Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Back on the Horse

I've had a relaxing 11 day break thus far. But today I jump back on the horse. Time to get some things planned, and map out the road to come. The school laptop is waiting to be opened, much like a Christmas gift. I'm actually excited about it. My goal is getting enough done in the next few days that Saturday/Sunday are *free days.

*Sundays are typically a work day for my wife and I. Usually a good solid 4-6 hours of looking things over, grading, correcting, planning, what have you.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Hurry Up and Rest

Last week seems like a distant memory. Waking up at 8 or 9am instead of 6 has been great, and I think the bags under my eyes are starting to dissipate. My wife and I have a long to-do list for this week, and we've made great headway. We've also been able to see friends for dinner and drinks, which we never do (aside from the occasional Friday). This week is for recharging, and next week is for work.

While I was hired in early July, I wasn't placed until late August. I essentially had 10 days to get to know my team, the building, and what I was going to be teaching. Add to that trying to figure out how to integrate reading/writing into social studies, and you have a rather large task. I feel like I've done fairly well. But next week is my chance to get ahead, get prepped, and map out a large portion of the rest of the year. Does that mean I won't be responsive to my kids? No. It means I'll have an idea of the content I want to teach, the EALRs I am going to hit, what sequence I'll teach it, and how I'll teach it. I have a broad plan, as social studies (particularly US History) can be linear. But I need a clearer plan.

That waits until next week...

Sunday, December 13, 2009

One Heck of a Decoder

I have few memories of reading from my childhood. I know that I enjoyed Sendak's Wild Things, and I loved reading, and re-reading the sports page. While it likely wasn't the case, I like to think it is how I learned to read. I loved looking at statistics, reading box scores, and reliving the games through the eyes of the reporter. To this day I still read and re-read sports articles, and it gets far worse when I buy the newspaper or have a magazine. I love being a part of the club. What club? The club of readers and literate people spanning the globe.

You don't hear many people saying "I just love decoding!" or "Lots of great letters and sounds in that book!" Instead you hear people talking about the ideas, the content, the connections made between themselves and the words. Decoding allows you to access the text, but it doesn't mean you are reading. Worse is that you can fake reading by decoding and using the words in a context that sounds reasonable (ie The geography of New York is that it has water nearby... familiar context, and wouldn't necessarily raise giant flags of misunderstanding). Assessment brings out a myriad of flaws.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Questions Without Answers

Things I am thinking about heading into the Winter Break (starting next Saturday)...
  • How do I integrate the leveled reader library into my instruction on a daily or weekly basis?
  • In what ways can I leverage the 2:1 (student:computer) ratio more than I currently do?
  • Where does our writing instruction go, and how does that impact my reading instruction?
  • How can I better leverage peer conferencing throughout my day?

Those are questions I'll tackle over the course of the next 3 weeks. This next week is focused on a short transition "unit" and making it to the break.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Not a Game, Practice

I thoroughly enjoy recess. Whether it is outside or inside, I'm a huge fan. Typically I have kids in my classroom throughout each recess. I have kids on computers, finishing homework, doing research, or doing a myriad of other things. If I am in the room, kids are welcome. Some teachers don't believe in that, and that is their style (not to mention right).

When I get the chance I like to get outside for recess. During student teaching, particularly during the term where I was observing and taking classes, I would head outside to play on the playground. I actually brought my soccer ball in as well, and we'd often play soccer games every few days. You interact with kids on a different level, and they see you at play. Additionally it creates a safe place where kids feel like rules will be enforced, and everyone has a chance (not always the case otherwise).

Today I got out for a game of capture the flag. The game has been the talk of Fifth grade since early in the week, and they'd talked one of their previous teachers into playing. They'd asked me all week, but I wasn't able to make it due to other classroom things I needed to take care of. Ahh, but today was the day. Lots of fun running around the frost covered tundra. Kids are so excited to see their teacher running around just them they are. The joy of tagging your teacher, and saying you got him is palpable. It was a great time, and something I'm banking on trying to get out for (recess, not just capture the flag) every other week.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Making Adjustments

We're wrapping up our unit on colonies right now, and getting ready to transition. Originally I'd planned to give an assessment on Tuesday, the roll into some background about the origins of the slave trade. The way it is laid out in our book, it shouldn't take long as it is truly background heading into the American Revolution/Civil War. But my designs on making a quick, clean transition were not to be. So we adjust.

Why? First was that the assessment didn't really go as planned. The intent of the assessment was to measure what they learned, but I didn't put them in a position to truly be successful with it. Some fared well throughout, while others struggled. Instead I looked at a skill we practiced, and their grasp of vocabulary. This time they used the book and open ended questions that required them to read strategically to employ their vocabulary knowledge. The difference? Incredible.

But the other factor we've run into was a drama residency altering our schedule. Twice this week we lose 15 minutes, meaning we've lost 90 minutes of time between the assessment switch and the schedule switch. Combine that a wacky end of next week, and we're running up against a brick wall! We'll see what we get through.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

From Skeletons to Paragraphs

Comparing like items is important. Whether it is two books, two boxes of cereal, or two colonies, you need to be able to sort characteristics of those items. That has been the task of my kids this week. Previously we mined information about colonies in different regions. From there we turned the information into a radio advertisement, and then into a Venn diagram (rather, filling the venn diagram). The next step is synthesizing that information, and putting it together as a coherent piece of writing.

I've been fascinated by the evolution of their writing. Over a month ago they wrote about explorers, and I'll be the first to admit that I needed to improve my writing instruction. Their writing was laden with strings of facts in lengthy sentences. Since then we have worked on having topic sentences, and using transition words that move us from general information to specific information. The work has really started to pay off, and conferencing has been taken to heart.

I believe that part of this evolution has been tied to our use of evaluation. I don't evaluate everything, but for larger pieces of work I want my kids to self evaluate the quality of their work. Not only is it complete, but do I have sentences that make sense? Do I a variety of sentence lengths? Do I have accurate information? Do I include general statements as well as specific information? The writing sessions today were highly successful, and the quality of work was really good.

Monday, November 30, 2009

New Routines

I have yet to find the sweet spot in my schedule. If it isn't a lack of continuity with my reading/writing workshops, it is a lack of focus on strategy instruction in reading. If it isn't one thing, it's another. I feel like I have solved part of my reading/writing workshop issue with my larger blocks of study. Going to 3+ weeks of consistent writing focus have given us more continuity, and led to some better results. Our writing stamina could use some work, but alas I digress.

The issue I have currently is with the reading section of my social studies block. It is a combined literacy block focused on social studies. But the issues we (I) run into are a lack of reading strategy focus as we continue through units. Additionally, we end up missing much of the fiction component that goes into reading. We end up doing more writing about social studies, and re-reading for specificity as opposed to simply reading.

The solution I've started to employ is breaking my social studies block into 2 parts: reading strategy and a social studies content focus. We start with 10-20 minutes (15 as a ballpark est) of silent reading in our 5th grade reading anthology. The reading is half, or a quarter, of a selection (which they already break into sections). Then we transition into our content focus area for the next 35-45 minutes. I need to front load the content and strategy info on Monday but the carry over should be successful.

My objectives in doing this are that 1) we'll engage in some thoughtful fiction/nonfiction study unrelated to social studies, 2) we'll practice reading comprehension strategies in a variety of formats, and 3) we'll have a period of time to acclimate, similar to having a read aloud or silent reading.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Let the Feasting Commence

We are 3 hours away from the Thanksgiving break. Conferences are complete, and we're all staring at 4.5 days of relaxation ahead. No homework, no projects, no planning (at least for the kids). I'll likely take a day or two then put some work into the next block of teaching time, ensuring instruction and assessment are in line.

Conferences do many things. The amount of work put into instruction is less, simply because there is less instructional time to work about. Work is shifted to looking closely at assessment data, and deciding where some instructional gains can be made. Time is invested in building relationships with parents and families, and it has been fantastic.

I walk away more committed to my kids. I'm excited to rest up, take a fresh look at what is coming up, and ensure that I have quality instruction planned. That is, of course, after lots of turkey.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

It All Starts

Parent-Teacher-Student conferences start tomorrow. I'm a little nervous, but really excited. I've got folders with a variety of information setup, and I feel pretty organized. Of course if I had my wits about me I would have prepared far further in advance. As it was today was a busy day of going back over everything, making sure assessment data was in folders, and writing down strengths and areas for improvement.

