Mid Year Blues...

Mid Year Blues...
While I wondered what the answer to the challenges that our 7th graders or any grade level suffer from during the mid-year is, I stop and consider several possibilities.  At the beginning of the year, students were eager and nervous to start in a middle school setting. They were very attentive and receptive to all the rules and classroom responsibilities.  Now that they have been with us for a few months, they have fallen to old good and bad habits.  The pressure for making grade check at our school is palpable.  Students stress over quizzes and tests as the days get closer to the grade check reward, but soon fizzle out after that.  My usual tutoring sessions have an average of 7-10 students per day.  Now they have fallen to 3-4.  So I considered what has happened?  Where has the interest of my students to improve, and get better grades gone?
During class, students cooperate, share with their partners, collaborate and overall participate.  As the topics in Eureka get more challenging, they get strategies to facilitate their learning. Watching a first-grade Spotlight class inspired me to change a few things I do with my students while doing word problems.  First, I have students set up their paper in four quadrants.  They write “What can I draw/What do I know?” in one quadrant.  In the second quadrant, they write “Show work.”  In the third quadrant, they write, “Patterns, Tables, Graphs.”  Finally, in the fourth quadrant, they write, “Answer in words.”  It is amazing how a strategy such as this can truly affect the attitude towards solving a difficult word problem.  Organizing the information and developing a plan to solve the problem has helped my students in attempting to solve what they perceive as “hard” questions.  Students are given time to digest the problem and place as much information as possible, before I go over it with the whole group.  I see progress in attempting the issues, but most still need help unraveling and solving the math.  Students are more comfortable with the actual operations now.  The challenge often times is understanding how to answer questions that require more than the usual add, subtract, multiply or divide.  Bridging the gap between doing operations or using these skills to get an answer and then reflecting as to what the numbers actually mean, require higher levels of thinking.  This is where I spend most of my time now.  I believe that this is the reason for those mid-year blues.  Students are expected to interpret the information and respond accordingly.  They whine and complain that this is too hard.  Yet, I see many of my SBAC 1’s and several 2’s rising up to the challenge.
	Students aren’t the only ones who are feeling the blues.  I too have to find my own grit to overcome the feeling of defeat at times.  I know what I’m doing for my students is right for them, but occasionally, I too feel tired and exhausted in this ongoing battle to have those productive struggles and push forward.  What gets me through these times is watching just one struggling student ask a question that I know will open the door to the answer they need.  This is my compensation.  There's nothing better than to see a growth mindset in these kiddos.  Here is a link to a TED talk video that I show my students around this time. Feel free to check it out. https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance
One particular student made a comment in my tutoring class about what a shame it was for students not to take advantage of the tutoring sessions I provide after school.  He said, “I don’t understand why more students aren’t here?  Don’t they know that they can finish their math homework in class and have more time to spend at home doing fun stuff?”  This young man gets it.  Melody, on the other hand, who on this same day was bitter because she would rather be dancing in the after-school program said, “I don’t need this math.  When I grow up, I’m going to marry a rich guy who will take care of me.”  I couldn’t believe what I heard?!  I was both appalled and sad at the same time.  I gave her reasons to consider when making these statements, but she wouldn’t have any of them.  I finally concluded that she too was suffering from mid-year blues. She was the inspiration for my blog this month.  I hope she comes back from winter break rested and with a better outlook.  She is definitely my challenge this year!
	Feel free to send me your comments after you have read and seen the video.  I welcome all constructive criticism.  Have a fantastic rest of your day! Hilda Castillo

You Can Do It!

You Can Do It!

I can’t believe it’s almost the middle of December. I liken each school year to a marathon. I start the race in August and I reach the finish line in May. At this juncture in the school year, though, I find myself doing a lot of wondering. Am I teaching the standards to the best of my ability? Are my students learning? Am I preparing them enough for the SBA? Will they improve on the SBA? Will they be ready for fourth grade? I have more questions than answers right now.

Sigh...I have not chosen an easy career path. Teaching is physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing. There is always more to learn, do, and teach. Those are the hard facts. Yet, when I am in my classroom, I cannot think of anywhere else I’d rather be or anything else I’d rather be doing. Like you, I have the privilege of being a part of my students’ childhood. I hope someday they will fondly remember how much delight I took in teaching them and in learning with them.

In spite of all the challenges, I know that I have support. This quote exemplifies how I feel:

“The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other. Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives.” --Robert John Meehan

So, in the spirit of teamwork and continuous learning, I carved out some time during our Thanksgiving break to read my colleagues’ blogs. I was humbled. These teachers made themselves vulnerable and available to all of us via this vehicle know as a blog. Their writings were full of insight, ideas, advice, and personal experience. By the time I was done, there were a lot more tools in my teacher toolbox.

