Goal Setting For the Win!

Goal Setting For the Win!
Goal setting is a very powerful teaching tool that should be used in every classroom across grade levels! Creating small, attainable goals helps students to achieve success and boost their self-confidence. Setting academic goals also helps students to know what to focus on, and motivates them to do so. Not all learners are intrinsically motivated, so doing goal setting with your students helps to instill that motivation and drive for success within themselves.

Goal setting can yield powerful results and success in the classroom- both for the students AND the teacher!

It’s extremely heartwarming to see the look on the kids faces and hear their excited conversations when they find out they have achieved a goal they set! In my classroom, I goal set with the kids prior to each SRI assessment, and prior to the district Math and ELA benchmarks.  It really is a powerful tool to help students focus on a specific skill, motivate them to learn, and helps them to feel accomplished when meeting their goals.  Those who don’t achieve their goals are generally further motivated to  work harder until they accomplish what they’d like to.  My school site additionally does goal setting with each student in grades 3-6 prior to SBAC testing as well (you can see an example of this below). It really does serve as a motivational tool and helps give them a purpose and something to really strive for. 

So how exactly can you implement goal setting? It’s easy! Here’s how you can get started:

     
1) Have frequent Growth Mindset conversations with your class.  Let me know that they CAN accomplish ANYTHING they set their mind to.  Let them know that you believe in them, and that you are here to help them accomplish their goals.  

2) Meet one-on-one with students prior to a test you would like to goal set for.  Show them their score on the last (similar) test, and then help them pick an attainable goal for the upcoming test.  Discuss specifically what they will need to do to achieve their goal, and what they might need from you to accomplish this goal.

3) Provide them with some sort of paper that records their previous score (see examples above), and then add their current goal as you are discussing with them.  This can simply be done on a sticky note that they can just stick right on their desk and have as a constant reminder.  Or you can have them complete a more in-depth template where they might record their thoughts, ideas, etc. as in the examples above.  Either way is equally as powerful as long as the right conversations are being had!  

Collaboratively Learning,

Megan Brown

megan.brown@omsd.net

         

 

"Escape the Classroom" - Project Based Learning

"Escape the Classroom"

Project Based Learning

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery."

Arther Costa and Bena Kallick

So CAASPP started yesterday, and there are still 32 days of school left for me

to have a huge impact on my students. For my 7th grade honors students, I have 8th grade standards to teach. For my Integrated Math I students, I have topics and skills that still need teaching before they enter high school. For my 8th graders, we have completed all the content, and yet I believe I can still better prepare my students for next year with these few remaining days.

 
How about yourself? What are your plans for after CAASPP? Are you finishing standards you have not taught yet? Are you examining standards that students will encounter next year and see how you can take your current standards and further prepare your students for better success next year?

For me, I struggled this year because our team of teachers was not going to do our “Battle of the Bridges” project and so I had to decide what type of project I would do after CAASPP.  I wanted something that would allow students to re-visit skills that they would use again next year - thus giving students a better opportunity to succeed.

“Escape the Classroom” - Final Project of the Year

Have you ever been in one of those escape rooms
where you have different puzzles to solve to get to the next room?

That idea is the model for our final project of the year.  Students are going to take each of the five domains, create questions for each domain and then put the answers into a riddle for other student teams to solve.

    Student teams will create five different themed rooms to go along with the five different domains.  Just as in the real-life ‘escape rooms,’ the degree of difficulty should increase with each new room. Other student teams will then solve these five different puzzles in an attempt to 'Escape the Classroom.'

The purpose for this project is for students to review the key elements of 8th grade, communicate in writing their key learnings, create questions that demonstrate those learnings, and finally challenged to put the answers into a puzzle type format.

    The hope is that this project keeps students engaged in a meaningful and relevant way for those few remaining days after CAASPP.  The benefit is students will have self-created something tangible to take with them to the next grade as a resource. I do not want the project to be a busy time but rather a very productive time because 180 days is never enough time to get everything done that I wanted.

Finally, and this is added at the last moment, Ms. Thune forwarded an article titled "Learning Through Reflection" from the book, Habits of Mind, by A. Costa and B. Kallick. In the article, it talks about different strategies for reflection. Some quotes jumped out at me as I hope that this final project will allow students to reflect on their learnings for the year - "apply their learnings to future settings", "apply their learnings to new and novel situations", and "applications of their learnings." My hope in this final project design of the year is for students to reflect on the skills they learned and to find a new application for its use outside of the ones I have given them.

Make these final days meaningful and relevant for your students as you do your final preparation for the next grade level. What are your plans?

Still teaching and loving it,

Kevin Stott

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

 Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

     Hmmm…Sigh… I guess I’m feeling a little melancholy right now. It’s really difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that we are already in April. Really? April? Where did all the time go? I need a lot more time to teach and my kiddos (some more than others) need a lot more time to learn.

              “How did it get so late so soon?”

                                                   --Dr. Seuss

In preparation for the SBA, I’ve told my students that they have all the time they need, but not all the time in the world. Apparently, the same is true for me too. We’ve officially arrived at the end of the school year. That same ol’ familiar record is playing on the jukebox in my mind. The questions. The regrets. Did I really put 100% into planning and preparing lessons? Did I establish a room environment that was conducive to learning? Was I fair? Kind? Caring? I certainly hope so.