Once the first one has started I don't really have a chance to breath, which is a good thing. More time to think means more time to stress over what went well/not. I feel comfortable adjusting as I go, and this will be a similar experience. As a whole, the formula is fairly similar for everyone. Talk about what has gone well, and overall strengths. Then go over assessment data and evidence, and use that as a segue into a conversation about areas for improvement. The goal is for it to be a conversation about where the child is on the continuum, with everyone interested in the child's development. Should be fun. A full slate tomorrow and Monday, and fewer on Tuesday.

Monday, November 16, 2009

From Good to Tremendous

There are a variety of good things happening in the classroom right now. I've got my assessments laid out for the remainder of my unit, some small and some big. I didn't quite have this laid out earlier, and it is a bit of a relief (I knew where I was going, but there are few assessments with the curricular materials... and they're spotty). So assessment is going on the right track.

One of the lead up projects is creating an audio advertisement for one of the early colonies. This requires finding main ideas in our social studies text, deciding which they'd most like to live in, and then spinning the information into a written script. To put it all together, I'm teaching a few kids how to use Audacity, and then having them teach others how to use it (they essentially become engineers leading their peers). Thus far it has been really successful. Hearing their ad, and then knowing they'll be voting for where they'd most like to live based on the ads, has generated some buzz.

I'm also pulling small groups during each rotation. I have 3-4 students per rotation, per day, that I am focusing on monitoring their comprehension. Right now we are doing less strategy instruction, but that will come back post-Thanksgiving. I'm working more on nonfiction structures, and text structures as a whole, which has also been successful.

Lastly, some good things are coming in our writing block. Devoting a number of days to writing (3 weeks now?!) has given us a chance to really develop some ideas. We're writing essays, and now that everyone is back from sickness we're moving towards putting things together. Very excited.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Updating the Wiki


Our class wiki has been getting quite a bit of use. I've used it as a receptacle for information so that students are able to access information at home. This has alleviated sending home the textbook. Granted, the information in the textbook is at a lower level, and a bit more accessible. Nonetheless the wiki has been a useful tool.

This week is when I start to release some of the control. One of the assignments for the week is for the kids will be to describe one of the colonies using some of the information we've been gathering. The information fits into the categories of: Reasons for Founding, Geography, Economy, and Government. We created questions that matched those categories so that we could be strategic in our reading, and more focused when looking for information.

What students will be charged with is choosing one of the colonies, and writing a 1-2 paragraph description of the colony. They will also need to search for at least one link that adds more information for the colony. We'll then group responses by colony, and read them to evaluate which we think is most accurate and descriptive.

Soon after we'll add a section on where you'd want to live if... (you wanted religious freedom? you wanted self-government? you wanted to sow seeds of flax?!). I'm excited to relinquish some of the control (granted I still need to post things, or have kids post during class with supervision).



Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Grading and the Upper Grades

There is quite a bit to grade in the intermediate grades. Combine that with our rotations, seeing 60+ kids a day, and I'm under a deluge of papers. If there was one piece of advice I could give to new teachers, it would be that you need a system for tracking assessment information. You start with what your assessments are going to be, as well as what is acceptable evidence of learning. Then once you give that assessment, enter it into a grade book or spreadsheet.

Personally, I prefer a spreadsheet with names on the side and assessment on the top. Then you include their score and your rationale in each cell. I date mine as well, making it easier to sort (as well as to show growth over time- seeing it linearly). Right now I am behind in entering my assessment data, making this grading period seem to drag on for eons. I've spent today entering data, and then making claims from that data (another good thing is using an assessment spreadsheet and a grading spreadsheet, and tiling them so that you can look at the evidence on the top and the section on the bottom).

I've been behind, using more formative and informal assessment than summative. That is fine,
but not entering it is inexcusable. Well... maybe slightly excusable for my first year.
*Note: I'll display a screen shot later, but not currently as it has names attached and I'm in the midst of entering data :)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Quality Assessments

I wrote earlier about my reliance on the reading-writing connection. That connection has been one of my main ways of assessing comprehension. I want to ensure authentic assessments, and fewer photocopied sheets that relate to readings out of context. Those readings aren't entirely bad, as they certainly save time and they are focused in on particular skills. But I'd like to see where student thinking is, and see how they are processing information. Hence why I have relied on writing.

What I stumbled across this morning was a post on the Tempered Radical. His post was in regards to a classroom blog, and some of the in's and out's using that mode of technology. Among the many things I've been thinking about, a classroom blog has been one of them. In fact I've been considering it since September, so this was a nice post (series of posts actually) related to how to best make use of blogs.

Ideally I'd like to get one up and running. I'd assign different kids to write each week, and others to comment. We'd have a focus question or prompt related to the social studies content, and they'd be given some time in class to write (as well as time at home to finish). I've stopped short, largely because I've chosen to focus in on the instruction, and I haven't wanted to jump through the hoops of getting parent permission quite yet. But I think that time is coming near.

Why so near? Because I am going to get social studies podcasts up and running. I've got two working microphones, and a handful of student computers. My goal is similar to that of student blogging, in that students will be discussing what they've learned. They'd work on a script or have some focus questions to answer prior to their recording. I believe I need to get approval for students to record and publish (for the sake of uploading to the public at-large). If I am going to do that, I will get permission for both. Save paper, have clear instructional goals laid out. We'll see. I think both could be highly effective tools that aren't entirely reading/writing based.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Change of Plans

Probably the most important part of teaching is knowing your kids. As a first year teacher, I don't have the wealth of experience that veteran teachers do, and that I second guess myself a bit. Are my kids having the expected outcome? Are they meeting my learning target? What could/should I change to make maximize engagement?

This week I had one of those second guessing moments. We had transitioned from reviewing some cause-effect relationships in fairly easy text to looking for them in our social studies text. In particular, what caused events that formed colonies, and what was the effect of those events? Once we transitioned, the learning became fragmented, and lots of off-task behavior started. For me, the off-task behavior isn't the kids fault. It is related to my instruction, and my lack of scaffolding (as well as engaging work).

Instead of working with small groups and helping them on the text, we read whole group. We stopped looking for events that happened, and looked for the cause/effect. Big questions were "Why did that happen? Who did that impact? or What was the impact of that?" For example, the Jamestown colony was built on a marsh. What was the effect of that? Light bulbs went off as we traveled through the idea that mosquitoes were there in the wet marsh. Mosquitoes carry malaria, and the settlers got bit by them... hence they died. Ah ha!

Again, it takes re-reading. Re-reading isn't lots of fun. But it needs to be done.

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Reading-Writing Connection

I wish that I had a Reader's Workshop. I do, in some respects, with my homeroom kids. But I wish I was able to implement it with the remainder of my kids. Why? Because I think it is a fantastic way to teach reading. In the workshop you provide mini-lessons geared towards the needs of your kiddos, from which you are able to individually monitor as needed. You can also use reader's notebooks to track the thinking of your students as they employ the strategies you've taught.

My reading instruction is currently heavily dependent on writing. Why? Writing is my main method of assessing their comprehension. In some ways this is great. It gets them actively engaged in processing the information they are reading. Additionally I find that writing is a way that forces them to fully communicate their thinking, something they might not otherwise do.

The main pitfall is that it is time consuming. Using writing also requires that kids are able to write in some capacity. I've fallen into this mode where I have kids writing a bit too much, instead of using other methods of assessing their comprehension. Right now we are taking information from three different colonies and describing them as though we were there. They need to use information from their FQR (fact/question/response) sheet to help them in their writing. But instead of going deeper with the reading, we get bogged down in the writing. Thankfully I have reading going home on a near nightly basis.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Appetizers... Starters

My afternoon is not setup ideally. In an ideal world I'd have 5 consecutive days where I have a 2:00-3:00 block of time, or something close to it. Instead I have 3 days/wk, with my Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays being my writing days. On Tuesday I have a specialist at 2:30, and on Wednesdays we have district-wide early dismissal at 1:30 for staff development. I love the latter, because it allows for collaboration and time to get things done (time as a whole!). The former is simply a necessity, as that is when we could fit it in.

