Effective Teaching Strategies

Try Something New!

2014-07-19T07:35:00.003-07:00

Do you ever get stuck in the same routine? Things seem to work (or maybe not), so you just stick with what you're familiar with, whether it be lesson ideas, organization techniques, or classroom management structures.

This will be a year of transition for me, as I have a new teaching partner and will now tackle 5th and 6th graders, instead of 4th and 5th graders. I'm blessed in that I get to keep my same group of students; however, with the changes coming my way, I've realized this is the perfect year to try new things out and see how my students respond! This is particularly important because this will be my third year with half of my students! (I'm sure they will invite change, as well!)

So, with the encouragement of a colleague of mine, I've started researching new ideas around classroom management and community building! Boy, oh boy, have I been enjoying it! It's made me realize the importance of continually evolving and looking for new ideas that you haven't tried before! I'm really thinking that this may not only help my students, but it may help keep teaching new and exciting for me! It seems districts are always changing the way we are to deliver the curriculum (strategy/program of the year), but that change isn't nearly as exciting as the changes we can CHOOSE to make in our classrooms! Changes we embrace and are excited to implement!

So, here is my reminder to all the hardworking educators out there...try something new! All you have to do is go to Pinterest, type in what you're looking for, and it's as though the doors to thousands of classrooms open up right in front of you, allowing you to view the many ideas of our colleagues around the world!

It's official...I'm now hooked on not only Pinterest (I know, I know...it took me long enough), but I'm hooked on making changes and keeping things fresh! I'm looking very forward to working with my new partner and implementing fresh ideas in my classroom!!

Light and Sound Experiments!

2013-12-06T08:24:00.002-08:00

As part of our science curriculum, the students have to learn all about concepts of light and sound! We decided to teach these concepts through introductory videos and books and then through hands-on experiments.

The students had such a great time. We had the following stations, which they rotated through:

Bouncing Sounds
Bending Pencil
Duck Call
Screaming Cup
Kaleidoscope

Bouncing Sounds required the students to make a megaphone/hearing aid and experiment with the types of surfaces that reflect or absorb sounds.

In Bending Pencil, the students observed a pencil in a cup of water and reflected on what they saw and why they felt the pencil looked bent. They then watched a Study Jams video on light refraction, and reflected on the scientific reason the pencil looked bent.

Duck Call was hilarious! Using a straw, the students made their own duck call. They cut the straw to different lengths, observing the change in pitch of the sounds their duck call was making. Again, they reflected on the reasoning behind how the duck call makes noises and how the pitch was affected.

Boy! Screaming Cup was so much fun for the students! They used the good ole experiment of attaching a string to the inside of a cup, getting the string wet, and then observing the sound made when they ran their fingers down the string. Again, more reflection on what happened and why!

The students also loved Kaleidoscope, as they got to experiment with reflections in mirrors and then make their own kaleidoscope. (No, not with actual mirrors!)

All of these experiments required the students to do their own reflecting on what happened and why, as well as to learn and reflect on the actual reasoning behind the experiment results.

The kaleidoscope station had a teacher at the station to talk to the students about the reflection of light; however, the other stations had a Why It Works paragraph explaining the reasoning behind the results, with the exception of the video in the Bending Pencil station.

It was important to us to ensure the students had access to the true reasoning behind the results!

I thought I'd share these fun experiments we used, as they were a big hit with our kiddos! Of course, it was hysterical when anyone walked into our room during the experiments, as all the sound stations made it quite loud and entertaining! Oh, the fun of science! :-)

Students Teaching Students!

2013-12-01T05:28:00.003-08:00

Keeping up with our classroom this year has been more time consuming than ever before! Wow! I've been lacking on posts, but only because the classroom has taken over all my time! The kiddos are worth it, though! :-)

When you hear "Students teaching students," you might think I'm referring to students tutoring each other. NO! That's not it at all! I'm referring to students teaching other students the information they've learned about a topic.

So, part of our life science focus this year has been on animals. We opted to attack these concepts through research, which the kids really enjoy.

We started with I Wonder questions. The kids brainstormed questions they wondered about animals...it could be anything, as long as it was realistic and a question that could be answered through research. We recorded all these questions on chart paper and posted them in the room.

My teaching partner and I then did backwards mapping. In other words, we looked at their questions and at the Ohio Science Indicators to ensure the information we needed to teach them were embedded within their questions. As is typical, they all were!

The students then got an index card and wrote the top five questions they would like to research. My teaching partner and I then took the results and grouped the students based on their preferences. We made decisions based on:

Giving the top question choices to those students who are the most difficult to engage in learning
Student personalities
Student strengths (i.e. writing, reading)
Which students received those questions that were the key focus points in the Ohio Science Indicators

Once the students were grouped, they had a certain amount of time to collect their research, organize it, and then create a poster displaying their information. (We usually give them options on how they demonstrate their information, but we opted to have them all do posters for our gallery walk.)

When all research was complete, we held gallery walks, where students rotated from station to station, with a group of students at each station, sharing what they learned from their research. Each visitor at a station, wrote down three things they learned and gave them any positive feedback or construction criticism about their presentation/information.

THE STUDENTS LOVED IT!! They have asked us to please do more gallery walks. Seeing how empowered and confident the students were, as they shared their information, was fantastic. Even the most unengaged students were actively participating! It was fantastic!

Since then, we have made plans to incorporate other gallery walks into student learning. The best part is, the students truly did learn from each other; therefore, they were all active participants in the teaching and learning in our classroom community!

