"Final Word" (So Powerful - Visual, Written & Oral) - Student Reflection

 

For the past several years I have ended the year with students doing a reflection on their year.  It encompasses a visual component, a written component, and an oral component.  

How would I describe what I receive from my students?

The Visual Component

The visual component is a Google Slide that students create with their own picture background and a quote.  In the 'speaker' section, students explain the importance of the picture and the reason for choosing the quote.  I post in Google Classroom a blank Google Slide for each student to make easier for me as I read each one.  

Here is a link to the Visual Component Expectations - LINK.

Student Examples - Gabriela Chavez & Lizette Ruelas:

The Written Component

The written component is a Google Doc where students spend 15 minutes a day - over 3 days - choosing a topic to write a paragraph on.  There are several sample topics for students to choose from as I encourage them to really reflect on their learnings throughout the year.  I post in Google Classroom a blank Google Doc for each student - again, to make easier for me as I read each one.  It is truly amazing the insights and thoughts students write about during these 15 minutes.  

Here is a link to the Written Component Expectations - LINK.

Student examples - Valerie Cortez and Michelle Lam:

The Verbal Component

The verbal component is a Flipgrid recording of students reading one of their paragraphs from the written component - their choice of paragraph.  Their goal is to talk for at least 1 minute about their learnings, goals, and final thoughts.  Students record their presentations in one period and then the following day they listen to three oral presentations.  So powerful to hear their own voices convey what is important to them.

I hope that this inspires you in some way - either through this engagement activity or one of your own - to have students reflect and look forward as they approach the end of another pandemic academic year. 

Give yourself grace and then give yourself more grace during these difficult times.

Still teaching and loving it (everyday),

            Kevin Stott                                           

Math 8 & Integrated Math I                 

The Mega Task Demand: Metacognition...Oh, We are Thinking About Thinking, I Think…

 By Heather Pfrunder, M.A.Ed.   SDC Teacher and Education Specialist

September 20, 2021

It’s a mantra in my SDC classroom where I am verbally redirecting students on how to work attentively: “looking eyes, listening ears, eyes on paper, moving pencil on paper, thinking about your work,...no, try first then I can help you”...and repeat. And repeat.  I should auto-record myself, make a playlist, and hit the numbered response.  Ew, that last thought was not so stellar. But hey, in my humanness, it snuck in there.  And if you have ever taught students with metacognition challenges maybe you, too, have winced over such a thought.  So, I must ask myself: Am I really teaching thinking about thinking?  When I started this article, I was pretty sure the answer was, “Yes!  Graphic organizers and I are friends!” I can do amazing things with BoardMaker!” [For my Gen Ed teacher friends, this is a program where you create learning tools with picture icons matched with words for visual learners]. But here’s the thing about writing, you really have to research and self-reflect.  So, I’ve come face-to-face with this large mental image of a K-W-L chart.  So let’s break it down:

What we know is that metacognition in its simplest form is simply an “awareness or analysis of one's own learning or thinking processes”  (thank you Merriam-Webster).  For students with sensory processing issues, I find that often they want to focus on their own little inner worlds to find that slice of happiness, bringing them back to the uncomfortable reality of learning challenges can feel like stopping a tsunami from the shoreline.  

What we want to know is how to make this relevant for our a-typical students. 

What I learned is:

 1.) “Assign explicit instruction that addresses not just what you are learning, but how you are learning.” 

However, applying it to a lesson for an a-typical learner, often this means a visual model, a check-list of expectations, and repeat practice. Which is great (and essential for many of our visual learners with cognitive delays), but it may not be self-reflective. Instead what we often find is cognitively passive behaviors: “I counted the dots (TouchMath) and wrote the answer, I earned my tokens (my class reward system), got my i-Pad time (SDC earned time with a favorite item - the i-Pad)…”  So often it feels like a compliance check -- not actual thinking about thinking.  Learning this way is gradual, but for our non-verbal learners visual checklists of looking between the cue and the task is not merely to complete the task, but to “regulate performance and verify accuracy” through “self-monitoring” and to “signal task completion.” (Richie, G. 2005). So to be effective metacognition tools our lists cannot just be generalities, but more specific with careful thought about the actual thought process required to learn a task.

This is one of my more general in-task directions for functional skills.  

Relevant, but not specific to meta-cognition.

2.) “They must be taught the concept and its language explicitly.”

This, I believe, is the golden ticket.  If it is connected to previous skills and taught over time

we can get students thinking about what they understood or didn’t.  Not just a simple exit ticket,

but “What did I understand?” and “What doesn’t make sense?”  

