Connections outside the Classroom

  

Do you find yourself engaged with students?



As I reflected on this past month and was considering what to write about this month, I found myself coming back to a common theme throughout the month of January - connections with students and how they impact what happens in the classroom.




The first and biggest one is coaching the boys soccer team on campus.  The beginning of January saw many students try out for the team but only 16 of them actually making the team.  The challenge was that  of the 16 players only three of them would have been eligible to play during the first semester - the other 13 players all had grades which needed much improvement.  Many of the players were students that I had in class and just were not giving their best effort.  However, six weeks into the new semester I have only one player is not eligible to play because of grades.  Every player/student is committed to making sure their grades are good enough to play and several players are working to make sure their grades are far above the average.  Students are staying after school and coming during lunch to ensure their grades remain at the right level.  The kids are committed because they found something at school that they are good at and enjoy.





The second connection I had was coaching the school's Math Pentathlon Team - 7th grade and 8th grade.  This team met over 10 times after school in preparation for the District event.  The ten students who came every time grew closer as a group of students - encouraging each other not to give up and to think in a different way.  Their enthusiasm carried over into the classroom as well as working together in the classroom.  For me, it was a great opportunity to see students in a different setting and in a relaxed environment.  These kids enjoy pushing themselves and it was my pleasure to see their pure delight in tackling the most challenging math problems.




Yes, it takes some time from your day but I wonder if there is something you can find at your school site to make those little extra connections with students?  Nothing is to small - that student who needs one person just to listen to them on their terms - will have a lasting impact that we can never measure.

I encourage to find something at your site to get involved with - ASB, Pi Day, after school tutoring, school play, sports program - even if it is only for one time.  Time is short with our students - make a small connection with a student before that time is lost.

Teaching and still loving it,

    Kevin Stott                         

De Anza Middle School     

Integrating Math Notebooks in Eureka Math

There's a sense of relief when you reach the halfway point of a module -for many reasons. One of them always being is that your closer to the end of it, regardless if it's module 1 or module 7. However, along with that relief comes a wave of reluctance. As teachers, we have this weight of making sure that not only do our students understand the objective for the current lesson, but also all the previous lessons leading up to it! So as I go up to teach Module 4 Lesson ___ I need to keep in mind that I am also teaching Lesson eleven, and ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. Oh, and a skill that they learned at the end of Module 1. The lesson seems to be going great, that is until I make them recall that one skill from module 1. Cue the following actions "You know remember when we did this activity- one day we spent on LCM and the other GCF" - A sea of confused faces staring back at me. "Okay, remember you find the factor pairs of both numbers and see which is the greatest"- A few light bulbs start to go off. Then you begin thinking I have that one anchor chart, but it's in the cabinet somewhere, and it would take me a few minutes to find it.  We have all been there! More than likely, you did a mini-lesson of that skill and felt rushed the rest of the time. So how do math notebooks reduce this? It allows students to become resourceful based on their own notes/work and internalize when they do and do not need to use it as a resource.

All The Magic In One Place

There are countless times when I sit at my desk and rack my brain wondering, "What more could I have done to make this skill stick better?". Between the exposure of math songs, notes, additional practice, real-world applications, color-coded anchor charts combined with hands-on experience, what more can be done? That's when I took a step back and realized that forgetting is a normal part of life. We all do it; it's part of being human, so why do we expect our students who are still mentally developing not to be forgetful? That is when I realized the genuine fear and frustration we experience as educators when students forget something isn't because our students forgot a skill, but partially because they have become reliant on us providing the answer. It's time for us to do the most challenging part of our job and release complete control to our students. Now instead of approaching those blank stares with answers, let's approach it with questions. Okay, so it seems that we may have forgotten how to determine the GCF of two numbers. Is there a resource that you have that you could use to find out? With this simple change, we have done two things. 1. Feel comfortable with not knowing the answer and 2.Allow students to embody problem solvers and plant the seed of the needing to be inquisitive for their own benefit. So now we arrive at the most important part- everything they need is all in one place, their math notebook. 