Students Tracking Their Progress

2013-10-01T18:27:00.002-07:00

Well, the hustle and bustle of school is officially here! What a busy year this year has started out to be! We have a class of 49 fourth and fifth graders, with ability levels on complete opposite ends of every spectrum there could possibly be...math, reading, writing, behavior! Of course, that's what keeps things interesting. :-)

A student's fluency data

With all of these ability levels comes a grave responsibility of meeting the learning needs of a wide range of students. Is it a tough job? Of course. Is it an impossible job? Of course not. With it being such a challenge, it helps if the students take more responsibility for their learning and if the students are more motivated to succeed.

One structure that helps with students taking more responsibility and being more motivated about their personal growth is to have the students track their individual progress.

Students can track a variety of learning measures...

Pre- and post assessments in math or reading
Sight word growth
Reading level growth
Math facts
Homework scores
Homework consistency (turning it in on time)
Behaviors that focus on frequency negative behaviors (behaviors you want students to stop demonstrating)
Behaviors that focus on frequency of positive behaviors (behaviors you want students to start demonstrating)
Standardized testing results (and goals)
Spelling words
Fluency (words per minute and/or a fluency rubric score focusing on expressive reading)

Basically, you can track any type of learning that is easily measurable, whether through a number, percent, score, or rubric!

Student tracking data for Counting Jar

It works nicely if each student has a 1" data binder, where they can keep their tracking information. Typically, it works to have all students tracking specific measures, such as reading levels. However, some students will need to track growth that is more reflective of their individual needs.

Students' tracking of comprehension on reading cards

For example, only our struggling readers track their sight word growth. Other readers whose difficulty lies in the area of comprehension, may be tracking their scores on short reading passages.

The students had a chart, which indicated what the Proficient level was for each Benchmark Assessment.

When having students track their progress, it is beneficial for them to know where their individual performance level lies in terms of their expected performance level. For example, if the students are creating line graphs to track their reading level data, there should be some indicator on the graph of where the "Proficient" range is so students understand if they are below, on, or above average. Those expected performance levels can often motivate students to move to higher levels!

One of my favorite parts about the data binders is that the data is only for the individual students to see.

Often times, students' data is publicly displayed, which can be mortifying for those students who are not meeting grade level expectations. I've seen data bulletin boards where nameless objects represent where the students in the class are performing. For example, on one bulletin board, there was a hill with hikers on it. The hikers represented the individual students' fluency rates. There were no student names written on the hikers. While the students' names may not be displayed on the bulletin board, the students know where they lie on this public display. They know if they are the hiker at the bottom of the hill. There are some students (particularly those with learning disabilities) who will likely always be "at the bottom of the hill" when compared to grade-level expectations. How will always seeing themselves at the bottom of the hill on the public display affect their confidence, thus affecting their learning?

The individual data binders can encourage student growth at the students' individual learning levels, while giving them goals to work towards (teacher/student-established goals and/or expected performance levels).

Having students track their own progress can not only increase student motivation, but it can help students take more responsibility for their learning, which will result in increased achievement! :-)

Writer's Workshop...What's Our Structure?

2013-07-29T10:00:00.002-07:00

So, you and your kiddos have established the behavioral expectations of Writer's Workshop, you've made your anchor charts that describe what each step of the writing process looks like, and it's time to get in your regular Writer's Workshop routines! What now?

There are different ways you can structure Writer's Workshop time. I'll talk about the ways our writing time is structured in our 4th/5th grade classroom!

Writer's Workshop should start with a mini-lesson. The focus of your mini-lessons will be whatever writing skills are included in your writing curriculum. It may be about specific writing genres (i.e. how to write a persuasive piece), writing mechanics (i.e. using quotation marks correctly), content of the writing (i.e. using descriptive wording), or any area of writing where your students need support.

Now, our mini-lessons look one of two ways...either whole group or small group.

For a whole-group mini-lesson, we pull the students together, teach a specific skill, and model it through our own writing. The students typically really enjoy observing as we write our own stories, especially when we personalize them!

For a small-group mini-lesson, we may pull students who are struggling with the skills we taught whole-group, and use different strategies to reteach it. This is a great opportunity to obviously differentiate the instruction. Just as you may reteach during this time, it's also an opportunity to enrich students who are ready to extend their understanding of the skill.

When we opt for our small-group mini-lessons, we pull the small groups as other students are working on their independent writing.

After our mini-lessons, we like to do a Status of the Class. For Status of the Class, we have a binder with a sheet for each child in it. The sheet has the date, title of story, and what step of the writing process the student is on.

This writing log can be used by the teacher for Status of the Class and/or by students to track their daily writing.

If we do a whole-group mini-lesson, we say the student's name, she gives us her story title and what step of the writing process she is on, and then she is dismissed to begin working on her writing. This gives the students a chance to hear each others story ideas, which can help stimulate new ideas!

If we do a small-group mini-lesson, we do the same process as above; however, we just write down the status of the students in the group at that time. This is a more intimate setting, where kids often ask questions of each other regarding their writing when they hear their story titles!

When the students are doing their independent writing, we pull individual students for conferences, or pull the small groups to do the mini-lessons.

When students come for their independent conference, we look over their writing piece together, talk about strengths and weaknesses, and set individual goals together for the student to work towards. This is not just the teacher telling the student the goal...it's a collaboration between both student and teacher. This gives the student more ownership of her goal.