Examples of this:

• “I answered the question by finding the key words in the question and underlining my text evidence”

• “I decoded while reading”

• “I recognized story sequence”

• “I counted all”

• “I regrouped”

Yup, those “I Can…” statements attached to those state standards.  However, we explicitly reflect “I did” or “I did NOT” understand.  Now we have active participants in the meta-cognition process.

When I go back into my previous check lists, they are still pretty relevant for functional skills.  However, I am looking forward to continuing on looking at objectives and having my students exit by answering self-reflection learning questions (for that last token on their token boards).  And rather than reinvent the wheel, I am going to initially have my students reference the anchor charts at my centers to reflect on their learning. 

This is a how-to process visual, but not totally self-reflective. 

I will have to add a process to this.

This is great for setting expectations, but not specific meta-cognition.

This is much better for explicitly teaching the learning process!

This anchor chart has the thinking process and the self-reflection embedded into it.

 I am looking to really celebrate learning!  And just maybe, it will be my students saying,  “looking eyes, listening ears, eyes on paper, moving pencil on paper, thinking about my work, try it first…”

********************************

Join me in upcoming blog posts where I put these strategies into place and share resources!

References:

Chick, N. (2013). Metacognition. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved 9/20/2021 from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/metacognition/.

Richie, G. (2005). Two Interventions that enhance the metacognition of students with disabilities: Cognitive Cue Cards and Correspondence Training.  Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ914572.pdf

Enhancing Student Engagement with Seesaw

Keeping students engaged during virtual teaching has been a challenge! As a teacher, I am searching for ways to engage my students and check for understanding. One tool I have used from day one is the Seesaw app. While pencil and paper activities are important, they can be tough to monitor virtually. How do we know what students are writing? How can we truly know they have the skills if we cannot see them? The same goes for choral reading. Listening to a class choral read virtually is tough. We need to hear them read independently daily without having to assess them each individually. Seesaw has improved my student engagement by making tasks accessible to ALL learners; the benefits are fantastic.

Today I'm going to share an engagement resource with you that has made my life so much easier. 

Seesaw!

What is Seesaw?

Seesaw is a learning journal ideal for all students. It is an organized digital record of my students' learning. I use it as a tool for collecting evidence of the learning that occurs in my classroom. Parents can be given access to their child's account, receiving notifications every time their child posts a new item.  

Why Use Seesaw?

Seesaw is the perfect way to:

• document learning
• empower students to reflect
• teach digital citizenship and 21st-century skills
• build an organized record of student work
• create a community around learning
• involve families in real-time

Reading Fluency

MLK Statement

Students can:

• Use the photo and video function to:
• explain
• describe
• read fluently
• decode
• label
• defend an opinion and position
• investigate or experiment 
• demonstrate

Reading Fluency

• Use the drawing function:
• in place of paper/pencil
• record while they draw to explain thinking.
• sketch out a story idea
• label something
• show mathematical thinking
• use "think marks" while reading

Mathematical thinking

Showing work using paper/pencil

Showing work using the draw tool

Families can:

• view their child's work and leave comments and encouragement
• use Seesaw as a way to communicate and be up to date on the learning their child is doing in school
• read teachers' reports to help motivate their child to do better because they know their teachers will provide immediate feedback

Teachers can:

• use Seesaw as a hub for students to share their work, and specifically encourage individual reflection and feedback
• use Seesaw as a place not only where student work can be stored, but where teachers and peers can provide encouragement, constructive criticism, and suggestions for improvement
• comment to provide feedback that is constructive
• create formative and summative assessments
• create or use premade assignments
• send individual students differentiated assignments

Differentiated Assignment

Seesaw is an amazing digital tool to add to your tool belt! It has encouraged creativity for my students. It has given my students a place to display their work and showcase their successes during virtual learning. 

Positively Teaching,  

Randi Muehlen

Forever in the Middle: Student Input

When planning for my classroom I know I will need specific structures and routines to keep my own systems running effectively. However, for the routines and systems that I feel students can help with I like to allow them opportunities for feedback.


Seating
I change my seating assignments (and sometimes arrangement) at the beginning of each month. At this point, the students know the routine and are eager for the change at the beginning of the month. Last time I changed the seating, I had a few students who happened to come by on the last day of the month and were talking about the layout. I said, "Do you want to change it?" and they eagerly got to work! After that, they assigned all new seats for each of the classes. I know it's sometimes hard to release control over that, but honestly the students have known each other now for so many years and they know what will work and what won't work so why not?

