Self-Observation + Self Evaluation

Self-Observation + Self-Evaluation!

Have you ever wondered how to bring your WHY back into your practice? Once upon a time you were driven and knew your purpose; fired up to make a change! Somewhere along our path, we can lose the passion that fueled our purpose and we forget WHY we began the journey in the first place. The daily demands of our occupation can make us lose focus, become overwhelmed, and focus on the negative instead of the positive. Let’s bring the positivity back and focus on our #1, the key to the future, which are the children. 

Reflecting on our work will enhance its meaning.

You are making a big impact in the lives of others, so why not better the practice that is changing our future. Applying effective techniques to learn about your practice can assist greatly in improving your teaching practice. You will be challenged, but it will definitely take you back to your WHY. Once you’re there, you will be recharged to do better in improving your perspective along with enhancing the lives of the learners in your classroom. You will now be enforcing a systematic approach on professional development within your own teaching space.

"And suddenly you know... it's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings." ~unknown

Many times I look back and reflect on my teaching day and find the High Point and the Low Point of the day. The High Point of the day is the high light of the day, the moment that brought me the most joy and the Low Point being the most difficult/ frustrating part of my day. I look back and think, “The lesson went well. Students were focused and grasped the concept that was taught.” or “The lesson was a complete disaster. Students were not paying attention and were off task.”  I don’t do much reflecting on that point. But recently, as a Spotlight Teacher, we were given the task to do some discussions, frowns, and smiles all captured the joy and frustrations of our everyday learning. I also found myself questioning my approach in teaching, which has led to me down memory lane within my educational journey by analyzing of our teaching, along with student talk. The process had a purpose, led me to take notes, record lessons, and reflect upon the notes after my teaching. It was enlightening to see how the systematic approach led me to observe for celebrations, problems, and solutions. I was not only looking through a lens of good or bad lessons, I was actually analyzing what was happening, how it was happening, and why it was happening. Click here for a link to the protocol.

Thinking back, I had a purpose that was ignited by passion… a passion that made learning fun and engaging. Even when things went wrong or I’d get lost, I’d stay positive, reflect and take a different direction. As I look back, those were the paths that held the most beauty. I was able to take in sights that before were unseen and learned a lot more about me and the direction I was taking in life. My practice is far from perfect because in life there is always room for professional growth. Every school year is different; there may be changes in the curriculum, changes in our school focus, but more importantly, every group of students is going to be different. As I begin to realize how great CHANGE is, I can’t help but think of a quote I once read, “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” I hope you reflect on your educational journey, find your WHY, and blossom into the beautiful souls you are…Teachers changing the world!

Live, Love, Teach!

Hilda Sanchez  

                                      

Let's Get Moving and Learning!

Let's Get Moving and Learning!

Boring! Every one of us has most likely experienced sitting in a classroom where content is being taught that isn't the most exciting and engaging material.  As we know from experience, boredom leads to misbehaving in various ways.  Students might start daydreaming, put their heads down, crave attention in negative ways, distract others or just stare out the window.  They simply aren't engaged.  As the end of the year approaches, many students may become harder and harder to engage.  What can we do? My solution is to get up and move.  All of the behaviors listed above are huge indicators that students need to get up and get moving.  Scientists have provided a significant amount of evidence that the average learner, regardless of age, needs to briefly move their bodies every 20-30 minutes.  

Do you have students who can't sit still?  What if instead of always telling this student to sit still, you actually gave that student many opportunities throughout the day to keep moving?  