What is the point of explaining that? Well, because I am pushing onward with a new unit of study in writing. We are going to work on crafting essays. Thus far it hasn't been the most successful endeavor. Much of this is related back to my instruction. I jumped too far ahead from the start, prompting them to use the small things they notice as essay starters. That is fine, but you need to give them a scaffold:
small things---> larger generalizations.

How am I changing? We are going to move forward, and eventually circle back to the small things. We'll use a prompt as a starter "I learn many new things are school." From there we'll be practicing using elaborating phrases like "for example; this connects with; In addition; this makes me realize...". After modelling, and guided practice, we'll move onward to taking some of our ideas further with these phrases. I'll also point out some of the different ideas that can be used, and those that are being used by our class.

Then later in the week we'll go back and look at some of our ideas to see if there bigger ideas inside. We'll also use some other strategies to generate essay ideas- conversational starters etc. The end going being that we'll start working on the structural elements (thesis, big ideas, examples/supporting details). The hope is that this allows them to extend thinking on ideas further, and construct arguments related to big concepts. Right now it is a work in progress.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Pushing Ahead

We had our assessment on explorers today. I coarsely looked through them, but was fairly pleased with the result. The questions that were missed tended to be those that required some close reading of the question (exp: "where did Columbus BELIEVE he reached?") or the text (religious beliefs). I haven't even thought about the writing yet, but I'm hopeful.

Coming up next we are traveling to the early colonies. What is a colony? What was colonial life like? I sat down and mapped out my outcomes for the unit. What I need to look at is the list of reading gle's I want to hit, and how I am going to accomplish that. Comparing and contrasting will be one of the main things, as the various colonies are detailed in the text. Since we've done that once, I'll be excited to see the next round come a bit easier.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Wiki Stuff

Found this today via twitter... worth checking out. It has a crazy amount of wiki information and use in classrooms. I don't tweet very much education stuff, but I do follow many educators for all their professional network stuff.

Mountain Climbing

I found this slide over at Dangerously Irrelevant. It reminded me of a quote from a running book I am re-reading. In the book (Run Faster) Brad Hudson talks about goal setting, and how runners need to set high goals. Those goals need to be high enough to challenge you and keep you interested, but not so high that you'll never reach them (and constantly feel like you're failing).

I think of that in my practice as well. There are many teachers who I read about that inspire me on a daily basis. Reading the Tempered Radical, Learning is Messy, Two Writing Teachers, or the Reading Zone (or any of those in my blogroll), I realize how much room I have to grow. I want to be like some of the teachers in my building that have taught for a few years, and are doing wonderful things with their kids. But I need to worry about being the best first year teacher I can be, and move on from there.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Weirdest, Bar None

Today was the oddest day of my short teaching career, including student teaching. The rain in the morning started to throw us off, as did having a sub for one of my teammates. But those shouldn't be that big of a deal. Perhaps it was the absence of some kids, while others had returned from near week long sickness. Whatever it was, I hope it is gone on Monday. I fear that it won't be because of Halloween, and our fall celebration on Friday. But we talked about it before leaving: we aren't taking kids to the party who haven't been focused all week. We'll have our fun, but we need to do the work to earn it.

Next week we've got an assessment on explorers, and a new unit on the colonies. Additionally I am starting a writing unit delving into essays. Reading the Units of Study book on essays has me excited to get started. I think it will be fun, meaningful and relevant to the kids.

As an aside, the presentations/projects I received today were great. Really good stuff.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Goal Setting

We are in the midst of finishing our opinion piece on explorers. Last week I asked the 60+ kiddos to find some information about explorers. They needed to read strategically, looking for ideas that were in the social studies text. The questions ranged from: where was the explorer from, to how did the explorer help/hurt native people. The kiddos were able to easily find some of the explicit information, but inferring was more difficult (isn't it difficult for everyone?!). From those pieces of information we compared and contrasted the effects of European explorers, and worked towards drawing conclusions (do you think they were positive or negative, and why? what facts support your opinion?).

Since the tasks were so diverse, I've had to teach a myriad of skills. For example we started with identifying important information in text, then transitioned into the reading skill of compare/contrast. After that we worked on our thinking, and how we evaluate information (with the idea of the two column chart being like a scale). Where I have had to circle back, and often, has been how to structure writing. In many ways the writing is similar to a summary, as you have a topic sentence followed by facts to support that sentence. But I've found myself repeating the sequence, and reteaching the sequence each of the past 3 days. Has it sunk in? Not necessarily, which tells me that I need a more engaging teaching point as well as more guided practice.

I will admit that I am excited to look through their work. I want to see if they hit everything on our writing checklist (topic sentence, 3 supporting facts, opposing opinion, closure, readability, etc) as they have assured me they have. Next time around I will be introducing a self-assessment piece. I want them to assess where their own writing is, and what they need to do in order to make it better. I already do something like this for their homework and it has worked well. Now if I could only get it out of my box of teaching stuff....

Monday, October 19, 2009

Conferring With Authors

Writing conferences are a wonderful tool for writing instruction. I feel like they are the backbone of instruction, as they allow the teacher to see what lessons students are employing. From there you can provide feedback, learn more about the student as a writer and person, and you can make changes to your instruction. These conferences are where I find my instruction to be most meaningful, as you can move students along in a way that is individualized to where they are in the writing process.

What I've noticed is that I need to make some changes to my Writer's Workshop (my homeroom literacy time as a whole). My writing workshop has been on a 3 days on/off cycle, alternating with reading. But the cycle is too quick and momentum is lost too quickly. I feel like we are returning to "small moments" for the 8th time since September. It feels stagnate, and change needs to be made. So I'm hoping to put a substantial dent into my writing instruction by going for the next 2-3 weeks with writing, then going for the following 2-3 weeks with reading instruction. I'm less concerned about reading instruction, largely because they are receiving that instruction (from me) during our social studies time.

Ultimately I need to consider my end objective... I want my kids to develop a love of reading and writing. They won't love writing when it comes in 3 day bursts every 2 weeks. You love writing when you get to dive in deep and apply an assortment of strategies that lead you towards improvement. The only sad thing is that I won't be trying out any of the strategies from Strategies That Work 2 quite yet with my homeroom kids. The book is wonderful and worth picking up.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

What Do You Value?

In my social studies rotation we have focused on reading comprehension. A big part of that, in nonfiction particularly, is finding the main idea. But you can only go so far with that. Ultimately we need to be exercising our thinking skills, and trying to make sense of the information.

So the past 3 days have been focused on forming conclusions. "What do you think, did explorers have a positive impact on history or a negative impact?" Aside from the question "what do you mean 'impact'?" it has gone pretty well. I had them think of a scale, with the idea that the things which are most important to us influence our decisions/opinions.

We took some statements about explorers (conquered the Aztecs, found new land, etc) and placed them on a two-column chart. Then we looked at them altogether, and made a judgement one direction or the other. How successful was that? Mixed. Some really struggled looking holistically, while others were very clear about their opinion. The writing is still a work in progress, and tells me that I need to provide more writing instruction to get them where I want them to go. But I was happy that they were struggling with the ideas of positive and negative impacts. When I have kids saying, "Mr Hanson, it could be both positive and negative" I know that they are thinking critically about the information- precisely my objective.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

How is a banana like an orange?

We working on comparing and contrasting today. The end goal was getting a chance to compare different information on explorers, and see similarities and differences. Why is that important? Well because it gets us thinking about patterns in the information we see. Additionally, it gets us taking a closer look at that information. Ultimately that is the goal, as we are moving towards looking at what impact did explorers have on history (positive and negative)?

The best part of this was modeling Venn diagrams with the kids. Part of the I do/We do/You do cycle involved me setting up a Venn diagram on fruits, and then starting to add to it. They got talking about what bananas and oranges had in common, and what was different. For example, one student said "they both need to be peeled." Well... really? Thankfully another student said "no, it doesn't need to be peeled. You can {squish} [hand smash on the table] it." That wasn't where it ended because I said "but you brought up a big point, maybe it doesn't need to be peeled, but think about that word peel..." The student replied "they both have peels or skin on the outside." Yes!