          On the first day of every school year, I tell my students that I’m going to do three things. I will take care of them. I will teach them. And I will fall in love with them. Check. Check. And check. On Monday, April 9^th, my students will enter into a relationship with state testing that will last for years and years. It can easily morph into a dysfunctional one—if they let it. I want them to know that they are in charge—not the test. The information from the test will be useful for instructional purposes, but it does not define them as people. As I walk around monitoring and encouraging with my upbeat (but not too upbeat…lol) facial expressions, I will be thinking about that first day of school and the promises I made. Did I keep them? Did I hit the mark? Yes! Perfection? No. As an imperfect perfectionist I’m not even close, but I’ll keep moving forward, making the best decisions I can every step of the way!

Still Having Fun!

Lola Jollie

Let's Talk About... Math Standards!

Let’s Talk About Math Standards!

You have your Eureka TE, your district pacing guide, and your boxes of student materials- you’re ready to teach math!  But, are you ready to meet your students where they are at mathematically? 

Unless you’ve taught consecutive grade levels in the last few years since we adopted the Common Core Standards, or really studied the mathematics progressions, you may not know exactly what your students are supposed to be coming to you with.  We assume that our curriculum starts where the previous grade levels’ curriculum left off, and it does.  But can we say the same of our students’ learning?

Each year I feel like I start teaching a math concept, and when students are staring at me with blank faces, I start questioning.  “Remember last year when you learned…”  “Wait, did you learn this last year?”  (To myself, “Were they supposed to learn this last year or am I thinking of what I taught last year?”)  How do you know what they were supposed to be taught?  Enter, Achieve the Core written by Student Achievement Partners.  They are a nonprofit group whose mission it is to help teachers implement college- and career-ready standards, including the Common Core.  They have all kinds of curriculum resources for ELA and Math, but the Coherence Map is AMAZING!

First, watch

THIS VIDEO where I will walk you through some of the great things about it!  Then visit the Achieve the Core Coherence Map HERE and explore your grade level.  Remember to bookmark it, you’ll come back again and again!

The standards boxes are helpful in many ways, but I'd like to highlight two of them.  The first is that I can see what exactly my students are supposed to learn this year, and how critical that standard is to my overall year.  Secondly, if my students are struggling with a standard, I can use my Nancy Drew sleuthing skills to trace it back and see what the underlying concepts are, and where exactly the breakdown is happening. Mystery solved!

I hope you get a chance to really explore this resource, and I hope you fall as deeply in love with it as I am!  Please check it out and leave a comment below with your thoughts.  Need help?  My email is below.  Want to see math in person? Come in for a Spotlight Visit!  I’d love to meet you. 

Mathematically yours,

Sabrina Blake

Conferencing with Students = Communicating to Parents

Conferencing With Students =

Communicating to Parents

Do you want more “bang for your buck” when you conference with your students?  How can you use a student conference - say about their most recent reading scores - and turn it into a parent communication opportunity especially for those hard-to-reach parents?  Well...read on! 

Every time you conference with your student about their academic gains - you are empowering them! When you teach them how to communicate those results to their parents, you are empowering everyone!

I have made it a personal goal this year to conference with every one of my students as often as possible.  With a class of 32 fourth graders, this is sometimes easier said than done!  However, by focusing on the most important conferencing moments, I have also learned to convert these into a parent communication opportunity.  Personally, I like to use the Renaissance Learning STAR report to conference with my students.

Highlights of STAR diagnostic and annual progress reports:

• ·         It generates a student trend line showing growth.
• ·         It places their results within 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile.
• ·         It identifies their grade equivalency in regards to reading (reading level).
• ·         It provides a ZPD range allowing students the ability to self-select books that they can read independently when they visit the library.

Please keep in mind that I do not cover all the data on the reports, I like to highlight the items that I feel my students would enjoy sharing with their parents when they take their reports home.  I also do not conference with every single student each time they take the STAR report.  Since they have gotten used to taking the STAR each month, this allows me to only conference with about 10 to 11 students each month. What about my struggling students whose trend line is pointing south?  In order to not feel too discouraged, I usually run an alternative report such as their Reading Inventory or a monthly report of their AR book selections especially if they have been successfully passing books they have read.  Remember that the goal is twofold: empower your student with positive data and connect with parents. 

What does this look like?  What are the results?

The following video shows an example of how I approach conferencing.

The results:

·         Accelerated Reader trophy (class with most AR points) has been won twice this year by our class despite strong competition from sixth-grade classes!

·         Reading Inventory results: 68% reading increase from Oct. to Feb.

·         18 students scored proficient (up 7 students from previous RI); 8 students scored basic (3 less than previous RI); and 4 scored below basic (3 less than previous RI).

·         28 out of 31 students made most recent Principal’s Challenge (6-week incentive program for AR points)

·         Parents stay informed on a monthly basis.  Students take report home, parents sign somewhere on the report as having received it and I check it off my parent tracker sheet.  Students return report home to keep.

Learning and growing along with my students!

Gus Macuil

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