Studies are now showing that when students use their body during the learning process it can have a huge effect, even if the physical movement isn't connected to what they are learning.  When students are physically engaged in their learning they are more likely to retain it.  Movement enables learners to maintain focus and many times avoid feeling overwhelmed or stressed. Movement in the classroom can also help with class cohesion.  It can heighten student participation, build relationships and self-esteem. When kids are engaged it can boost their listening and communication skills.  Also, who doesn't love seeing their students laughing and having fun?  I personally cannot sit still and listen for hours, so how can I expect my students to do it.  I want my students engaged and excited about what they are learning.  I want them to be actively participating in their learning. I definitely do not want a group of bored, passively listening daydreamers.  So I incorporate movement and physical activity into our day.  If you think about it we encourage 3 out of 4 motor skills (oral, fine, and visual) constantly throughout our day.  But we often forget the fourth motor skill-gross motor skills.  Letting kids move in class isn't a break from learning.  It is learning!

Childhood isn't meant to replicate adult life- sitting in little cubicles and desks day after day. Moving, exploring, running and activity is what children need to thrive. That is where they learn how the world works and their place in it. 

 -Karen DeBeus

Do you use physical movement in your classroom?  What do you think of allowing students to learn through the use of their bodies?  Here are some ways that I use movement in my classroom.

                           

Brain Breaks can be brief and simple. While recess and P.E. are great, finding time for brain breaks during learning is important. Short brain breaks give students' brain and bodies a quick break and make their minds sharper. Thirty seconds to two minutes is enough time to make all this magic happen.  Some examples of simple brain breaks are toe touches, marching in place, walking the classroom, squatting, jumping jacks, or a quick game of silent ball.  If there is a paper that kids are finished with, I like to have them crumple it up and have a one-minute "snowball fight" and when I say "freeze", they pick up one piece of paper throw it away and move on to the next task.  I love to use a site called GoNoodle.  GoNoodle helps get kids moving with short interactive activities. This site has helped with attendance.  If I do a GoNoodle first thing in the morning, kids are running to class so they do not miss it.  The interactive activities keep kids engaged and motivated throughout the day.  The ideas can be functional as well as fun.

Academic movement is crucial.  Kids are learning all day so why not incorporate movement into your lessons.  By adding more physical movement to our day, my class has become more productive and happy.  

During Language Arts, we start our day by running the Sound Spelling Cards. My students stand and physically move their arms while reciting the picture, letter, and sound for each card.  When we spell a word we use our arms to stretch the word like we are pulling a giant rubber band.  When we learn and practice our high-frequency words, we spell each letter in the air.  When we see a high-frequency word or vocabulary word in a text, we clap. Each day we use a word flash called Fluency and Fitness that highlights the spelling pattern.  This word flash will flash a few words and then flash an exercise.  Eg. boat, row, Joe, snow, goat, Jumping Jacks.......  My students move back and forth from their desks to the carpet many times a day.  When we buddy read, students can move around the room.  Some students prefer to sit knee to knee on the carpet and some like to lie on their bellies.  

Kagan structures are a great way to get kids up and moving.  It can be as simple as turning to partner/team member to engage in conversation to getting up and moving around the classroom to participate in Quiz-Quiz-Trade or Stand up, Hand up, Pair up. Teambuilding and classbuilding activities are great opportunities to get kids moving.  I like to find ideas in the Kagan Silly Sports and Goofy Games book.

Math is also an easy time to incorporate movement.  I love to have my students physically participate to solve word problems or fact. Eg. I have 6 girls and 4 boys. How many students do I have in all?  Students love a make a human number line or each team create a shape using their bodies.  Giving kids manipulatives to explore with is another great way to get them interacting during math. My students love to use linking cubes, dice, coins and rulers.  My students are required to use their arms when talking about math signs. They make a plus, minus, and equals sign using their arms when reading a number sentence aloud.  There is a great game called Knockout where the class is split into two lines and they compete against each to answer math facts, read words etc.. They then go to the end of the line to keep playing or to the "cheering section" if a mistake is made.  They are up moving and praising each other throughout the entire game.  Movement is happening all day long!

In learning environments where movement is integrated, students love being there. I strive to bring endless excitement to my lessons.  I would love to add some of the ways you use movement in your classroom into mine.  Alright, now let's get moving and learning!