Once I cut them loose for independent practice, they did a great job. Included in that was one of my students restating the objective, and what he'd be able to learn from his Venn diagram. If there is one thing I have figured out, state your learning target often... and have it posted. Kids (and others) want to know what it is that you are doing, and WHY!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Curriculum Mapping

Today was my first day with a sub. I ran the gamut of emotions. First I was upset for having to be gone. Then I was content with needing to fulfill my new teacher release day obligations, but unsure of what to get together. After that I was nervous that I hadn't written everything down, followed later by nerves that I had written way too much down. Once we got going today, after 8:30 and my phone hadn't vibrated, I let my nerves evaporate.

The entire experience was interesting, and I'm hopeful the process will feel more relaxed next time (but that is wishful thinking). Why was I gone? Because I was at a new teacher support release day. What did I do? We spent part of the day focused on curriculum mapping, which was greatly helpful. That might seem like a nature thing, but it certainly wasn't at first.

Backing up, I hadn't really done much curriculum mapping before. ie. I hadn't looked at the year, looked at the number of weeks to teach, and then looked at the standards that needed to be taught to see where they would fit. Why? Because I was too consumed with ensuring that the next day's lesson would be as impactful as possible, essentially perpetually living in the moment with my kids. I still do, to some extent, live in the moment. I look at the social studies content, look at where they are (grasping wise), and then adjust instruction to meet their needs. Curriculum mapping doesn't replace that. Instead it provides a big picture map, and gives you an idea of where you are going to go.

How is that important? For example we have been hammering away at main ideas in nonfiction text. It is one of the grade level standards for reading, and is hugely important for reading comprehension. What is the text about? What is the big thing the author wants you to know? Well I need not worry that they don't get it right now. Besides that, they won't all get it the first time. I can look at my map and be sure that I will be teaching to that standard again, and know that my kids will get more practice. Instead of bogging down, work on it then move on. We will consistently be returning to that standard, since it is so essential to nonfiction, and bogging down now takes away instructional time for the many other standards I need to hit.

At least I've got some sort of map... funny since geography is one of the social studies EALRS (essential academic learning req's).

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Keep the main thing the main thing

We've been working on identifying main ideas in text. That is the major reading comprehension strategy we are focused on. Today we had additional instruction on how to find it, and then how to find supporting details. What I was realizing in my instruction is that the reader needs to continually ask themselves what the author is trying to communicate.

The context for this was reading about the Age of Exploration. While it isn't a Social Studies EALR, it provides background for those first few colonies (I one or two who thought North America hadn't been invented yet). As we were reading about the astrolabe, an instrument similar to a compass, we muddled through finding main ideas. "The main idea is that it has a metal arm..." Where I was intentional in my instruction was trying to connect the heading and chapter title to the passage. After that I gave direction about where to usually look. "Authors want to tell us something, and they want their reader to know the main thing really quickly... the first 2 or 3 sentences usually."

Finding the main idea is difficult. My goal is to make them more critical readers. We want to read everything, but we also want to be strategic in what we are looking for.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Professional development and technology

I'm fortunate to be working in a district that values professional development, collaboration, and technology. Mesh those together and you have half of today's non-student day. Our learning centered around OneNote from Microsoft, essentially a digital version of a binder with assorted tabs. Using OneNote will hopefully allow for more transparency in collaboration, keep people engaged when they aren't able to meet in person, and increase productivity. How? Ideally your team would meet, talk about students and goals, and establish a to-do list for what you are going to implement in your classroom. From there you can revisit those goals and to-do's, and see where your team is with respect to meeting them. That is the ideal of course, and I'll be interested to see how that works out over the course of this year.

I also stumbled across this post on This Week In Education. It started me thinking about a statistic that I heard at today's training: if you were to use your Activeboard (or SmartBoard) during 70-80% of your instruction, and couple that with good pedagogy and best practices, then you'll increase student achievement. I forget how much, but I was more than a little surprised (and I'd also like to see who funded the study, always important). The statistic came from Marzano, so I'll try to find it.

On one hand I was excited. I have a ton of tech resources at my disposal such as computers, an activeboard, digital cameras, hi-speed internet access, a document camera, video cameras and my laptop. I need to find ways to better integrate technology into my teaching, and ensure that I am NOT letting the tech be the focus (Note: I use it daily, but not as efficiently as I could... lately using the activeboard to have kids highlight main ideas in texts was fantastic). But what I wonder is how much tech exposure kids need to have in order for technology to really have an impact? Would those schools with less technology, such as my student teaching site in Seattle, have the same result? Or would the lack of tech exposure (and the newness of it) circumvent those gains? Maybe it would simply slow the statistical benefit. All very interesting.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Record Keeping

Of all the issues that a new teacher faces, one of the biggest might be record keeping. How do you keep track of homework? How do you keep track of the quality of work? When do you find the time to do it?

Today I spent about an hour after school working on tracking homework. I had a spreadsheet previously, and it was a good start. I was looking through work, marking it in the spreadsheet, but also coarsely looking through it. I wanted to be able to informally assess the quality of work coming back, and see whether they were comprehending the assignments (all of linked into school work- building on skills, practicing etc). Going through them, I found myself almost scattered... do I look at quality? do I look at content? You look at both and you pick and choose. You find those folks that you concentrate on for one round, and then you move on... or you look for particular pieces (main ideas, supporting details etc).

After all that... I'm done for the night. Bringing too much home, and need the break between home and school.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Can we add to it?

Many great things came about today. First and foremost was success with instruction as we practiced making predictions, and linking it to evidence of some sort (ie. a picture or a word/phrase might inform you about what comes next... so adding that at the end of your prediction). After that I received my set of 3rd-5th Writer's Workshop books from Heinneman. I've been borrowing some from a 4th grade teacher, and finally was able to return hers. I dog-ear, sticky note, and continually use my teacher books so they were a must have. Lastly I received my district laptop. It is a HP, and has been imaged by the district so that they can do any maintenance if needed.

Beyond those great things was this question: "So, umm, Mr Hanson will we be able to add information to this wiki while we are in here?" Oh yes! Yes you will. My first reaction, since I am considering how I want kids to be able to edit, was that they can bring the link and the description and I will add it. So I will be interested to see what they find, if anything. Ultimately, this wiki is what I'd like to have for the kids. Even more powerful is what the Crosby class was able to do in working on the "Reno Bike Project." As a whole though, take the small victories and be ready for more work tomorrow.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Mr Hanson's Social Studies Wiki

Back when I was at UW-Bothell I decided that I was going to create a wiki for my technology class. As I was planning today, a regular Sunday afternoon occurrence, I found a great way to get my wiki up and running! Since we are going to be doing some work on natural disasters, and linking that back to the geography work we did previously, I could easily use the wiki to have kids extending their learning. The obvious upside, to me, is that I wouldn't need to send home a 5+ pound textbook!

So Mr. Hanson's Social Studies Wiki is up and running. We're going to be working on Earthquakes much of this week, so that is the furthest along. The others simply have pages and Coming Soon on them. For the natural disasters it might seem like lots of work for little use (we'll see each for about a week). On the contrary, the web research I'd already done for background information made it easy to plug in relevant information. In total it was about 30 minutes of creation, and the kids should be able to locate a variety of usable information in a central place (in particular for homework). In the future the kids will be adding to the pages, and responsible for adding new/usable information.

If only it wasn't called a wiki... my wife hates the word wiki, as it is reminiscent of the word wookie... aren't wookies cute though?

Where social studies and literacy meet

This week we are making a transition from the social studies text to the basal reader. The goal is to intentionally integrate the basal into our social studies block, and primarily focus on reading comprehension skills. While I think I can integrate those skills into the social studies text, I've struggled getting that going. Why? Largely because of the content we've been reading. The first section was laden with vocabulary, setting the stage for the chapters to come. Instead of thinking about reasons for migration, or tensions between colonies (etc), we were developing geography skills.

You might wonder where we're going next... We are going to launch the reader with the theme "Nature's Fury." The focus is on nature's impact on humans, using realistic fiction as the vehicle moving kids along. How I will mesh geography into this is through adding some articles on earthquakes (the first selection), and using our knowledge of maps to identify where earthquake faults are and how that relates to where people are located (we have started using population density maps a bit). We'll be working on predicting/inferring, as well as sequencing. I have high hopes...