The students surprised me by asking NOT
to sit in groups facing each other.
They said they get too distracted.
They decided this arrangement would help them to work
collaboratively but stay more focused. I agree so far!

Other alternatives
1. Assign a small team of students to the task of new seat assignments by providing a blank seating chart and class roster. They can finish it usually in under ten minutes.
2.  Allow students to vote on a new classroom arrangement when given four choices. Majority wins!
3. Ask for volunteers to stay after school or come in at lunch to help assign or rearrange the classroom

The students know their peers best and honestly they do not want a chaotic classroom. They will make good choices when given an opportunity when they know they have an adult's trust.

Instruction 

Giving students a quick opportunity to provide feedback
on their learning can supply data to help improve your
own future instruction. This survey was given at the end of
the year and gave me important information in planning
for the current school year. 

This takes a little bravery on your part, but really can be eye opening. We are in this for the students so really it is their opinion that matters most and we all know they will be, sometimes brutally, honest! An easy way to do this is to create a quick Google Form that they can complete. This gives you immediate results in a user-friendly format.

Possible Questions
1. What do you like most about this class?
2. What is most difficult for you in class?
3. What activities/lessons have we done that helped you feel successful in class?
4. What was the most interesting part of the last unit?
5. What should the teacher stop/start/continue doing?

The most important part of this process is to immediately take action based off the data gathered from the feedback. The last feedback form I gave my students had to do with our routines and with that data, I was able to use student suggestions such as "having a group captain like in Elementary school" to enhance my current routines.

Sometimes it is hard to let go of control over some of our structure, but the rewards of allowing student input are far greater. Students feel validated and that alone helps create an atmosphere of mutual respect within the classroom and strengthens student and teacher relationships. Try it out and let me know how it goes in the comments below!

Keep the magic alive,

Kandyce Valverde

Follow my class on Twitter! @valverderules

Worry is Just Wasted Energy

How can we help students cope with stress when they have to take a district benchmark?  Recently, my students had to take our Reading Inventory assessment which is a reading comprehension diagnostic tool.  My fourth graders understand how this test works and that will measure their current Lexile level used to determine reading proficiency.  Of course, students can do well, struggle, or even score lower than the last time they took it. 

As any concerned teacher, I continuously try to find new ways to encourage my students to relax as much as possible and to do their best.  I came across a new strategy at a recent conference I attended and wanted to try it out.  It is quite simple to implement:

1.  Talk to students about what stress is and how it affects us during performance-type assessments.  Let them vocalize their concerns first. I described worry as just wasted energy.  If you allow it to take over, you won't get far in whatever task you have in front of you.

2.  Hand out a half-sheet of lined paper.  Give students 3 or 4 minutes to write down what worries them about the assessment they are about to take.

3.  While they are writing, place two trash cans at opposite ends of the classroom.  As soon as the timer is up, ask students to read what they wrote to themselves one more time.  At a determined signal, have students roll up their paper into a ball and toss it into a basket.

4.  When my students threw their "worry balls" into the baskets, I could feel the tension released.  There were a few cheers as well.  Do NOT pick up the rolled up worry balls.  Leave them right where they landed.  I told my students that if they begin to stress out they could simply look towards everyone's concerns on the floor or in the basket to remind them that the act of worry is just wasted energy. 

5.  Needless to say, reading gains were MUCH more than I had expected.  Of course, these gains are not exclusively because of this strategy but I hope it relaxed them enough to get through it with confidence!

Happy Writing!
Gustavo Macuil

Got S - t - r - e - t - c - h Text? (PART 2)

Thank you for returning to my 3-part blog regarding stretch text.  Last month, I introduced this idea of what stretch text means in the classroom.  I highlighted some frequently asked questions and this month I want to continue sharing some of these insights and questions with you!

FAQ's:

Why stretch text?  http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_A.pdf  Read pages 1 - 11

What essential questions can I use during stretch text lessons?  The one essential question that I use during ALL stretch text lessons: “What makes this text difficult?”  This simple yet powerful essential question is what I want my students to think about throughout the lesson.  By “deconstructing” the text, my students can dissect, explore, investigate, and “reassemble” the text like a puzzle.  If they can succeed with stretch text, they will certainly succeed with grade level text. Ultimately, I want my students to think about their thinking.