When the students are doing their independent writing, they are all at various stages of the writing process. Some students may be publishing on the computer (which they can't do until they have had a peer and teacher revision/editing conference), some may be involved in a peer conference, while others may be planning or writing. The students are typically very independent at this time! Because our students enjoy Writer's Workshop so much, they are almost always engaged and on task!

While much of Writer's Workshop time is spent on students' independent stories, we obviously also incorporate writing prompts into their writing time. This helps us ensure they are working on and demonstrating an understanding of the different writing genres. Sometimes the prompt is specific, while other times the students have a choice about the specifics they want to write about, but it has to be on the assigned genre. The prompts are always accompanied by a rubric. The scored rubric can then become part of the independent writing conferences as a means to discuss areas of weaknesses and strengths.

The students truly love writing time. If we ever have to cut something out of our day due to things such as assemblies or snow days, the students have an uproar when it's Writer's Workshop that we cut! Because they get to unleash their creativity and work towards their own published pieces, this is definitely one time of our day where engagement is spiked!

There is something pretty cool to 10-year olds about being true authors! :-)

Writer's Workshop...Getting Started!

2013-07-13T15:39:00.001-07:00

So, it's August, and it's time to start Writer's Workshop! Is it just a free-for-all, where students write whatever they want, play on the computers, draw whatever pictures they want, while the teachers kick back and watch the students enjoy themselves? Hardly!

It is a very structured part of our day, with specific protocols and behavioral expectations, just like all parts of our day! (Don't worry...you still get to watch the kids enjoy themselves...you just can't do it while kicked back!)

So, because writing time has its own set of protocols and expectations, that's actually where we start.   Anchor charts! Anchor charts! Anchor charts!

We are fortunate in our multiage classroom that half of the students experienced Writer's Workshop in our classroom the year before. However, even our younger students coming in have experienced Writer's Workshop! Fortunately, it is a staple in our school across all the grade levels.

So, we first start out with an anchor chart that focuses on what Writer's Workshop should look and sound like. The students give us their ideas, and we all come to consensus if the ideas truly reflect how writing time should sound and look.

Even if your students have never had a Writer's Workshop time before, I still feel strongly they could be part of creating this anchor chart! You could explain to them what they will be doing during writing time, and I bet they can figure out what it needs to look and sound like in order to be a productive environment. You could even give them prompting questions, such as:

"If people are busy writing down their great ideas, what do you think it will (should) sound like in here?"
"What kind of movement do you think we would see around the room?"
"Why might people be talking during Writer's Workshop?"
"How would we know if somebody is really thoughtfully writing?"

As with the majority of anchor charts, I would focus on what the students should be doing, not what they should not be doing!

Once we establish what our classroom should look and sound like during writing time, we jump into the good stuff...the stuff that will help them start their writing journeys! The good ol' writing process!

Of course, we start with Prewriting. Again, we begin creating another fabulous anchor chart, where students tell us everything that can go on during the Prewriting phase of the writing process. We record the students' responses (once we all agree their ideas truly are part of this step) and hang up our Prewriting anchor chart.

We (teachers) then model what Prewriting looks like during a mini-lesson by starting our own story. The students typically being their journey of planning their first writing piece after we complete our mini-lessons that focus on this stage of the writing process.

We repeat that same process with each of the other steps of the writing process - Writing, Revising, Editing, Publishing - where the students brainstorm ideas to start an anchor chart, and we model what each step looks like.

Now, the anchor charts are never set in stone! If the students think of something that should be added to an anchor chart after we created it, we can certainly add it if there is consensus in the room (which includes all of our opinions) that it does belong there.

Just a side note...as the students begin taking part in each stage of the writing process, they are not all going to be on the same step, and we have to be okay with that! Just like they don't all read at the same level/rate, they are not going to write at the same level/rate!

However, while you are getting through these initial mini-lessons, you will also start having individual and/or small group conferences with students where you can work with students at their independent writing levels.

So, this is how we start our year with Writer's Workshop! I'll write more about how our actual Writer's Workshop time is structured in my next post! Hang tight! :-)

Writer's Workshop...Students LOVE It!

2013-06-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

So, I'm sure you can picture it...it's one of those days when something has disrupted the regular schedule in your classroom. Maybe an assembly? Perhaps a guest speaker? You have to give something up, but which valuable part of your day do you sacrifice?

In our classroom, if Writer's Workshop is our selected sacrifice, there is a major uproar from our students! Why? Because our students love Writer's Workshop!

Well, if you're asking the question, Why in the world do your students love Writer's Workshop so much?, let me give you some reasons...

They enjoy the outlet for their creativity as they develop their own story ideas
They like having the opportunity to write individual or partner stories
Publishing their writing on the computer is one of their favorite things to do
For our artists, they love illustrating their stories
Their published pieces of writing are often something the students are very proud of and love sharing

So, if the students enjoy it that much, they can't be learning, right? Wrong! It's the engagement piece that typically results in improved writing skills!

There are many benefits to having a Writer's Workshop time in your classroom. Some of those benefits are...

Clearly, all the reasons above as to why students are engaged and love Writer's Workshop are certainly benefits
Students are able to grow at their independent writing level
Teachers are able to provide mini-lessons, as well as have individual/small group conferences around specific skills
Teachers can model their own personal writing as a means to teach writing skills
Skills are learned and practiced in authentic writing situations, versus on isolated worksheets, spelling tests, prompts, etc.
Students (and teachers) can better see writing growth over the course of the year (comparing writing pieces)
Students have the opportunity to engage in writing just as authors in the real-world do

As a teacher, I am at my happiest at school when I witness my students engaged and happy while they're learning! By creating a Writer's Workshop time in your classroom, you are very likely creating one of those learning opportunities that students love!