Positively Teaching,                              

Randi Muehlen

Let's Talk About Math Intervention, Part 3

Let’s Talk About MATH INTERVENTION, Part 3!

Hi again, thanks for coming back to the final post in this 3-part series.  Over the last two posts, we’ve discussed WHY we need between-the-bells math intervention, and HOW we can structure our math block to deliver it.  Here let’s address WHAT materials we could use to best benefit our students. 

Finding what you’re going to use during intervention is actually the easiest part, and it’s probably in your classroom already!  As I said before, Math isn’t working for some of our students and that we need to mix it up and try something different, find a different way to teach what they need.

If I were a primary-grades teacher and wanting to implement this intervention style in my class, here is what I would do.  If our adopted materials have been used in both instruction and reteaching, and my students were still unsuccessful, I’d find another way to teach it- I’d go outside of the program.  This doesn’t mean go willy-nilly online purchasing items on Teachers Pay Teachers or at the local school supply store- I will not back you up on that and your administration probably won’t, either.  Let me be crystal clear- it requires very purposeful selection of materials based on the needs of your particular students. 

Maybe I have a game my students used to play from our previous adoption that did a great job at helping students understand this concept.  Perhaps someone on my team has a resource they used to use that was very successful.  I may go down a grade level or two in Eureka resources and use a strategy they missed or weren’t ready for when it was taught in that grade like fact families using number bonds or tape diagrams.  I might have them on the computer or iPad working on assigned content in Zearn, Khan Academy, iXL, or MobyMax.  If you have a parent helper you trust with a small group, put them to good use and have them work with that group!  Kindergarten, now that you’re full-day, you have helpers.  My fingers are crossed for you that they are AWESOME and you can have them pull a small group here!  Maybe they’re using Wikki-Stix to make numbers or create triangles.  Maybe they are making a collage to show the number 5. 

In the case of my upper-grade kiddos, they needed primary concepts.  Middle school teachers, you can probably relate to this as well.  For these guys, I gave a lot of thought to how I was going to reach big kid-learners with little-kid concepts without them feeling like little kids.  Would the teddy bear counters be too “babyish?”  Would kids feel like I was being condescending and not want to participate, even though they desperately needed it?  I knew I wasn’t going to go to an algorithm or shortcut, which would be the equivalent of putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.  It may help for a little while, but it’s not a permanent fix.  I could go back in Eureka math and see how these concepts are taught now.  In the case of this year’s class, I decided that wasn’t going to be my best option so I chose to work with concrete items and other resources I know to be successful.  I pulled the Marcy Cook tiles and cards out and dusted them off.  I grabbed my Kim Sutton books and found opportunities for student learning.  I dug out the Greg Tang pack from the last math adoption and found great stuff that would help.  I pulled out my bins of base-ten blocks.  I looked through my John Van de Walle books for strategies to use in addition to the ones taught in Eureka.  I signed the students up in Khan Academy and found lessons each individual needed to work on.  And, I’m still adding to my repertoire in response to what my students are showing me they need.

All the while, my on-level and above-level students are having their needs met as well.   In their centers or on their must-do/may-do list, they may be working on problems from the problem set that are higher level DOK questions.  They’re playing a game that is extending their learning.  They’re in a media station on iXL practicing content.  They’re creating anchor charts or posters to show their understanding of the concept.  Perhaps instead of a must-do/may-do list, they have a menu for the week, incorporating choice and novelty into their math time.  They’re not doing more, they’re doing different.  Click HERE for a list of materials I've used. Please check with your administration to make sure they would support you in using these materials before starting out.

So, those are my thoughts about achieving a between-the-bells math intervention through small group instruction in the general-ed math classroom, for now.  I know I didn’t touch on everything, and this isn’t the end of this conversation, but it is the end of this trio of posts.  :)  I do believe this is a serious situation that needs to be addressed above and beyond the classroom level, but you starting it is a step in the right direction.  Is taking something like this on overwhelming?  Absolutely.  I’ve been planning on doing a version of Guided Math for awhile now.  My advice is to start slow!  One day a week or every two weeks.  But I implore you to consider it and start, and here’s my passionate plea in the name of equity.    