I challenge you to not run this year’s race solo. You don’t have to. And I don’t either. We are in this together. Regardless of what grade or subject you teach, you have a whole host of teachers who are running the same marathon. Let’s hold each other’s hands until we get to the finish line. Let’s cheer each other on.

 “It’s not about being the best, it’s about being better than you were yesterday.” --Author Unknown

I’m an imperfect perfectionist. Over the years, I’ve learned that I don’t need to be perfect to make a positive difference in the lives of my students. But I do need to be better today than I was yesterday and, for me, the best way to do that is to keep learning and growing. I choose to approach each day as a new opportunity to add to my teacher toolbox, to hone my skills and to improve my craft. This year I’m all about brain research. Next year? Who knows? But I can guarantee I will be learning something new and exciting. And who better to teach me than my own OMSD colleagues?

                                  

  Lifelong Learner
Lola E. Jollie

lola.jollie@omsd.net

Mr. Mayor and City Council

“Mr. Mayor and City Council”
“That was nerve racking!” Giovanni Aguilar, 8th grader “I thought it was going to be worse than it actually was.” Daisy Zamacona, 8th grader “I felt good about it - it was kind of fun.” Ramiro DeLaTorre Nava, 8th grader “Being questioned by the city major was a challenge but I felt that I answered it well” Carla Valdivia, 8th grader
A couple months ago I talked about getting students interested in a new unit of study by doing an entry event.  But what about the end of the unit of study and the end of the project? In Project Based Learning (PBL), an essential element is the ‘public product.’  Public product means that students are making their work public by showing it to others outside of their classroom.  This work can be shown to other students on campus, parents, or even shown on the internet - the key being that students must share their work beyond their classroom.  Of the 8 Gold Standard Essential Elements, I find that this is the one that keeps the students focused as we move through a project, causes the most stress with students, and yields the best opportunity to teach 21st century skills that help students in high school and beyond.
	Last week, I completed the “Walk This Way” project with my 8th graders.  This is my only project that is integrated across four subject areas - ELA, SS, Science, and Mathematics.  The project focuses on the challenging problem, “Due to the unique design of Euclid Avenue, how can we safely get people across the street without disrupting the flow of commerce?”  All 8th grade teachers on our site use this challenging problem as the anchor for their content instruction over the course of the project.   The team of teachers decided that the public product for this project would be a model bridge and a written city proposal for building the bridge.  To make the product public, we decided that the 8th graders would be put into groups of four and they would present their final products to our 7th graders. The team of teachers then decided that it was important to try and make this a community issue so we decided that we should present to the Ontario City Council.  And with that simple idea, our students went from presenting to only 7th graders to presenting to the Ontario City Council their final products. This was an exciting opportunity and so last Tuesday our winning 8th grade group gave a public presentation in front of the Ontario City Council.   City Council Video (thank you Mr. Jose Alvarez): https://drive.google.com/open?id=1aU2AfJWkrE2gNGjSvHUtM8t6DA2_8-Uk (Great moments when the students mentioned ‘taxes’ and when the mayor went out of protocol to ask out students some follow-up questions.) My hope, for all my students, is that by presenting their products they learn some 21st century skills - collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity.

”The work becomes food for thought in a learning community”        John Larmer

Yes, these four students were very nervous, but they did an outstanding job representing themselves and our school.  But more importantly, these four students will forever remember that they conquered their fears and were able to speak publicly about something they created and did in school.  I struggle internally having to spend an entire period with so called ‘oral presentations’ but to see every single student get up in front of their peers and publicly speak is a life skill that needs to be developed an encouraged.  So, in the end, I find the time spent well worth it because I realize that I am not just teaching a content area but rather setting my students up for success.
	Challenge your students to create a final product for a unit of study that is upcoming and have your students talk about what they created.  Try it by starting small and seeing what you like about and what you could change the next time you do it.  The goal is to provide students an opportunity to communicate - it is amazing to hear what our students can talk about and their enthusiasm to describe what they created. Still Learning and Loving It,                                               Kevin
Click here to schedule a visit			Current 7th grade Project - “Restaurant’s Signature Dish”

Philosophical Chairs- Let’s debate!