As with several workshop formats, Writer's Workshop can look different in different classrooms! In another post, I'll share what Writer's Workshop looks like in my classroom! :-)

Choices in the Classroom

2013-06-19T13:48:00.001-07:00

Is it really summertime already? What a great time to sit on my deck, read books, reflect on the past school year, and start planning for next year! (Yeah, like teachers have the whole summer off!)

During one of my recent reflection times, I simply sat and thought about all the things that Ruth and I do that make our students enjoy school. It is important to me that kids experience some enjoyment at school since they have to be there 185 days of the year! Just think if you never had any enjoyment at work. Wouldn't you appreciate a "boss" who would at least attempt to make things enjoyable?

Anyway! One of the things that our students respond very well to is their opportunity to make choices throughout the day. Making choices helps them feel that they have some control and ownership over things that happen to them at school. After all, the whole reason we are all at school is for them!! Doesn't it seem right to give them some say in what goes on?

There are different ways we offer choice to our students throughout the year. Here are some of those ways!

The students help us choose what the different expectations and procedures should look like:

Students have helped us decide the appropriate behavior in the classroom, cafeteria, and playground; how to walk down the hall; how to behave at the bathroom; what independent reading time should look and sound like; etc.

They help us decide on the consequences for different situations:

For example, we have nightly reading homework, so at the beginning of the year, we have the students help us determine what the consequences should be for when students don't do their homework! (Trust me, they are often way harder than we would ever be!)
If there are ever any "big" issues in the room, the students can help decide appropriate consequences, especially if the issues affected them in some way

Once we had two boys steal Sharpies and Highlighters from our classroom stash and sell them on the bus for $.25 each...they taped them on the inside of their sweatshirts and would open up their sweatshirts to show the goods, like some guy on the street selling stolen Rolexes!!

On our Learning Contracts, the students typically get to decide which activity they want to work on that day
They choose how they would like to work: independently, with a partner, or in a small group:

*We will take that choice away if they do not select wisely!

They choose with whom they would like to work with:

*Again, *We will take that choice away if they do not select wisely!

They help us develop sub plans:

Yep! That's right! Whenever we have a sub (planned of course), we sit down with the kids and ask them what activities they would like to do that will help them be the most successful with a sub in the room. Since starting this, our days out at meetings haven't been nearly as stressful.
We of course tell the students the activities have to be academic and not just free time! So, for example, they may say, "Can we do a coordinate graphing activity?" or "Can the sub read a book aloud and we create a comic strip to show the main events in the story?"
Sometimes the students will give us a skill, and we'll pick the activity. Other times, the students request specific activities
Again, since doing this, the students get more work done, and we have had far fewer discipline issues when we are out of the room

Idea Box:

Students submit ideas they have in our Idea Box, so at our weekly Community Meeting, we discuss those ideas. Some of these ideas are about things the students think we may need to change, suggestions for things we could do, or problems we need to solve. The topics at our Community Meeting are their topics! We are certainly allowed to add our own ideas if we have any, as well

They often help us pick what our Read Aloud book will be:

Because we are intentional about what topic we want our read aloud to be on or what skill we want to teach through the read aloud, we typically give the students specific books to choose between, versus leaving it wide open

The students usually choose their research topics:

When we have to teach those research/writing skills, we do not usually say, "Okay, everybody is going to do an animal project!" Nope! Instead we let the students demonstrate their research skills through researching a topic that is of interest to them.
We've had students select topics such as poverty, cancer, drug abuse, or animal abuse! These topics are much more real to many students and actually help them start thinking about how they can impact our world! A little more powerful than researching whales... (Not that animals aren't topics that some kids choose or are bad things to research. Students can even find social justice issues within researching about animals! Just give students the choice to move beyond animals if they want.)

They choose the three books that go in their book bags during Independent Reading

Honestly, this list could go on and on! I truly do feel that offering the students choice at school does increase their engagement, gives them a sense of control, and allows them to take more ownership of their work and decisions that are made!

So, as you think about your next school year, you have a choice to think about how incorporating student choice throughout your day may make school more enjoyable for both you and your students! :-)

Independent Reading...To Read Or Not To Read!

2013-06-10T16:02:00.004-07:00

I love reading...I have always loved reading. From Mom reading books aloud to me as a baby and toddler, to me curling up with a good book as a child and teenager, I...loved...reading! It is the perfect way for me to escape the stress that often surrounds me! (Although I must admit, some books bring me more stress!)

If I had a teacher who gave me 20-30 minutes each day to read a book of my choice in school, I would have adored that teacher! Unfortunately, though, I didn't have that teacher, which is likely why I didn't love reading in school. (How unfortunate, huh?) Yeah, those reading textbooks just didn't do it for me.

I loved picking a book of my choice, which I only got to do at home, and throwing myself into the story. That's what we want our students to want to do...throw themselves into a good story!

This is why Independent Reading is one of my favorite times of the day. While, no, I don't get to sit down with a book and read (Although it is tempting...I could use the excuse that I'm role modeling, right?), I do get to see students sit down and read books that they are choosing to read!