The Hardest Part is Starting... The Rest Will Come Naturally 

So when people think notebooks, the first thought that comes to mind is the amount of paper and copies they will have to make; Paper we do not have and copies we do not have time to prepare. The thought of this is when teachers usually cross out the idea of notebooks altogether. I am here to tell you that it is possible to achieve a great resource without all these pages. There isn't a right or wrong way to approach compiling these notebooks. First things first, you need to get your students on board, so I always let them know two essential elements. 

1. Your math notebook is yours-so make it unique, add a few pictures, color pages in, create mnemonic devices or tricks to help you remember a skill. Allowing students to internalize the notebook as their own and not just something by teacher makes me do will create a sense of proud ownership. 
2.  It is a resource- it is meant to be used. Explain to students that this notebook will be of little value if it never is opened when they genuinely need it. Allow them to use it during math assignments or questions, homework, classwork, and even some quizzes. My philosophy on this is if a student wants to better understand a skill by going above and beyond, then let them. This is what we want from our students, so why stop them? 

Now lets get to the creativity part. Like I said there is no one approach to creating a valueable resource so here are a few that I have tried within my classroom. I like to use a variety to keep things fresh and also 

1. Create an anchor chart of the lesson or a skill and have students color code it in to model the connection between visual and algebraic representation. On the other side have students complete a few problems and solve them on the side. When they revisit the skill they will be more likely to recall the problems because they completed them. 

2. Take notes on one side and have students create their own problems and complete them. Taking notes can be daunting but is also a valueable skill for them to understand how to do. On the other side you can also have them do a fun project to connect to real world application. 

3. Use those Eureka Materials you have. An easy tool to utilize is "The Homework Helper". By pasting/gluing this into your notebook as your notes and add notes to it or use completed "Exit Tickets". The exit tickets usually mirror the take away from the lesson so when you collect the tickets and give them feedback it not only allows students to revisit if they understood the concept, but possible misconceptions or errors they make along the way so they don't make them again. 

These are a few ways notebooks are used within my classroom. I often find my students going back into them to revisit a skill and that is perfectly okay because if they are willing to take an extra step to solve a problem instead of giving up then isn't that really the goal?  

Lively Learning 

Jessica Magana

Emotional Check-Ins

When my students walk into the classroom in the
morning or after recess, the expectation is
they are ready to actively engage in their
learning.  But sometimes, something in the students' mental, physical, or emotional state may affect their readiness to learn. Sometimes, I can see it when they walk in, it's written all over their face or in their body language.  Sometimes it takes a while before they have some sort of meltdown.  And then there are those times when I can catch it before anything happens. Those wonderful, magical times when I can flip the switch and intervene for their emotional well-being.

You Can Teach Emotions

Children often have difficulty identifying their emotions. To control their emotions, they have to be able to name them and understand them.  A great place to start is with literature.  Some great books to help name emotions are  Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse or The Color Monster for grades K-2; The Name Jar, Harry Potter, or Wonder for grades 3-5; and Wonder, The Percy Jackson series, or The Giver series in grades 6-8. Of course, you will need to use these books as a springboard for conversations or class meetings regarding emotions and emotional reactions.  Anchor charts posted in the classroom can be used to teach and reference these emotions throughout the school year. Once your students can learn to name their emotions, it is easier for them to self regulate and talk about how they feel.


Emotional Check-Ins

We all want our students to learn, but for them to be open to learning, we must help them with emotional self-regulation.  Every child is capable of learning, but they must be in a state of openness and trust, which means they must feel comfortable and ready to accept learning without their emotions interfering.  If we as teachers know how our students feel and help them work through their feelings, they will be in a better place to learn.  