Philosophical Chairs- Let’s debate!
Learning takes place when critical thinking is happening.  Being able to think critically about an issue to solve a problem is a skill that students need not only to be successful in school, but throughout life.  Teaching students how to discuss and debate an issue (rather than argue) based on facts and information is not only a great, but powerful way to enhance students critical thinking skills. Philosophical Chairs allows students to think and discuss on a critical thinking level, and then allows them to apply their ideas or opinions to writing.			As seen here, my students recently participated in their second Philosophical Chairs debate on the "Christopher Columbus Day issue."  You see each of the opposing sides lined up across the room from each other, as well as the "neutral" kiddos seated in the middle.
The Power is in the discussion! Get your kids thinking deeply and critically about texts and issues, and watch their learning soar.
	When you hear students develop their own opinions about a topic based on what they’ve read, researched, and discussed, that’s when you know all your efforts as a teacher are worth it!  Over the past couple of years where I have really started incorporating a lot more collaborative conversations, philosophical chairs, and socratic seminars, I have noticed that my kids will start researching topics on their own.  Often they come into class and tell me how they researched a topic that we had learned/discussed in class and what they learned about it.  To me that’s extremely powerful because not only are they learning what I taught them to do, they are making those connections and applying them to their everyday lives.  They're starting to think critically all on their own! #TeacherGoals
“For good ideas and true innovations, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, and debate” -Margaret Heffernan Here are my student's engaging in their first Philosophical Chairs debate this school year (read below for more details). Although not perfect they're off to a great start!
You can get started right away preparing your students for Philosophical Chairs! Here are some simple steps to take:
	Often times you can simply use the Essential Question for the week in our Wonders adoption to focus your debate around. If not the exact question, you can use it as your focus area of study, and then reword it appropriately for the debate.  In the video just above, my students are debating the weekly Essential Question from Wonders that stated “What are the positive and negative effects of new technology?” With this being the basis of study for that week and also the week before having had a similar theme, students had opportunities to read many texts and gather information within our Wonders curriculum.  Additionally I found 3 articles on Newsela.com (a GREAT site that has current news articles for kids) that also discussed pros/cons of new technology. The students read and took notes on these as well. The question I posed for the Philosophical Chairs debate was “Are advancements in technology more helpful or harmful to our society?” If using the Essential Question in Wonders (or something closely relating to) then majority of your reading and information gathering is already presented in the Wonders texts and curriculum.  Guide students through note-taking and discussion on the topic.  I always find additional sources for them to read and take notes on such as Newsela articles and even short video clips from Discovery Education or YouTube. Once all research and notes have been gathered, I have students write a couple of Level 2 and Level 3 questions (Costa’s) about their learning. This is so they have some ideas/questions of their own prepared to discuss. I will display the prompt(question) that will open the debate and then have them gather their notes and move to the side of the room they most agree with.  In this case they were choosing between whether new technology is more helpful, or that it is more harmful to our society.  Students who are “neutral” or unsure stay in the middle of the room.   Students may only speak one at a time.  The person speaking will step forward and present his/her idea, thought, or question.  Then a student from the opposing side will step forward, summarize (or restate) what the previous person just said, and then add his/her rebuttal.  Students in the middle may also stand up and ask questions at any time. Students need to wait until 2 other people on their team have spoken before they can speak again (so 4 turns back and forth).  You want to remind the students not to attack the “person” and that they are just discussing the “ideas.” Any student from any side may move to another side at any time they’ve heard information that has persuaded them to feel differently. Once the debate is over, I have the students respond to the prompt (the original debate question) through a constructed response writing process (I use the RACES Writing format).  Sometimes they will write their RACES response on paper, and other times I have them complete their writing through a Google Classroom assignment. Philosophical Chairs is an ongoing work in progress.  The video you see above is the first time my students attempted the process this year (about a month ago).  As you can see, it is not perfect, but overall they did well! It helps if you have been conducting text-based collaborative conversations already, as the kids are experienced in discussing with one another and using text evidence to support their opinions.  One thing I will be working on with my students as we progress in this activity throughout the year, is an emphasis on restating what the person before them has said. I hope I have inspired you to try this out in your classroom, it's fun and easy to implement, and the kids LOVE doing it! Collaboratively Learning, Megan Brown megan.brown@omsd.net

Helping Students Make Literary Connections

Helping Students Make Literary Connections  

Depth and Complexity Cross Curriculum Connections Matrix

Over the years we have heard it over and over again, "You must get your students thinking deeply and critically". This is true and is vitally important, so before you decide to stop reading this post, please consider learning about Depth & Complexity Right Angle Curriculum Connections. Many teachers across OMSD are very familiar with Depth & Complexity Thinking Prompts, but using the prompts to help students make Deep & Complex  Right Angle Curriculum Connections takes the thinking prompts to the next level! 