Each student in our room has a book bag, which contains three books...a book at their reading level, an informational text, and any book of their choice. While all three books are ones that they choose, the book of choice is truly just that...it is a book they choose without any requirements attached to it.

During Independent Reading, the students are reading books from their book bags. I work with students in one-on-one conferences or in small groups on specific reading skills at this time. I then encourage the students to take that skill back to a book they are reading, or I have them use one of their books to demonstrate their understanding of a skill to me. So, if we are working on a skill associated with informational texts, they may then have a follow-up activity they can do with the informational text they chose in their book bag.

I wish I could say all students were thoughtfully engaged during Independent Reading; however, I don't have a room full of little mini-mes running around the room engrossed in books. Part of the obstacle we have to overcome with our kiddos who are not interested in reading is actually finding a book that they enjoy and that is at their appropriate reading level.

One of my success stories from last year deals with a student who would typically stay on task during Independent Reading, but he never enjoyed it. He would look at pictures in books, read some occasional captions, and attempt to change his book bag books everyday. Was he getting a lot out of Independent Reading time if he were not working with my colleague or me? No, not really.

Then, it happened...The Bluford Series came into his life!! We read a book from this series aloud, The Bully, and he was immediately hooked. He was asking if he could read when he finished an activity, had his nose in the book from the beginning of independent reading time to the end, and actually made his own personal reading goal to read every book in the series! It just took finding him the right book to get him thoughtfully engaged in reading.

Do we spend enough time helping kids find books that are at their personal reading level and that are of interest to them? If not, why not? The time we spend doing this can pay off in the long run when they can't put a book down!

Sure, it's easier to plan one reading lesson where everybody is reading the same book, but is that truly the most effective method to help students grow as readers?

Football players get better by playing football. Singers get better by singing. Chefs get better by cooking. Readers get better by reading!! If students aren't reading, they aren't going to get better! Get texts in our students' hands that they want to read so they can truly practice those reading skills!

Don't you want to have to say, "Put your book away!"? :-)

Showcase Portfolio Time!

2013-06-04T17:59:00.003-07:00

Gosh! Another year down...it's so hard to believe! I've not seen my students in almost two weeks, and I'm already missing their faces! Of course, I am looking very forward to a productive summer, with the time to become more familiar with the common core, to get activities ready to support the common core, and to read lots of books and try to get some rest and relaxation!

The end of our school year of course meant it was time for the students to get out their showcase portfolios! This is such an exciting time, as the students get to look through their favorite work samples from each year they have attended our school, while also making decisions about the pieces they want to use to represent their learning this year.

It's so much fun watching our students, finishing up their fourth or fifth grade year, looking back at their work from as far back as kindergarten! They get a kick out of their beginning writing, their early math skills, as well as any pictures they find of themselves that were included! They walk down memory lane, recalling specific activities they enjoyed, as well as recognizing how they have grown over the course of their elementary years.

The structure for our showcase portfolios is that each year the students select pieces they are most proud of and that reflects the learning that has occurred over the year. We encourage the students to select representations from each subject area and to select a minimum of five pieces. We also encourage them to be sure their pieces reflect some type of learning they can talk about and/or that shows growth over the year.

From where do the students select these pieces? Well, it's a bit of a process! First of all, the students do not take their work home when they finish it each day. They, instead, put it in a hanging folder where they keep it safe until the end of the trimester. (Our year is split into trimesters, versus quarters.) At that point, the students select the pieces from the trimester that they want to reflect on and share at their student-led family conferences. The pieces they do not select, now get to go home. The pieces they do select and share at their conference are kept in a safe place until the end of the year. Each trimester we add their selected pieces to that safe place with the pieces from the other trimesters.

Once all three of their student-led conferences are complete, the students retrieve the portfolio pieces that they reflected on for each trimester (The pieces we kept safe), and choose from those to pick their final pieces of the year! Basically, they are picking the best of the best! :-)

Once the students select their favorite pieces of the year (a minimum of 5-7 pieces), they put them in sleeves (page protectors) with the grade level and year written on each sleeve (ie, Intermediate 2012-13). They then put them in their Showcase Portfolio Binder (3" binder), and we keep the binder until they graduate from elementary (fifth grade).

If the students have been at our school since kindergarten, they will have a binder full of representations of their learning from each grade level! What an amazing way to see their growth over the years, and it makes a wonderful keepsake!

Showcase portfolios provide a great opportunity for students to be reflective of their learning, as well as for them to see their own progression as learners!

Our New Math Contract

2013-04-17T16:23:00.002-07:00

I'm especially excited about our most current math learning contract! This contract incorporates a variety of activities that are definitely engaging the students!

The activities on the contract are:

