning.
This week's questions - Math 8 - Resource Link
This week's questions - Integrated Math I - Resource Link
I will give an update next month on my progress with this strategy and where I am headed with other strategies from this book.
Remember to believe in yourself, believe that you matter, and believe that you make a difference in students' lives every time that you interact with them.
Teaching and still loving it,
Kevin Stott
De Anza Middle School
My previous blog post discussed the importance of classroom environment when it comes to engaging and supporting students in UDL. I provided a multitude of examples of how I have tried to enhance the vibes in my classroom this year so that it could help, “minimize threats and distractions, foster collaboration and community, and facilitate personal coping skills and strategies,” for my students. In this post, I will discuss one of my favorite new strategies for making use of this space and helping students learn the crucial communication skills they need to be successful UDL participants. I call this strategy “Casual Conversation,” which is a very literal, unimaginative name for it.
Readers of my two previous UDL blog posts are likely tired of me citing entire paragraphs from the Engagement portion of the UDL Progression Rubric in order to support my assertions, so I am going to try to refrain from doing that wherever possible. I will leave it to you to decide if you would like to review it before proceeding, but I can tell you that there are many instances throughout the rubric in which students are expected to confidently and respectfully express themselves to both their peers and their teacher. As I discussed in my previous post, I feel that a first step to properly behaving and communicating in a classroom environment is to practice doing these things in less formal settings. If a student is incapable of holding a polite, casual conversation with a friend or classmate, what hope do they have of participating in something as formal, structured, and academic as a Socratic Seminar or Literature Circle?
As parents, my wife and I are able to ensure that our children are given ample opportunities to participate in conversations with a wide variety of interlocutors around the dinner table, on car rides, at family get-togethers, and during play dates. Frequently, we either participate in these conversations directly or surreptitiously eavesdrop on them (Don’t pretend you’ve never done this, my fellow parents!). Either way, we use these opportunities to provide our kids with feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of their respective conversation skills. Intentionally or otherwise, we also model what polite conversations look like on a regular basis (I mean, I hope we do…usually). All of these considerations led me to an obvious question: How could I curate similar experiences for my students in class? Here are some things that occurred to me as I began to formulate an answer to this:
I would want my students to practice their conversation skills with a wide variety of peers (By the way, this is actually an advantage that all teachers have over parents: the potential partner combinations are seemingly endless!). I could have each student spend a solid week partnering with every other student in the class. This would mean that, eventually, every student would have spent quality time getting to know every one of their classmates. This would certainly foster a more positive, friendly, and safe classroom environment in which kids would be comfortable working with just about anyone in their class.
Display of weekly partners from a Google Slide presentation
I would want there to be a focus on learning to sustain friendly conversations with peers with whom students would not usually choose to converse regularly. A big emphasis should be put on having a positive attitude when discovering who they are being partnered with and finding ways to be empathetic and kind towards even their least favorite fellow students. I would also like them to learn to find at least one connection to each of their classmates.
I would like to teach conversation skills explicitly but in a low-stakes environment. A quick mini-lesson (perhaps in the form of a video) on a specific skill before the casual conversations begin should do the trick. I could cycle through the same 10-15 skills every 2 or 3 weeks, and the students should be allowed to decide whether they would like to deliberately focus on the daily skill (perhaps it’s already a strength of theirs and they’d prefer to focus on something else).
Skills can include things like: taking turns speaking, active listening, reading facial expressions, keeping personal space, staying on topic, asking questions, and making comments.
I have found some wonderful YouTube videos on conversation skills, including this one on Active Listening.
Partners should be allowed to sit together wherever they want; this is an opportunity for them to use the cushions, blankets, and other alternative seating discussed in my previous blog post.
Some chill music should play quietly in the background (like in a café!).
A daily Google Slide with the skill lesson and other suggestions can be displayed on the Smartboard while the kids chat. A reminder can be posted on the slide to start their Casual Conversations with a friendly greeting and a quick SEL-style check-in to see how their partners are feeling. A list of suggested icebreakers can also be posted, but kids should understand that the icebreakers are only there to support them if they are struggling to generate their own topics of conversation. Additionally, prompts for the kids to show appreciation to their partners and end the conversation with a friendly salutation can be included.
Prompts remind students to greet each other, check in, show appreciation, and end the conversation with a friendly salutation. There are also some Ice Breakers borrowed from our district’s SEL Toolkit.
As you can see, a strategy that seemed almost comically simple when I first conceived of it ended up being far more complex and nuanced than I could have imagined, but it is not an exaggeration to say that it was an obvious success from the moment we first tried it. I was shocked at how quickly my kids embraced Casual Conversation, and their feedback was immediately positive. They now get quite frustrated with me when I do not manage to fit it into our schedule, and this is probably the most meaningful way in which it contributes to the larger goal of improved engagement: It is something my kids look forward to every day, and we all need more of that in our lives!
Writing Every Day,
Eric Lovein
My previous blog post provided a brief overview of UDL and discussed why Engagement is the logical first step in developing a UDL classroom. Using the UDL Progression Rubric, I described the characteristics of a successful UDL student, and I briefly mentioned the fact that I have tried to make my classroom a more enjoyable, relaxing place to learn. In this post, I will elaborate on how I have done that and what I still hope to improve about my students’ learning environment in the near future.