On another note, I'm still in the beginning stages of getting a blog up and running for the classroom. But I do have designs on some wiki work- collaborative research, as well as some podcasting. It will all come together... hopefully sooner rather than later.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Summarize This! (redux)

Oh how things can go wrong in an instant. The first rotation (of 3) went sideways very quickly. I spent too much time finishing a reading comprehension sheet from the day before, and reviewing whole group (with kids talking in groups to confirm their responses- since all had read the piece, and most were 3/4 done or further). The initial time had the kiddos sitting too long, and I ended up doing too much talking thereafter as I was modeling how to summarize.

Do they know how to summarize? Well they have been asked to summarize before, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they all know how to summarize. My goal was to be intentional in my modeling, engage then engage them through helping me put the parts of my summary together, and release them into independent practice on a chapter summary. Oy vey!

After talking too long the kids seemed lethargic. Most wrote a few sentences, but many were leading with supporting details and tossing in the kitchen sink. While we had talked (student-generated) about a summary being "only the main ideas, and details to support them," there were plenty of summaries that had gone askew.

How do I fix it? Well by providing more scaffolding this first time around. Some will need an in-between step from notes to summary. They will need an organizational tool/framework that will then allow them to move more seamlessly into writing. In this case, I will have a few photocopied for those that struggle transferring board-paper. Otherwise I will have the structure in Word on the projector (or in a flipchart), and they can copy that onto notebook paper (save some copies) and staple that to go with their summary. Additionally I am going to have them peer review their summaries- does it include a topic sentence? does it have supporting details? are the main ideas from the chapter included? is the writing clear to the reader? We'll see if this helps us along.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Summarize This! (Pre-Lesson)

We are wrapping up the first part of our first unit. We've been working on Geography, as it will help us moving forward in learning about American history and settlement. Later this week, and next, we'll start some work in the basal reader on Earthquakes and volcanoes (reading comprehension- sequence of events, main ideas). With each day I'm gaining a greater sense of how the puzzle fits together.

Tomorrow we will be creating some chapter summaries. Summaries are difficult to explain, let alone teach. But I am going to give it a whirl with some help from ReadWriteThink. We've done so much reading with tons of vocabulary that I worry it can all start to look like googly-glop (official terminology). What is most important? Well I am going to model creating a summary using a first person account of their western journey, which we read today. I'll then start to guide them into the chapter, talking about the biggest idea and moving from there (like a fishbone essentially- a core with spines coming off).

All of this will be a good review for an assessment we'll have on Thursday (content, not summary). From the summaries I'll be able to tell where folks are at with their writing, and where some are struggling as far as main idea identification.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Chunky Chunky Chunky

Everything feels chunky right now. My instruction doesn't seem to have much flow to it, and the content seems to be blocked out instead of fluid and integrated. Compounding the issue is having two different curricular materials to utilize from two different curricular areas. I am using a social studies text as well as a reading text (basal reader), not to mention my plan to integrate some realistic fiction and primary sources. As a whole, that leaves me with a big mess to make sense of.

Where am I at? Well I am finishing an initial social studies unit on geography (maps, landforms, nonfiction features). After this I will use the reading text for some reading comprehension strategies, with the first "theme" (re: story and accompanying supplements) is Nature's Fury. The story is earthquakes, and we'll be able to look at where these events happen (I think later themes, stories involve volcanoes and tornadoes). They don't flow effortlessly, and I have been unable to really use both texts simultaneously (perhaps a social studies center as well as running reading centers, that sort of thing).

I need to figure it out, and soon. We have curriculum night on Thursday. I'm excited to talk about what we are doing, and what we will be doing. In the broader context, we'll be learning about early American settlements, the American Revolution, and American Government. What the sequence is, and how the reading comprehension is integrated (and when) is a little up in the air right now.... but at least my projector and Activeboard are now wall/ceiling mounted!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Teaching non-fiction

I think the most difficult part about social studies is the content. Textbooks, like most non-fiction, are dense in information. Where students find difficulty is in deciphering what is "interesting" and what is "important." Non-fiction is just one of those things that most students don't have tons of exposure to, and they aren't as familiar with the structure (as it is far different from fiction).

I'm approaching social studies as a content area, and reading as the tool to comprehend it. What that means is that I need to teach specific reading skills, and use those skills to gather important information. How is that going you ask? Well, it has just begun. Being a first year teacher I struggle a bit with pacing, which makes me feel like things bog down. But as a whole things move quick. As we just finished our second day of swapping kids (an hour per rotation of math, science, and social studies- middle school-esque), and I am starting to look less at the clock (pacing) and worry more about engagement.

Kids are engaged for sure. I am working to circulate, checking in with kids throughout the room. I feel a bit like I am a cattle prodder though, which has me thinking about how I can be more intentional. Perhaps it is a matter of setting things up more clearly so that I can work in depth with small groups. Perhaps it is a matter of establishing centers where kids rotate through a center with me... a center where they are working on something, another center working on something, and another where they are reading with me (or working on something with me).

The bottom line is that non-fiction takes time to teach. Kids need to be familiar with the structure. They also need to know what is important, and they need to know how to record that information so that they can more efficiently synthesize it. Eventually I want to move more towards having kids recording questions, and working them towards searching for answers and information. It is a work in progress.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Meet Gort


Before school started I had all sorts of trouble trying to get my room setup. Each "classroom" has an activeboard, a projector, and a whiteboard. Mine, being a shared space, was not technically a classroom. We had converted a space that was mutually used by the 4th and 5th grades into a classroom in order to lower class size in the 5th grade. Since it was a conversion room, it didn't have all of those amenities.

After searching around, we moved the activeboard from another shared space into mine. We then located the computer that hooks into it, as well as the projector. Being the techno-geek that I am, and having a father that was in IT, I figured "no problem," I'll have this setup in no time.

One minor issue... I couldn't get power to the board. So I searched around, I had power to everything BUT the activeboard. No juice. So I called the helpdesk on my newly setup phone (setup in that it was attached to the outlet, not that I had voicemail etc). They give me direction, and tell me I need to get it hooked into the network, as well as attach a power cable to my I/O port where the activeboard and the computer meet....

I did that, I was moving right along... until I met Gort. Who is Gort? I'm still not sure. But I called the helpdesk, I was cursing inside as well, and I say "well... I've met Gort, and I feel like I should.." and I hear a giggle. If you've met Gort you aren't on the network, and you need a IT support person to come out... At the time it was funny in the most frustrating of ways. Now it is just funny. My computer's name is Gort, a techie person's inside joke. Apparently I'm not techie enough.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

The more you write, the more it grows

I thoroughly enjoy teaching writing. I don't consider myself to be much of a writer, but I do enjoy putting my own thoughts down, and I try my best to pass that enthusiasm along. Last year I felt like my teaching was fairly successful for the first and second graders I had. I certainly had some that I hoped to push further, but I felt like most of the kids got excited about Writer's Workshop.

Looking at my practice this year, I feel like I am coming back around. My first day or two of the workshop weren't what I had hoped for, but the kids persisted anyway. As I have started to model more clearly, and ask clearer questions for shoulder partner discussion, our writing sessions have gotten crisper. We've started the journey from "watermelon" stories, those stories that are "and then, and then, and then," to seed stories. Case in point was one who wrote about when she got her cat.
"The cat reached through the cage, almost as if to say 'Take me! I've been here for years.' "

Before the writing included some detail about the color of the cat, and her being excited to get the cat, but little about how that experience was. She was really focusing in, and getting to the essence of that moment, which was the purpose. Additionally the kids are able to identify if their own stories are watermelon or seeds, and working towards re-drafting (one of the stories we've written, not all).

Lastly, all my kids have technology skills of some sort. Each can use their personal login (to the network), each can type fairly proficiently, they can do most of the basic Word functions, etc. This gives me hope for my desire to start a class blog. I'd use the 10 computer/21 kids to do a weekly rotation. One set would blog and the other would comment, and continue to rotate. This would work for about a month before changing up groups and/or having them all responsible for a weekly/bi-weekly post and comment. I just need to find out what I need to do in order to get clearance/permission. Big plans are in store.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

A mixture of old and new

I've been trying to construct meaning out of all sorts of stuff that I've been given for the first week or two. What types of stuff? Reading comprehension copies, old test sample questions, math diagnostics, etc. Some of the items I have taken, and been explicit in teaching the concepts embedded in them (finding the main idea for example). Others I have used as diagnostics, preliminary assessment data about what kids know and don't know.