36 Toothpicks and 24 Squares: The students will explore area and perimeter through discovering how many different perimeter measurements can be made with an area of 24 square units, as well as how many different area measurements can be made with a perimeter of 36 units.
Area and Perimeter Grid Design: The students will create their own design (picture) on grid paper, using squares and rectangles. They will then find the area and perimeter of the squares and rectangles, as well as the area and perimeter of their entire design!
Division Games: The students have games such as Snowflake Division, Burst the Balloons, Remainders Wanted, and Football Match they will play to practice their division skills. (All games are FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers!) The games are differentiated to meet the needs of students who are beginning to understand division, to those who are solving problems with 3-digit dividends and remainders!
Volume and Surface Area of Boxes: For this activity, we will have a wide-range of boxes that students will measure and determine the volume and surface area of. The boxes will range from paper clip boxes to packing boxes! Using the different size boxes will not only help with students seeing the relationship between the dimensions and volumes of different boxes, but will also help differentiate the activity!
Volume Match: This is a basic match game where students match 3-D pictures to their actual volume. We noticed students were sometimes having trouble looking at a 2-D picture of a 3-D shape (made of cubes) and determining the correct volume, so this activity will help them practice that skill!
Algebra Wheels: This is a game where students are solving for variables (Another game that is FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers!). There are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems on wheels, the students solve for the variables and attach the correct answers (written on clothespins) to the problems in the wheel!
Algebra Expression Match: Another matching game where students read a scenario and match the expression to the scenario. The students then have numbers to actually solve the expressions. (Yes, another FREE activity from Teachers Pay Teachers!)
Life in a Geometrical Town: The students LOVE this activity! They create their own town using many different geometrical and measurement skills (types of lines, 2D shapes, 3D shapes, volume).
Fraction and Decimal Activities: We have TONS of games, primarily from the Investigations series where students will practice their fraction and decimal skills. Again, the activities can be differentiated based on the students' different levels of understanding of fractions and decimals!

Our students were chomping at the bit to start these activities and are now off to the races with them! It is wonderful observing how engaged they are during our math time! :-)

More about Learning Contracts!

2013-03-10T09:01:00.003-07:00

Learning contracts have been a topic of interest, not just for many of my blog visitors, but also for conversations I've had with colleagues of mine, both in my building, as well as in other buildings!

(In case you haven't read them, I've written other blog posts titled Differentiate Through Learning Contracts and Differentiate Through Learning Contracts...Monitoring.)

Sooooooo, let's talk more about them!

One important thing to remember is that filling a learning contract with worksheets will certainly make them lose their appeal, which you of course do not want! Part of the beauty of learning contracts is:

Activities can be differentiated
Students have choice (which activity they want to work on each day)
Students can work independently or collaboratively, depending on learning styles/needs
Projects can be implemented
Students can apply skills to different activities, versus just rote, isolated practice
A variety of different activities can be incorporated to meet different learning styles
Students have the opportunity to independently practice a variety of skills (versus working on a skill in a unit, moving on, and not working on it again)
Students work on their time management skills

Learning contracts are such an important part of our classroom! I think our students would revolt if we ever took them away! :-)

Also remember, if you want to try this as a new learning structure in your classroom, you need to teach your students a new set of skills, especially if they are used to everyone sitting quietly in their seats, all doing the same activity. Just to name a few, they will need to learn more about:

Using quiet, collaborative voices
Monitoring on-task behavior more independently
Pacing themselves
Managing Materials
Holding their peers accountable for doing their own work (versus "over-helping" them on an activity)

Some ways we address these issues in our classroom is:

Have the students create a noise scale, as well as an on-task scale. (Generally they create a scale between 1 and 5.) We will have them stop in the middle of contract time and rate themselves on each, as well as set a goal if they need to improve their rating.
Do a Status of the Class check-in every 3 or 4 days. We will take five minutes, call the students' names, and have them report how many contract boxes they have completed. (They are not complete unless the box has our initials in it.) They do not like having to report that they have one activity done if most of their peers have 3 or 4 activities done!! This also helps us determine the students who need to work within teacher proximity, versus with friends, if they are not monitoring their on-task behavior or pacing themselves well.
Have two students be in charge of materials. We have two students in our room who set up shop by where we keep our materials and just work there. When a student needs certain materials for an activity, the girls will give it to them, as well as put them back up when they are finished. It is AMAZING how organized our materials are staying now!!

While it does take some time for students to learn new procedures/routines for new learning structures in the classroom, the time taken to prepare them for learning contracts is worth its weight in gold! When you see their engagement increase, the way you can meet different learning levels and needs of your students, and the increased learning, you'll be glad you did! :-)

Projects As a Tool to Demonstrate Learning

2013-01-20T11:50:00.001-08:00

Let's start by thinking about how students usually demonstrate their learning in a typical classroom. The first thing that often jumps to my mind is TESTS!

The students sit quietly at their desks, smiles on their faces, as they happily take one of those engaging paper-and-pencil tests. They are so excited to show us what they have learned by answering those questions that they stayed up until midnight memorizing the night before.

And the best part is, they still remember that information six months later, after they've repeated that process five more times. Right?

Uhhhhhhhhh, wrong. While I concede that some students may fit the descriptions above, the majority of students do not! So, how can we make assessment of student learning more engaging?

One way to do this is by allowing students to create projects to demonstrate their learning. No, I am not proposing this should be the only way to assess students; however, I am advocating that it should be one way!

I've discovered that when students can choose a vehicle with which to show what they've learned, their engagement automatically increases.

Often times, in my classroom, we give the students a list of learning expectations, and they get to decide a final project to show us they have met those expectations. Here is a list of different projects the students often choose to demonstrate their learning:

Power Point Presentations
Posters
Books
Brochures
Mobiles
Dioramas
Documentaries
Rap/Song
Models

Yes, some students even choose to write reports, versus what may be considered the more creative outlets, and that is just fine!

While the project is a way to engage the students' through the use of their creativity, it is ultimately not the end-all for the assessment. Part of their score needs to be their ability to explain their learning. As part of their project, the students also must choose an audience to present their learning to. This can be a friend, a group of friends, the entire class, another adult in the building, another classroom, or even the whole school at one of our Celebrations of Learning!