“Inviting our thoughts and feelings into awareness allows us to learn from them rather than be driven by them.”― Daniel J. Siegel, Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation

One easy way to find out how our students feel is through EMOTIONAL CHECK-INS.  There are a variety of ways for you to do an emotional check-in with your students.  One idea is creating a Feelings Chart that the students can mark each day with a stickie note, clip, or some other marker. These charts can indicate how each child feels that day. These charts also allow for a child to show a change in their feelings as the day progresses.  There are also many individual charts available on TPT for the children to color in their mood that day. While there is a myriad of other possibilities,  my personal favorite and the one we are using this year is Emotional Bracelets.

In the morning, when my students walk in, they choose a bracelet matching their current feeling for the day.  This quick visual allows me the opportunity to check in with any child, whether they choose a green (happy), yellow (OK),  red (angry) or blue (sad) bracelet, and try to connect with them and help them to work through their feelings.  Many times, after talking with myself or a peer, students will change their bracelet color just because they were able to express their feelings and be heard.  I've also seen students change their own bracelet color because their friend has a blue (sad) bracelet, which makes them sad too...what a perfect opportunity to work on empathy!  My students love wearing their bracelets and are becoming emotionally aware of themselves and their friends!  For myself, these bracelets give me an insight into my students' feelings and allow me the opportunity to connect with them, and often have empathy for what they are going through and feeling.

With all the complexities of the world today, EMOTIONAL CHECK-INS  are a great way to connect with our students to help them identify and work to understand and control their emotions so that they can learn and grow. Selecting and wearing a bracelet isn't enough. They must be able to verbalize how they are feeling and name their emotion to self-regulate. Are you ready to help your children self regulate?  First, help them identify their feelings so they can recognize what different emotional states look, sound, and feel like.  Then, in some manner, offer them the opportunity to share their feelings with yourself or a peer so that they can self regulate and focus on learning.  As a bonus, you will be connecting with and forming relationships with your students, which in turn will have you wearing that GREEN bracelet more often!

Connecting Emotionally, Roni Weink

The Importance of Positive Reinforcements

Now that the long month of January is behind us, we need to remind our students of classroom rules and procedures. At this time of the year, students are older and wiser, but also more comfortable. They start testing boundaries again. Negative behaviors and old habits begin to reemerge. Now is the time to use multiple positive reinforcements to manage classroom behaviors. There is not one way or easy way to do this, as every classroom and each student are different. Here are some strategies that I use with my kindergarteners that I have found useful.

5 to 1 Ratio

I have found that the 5 to 1 ratio is more important now than ever before. Students do not get enough positive praise. At home, they are constantly hearing the word "No" and to do what they are told. We need to give them something else to look forward to. If we do, then things will change for the student, the classroom, and the teacher. The 5 to 1 ratio is simple and is supported by our P.B.I.S. program. The ratio is to provide 5 positive interactions for every 1 negative interaction. When I see a student not following the routines and procedures, I praise students who are. I acknowledge them by name and thank them for listening. I will reward them with a treat, prize, or a ClassDojo point. If a student who was misbehaving begins to listen, I praise her for making a positive choice and to keep it up. High fives and dabs go a long way.

"Kobe" Our Classroom Buddy

I recently visited the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles with my family. In the gift shop, they had these small plush animals with a snap bracelet for arms. I purchased one as an incentive for positive behavior in my class. The students were told that whoever is behaving and following our classroom rules and 7 habits, they will get to take care of Kobe for the day. This has sparked major interest! Kobe is very popular. Giving students responsibility to take care of a classroom buddy gives them a sense of importance and encourages them to continue to make good choices. They learn how to be responsible and care for someone else. They have looked forward each morning to see who gets to care for him for the day.