I struggle initially trying to create meaning from the papers that I have. Why? Well because it wasn't really in my operating procedure to use a ton of blackline masters (teacher book stuff), and consider that good teaching. I maintained a level of disdain, thinking it lacked creativity and thoughtfulness. But is that really the case? Perhaps to some degree, but the meaning of a worksheet is derived from how it is used and the teaching before/during/after.

Case in point for me has been some maps/geography handouts I have. Now it could have simply been an interesting activity- read it, answer some questions, color in a map. But what I elected to do was focus on some of the non-fiction features, in particular the bolded vocabulary (Latitude, longitude, equator, etc). "Why are those words bolded? How might those words help us understand what we are reading? Where might we find the meaning from the text we are reading?" I've had them working with shoulder partners (although some have used table groups of 4) and they've worked reading together, answering questions, and searching for definitions. For me, this has been useful in getting a handle on their knowledge of some nonfiction. This has been an assessment of following directions, working in groups, and their reading ability with lower level nonfiction.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Tally Ho!

Week one is in the books. The first week of school is odd because of the amount of community building and assessment you need to do. Instead of diving into content, you are teaching procedures and trying to foster a sense of community. How well did I succeed in meet those ends? Fairly well.

I have a group of 21 kiddos, but 19 were there this week. It is a great number, allowing us to really talk to each other. The number of kids gave me a good chance to know each one's name, and know a little bit about each one. I was successful in cycling through, checking in with each one, and monitoring students. I'm not sure how successful I would have been on the first day of my first year with a much larger group. Could I have do so? Probably, but this was great.

I've already started the Writer's Workshop. We started with a letter to Mr. Hanson, allowing them to tell me things about themselves. We also started in on the small moments section, which is a starter for personal narrative. I realized early on that I did a poor job of modeling on the first day of small moments, but the following days were better. I was clearer in teaching what a small moment was, and how to zoom in to make those moments clearer from our minds eye.

The community building went well also. I had a kiddo say that the best part of the first week was that they got to learn the things they had in common with their peers. Yet another talked about meeting new friends, talking to old friends. No arguments, lots of kids on task, fairly good modelling.

This week we are doing some reading comprehension with non-fiction. We'll be looking at how texts bold words, and why those words are important (and how they help us understand the text). We'll also take our reading and apply it to labelling a blank world map. It is something that one of my partner teachers has done, at least the labelling, but I am going to use the map info and the reading comprehension on my own- thinking it provides context and solid teaching points. Oh non-fiction how I love thee.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Everyone has a first day at something

First day tomorrow. Kids walk through the doors, and we're starting the marathon of learning. Lots to get through, in particular starting to build community, establish expectations, and learn names! I can't say I'm not nervous. I wonder whether I'm on the right track, whether what I want to do is paced to last (or whether I'll need to add/subtract things... or bump to the next day), and whether everything will go off without a hitch. Hitches will happen, as they always tend to. Nerves are appropriate as well. I think it shows that I care about what I do. I want to do well for myself, and for my kiddos.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

First day considerations

The start of school is two days away. At 8:25 on Tuesday morning the bell will ring, and the school year will begin. The year is more marathon than sprint, and the first few days are critical. Our team isn't rotating kiddos until the end of the second week, so the first 7-10 days of school will be my chance to establish and reinforce expectations, as well as getting some initial assessment data.

That first day is still a work in progress right now. I want to have students tour the room in order to see where materials are, where books are (and what books are there), and get a general feel for the layout. We will spend some time going over procedures (and a little of the why we need procedures) such as bathroom, drink, sharpening pencil, etc. Most important will be coming up with "Our Expectations" which I want to frame around learning.

Beyond the procedural end, I also have two or three other things I want to roll out. I am planning to read the Three Questions, a picture book based on a story by Leo Tolstoy. I feel like that, along with some small/large group discussion, will tie back to the discussion of expectations and the community that I hope we'll build. Beyond the three questions, I also want to start the Writer's Workshop. I want to start by having them write a letter to me telling about themselves, and what they want to learn this year. It will tie into a homework assignment that one of my teammates has done in the past. The letter will be between them and I, not the whole class. My plan is to use a few other activities/projects to get us to learn about each other.

The first days are starting to come together, just need a little more work.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck

My space finally looks like home. I have a Welcome sign that I made out of construction paper. I have a number line up on the wall. I've also got a map of the US and a map of the world up on the wall. The walls have some character, and the remainder of the wall space (and there is quite a bit) will be filled by student work.

My activeboard is up and running too. All in all, things are coming along. Tomorrow is my day to get a schedule together, actually committing some of the items I've got in scattered note pages into a matrix/table. It is coming along.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Wrapping my brain around it

I'm five days away from day one with kiddos. We had our Meet and Greet today, and it was great to finally see some kiddos, and get a chance to interact with them and their families. Since I am working with two other teachers, and we are teaming together, I got a chance to see many of the families on our team. It was fantastic, and made me really excited to get started. Additionally, the experience brought home who I am doing all of this for: the kiddos!

Now the room isn't complete yet. I feel like it feels a bit empty. I have cleaned out the excess furniture, and have desks that are in table groupings. I have books on shelves, and have my teacher library setup (which makes it look far more professional, and a little less empty). Beyond that I don't have much. No sayings, no posters, not much of anything. I need to think a bit about that, and think about what I want to put up that is intentional while also adding my own spin. I want to help create a culture of learning and high expectations, while also bringing out some of my personality (for example I've thought of bringing in my race numbers from the Boston, NYC, and Chicago marathons as I'm very proud of them and they are a significant achievement).

Even more, I need to get my first week put together. Thankfully the new teacher program has a checklist of things to think about pre-1st day... things like bathroom pass, homework recording system et al. They are little things that help keep things organized, and give you a heads up before you get there and are in the midst. Alas...

Last note... got my activeboard setup, at least partially. When I was nearly all the way done, which it isn't, I came to the windows login. It was the user "Gort" which blew me away... Who is Gort?! And why can't I login? They'll be in, it'll be fixed. Bring it on.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Are we there yet?

No, not quite yet. But we are getting there. I moved all of the miscellaneous furniture out of the room- a few long tables, a few square tables, a circle table from the roman era, and study desks that belong in a 1970's college library. In addition, I received some desks that I have put into table groups. As much as I looooove tables, the predominant culture seems to be that desks are the way. I will use the desks, but be creative in how I arrange kiddos and how I group them.

I also moved some of the computers I have in the room. There were a bank of computers facing each other, and I moved them to the outer walls. The result is that I can see what kiddos are doing, and I have a clear space in the "front" of the room to teach from when needed (or have kids come up, etc etc). I'll confess to being giddy about my computer situation. I am at a near 1:1 ratio. I've got 15 computers to 20-24 kids, so I will need to come up with a rotation for who buddies up (when that time comes).

Now that my space feels better, I can start to turn my attention to a few other issues. I need to think about my walls and the culture that I want students to walk into (ie what do students think when they walk into the room, what do my walls and setup say to students, what appears valued?). I need to start thinking about what my first week is going to look like- what are we going to do, how are we going to build community etc..

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Conversations

This post came through my blog feeds this morning. I think it is interesting, even if part of the conversation turned to TFA. TFA isn't scalable, nor are the charter school outfits. Additionally, it is debatable what the statistics actually reflect- charter school success? skimming high achievers? or what?

What I always wonder is why the public conversation rarely (if ever) turns to what good pedagogy is, and what exemplifies it. High test scores, which are often tied to merit pay, seem to assume good pedagogy but is that true? Additionally, why is it that we give a single test (used for achievement- not formative assessments in this case) where other professions look at a broader spectrum of results? Oy vey.

Less Waiting, More Doing

I was placed yesterday. I'll be teaching 5th grade, and couldn't be more excited. While I student taught in a 1st-2nd split, I have experience with all grade levels and quite a bit with the 4th and 5th graders. Experience doesn't necessarily translate into teaching ability, but I believe I'll be successful. What I don't know, I'll need to pick up. But I also need to be confident that what I was able to do while student teaching, not to mention what I learned in college courses, will serve me well going forward (i.e. don't turn your back on that experience).

SPACE
The only oddity is the space I'll be teaching in. It was a shared space between two 5th grade classrooms. Now it will be used as my classroom, which is fine by me. To get to the space you can take one of three routes... 1&2) through either classroom, as each have a door into the space, or 3) via the door to the outside.