As a society, we value being able to read and write, hence the push for literacy.  We do RTI for reading, we have workshops for parents on how to help their children with reading, there are TV and radio commercials about the importance of reading with children.  At the same time though, not being a “math person” or not being good at math is acceptable in our society.  We aren’t okay with verbal illiteracy, but we are okay with math illiteracy?  By not offering an intervention in math during the school day, are we okay-ing failure in math?  Building in time for math intervention should be a priority in our schools to start eliminating this double standard.

If you try any of these ideas out, or come up with your own even cooler ones, I would seriously love to hear how it’s working out! The good, the bad, the ugly, I want to know.  Comment below and keep us in the loop!  Need help?  I’m here, my email is at the bottom.  Want to see my math block while guided math is happening?  Schedule a Spotlight visit, I’d love to meet you and be a part of your journey. 

Mathematically yours,

Sabrina Blake

sabrina.blake@omsd.net

Shake Up Your Classroom with WBT by Kim Reza

Shake Up Your Classroom with WBT

Dying to keep your students engaged? 

Do your students look confused when you’re talking? How would you like them to hang on to your every word?  You can solve all of this, by simply implementing Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) into your practice.

Whole Brain Teaching is an approach designed toward maximizing student engagement and focusing on the way the brain is really designed to learn. It is an integrated method combining effective classroom management and pedagogically sound approaches to student engagement that are effective with a wide range of student learning populations.

 “The first step in learning another language is to internalize the code in the same way you assimilated your native language, which was through commands.”

-James Asher

In my class, students need to be presented with a variety of ways to keep them engaged. If I’m doing all the work, they’re not learning. The students in my classroom learn 90% of their vocabulary with Whole Brain Learning. Academic language is not their “native” language. They need the vocabulary in order to make connections and comprehend. There are several strategies for Whole Brain Teaching; however, I only use the strategies that best suit the needs of my kids.

“Tell me and I forget. 

Teach me and I remember. 

Involve me and I learn.” 

-Benjamin Franklin

First Steps to get started:

Micro-teach with Gestures.

This means giving one small bit of information that the students will reteach to each other. It requires the teacher to be animated and use gestures as he or she teaches. As an example, if we were teaching Author’s Purpose, the teacher would begin the process by introducing a very small bit of information such as "The author’s purpose is the reason" After the students have learned this small bit of information you build on this idea. The following TEACH-OK segment would be "why the author writes." I continue building so on and so forth until all the purposes have been taught or at least all the vocabulary that I wish to cover.  Proximity is important in the beginning. I have the students sit on the carpet (yes, 4th-6th graders on the carpet!), so they can self-correct their behavior, improve their focus, actively engage on a task, and enhance their outcome.

 

Tune in next month to see how I keep my students engaged while doing Whole Brain Teaching.

For the love of teaching, 

Kimberly Reza

Flexible What??

                               Flexible What??

If you have read any  of my former blog posts, you may have figured out the theme  is  classroom  management.  My group of wonderfully curious and spirited kindergartners also have some BIG personalities. I have used this opportunity to change things up just a little bit (!)...

   

Necessity is the mother of all invention - Plato

 In my case, my situation necessitated change, as flexible seating has been around for decades. I first read about flexible seating through several blogs I follow, but I never thought it would be for me.  I am particular and a little bit controlling (sound familiar teachers??).  My thoughts were that maybe I am too controlling and my students need some choices in where they work...