The student has to discuss her learning with us if we are unable to watch their presentation to their selected audience, but that typically only takes 3-5 minutes.

When students get the opportunity to use a project to demonstrate their learning, in combination with an oral presentation to a selected audience, the likelihood of them remembering the information increases dramatically!

Individual Conferences

2012-12-26T03:38:00.004-08:00

Just the other day I had a conversation with a colleague that in a typical classroom, there is generally a four-year span in terms of ability levels between the lowest and highest performing students. Of course, everyone else is sprinkled somewhere between those two outliers. Are most of them clustered in the middle? Likely. Are they all? We couldn't be that lucky!

So, how do teachers meet the needs of those students who are at the opposite ends of the spectrum and/or who are not performing at that middle, grade-level area? Differentiating instruction and activities is certainly one way to address that huge gap.

However, before a teacher can differentiate instruction, she must first truly understand her students as learners in order to best meet their needs. Holding individual conferences is one way a teacher can gain this understanding. Having that one-on-one time to meet with students is invaluable. This is an opportunity to do informal assessments, give individualized instruction, and have conversations with students about their learning!

Like many things in education, individual conferences can look 100 different ways, depending upon how the teacher is choosing to use them. For example,

Reading conference: Teachers may...

have students read their independent reading book, followed by discussions around specific components of the book
have students read their independent reading book, followed by discussions around an area of need
complete a running record

Writing conference: Teachers may...

revise and edit a piece of writing with the student
analyze student's writing to determine area of need, followed by instruction/discussion with student (basically an individual mini-lesson)
analyze student's writing and discuss writing ideas
analyze spelling in writing and discuss specific components of word work

Math conference: Teacher's may...

analyze a piece of student work, giving individualized instruction based on student need
analyze a piece of student work, questioning students to better understand their mathematical thinking
informally assess a specific skill/concept
Individualized mini-lesson on area of need

A teacher can hold an individual conference for just about anything that she sees a need for. The purpose of the conferences may change depending upon the need of the students. Even when I have writing conferences, they may change from what I plan based on something I discover through looking at a student's writing piece and/or having a discussion with the student. Our professional judgment is often a guide in terms of what happens at that conference.

Many teachers have specific forms they may use when holding individual conferences with their students. Others, including me, typically take anecdotal notes during the conferences. There is no right or wrong way...it's what the teacher finds most useful to record her students' learning and understanding!

Individual conferences are some of my favorite parts of the day! I love being able to give students that one-on-one attention and take time to only think about their specific learning needs. It's a great opportunity to really get to know your students, which also fosters that relationship building that we know is so important!

Sympathies Sent

2012-12-16T05:47:00.001-08:00

I can't have a teaching blog and not take a minute to acknowledge and send my heartfelt sympathy to our colleagues at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. My prayers are with the families of the precious young children and the beloved staff whose lives were taken so senselessly Friday.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Move Beyond Worksheets and Workbooks

2012-12-15T06:25:00.000-08:00

Many adults' school experiences consisted of lots of worksheets and workbooks! Blah! Oh, what fun those were, relentlessly filling in the blanks, rewriting the sentences, writing down the answer to the problems, drawing lines to match words with definitions...the list of monotonous activities could go on and on!

Most engagement that came from the worksheets I remember doing, may have involved solving a puzzle when you get all the answers correct or getting to color in pictures with specific colors based on my answers. Kind of makes me cringe thinking of that as engagement.

As educators, we need to give students access to the curriculum in ways that make them want to take part in the learning process. By increasing that engagement piece, the students will be more involved in what they are learning, which in turn will likely increase their understanding of the skill.

So, what to do if we don't use worksheets and workbook pages? Here are just a few ideas!

Games! You can often accomplish the same outcome you do with a worksheet through the use of a game.

Instead of having students fill in a bunch of antonyms on a worksheet, have them play a memory game, where they have to find antonym matches and then record them on a recording sheet or in a journal
Have students play the Product Game, where they have to use logical reasoning to choose factors in order to get four products in a row or to block their opponent from getting four products in a row, instead of filling out a page full of multiplication problems
Do a vocabulary match game with word cards and definition cards in social studies or science instead of having students sit and write definitions of words or doing a match worksheet
Have students play Fact and Opinion Kaboom, where they have to identify statements as fact or opinion (unless they pull a Kaboom! strip, which means they have to put all their statements back into the container

Scavenger Hunts! A scavenger hunt can be incorporated into most subjects!

Put informational texts in students' hands, such as newspapers, magazine articles, books, or websites and have them look for: antonyms, synonyms, homonyms; cause and effect relationships; facts and opinions; possessive nouns; figurative language; etc. This allows students to see how their learning fits into the world around them
Have students look for geometrical concepts in their environment: types of angles, 2-D shapes, 3-D shapes, types of lines, etc.
Students can find examples of arrays around them when working with multiplication

Projects! Especially when you want your students to demonstrate their understanding of a skill, have them use their creativity to create some type of project!