(Note: image not to scale, and based on short stay in the room) It is a relatively large space, although not as large as classrooms built in the 60's or 70's (like my wife's, which is giant). The classroom has high ceilings, which seemed to echo, but we'll have to see how that works. Currently there are 5-10 computers in the space, which I hope I get to keep. There is a ton of other stuff in there, but I'll start cleaning it up Monday. As far as getting in... well I need to go through the 2 other classrooms, or outside. The kids will line-up outside, so that works great, but we'll see from there. I'm definitely psyched to be right next to the other two 5th grade classrooms. Rotating kids should be easy (rotating kids you say... read on).

WHO/WHAT
The cohort of 5th graders is 60-64 kids. I heard 62 and then 64, so we'll say 60-64 for good measure. They were able to get another 5th grade teacher (me) because of the size, which means class size of 20-22ish. Hoooray! Additionally the teachers team, and have (or are open to) rotating kids. That would essentially create content area specialists, which I'm excited about. Instead of teaching a lesson once, you teach it multiple times, and have the ability to make adjustments each time (and hopefully improve your practice!). I'm not sure how this will work, or what content area, but I should know early in the week.

As a whole I am psyched. Kids are kids are kids, some just different sizes (and further along cognitively). I'll post more next week once I know more about the nuts of bolts. Until then...

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Knowledge is... what you know

I feel like I've been caught in a wind tunnel with the wind cranked on high this week. Training seems like it is over for the week, so I can catch my breath and digest all the information thrown at me. The first half of the week was spent in three hour content sessions going over elements of effective student-centered teaching for those content areas, as well as standards, and curricular materials. The second half was spent on the professional evaluation system, the new teacher support program, and HR stuff (payroll, benefits, paperwork tie-ups, accidents, etc). If I was a K-2 teacher I'd be heading to a half day training tomorrow, but I'm not sure where I'll be as of yet.

I don't have any personal experiences to compare this training system to. Using anecdotal references, I can tell you I'm far better off compared to other districts. My district seems intent on preparing their rookies, and ensuring they are not miles behind their colleagues. Instead of tossing us into the deep end without any support we've been tossed a life raft or life preserver. Don't get me wrong, we're still in the deep end. There aren't other teachers who'll come and take over for you at the instant you struggle. But the district provides you resources to get you through those struggles.

So far, so good.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Charting a new path?

Cleaning out the blog posts in my google reader, I came across this post. The original op-ed piece can be found here. Now one thing to know up front: the original blog, Schools Matter, is very anti-charter and anti-KIPP. They forward along more stuff about how bad both entities are than I've seen in any blog. That being said, it is interesting to read, and provides interesting prospective. Read the post (as it has the op-ed in it).

More Than Just Keyboards

Today was the start of technology training. Two sessions, one to get familiar with policies and the second to get familiar with navigating the staff portal etc. The days of just using a computer and a projector are effectively over (at least for me). My student teaching featured a presentation computer attached to a document camera and projector. Together I was able to beam images, show copies like the old school ditto machine (transparency and all). That was effective for me, and it was a healthy amount of technology, but certainly not overly abundant.

Well, technology should be fully integrated this year. First off is having a whiteboard with an Activeboard on top if it... right in the middle. The expectation is that you will use the activeboard, make flip charts, and use it as a way to engage your kids. For example you can do the instruction you would do with a whiteboard, but you can then have kids writing onto the activeboard- and save it! Plus you can add in small checks for understanding that give you more information to assess where your teaching is (did I teach that concept effectively? do I need to spend a little more time with that concept or idea?). Additionally you still have your projector and document camera.

There were tons of other things learned today, not just how to use activeboards and create flip charts. The question I circle back to is: how am I going to teach what I want to teach AND integrate technology into it? That will be unsettled until I learn my grade and school. Much to look forward to.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

And so it begins...

Tomorrow is the first day of training. I have two technology trainings tomorrow, the first as an intro to all the tech stuff they have and the second being a more in-depth look at the applications the district uses. Call me crazy, but I couldn't be more excited that my summer is over. I have one or two Friday's off the next three weeks, but it depends on the grade level I'll be teaching (still no word). I'm thankful to be getting down to business and not having to interview. Phew!

The schedule is booked now until June, bring it on!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Real Problems

I came across this blog post from over at NYC Educator today. Additionally, I went to the link in the post, which can be found here. The crux is that a high school student was shipped from a "public charter school" to a regular public school, largely because of inconvenience to the charter school (with there being many meanings to inconvenience in this case).

As a whole, I am conflicted about charter schools. They must be doing some things right, otherwise they wouldn't be getting all of the publicity saying they are the magic fix (right?!). I also have a friend that is a principal of a new KIPP school on the east coast (and when I say new, I mean just opening this fall... or next week). But, thinking they are the magic fix to our education woes is laughable at best. Additionally, there is a significant issue with regards to the statistical achievements they are often lauded for.

That really isn't the issue here for me. What kills me (no irony intended) is that charter schools can be allowed to ship students off because they are inconvenient. One of the teachers quoted in the secondary link is that many of the students she receives come with incomplete evaluations. What the??? How is that fair by any stretch of the imagination? They cry foul because they don't have the resources?! And the larger public school system does? Really?

Monday, August 10, 2009

Writing Essentials

I've got 4 more days of summer... which includes today. Everything starts back up on Friday when I have an all day training on the technology in the district. Being that there are interactive whiteboards in each room, I'm excited to have the training.

But I am starting to parse through Writing Essentials today, looking at how teachers of different grades organize their respective days. Why? Well I got to thinking the other day about how 6th grade is so so so different than 2nd or 3rd grade, and how I have a feeling of being a little in the dark about what happens in those classrooms. Thankfully my wife talked some sense into me, telling me that teaching in 6th grade isn't all that much different than 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. We get tricked into this feeling of difference, at least partially, because the books we read seem geared more towards primary. Couple that with student teaching in primary grades and the result is this feeling of fear that needs to be dispelled.

Just call me the wizard, as I am dispelling myths today.

Buzzing

Twitter and the blogosphere are all abuzz about an opinion piece (letter) entitled Why I Left Teaching Behind. The letter is an interesting read, particularly for someone that is entering year one of teaching. I can't debate the merits of the letter since it is her rationale for leaving, but I can't say her rationale is anything I haven't heard before.

Teaching is an odd career choice because of its position in society. The paradox goes as follows: it is always mentioned as one of the keys to our society, but it is treated as though anyone off the street could do it. Teachers are seen as integral to our societal success, but it is "so nice" or selfless to have chosen to teach.

I'm excited about the chance to teach a variety of different things each day, week, month, and year. I'm excited about seeing a myriad of different learners, and helping them succeed. I'm just plain excited, even if I don't know what grade I'm teaching... or where I'll be teaching.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Damaged Goods

I have returned from my much needed break from blogging and all things education. While I was still reading postings in my google reader, I stopped writing and reading anything else. Like my wife, I professed to take a break until August 1st... and I'm back!

Since I don't have a grade level or school yet (but do have a contract), I've started by reading more background stuff. I'm finishing To Understand by Keene (co-author of Mosaic of Thought), which has been a good start. My wife is finishing Results Now, which is next on my list, and then there is a chapter from the Morning Meeting book that I am going to read. In my starred blog posts is one about classroom blogging, which I am excited to read a bit more thoroughly (as well as doing more classroom blog research- Learning is Messy etc).

Psyched to get rolling, and psyched to be back. I'll leave you with this comment from Pat Conroy (another google reader nugget):

I have yet to meet an English teacher who assigned a book to damage a kid. They take an unutterable joy in opening up the known world to their students, but they are dishonored and unpraised because of the scandalous paychecks they receive. In my travels around this country, I have discovered that America hates its teachers, and I could not tell you why.

Dishonored and "unpraised" (sic)... hmmm.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Buying Stock in Futures

The joys of summer. It is a great time to have a summer job, particularly one where you sling coffee beverages to folks and have little responsibility. I'm caffeinated, I'm happy, and I get to talk to a variety of people (I'd say wide variety, but most are corporate/business types). This is the perfect time to relax a bit, let the pressure of the past 2 years release. This is the first time in 2 years that I am not working and going to school, doing each in a part/full time capacity (it worked out to a 40-10 split as far as hrs roughly). Work, at current, is a nice respite.