The first thing you should know is that, before this school year, my classroom was an incredibly underwhelming place to visit. I’ve always been a, “It’s not about where we are learning but what we are learning,” kind of guy. If I’m honest with myself, I simply didn’t have a lot of confidence in my decorating skills, nor was I overly-motivated to improve them. After reading through the Progression Rubric’s descriptions and examples of what it means for a student to be truly engaged in the UDL sense, I realized that my classroom needed a major facelift. Using several of the Engagement standards as a guide, I tried to envision what a classroom that could minimize threats and distractions (7.3), foster collaboration and community (8.3), and facilitate personal coping skills and strategies (9.2) would look like. The below graphic shows the Emerging, Proficient, and Progressing Toward Expert Practice levels of each of the three standards I have deemed most relevant to my classroom environment. Unlike with some rubrics, each of these levels is worth a gander. Even the Emerging level descriptions have some great suggestions for getting started.
After absorbing the information in these standards, I settled on the idea of creating a café vibe. The rabbit-hole thinking that led me to this decision went something like this:
I eventually want my students to become self-knowing, self-sufficient, self-disciplined, self-guided, and self-motivated learners. This seems like a pretty ambitious goal.
To the extent that my own children at home possess these capacities, I feel like they developed a lot of them outside of the classroom. Visits to parks, gardens, museums, beaches, restaurants, libraries, forests, and theaters have provided my wife and me with ample opportunities to teach our kids to explore their curiosities and interests, advocate for themselves and take chances, and learn to act responsibly in a variety of social contexts.
While I cannot take my 30 students to these sorts of places on a regular basis, perhaps I can, to some extent, replicate the most important aspects of these experiences for them while they are at school.
By “the most important aspects,” I mean the parts where they are: directly taught how to get the most out of each experience while allowing others to do the same, being given ample opportunities to practice these skills, and consistently reflecting on their successes and failures.
Building on the theme of social contexts, here are some of my initial ideas:
I could have a recurring activity called “In the Restaurant” in which I teach a mini-lesson on restaurant etiquette, table manners, or appropriate topics for discussion while eating. The kids could then eat lunch in my classroom at tables done up to look like restaurant tables. Students could then be instructed to practice any skills that have been taught in said mini-lessons, perhaps with parent volunteers acting as hosts/hostesses and waiters/waitresses.
Similarly we could have an SEL-related activity called “In the Café.” Kids could sit in comfortable spaces around the room, sipping beverages (perhaps served up by parent volunteers), and having casual conversations with predesignated partners after a mini-lesson on conversation skills. Note: A version of this idea has evolved into an activity called “Casual Conversations”—much more on this later (mostly in my next blog post).
The thinking behind UDL originated in architecture—the idea being that the built environment should work for everyone. Therefore, it is incumbent upon me to make my classroom as comfortable and functional as possible. This should include flexible seating and spaces to accommodate a wide range of activities, discussions, and projects. I am picturing something like the shared work area of a hipster tech company designed to allow people and ideas to flow freely while some cool music plays quietly in the background. Words like “cozy,” “chill,” “warm,” “welcoming,” “fun,” and “stimulating” all spring to mind.
I want my kids talking to each other (and me!) constantly in a wide variety of structures and contexts. These should include, but not be limited to: Kagan structures, Literature Circles, Philosophical Chairs, Socratic Seminars, Casual Conversations, group projects, and student/teacher conferences. Some of these structures will require tables (Kagan team activities and group projects), while many others will require open floor space and cushions, pillows, blankets and other flexible seating options. This will be particularly important if I expect my students to, “construct their own groups and create their own group norms, responsibilities, etc. and students often seek out and work with diverse partners.”
I am still a bit self-conscious about my room’s appearance, mostly because I have no confidence in my design sense, but there is no denying that it looks a heck of a lot better than it has at any time in the last dozen years (not a high bar to clear). Here are some of the positive changes I have made on a budget (See the accompanying photos for visual proof):
I ripped down my decades-old “fadeless” paper and replaced it with spanking new brick and wood designs that evoke a reclaimed space in DTLA.
I bought fake plants of various shapes and sizes and used them to green up my classroom environment.
I repurposed my cubby holes to serve as yoga studio-style storage spaces for my kids’ cushions and blankets—used for sitting comfortably on the floor during old-school read alouds, Casual Conversations, and collaborative learning.
I bought/requisitioned a variety of chairs and stools that kids can use in the aforementioned contexts.
I replaced my old, faded, sad-looking informational posters with fresh ones. I have always prioritized information when it comes to wall decor, and I think UDL makes this more important than ever; if I want my kids working independently or on group projects based on personal interests, I still need them to work within the meta-cognitive guidelines I have set forth. For instance, If I am teaching you how to Report Information by Comparing and Contrasting in Social Studies by writing about a self-selected topic, I am still going to expect you to use the resources around my classroom on things like Double Bubble Maps, Sourcing, Contextualization, and Corroboration (See below photos for examples).
Fresh paper, college signs and Kagan mats, fresh informational posters
Large open space for bringing kids to carpet or allowing them to stretch out while having Casual Conversations or participating in Kagan structures, cubbies with cushions and blankets, plants for touches of green
Here are some further ideas for my classroom upgrade that I hope to incorporate in the near future:
The UDL Progression Rubric has certainly convinced me that enhancing my classroom environment is a key to improving student engagement. In my next post, I will discuss one of my early engagement successes: Casual Conversation.
Writing Every Day,
Eric Lovein