Give Students a Choice

When a student misbehaves, I have discovered that sometimes praising others and rewarding others

in front of them does not work. At times, they may seem like they do not care and keep misbehaving. I found that if you turn it back on them and make a consequence their choice, things start to shift. I have a student that has a difficult home life. When home is not right, this student has a hard time at school. I learned through this student's behavior that they crave some type of control in their life. I discovered that if I give them a choice, they will choose to correct their behavior. For example, this student was having a hard day and constantly playing with the velcro of their shoes even after being asked to stop multiple times. It continued and they did it faster. I stopped and talked to the student and reminded them that if they continued that it was their choice to not participate in free playtime. They are telling me that they do not want to play. If they stopped and listen, then they are telling me that they want to play. I was shocked at how the behavior stopped almost immediately. When it did, I stated that I appreciated them and thanked them for making a positive choice.

Every minute, hour, and day is a chance for improvement

Now, not all of these strategies will work for every student every time. These are just some strategies that I have tried. What works for one student, may not work for another. That's alright. We're not perfect, we make mistakes, and we learn from them. Our students need to know that. They also need to know that we make mistakes as adults, but we can always learn from them and make corrections. We need to remind students that they can make a positive change every minute, hour, and day. Every day is a new day to do better and to be better. When students understand this, over time they will make positive choices. They will choose to listen and behave. They will feel loved and cared for. Once this is in place, learning can occur and academics will improve as well. Try it, see what happens in your classroom.

Maricella Mesa

Why Call On One...Let's Call On All

I often think back on the years before implementing cooperative
learning into my classroom and think about the learning that was taking place. I, the teacher, was the biggest participant in the learning. I talked, the students listened! At the time I didn't see a problem with it. It's how I learned, it's the way my teachers taught me...it is what I knew!

I first got introduced to cooperative learning about four years ago. My principal at the time invited me and a few teachers to go to a Kagan Training, with the intention of bringing it back to the staff at Kingsley. I didn't know much about Kagan at the time, but after the first 10 minutes of the training, I knew I was IN! It was training where the participants really participate, we were involved and I was engaged! If adults were engaged, imagine what students would feel? 

Why Cooperative Learning?

As we began to implement Kagan at our school site we began to see students who were engaged in their learning. Students were having authentic discussions with their peers, they were buying into cooperative learning, and I was too! I immediately saw a change in instruction, I was no longer the main participant, or “sage on the stage”. Instead I became a facilitator of learning. I was able to empower my students and they were beginning to learn from one another. 

A couple of questions I get when people ask about cooperative learning are: What's the buy-in? Why drink the Kool-Aid? My response: Students are learning from their peers, facilitating their own learning, and having authentic discussions. Students are more skillfully sharing their own ideas and learning how to build on and even critique others' ideas. A shift in learning is happening and it's amazing to watch!

Cooperative Learning vs. Group Work

I am lucky enough to be in a position where I am able to walk classrooms as a Kagan coach. I get to see students and teachers using cooperative learning in so many engaging, amazing, and unique ways! The one thing we have discussed as a school site is the idea of PIES. We often talk about PIES is in place means cooperative learning is taking place, and without PIES, it's just group work. I like to ask the question, Where can you find PIES in your lesson? It's a quick check to make sure cooperative learning is happening. 

There is a lot to Kagan, and I think it's a big switch when people first start taking on the idea of incorporating cooperative learning into their classroom. It's NOT just Kagan structures, and I think the best place to start is with PIES. When we truly understand PIES and how PIES makes cooperative learning successful we can see a difference in our classroom!

So, I’ll often hear, “What is the big deal with Kagan? I already have kids work in small groups and turn to talk with their partner.” For me, this boils down to one simple four-letter word -- pies. PIES is actually an acronym used as a lens to distinguish between just group work and cooperative learning. PIES stands for: Positive Interdependence, Individual Accountability, Equal Participation, and Simultaneous Interaction.  

Starting with Positive Interdependence, ask yourself, "Are students on the same side? Does the task require students to work together and independently? A few ways to help incorporate Positive Interdependence into the classroom is by creating shared team goals, assigning each teammate a role, having one student from the team share the answers or project, or dividing the materials among teammates. 