YOU WILL BE SURPRISED HOW MANY TEXT CONNECTIONS YOUR STUDENTS WILL MAKE WHEN THEY LEARN TO USE RIGHT ANGLE CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS MATRIX.

To begin with, you must have already taught your students the Depth & Complexity Thinking Prompts, these prompts are also called "GATE Icons". There is a plentiful amount of information in regards to the Gate Icons online. Once students become familiar with GATE Icons, you can begin helping the students make Right Angle Cross-Curricular Connections. 

The whole idea is for students to combine a deep prompt with a complex prompt. For example, below you will see two black x's on the Right Angle Matrix. The first black x is marked in the box where the thinking prompts "impact", & "change over time" intersect. This would prompt the students to make a connection where, for example, a character's actions impacted the plot of a story that has changed over time. These connections are powerful because the can relate to everyday life, If you think about it, we have been impacted over time with many life choices we have made. When students begin to understand how multiple  Thinking Prompts, and content can be combined to relate to "real life", learning takes place, and deeper and complex thinking naturally occurs. 

Furthermore, illustrating how the Right Angle Curriculum Connections matrix works, please note that there is a black x where "ethics" and "judgment" intersect. Think about it! How many times has your class been reading an informational article and an ethical dilemma has caused some kind of judgment? There are ethical decisions made every day in our world that involve judgments, and once students begin to make these connections, literature can come to life!

INCORPORATING THINKING PROMPTS OF DEPTH & COMPLEXITY, COUPLED WITH RIGHT ANGLE CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS, WILL PROVOKE IN AND OUT OF THE BOX THINKING THAT CONNECTS TO OUR WORLD.

I would highly encourage you to take some time and learn how to incorporate Depth & Complexity Right Angle Curriculum Connections into your instructional lessons. Yes, they may be designed for GATE students, but they can be used with any student. Over the past few years, I have seen how these thinking prompts have opened up a whole new avenue of students thinking in more "deep" and "complex" ways. click here for the pdf

Uniquely Teaching, -Carlos Gonzalez carlos.gonzalez@omsd.net

Reading Buddies

What Would Reading Buddies Do (WWRBD)?
Have you ever wondered why a Buddy Reading System can be helpful for your students? Have you ever wanted to team up with a teaching buddy because you love their teaching practice? If you have, but haven’t been sure on “What would Reading Buddies Do? (WWRBD?!), for your students, then this might be a good read for you!
Buddy Reading can be a fun practice to enhance reading skills!
	Make time to get together with a Teacher Buddy to put  a Reading Buddy System into place. Of course the ideal setting is that if you’re an upper grade teacher you will connect with a lower grade teacher or if you’re a lower grade teacher you will connect with an upper grade teacher. Putting this system in place will get you to connect with teaching peers, which will enhance your own teaching practice along with enhancing the reading skills of your students. You and your students will gain ideas on how to improve a particular practice; Everybody wins! “Reading to younger students can help them develop a love for reading and a greater motivation to read. Younger students should also read to their older buddies each week, as this allows younger readers to feel a sense of accomplishment while they build fluency. Because the program provides success in literacy, students often become more positive about their ability to read and may also improve their reading skills. Ideally, buddy visits will be ongoing, and older and younger students will become familiar with one another and nurture a mutual interest in reading.” www.teachervision.com/reading-buddies?
You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book. ~Dr.Seuss
I have been lucky to connect with my buddy Frances Carreon for the past couple of years. It works out perfectly because she enjoys teaching the lower grades and I enjoy teaching the upper grades. I have always loved watching her teach, because, although, I don’t enjoy teaching the younger students I always gain some insight on how to improve my teaching practice within collaboration in Language Arts. Where you think your students are the only ones to gain, you’re wrong because we can gain a lot when we connect with others as well. As for our Reading Buddy time, we have it every Thursday for half an hour. Students were partnered up according to Lexile Reading Level (using HFW and SRI scores), for example, if an upper grader has a low Lexile Level, then he/she would be partnered up with a high achieving Kindergartener. Students read their Weekly Reader to their upper-grade partner and upper-grade partners will read a Highlights Magazine article of their choice and discuss what they have read. Discussions may just be about their favorite things, but other times they tap into their background knowledge and talk about their connections to life. We have also branched off to discuss a sequence of stories and writing a complete sentence about what we read. I can definitely say it’s been a wonderful experience where we have seen reading confidence increase, test scores increase, but more importantly, connections being made. I’m not just talking about the literal aspect, I’m talking about the social aspect. Our buddies are friends and look forward to reading together!
	Live, Love, Teach! ~Hilda Sanchez