Where do I find stretch text?  NOT on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Instead, I have found that famous speeches or Ted Talks are ideal to use as stretch text (they are also free).  Try to select speeches that are relevant, engaging, and meaningful or that tie into Wonders anthologies in some manner.  For example, in fourth grade Wonders unit 4, week 3 includes the anthology selection The Moon Over Star.  This historic fiction selection focuses on the night of the moon landing.  You could tie the famous Moon Speech by JFK to this particular selection (which I actually have done).  Another example in fourth grade Wonders is unit 4, week 1 leveled reader “A Day in the Senate.” Last year, we deconstructed part of the Constitution using it as a stretch text in order to extend the understanding of the leveled reader.  The possibilities are endless. I try to make sure that my students understand that my selected stretch text is either part of an article, document or a transcript of a speech. This is why I try to avoid TPT worksheets or TPT articles. It is no secret that Common Core has made the understanding of technical texts a cornerstone of these new standards.  Stretch text lessons allow the teacher to at least begin to encourage and build self-efficacy within students in order to challenge them to continue “reaching and stretching” their reading abilities. My "look for" when I am searching text is mainly vocabulary. Does the text include a fair amount of academic vocabulary for students to grapple with? Be careful though! Too much may become too frustrating.

Note:  If you find a video on youtube, it usually offers the option to view the transcript.  Copy and paste the transcript onto your desktop in order to print the text for students.

How long do stretch text lessons take?  If you decide to do stretch text lessons during a 30-minute time block of UA, you can expect to take approximately three to five days to grapple with the passage.  It really depends on how deep you want students to go into the text. It is up to you and your learning outcomes.

Are there any resources that I can use?  Yes, I have included below some links that you can view at your leisure to see some examples of stretch text lessons.  Be warned, you will not find much resources by googling “stretch text.” You will usually find resources about accessing complex text (which may in itself be helpful as well):

1.  READ pages 1 - 11 in Appendix A of the common core initiative document (yes, I know it may be a struggle but, hey, if you want your students to do this, then we need to do this as well):

http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_A.pdf

2.  Teaching Channel videos:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/teaching-declaration-of-independence

Happy Writing!
             Gustavo Macuil

Conferencing with Students = Communicating with Parents (part 3)

Conferencing with Students =

Communicating with Parents (part 3)

    What a difference a school year makes!  Remember the first week of August when you received your students entering the classroom for the first time?  Questions swirled around your head:  Will I be an effective teacher?  Will they LOVE learning in my classroom?  Can I build their character, self-esteem, and confidence?  What will be my challenges?  Well – we find ourselves at that time of year to “wrap it up” and we feel excited as we reflect on the outcomes.  Do our students think or feel the same way?

Teachers reflect all the time!  So how can I produce reflective students?

          As you have noticed if you’ve read my previous posts, I have focused on conferencing with students in order to facilitate student reflection and then share this  with parents.  I have used familiar tools/resources such as Renaissance Learning (Accelerated Reader) since these provide quick reports that can be used in a student conferencing session.  At our school site, our wonderful principal has created a Principal’s "Challenge" in which each grade level is challenged to gain a certain amount of reading points (through computer quizzes).  These challenges are six-weeks in length.  Incentives include an extra recess, student brag tags and an end-of-year celebration.

          This week I ran a report that informs my students their total reading points for each Principal’s Challenge.  I gave each student their personal slip in order to reflect on their reading motivation throughout the year.  Here is a picture of what this report looks like:

          Next, I used this free website  https://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/  to generate a blank graph template for students to chart their data and to set a goal for the remaining Principal’s Challenge (challenge #6).  Finally, they had to write a statement about why they chose this goal.  I made sure to make no judgments about whether their goal was too low or too high.  I left it to their discretion and overall the majority selected goals that were reasonable.  Here is an example:

          It was interesting to me that this particular student wrote: “I want this goal (30 points) because I want to get more points than any principal’s challenge points I ever had.”  It warms my heart when I read these introspective conclusions that students come to and it also motivates me to continually find other ways to facilitate goal-setting.  Of course, students take these home in order to share with their parents how they plan to keep improving their reading habits.

Student reflections will undoubtedly lead to teacher reflection.

          After I read through each reflection and goal-setting analysis, I thought about how I could help students become more voracious readers and whether goal-setting more often can help in this endeavor.  I did observe an overall trend of point decline especially after the third Principal’s Challenge.  This challenge comes right after the Winter Break and I am assuming students return from break still holding onto a “vacation” mentality especially when it comes to reading.  I am thinking of ways to  incentivize  next year’s students after this break perhaps setting goals right away after the break and more frequent progress monitoring such as reading log check-ins or offering a teacher-student lunch bunch for those students who take weekly quizzes.   

          I hope you have enjoyed these morsels of information and a small “peek” into my classroom regarding student conferencing.  May you enjoy your summer vacation and we will see you next school year!

Learning and growing along with my students!

Gus Macuil