For Individual Accountability, the guiding question boils down to, "Is individual public performance required?" Students should show or turn in their own answers if they are working on a shared writing task where you want to ensure everyone is contributing, you can have each student use a different color marker as a quick visual of what each student has contributed, and you can always use random selection to have students share or demonstrate their knowledge. 

Equal Participation is exactly what it sounds like. "Is participation approximately equal?" A few ways we can ensure students participate equally is by using turn-taking structures, providing students sufficient think time. This strategy allows for all students to have time to think of an answer and use a turn-taking timer to ensure sharing for an equal amount of time. 

The last part of PIES is Simultaneous Interaction. "What percent of students are overtly interacting at once?" To integrate this into your classroom you might have students share with a partner instead of calling on one student, have teams present to each other, use response boards so all students can share their responses, and use team and paired work frequently.

Where to Start?

When it comes to recommending a place to start, I always suggest Round Robin or Rally Robin. These robins will help eliminate calling on one student and give students an opportunity to think and share with a peer before having to respond to the whole group. 

Don't be afraid to start something new! Will it take time? YES! Will it be worth it? Of course! Go into it slowly. Take your time. Get your students great at a few structures and then add a few more. Just remember, why call on ONE student, when we can call on ALL students?

Why not call on ALL? 

Brainy, Brain, Brain

I had always been intrigued by the way our brains work. It probably has to do with the fact that my entire family is in the science/ medical field and also the fact that I struggled for a long time academically while growing up in Asia.  

 In the old days, we sat and listened to direct instructions while taking notes aimlessly and you are completely judged by your grades. With the constant struggle, the stress of not bringing shame, I stressed, I cried, and I completely shut down every time I had to do anything academic, especially math.

 Now that I am on the other side and seeing the same struggles that I had in many of our scholars, I am so thankful that there are so many strategies that we can incorporate into our classrooms. Since I am all about music, movement, and how it all connects to our magnificent brain, when I saw the first video of a Whole Brain Teaching teacher, I was intrigued!  

The less teachers talk, the more kids learn. 

The brain is made of many regions. We have the prefrontal cortex, which is the brain’s reasoning center, activated during decision making. The motor cortex directs the body’s physical movement. Visual cortex processes input from the eyes and stores visual memories. 

The limbic system is the brain’s emotional core. Wernicke’s area, Broca’s area is in charge of spoken language (Wernicke’s area) and producing spoken language (Broca’s area). Last but not least, the nucleus accumbens, where the magical area that secretes the “ happy” feeling. When we engage in a pleasurable activity like listening to music, exercising, eating delicious food, playing a game, the nucleus acumbens secretes dopamine, the brain’s pleasure chemical. 

The Whole Brain Teaching Model is to use strategies to activate many parts of the brain while teaching your lesson so that the scholars will not only physically make motions but also produce spoken academic language to teach each other.  

Tailor the Strategies to You

I was overwhelmed when I first came across the idea of Whole Brain Teaching because the goal is to make classroom instruction as exciting, as brain involving, as a video game. Yeah, REALLY? I cannot be as impressive and exciting as a VIDEO GAME! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 

I was about to abandon the idea of trying it out, but I was supported by my excellent induction mentor to give it a try. There are many parts to WBT, and I crashed and burned hard when I decided to do it all! As educators, we always reflect on our selves and pick our selves back up again with a different game plan, so that’s what I did. With baby steps. I worked on two strategies, and it is working wonders, especially for my UA scholars. 

The first strategy was, “Mirrors!” 

 While planning out my lessons, I looked for key concepts or even the objectives I would like to see from my scholars by the end of the lesson. I come up with arm motions and voice inflections that captures the concept and attention of my scholars. I definitely practice that in my bathroom many times. When I introduce it to my class, I say “ Mirrors!” while holding my hands in front of me. This is when the class will say “ Mirrors!” with the same motion. From that point, everything I say and do, they will repeat. I break it down in small chunks, so it is memorable and easy to recall. Once I see that the majority of the class can repeat it confidently, I will say “ Mirrors Off!” with my hands down by my side, they will repeat, and that’s their cue to stop repeating. 