Replace a worksheet about the types of nouns by having them create their own informational text that describes and gives examples of common, proper, possessive, and plural nouns. They can also show their understanding of the components of an informational text by including a table of contents, chapters/section headings, a glossary, and an index
Allow students to create a project of their choice (brochure, poster, Power Point, book, song/rap, diorama, model, mobile, etc.) to demonstrate their understanding of a concept in any curricular area
Create a Geometry Town that must contain specific geometrical concepts
Have students measure different body dimensions (arms, legs, shoulder to shoulder, shoulder to hips, head, neck, etc.) and then shrink their dimensions by a certain amount (fractions can be differentiated: 1/2, 1/4, 1/3, 1/8). The students record the shrunken measurements (helps students apply understanding of skills such as measuring linear units, finding fractional parts of a number, fraction equivalences, and multiplying fractions). They then use those measurements to create a shrunken version of themselves on tag board. We even connect this activity to writing by having them write a story about their experiences as their shrunken selves
Students can build actual square or cubic units (inches, feet, yards, etc.), determine what they can find the area or volume of using those tools, and then use the tools to find the area or volume of those objects

Hands-On Activities! There are also plenty of simpler activities to replace those monotonous worksheets that may not be considered projects because they are not the multiple-step, lengthier activities.

Students can create a flip book to show their understanding of place value (The flip book would be sideways, with flaps of the book flipping up to show the value of each digit...this can be differentiated easily by making and giving students flip books to reflect numbers of any size)
Use cubic centimeters to fill actual 3-D containers to find the volume of the containers
Use square units to find the area of certain 2-D objects (desks, floor, folder, book, etc.)
Have students complete a graphic organizer describing a character's traits. They then create a drawing of the character and include the character's traits either around the character drawing or embed them within the drawing
Help students understand measurement conversions of gallons, quarts, pints, and cups by building a Measurement Person with pieces of construction paper (gallon = whole piece, quart = piece cut into fourths, pints = piece cut into eights, cups = piece cut into sixteenths)

Honestly, the list of alternatives to worksheets and workbooks could go on and on and on and on! I encourage everyone to think about what skill they want their students to practice or apply, and then think of how they can make that practice or application more engaging! It may take some time at first, but once you create the activity/project/game/scavenger hunt/etc, you have it to use each year! :-)

Holidays in Public Schools

2012-11-17T05:04:00.004-08:00

I am now in one of my favorite times of the year! Within three months, we get to celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!! Who doesn't enjoy celebrating one or all of those holidays?

Well, the fact is, there are many kids in public schools who do not celebrate any of those holidays, likely because of their religious beliefs. So, is it "okay" for teachers to decorate and celebrate holidays in public schools?

Many years ago, I always had decorations up for holidays! Like I said, I'm a big fan of this holiday season! It wasn't until several years into my teaching career that I was challenged to think about how this may impact my students who do not celebrate holidays.

If I truly feel my role as a teacher is to make all members of my learning community, even those who do not celebrate holidays, feel welcomed, included, and valued, then is "forcing" them to sit in a classroom filled with Christmas lights, a tree, and other decorations truly reflective of that belief? I had a hard time arguing that it was. And boy did that frustrate me at first!

When I heard about a teacher having a student work in the hallway on a non-Christmas activity because the rest of the class was doing a fun Christmas project in the classroom (as a Jehovah's Witness, he wasn't allowed to be part of that), I knew I had to start becoming more considerate of how every single one of my students felt. What if that was my child sitting in the hall by himself? My job isn't to make the majority of my students feel valued, it's to make ALL of them feel valued.

By keeping my classroom neutral around the holidays, I can ensure that no student will feel excluded, different, or uncomfortable while at school. I had to put my own "wants" on the back burner and put the needs of my students first and foremost. I had to realize that by not putting decorations up or doing holiday activities, I wasn't denying any student anything; however, by putting up decorations and doing holiday activities, I was risking isolating a student.

I am now in my 10th-ish year of not celebrating holidays in school, and I have long moved past my disappointment!! If students ever ask about doing Halloween or Christmas activities, which is extremely rare, we have the conversation about why we do not include them as part of our instruction. The students get a diversity lesson right there about respecting everyone's beliefs and ensuring everyone in our community feels welcomed and valued! Never has a student felt it was unfair or tried to argue that we should change that practice!

Just food for thought!

Happy Holidays!

Technology in the Classroom

2012-11-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

When I think back to when I was in elementary school, I make very few connections to school and technology. As a matter of fact, the most exciting technology experience I can remember having was getting to print a cover page on an old dot-matrix printer (Is that what they were called???) for a report I wrote on Italy. I remember it having some kind of border, which I think was a vine, and a wine bottle on the front. I thought that was SO great!!!

Now, I watch my 9-, 10-, and 11-year old students operate laptops and iPads as though they have been using technology for years! Actually, now that I think about it, they probably have! My 3-year old nephews can take my phone, find my apps, and pick out Angry Birds without an ounce of help from me!

We can always count on increased engagement when we add the component of technology to an activity. The best part, though, is that not only does using technology engage students, but it also helps prepare them for the real world! Our world has some type of new technology coming out every time we turn around, so it's important that our students get the opportunity to interact with technology in schools.

So, what do we do with those iPads and laptops? The students use them to...

Publish their Writer's Workshop stories
Research topics, both that are assigned and that are student selected
Complete Web Quests on different Social Studies topics (immigration, slavery, government)
Interact with books, either by listening to a book being read on You Tube or through reading a book on a slideshow (Great way to help differentiate for students who need more support with reading)
Create Power Points to demonstrate their learning of a topic
Practice skills through interactive games

Of course, anytime your students do use technology, I always recommend you talk with them about appropriate and inappropriate uses of the technology before they use it. We have the students help us decide what should happen when students abuse their technology privileges (as well as define what abusing their privileges actually is) and have the consequences set up ahead of time.

Using technology in the classroom is a great way to engage students, as well as to prepare them for the future!