Back Up and Reread

Back Up and Reread!
What do teachers need to help students develop into good readers? We need effective strategies.  What if you knew of a single instructional strategy that has shown improves decoding, fluency and reading comprehension?  Would you use it? Of course, you say. And yet, one of the least talked about literacy strategies is rereading. We all have favorite subjects or strategies to teach in our classrooms and mine is reading and everything that comes with it. I love it! After attending the Early Literacy training, my passion for literacy was rekindled.  We all want students to be successful readers with a love for reading. So let’s talk about an important strategy that can get them there. Rereading!
How many times have we heard a student say “Sometimes I’m in the middle of reading a book and I don’t understand, so I put it away and choose an easier book.” Or “If I don’t understand pages, I skip them and keep reading.”  These comments sadden me. It’s unfortunate that students are going through the motions of reading and identifying confusing parts, yet lacking strategies to help them through the difficult parts.  These are strategies I want to help them develop.
	Rereading is a powerful instructional strategy.  Children will ask you to read aloud the same book over and over again.  They might have a favorite book that they chose to read every time.  Repetitive reading is so beneficial to children.  They enjoy it because they understand it and get joy from the story.  Rereading helps them to memorize the story and in turn comprehend it. The strategy fosters fluency, recall of details, improved recognition and builds self-confidence.  As children reread stories, they improve their voice and expression.  They can learn to pause, and change their tone depending on the plot of the story.  Rereading encourages students to ask questions while reading. The more encounters children have with a text the better they will read and understand it.  It’s an amazing feeling to see and hear a student reread a text and truly understand what they have read.  You know you have molded active readers when they figure out the benefits of rereading.  My goal is the get kids to view rereading as a positive habit.
“The joy of reading is in the rereading; this is where you get to know the world and characters in deep and rewarding fashion.” -Walter Mosley
In order to motivate students to be rereaders, we must incorporate it into our daily routine.  How do we teach our students to read and read again?
	Rereading is a key skill in becoming a good reader.  My goal each year is to create active readers who can acknowledge when what they read has not made sense to them.  When students reread they slow down and pay attention to the words and meanings more carefully.  To get students to independently reread I first have to teach them what rereading means. First, I  introduce this strategy by having my students collaborate using their prior knowledge. I like to have them speak with their team (using a single round robin) about a time when they (or a family member) had to reread something and why did they have to do it.  As a class, we then discuss what was said.  I love their responses. “ I had to read the directions again to remember how to play the game” or “My mom had to reread the recipe to remember how to make the cookies.”  Real life!   Next, I ask them to tell their shoulder partner why they think rereading helped them.  Together, we discuss their ideas for why rereading works and why we use it.  This is a very brief discussion.  I just want to activate their brain into focusing on rereading.   Then, I give them a brief definition and explanation of what rereading is.  I explain that rereading is when we back up far enough to help us understand and read again.  I teach them a cute little chant that goes to the tune of B-I-N-GO.       I read a bit and now I’ve found I really just don’t get it. Now, what should I do? Now, what should I do? Now, what should I do? I’ll back up and reread it! I explain that by rereading it will help improve their fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. I explain that by the end of the year, I want them all to become expert rereaders.  Students love the idea of becoming an expert!     Then, I model.  I ask them to watch me carefully and think about what they see me doing.  When I model, I think aloud.  I usually choose a story from our Reading Writing Workshop or Anthology for this read aloud.  I only model with the first two pages.  As I read, I make mistakes such as not pausing at a period or skipping a word.  They love this!  Then I reread.  I reread the words I made mistakes on and I stop and notice the periods.  As I read, I invite them to ask me questions.  What has happened so far? Who are the characters? This takes prompts or think alouds the first time. When I can not answer the questions I reread the text. I tell them I reread because I don’t understand. Becoming the student and having your students be the teachers is an effective strategy. Last, we practice rereading every single day.  We reread everything-language arts text, fluency, math, social studies, and science texts.  Rereading daily is a must.   My hope is that our students will leave our classrooms with a passion and hunger for reading.  They will be able to tell us about the books they read and be craving more.  Let’s dive in and inspire some active readers! Here is a little video of my superstar students rereading their Decodable Readers.  Rereading in my classroom!                                Positively Teaching,                               Randi Muehlen
Click here to schedule a visit	randi.muehlen@omsd.net