Here is a quick clip of myself using "Mirrors!" with my UA scholars while teaching about inferences. 

Being able to come up with motions for concepts can be tricky at the beginning, but boy, make it YOU and make it FUN for the scholars! Trust me when I say that they will feed off of your silliness, and they will REMEMBER and RECALL!  

The second strategy you ask? Stay tuned for my next blog post or come for a spotlight visit! :)
Eileen Wunderlich 

Read Draw Write

When I think of the number one struggle a majority of my students have when it comes to math each year, it would be word problems. The entire process of reading through the problem, figuring out how to solve it, and explaining their thinking afterward is so challenging for first graders. We work on this skill daily over the course of the school year because it is such an important skill. We focus on not only solving word problems, but on explaining our thinking when answering them.  

When I was young, word problems were my nemesis! I understood that the steps below were what was expected of me to solve a word problem, but I had no clue how to get past step 1!

1. Understand the Problem
2. Come up with a Plan for Solving 
3. Carry out the Plan
4. Reflect or Check Your Work

As much as these steps always seemed like a logical idea and did get me thinking through the math problem I was facing, they didn't get the job done.  What do you do when you can't get past step 1?  You stare at and then read the question over and over and still can't figure it out. You recognize the known information, you underline the key terms and circle the numbers, but you can't figure out what to do. Under this problem-solving method, you are expecting students to understand the problem before making any diagrams, drawings, patterns, tables, etc. which can leave many students stumbling to succeed. This is why I love the  "Read, Draw, Write" (RDW) approach!      

What is so great about the Read, Draw, Write approach?

This approach works because students can draw a model of what they are reading to help them understand the problem. In other methods, the drawing usually came after understanding. When faced with story problems, children will often add whatever numbers they see. In the RDW approach, the drawing helps lead to knowledge; it gives students the tools to think about and model the relationships in the problem. Drawing a model helps students see what patterns might arise, which operations are needed, and which models work and don't work. Students must go deeper into the problem by drawing representations and determining which representations are relevant to solve the problem. While students are utilizing the RDW process, they are using the Standards for Mathematical Practice. Some of these would include: model with mathematics, make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, use appropriate tools strategically, and look for and make use of structures.  

Read

Read the problem. Read it over and over again. And then reread it. Answer- What am I trying to solve/answer? Identify-What information is given to me in this problem? Deconstruct- Can I box the question? Can I circle the parts? Can I find a total? Can I find missing parts? Can I underline important information? I always ask students to read the problem and think about what information is given. My goal is to get students to tell me what they believe or wonder before they model. Students can tell me, for example: I see the total and one part, which means we can count on or subtract to find the missing part. This is a great time to practice academic language and use collaboration with your students.   

Draw

Draw a picture that represents the information given. During this step, students ask themselves: Can I draw something from this information? What can I draw? What's the best model to show the information? What conclusions can I make from the drawing? My students know they can use multiple strategies to solve problems. They chose different, yet similar ways to model and label their work. Each student's work shows detailed, specific choices rather than arbitrary combinations of numbers. It also helps me know if they are confused and helps me to find common errors that can direct my instruction. 

Write

Write your conclusions based on your drawings. This can be done as an equation, a number sentence, or a statement--or all three. It's an essential skill to have your students write a statement. It ensures they are answering the exact question being asked. The ability to turn a question into a statement is an important skill. Writing is the time to check your answer for reasonableness. I choose students who used different strategies to share their responses with the class using the document camera.  The class can see multiple strategies and understand why certain students chose certain strategies. 

Do you use the Eureka Math "Read Draw Write" strategy? Has it changed the way your students go about solving word problems?

Positively Teaching,  

Randi Muehlen