"Flexible seating is about giving our students choice and power over where they learn and work" - Mr. Greg

I didn't go out and buy stuff, instead I  worked with what I  had  already: pillows, bath mats, small chairs, trays,  and the 4 kidney bean tables in my classroom.  I had the custodian lower two  of my tables and  raise another one.  I  left one table  regular size with chairs.  The kids were  excited to walk  in the room that first day of change!  I did purchase some flexible seating posters on TPT for  a couple of dollars,  only because I was out of time to make my own.  These posters helped me introduce the rules of flexible seating. I  moved my whole  group rug to the middle of the classroom  and the tables to the outskirts of the room.  It  has been only a couple of weeks since the change, but I am so far  embracing  this new system (and so are the kids). I haven't given up the tables and chairs...yet!  I've got both feet  in,  but I haven't jumped in completely, and  I  can see myself doing so very soon.



       If you would like to  read a more indepth piece on flexible seating, check out this blog post:
The Kindergarten Smorgasboard - Flexible Seating

                                                            Happy and Positive Teaching!
                                                                         Erin  Grebel

MysteryScience.com

MysteryScience.com

Teach in grades K-5? Need or want an excellent resource to help you along with the Next Generation Science Standards?  Use mysteryscience.com (Reserve a free-trial membership now!) Or if your school currently has a subscription don’t forget to use it!  You are sitting on a gem. For many of us, our old curriculum isn’t aligned or rigorous enough, so we need resources and ideas to help us along.  

Whether you have or have not been formally trained in NGSS within our district, Mystery Science is a good tool to use along the way.

For those of you who have been trained, the lessons follow the same pattern as the ones that were shown- starting with a phenomena to framing the lesson to completing an investigation!  Mystery science is a subscription service for full access, or free with limited access if you sign up and reserve a spot. Though limited, if you do the free version, what is available to you is still great content that could and should be used if it relates to one of your standards.  The lessons provide hands-on investigations that are engaging, easy prep, and aligned to NGSS and Common Core. Click on their homepage (mysteryscience.com), scroll down a bit, and watch their informative one minute video.

#StayCurious

Mystery Science: Lessons for elementary teachers

How can you use this in the classroom?

I always begin science with one of Mystery Science’s opening questions that go with the lesson.  My class completes an interactive notebook along the way. Adding “Input/Output” content that relates to the content.  We spend our science block answering questions, discussing ideas, learning key vocabulary words, writing, and completing hands-on experiments or activities.  Since I started using this website, my students participate, get involved, and share what they learn in science with others. Students get excited and are intensely engaged in what the lessons have to offer.  Each lesson provides a question that needs to be answered, “activity supplies” that we the teacher need to print/prep or gather in order to complete the investigation. They even offer assessments at the end of each unit.  If this resource is available to you or is something you are interested in, use it while you can, I guarantee your kids will enjoy it!

Tech-ing with a purpose,  

Tiffani Bossieux

Curiosity

I have learned my class is curious; they always want to know more.  They ask so many questions. Sometimes questions I don’t even know the answers to.  But I encourage them to ask and I let them know we will learn together.

“Don’t just teach your children to read. Teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything.”  

-George Carlin

Learn, explore and change

We know when students are asking the questions themselves, they are learning, exploring, and making a change!  The skill of asking questions is not easy for young students and even for adults.  It is a high-level form of thinking.  Questions keep your mind going and can change your perspective on a concept.  It is so powerful and I’m so excited when I see young minds, like the ones in my classroom, not settling for what’s given or shared with them but questioning me and each other.

“Why?”  

This three letter word is a powerful tool that can make someone stop and think even more.  In my classroom, I love when I hear my students ask each other why.  It allows the other person to share their thought or work on a deeper explanation.  This question can be used in all subjects and all grade levels.   

These are some other questions/phrases my students use to question each other:

-Why?

-How do you know?

-Can you prove it?

-Can you tell me more about ___?

This blog was a great read about five simple and easy steps to help build better questioners in your classroom.  I hope you enjoy it the way I did!

  

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/help-students-become-better-questioners-warren-berger

Feel free to comment below and let me know about the questioning happening in your class!

      

Always Learning,

Sabrina Blackwood