But I'd like to start getting ready for the year. Where do I start though? Normally I'd start digging through the curriculum sets, and seeing how the year is typically laid out, thinking about potential adjustments. This year I'd want to start setting up my classroom, as it would give me a head start- and extra hands from my wife (who has to setup her classroom too) and her family. But I can't really do that either. So what to do?

My plan right now is to start going through some of the books on my bookshelf about reading/writing/math instruction. I also want to go through some bigger picture stuff too. My wife has a book she is borrowing from her principal called Results Now, which I think I might read as well. I'll also start to go back through some of the Starred blog postings and see what other teachers have been doing (or are/were thinking). At least that's a start...

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Hired

That one word says it all. I've been hired into a teaching pool. It is different than applying to a pool, since I actually have a contract in hand. Not sure what grade level, or school yet, but I should know by the time the new teacher institute starts (at least I would assume).

It isn't in Seattle, but that is ok. My motto is: have certificate, will travel. Very excited to get going, with the fun starting the 14th of August and the New Teacher Inst. Should be doing lots of tech stuff as well because of the tech resources in the district.

I had a position as a sub in Seattle lined up as a deep fallback (as I feel like jobs will open up in Aug/Sept). No need anymore!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Marketability

I find interviewing to be challenging. While I am an outgoing individual, I'm a tad self-conscious and I've got that perfectionist quirk that seems to be going around. Swirl those things together and you get someone that tends to over think, wants to be thorough, and isn't all that comfortable talking about himself.

I talked with a cohort-mate who just interviewed, and her advice to me was to "remember marketing yourself." I nodded my head, but was internally cringed at the notion of selling myself. Ultimately schools, principals, and other administrators want to know why they should pick you.?. What makes you a talent that they want in their district/building? I get it, but am not comfortable with it. Time to start practicing what I might say, thinking about what I've done, and just simply getting ready to ensure they see who I am and what I can do.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Dreaming of Something Bigger

I work at a mammoth coffee chain in Downtown Seattle. You can likely guess which one. I enjoy the change of pace that it gives me during the summer (off-season if you will), and a chance to be away from kids. I will own up to a love of coffee, and sarcasm, two things that children don't quite appreciate as much!

What I didn't notice, until this morning, was how ambivalent people are. The charge that I see every morning walking into the school, from kids, parents and staff, is the polar opposite. The come and go, rush through to the next stop, is rather disheartening. When we talk about creating lifelong learners who can contribute to society, is that what we picture? While I understand how important having a job is, I hope that I'm not merely helping kids up onto the conveyor belt of work. I'm not sure any teacher really hopes that their students will want to be corporate worker bees (can you just imagine the student who says "I want to work for a big name corporation in a bland sounding job!"). I dream of something more for our kids, and whether they get there remains to be seen...

Friday, June 19, 2009

Speculating a Gold Rush

I am not sure I want to read the newspaper anymore. I used to think it was a great place to find out what was happening in the world, and see what people were thinking. Well... I am not sure I want to know what people are thinking anymore.

At the risk of sounding like a know-it-all pipsqueak, I found myself (again) befuddled by a story in the Seattle Times. Two things bothered me in particular:

1. They had spoken with a teacher protesting in front of Seattle Public Schools HQ. At the time of the RIF, around the 10th of May, he said: "I wish they could have waited a little longer, to see if they could find the money," Jarosz told me then.

2. "They say stimulus money, but they don't tell you how much. And did they know about it before? You go through a lot of stress when you lose your job. Was it all really necessary?" To which Nicole Brodeur chimed in I wondered the same thing.

I am not a fan of RIF's/Layoffs/Job Losses. It is awful for all parties involved, and if I had graduated last year I would likely be in the RIF pool. If I get a job this summer, then I may find myself in that same position next May 15th. But this was something the district needed to do, for two reasons:
1) it is a state mandated deadline that they need to notify people of RIF's. There's no waiting, no "maaaaaybe if" scenarios.
2) you can't speculate on the money you will get. They didn't have the stimulus money, so they needed to RIF. You can assume you have certain pools of money, but you don't really know until it has been allocated.

I get the notion that the man was upset. I can't imagine losing my job via RIF, but I have lived through my wife having her contract non-renewed due to budget issues. It makes for a stressful time! But yes, it was necessary. The district doesn't want to create stress. As a journalist (or columnist), Nicole Brodeur needs to a bit more research. It was an issue of timing and budgeting. Maybe there are guidelines that the school board and superintendent could have followed regarding budgeting. I don't know, and I would imagine Brodeur doesn't either.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Don't Read the Newspaper

Reading newspaper articles and op-ed pieces on education can be infuriating. This morning I read a Seattle Times Op-Ed that I couldn't make heads or tails of. At best I disagreed with her assessment that our kids are thriving in schools. At worst I was confused by comparing education to being science-based like medicine.

Personally I believe that education needs reform of some sort. Does it need to scrapped in favor of charter schools? I don't think so, particularly as the data comparing charters and public schools don't support the huge gains that charter school supporters champion. But I do believe that we need an education system that isn't a slave to assessment. Assessment should inform instruction, and help teachers target instruction at appropriate levels. I am not quite sure what is so science-based about education either. Perhaps it is the number of case studies that eventually lead to best practices. Then again, hasn't a case been made for virtually all of the "best practices" that have been in education, many of which competing against each other?

I think there are some great things happening at schools, but by no stretch of the imagination are they thriving. If they were thriving, and preparing all students for higher ed and the great beyond then we wouldn't have programs like Rainier Scholars. There was a great article about RS in the Seattle Times as well. What kills me are the comments, which show a complete lack of understanding for why a program like Rainier Scholars exists.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Tossing Water Balloons

Field Day came and went. Ohhh how I love Field Day. It was a childhood favorite when I was in elementary school. When I started working at an elementary school 7 years ago I was reintroduced to Field Day. I played soccer and kickball all day, and had a great time running around outdoors with the kiddos. That continued for the next 2 years then off I went to other endeavors. I went to another 1 or 2 in my after school programming days, and continued to have a blast- sack hop relays, world cup soccer (teams of 2, and 5 balls and goals), good times.

Today I got a chance to help out at Field Day yet again. This time it was back at the school where I had been student teaching. This was my second time seeing the kiddos since I ended student teaching, and it was the second time I was mobbed (re: giant magnet attracting all things with metal). They were surprised to see me, which tells me quite a bit about their memory (they knew I was coming back for it). It was great to see the kiddos, and a great time.

The funny thing about Field Day is that you need to have a vision for what you are going to do. The overall day was awesome, and very well put together. Now at my station it was rough going the first time or two through, largely because of patience and crowd control. Give a kid a water balloon and what will they do? Squeeze it, toss it, lob it, essentially anything but what you want them to do. Add to that the K-2 element, and we had a little malfunction at the start. Thereafter I was able to get my bearings, and use my teacher skills to get some order and make the station work. 10 at a time (5 pairs), everyone else in a waiting line, give water balloons AFTER doing directions.

The highlight for me had to be tossing a water balloon with a student at the end. It was the last balloon and she wanted me to be her partner (2nd grader from class). We went back and forth about 6 times, and had to be about 20-30 apart. Eventually I took it on the shoe, but it was good fun. Plus we had a constant line, and no one chucked a water balloon intentionally at their partner. Job well done! It was likely my last day seeing the kiddos, and I will admit to being a little sad. I got hugs on the way out and everyone get my customary high-five. But onward and upward....

Monday, June 15, 2009

Pools versus Positions

As a newly certificated teacher, I join the many (likely hundreds?) that are looking for teaching jobs in the Seattle metro area. The process of applying for jobs is not like other professions. This isn't a send a cover letter and resume for a position or ad posting. No no! That would be too simple. Instead it is a hybrid between your ordinary paper application (re: Starbucks, etc) and the aforementioned career postings.

Most districts have moved to an online application. I'm cool with that, particularly as it saves paper, although I am sure there is an argument that the energy usage negates any such savings. Additionally you need to copy and mail anything that can't be scanned or uploaded. Hmmm. Few districts still have a paper application that gets filed in the central office, so I need to get over that (although any misspellings can be blamed on my failing eyesight caused by staring at the computer screen filling out said apps).

What is most interesting is the notion of a "pool." Since most districts are without actual positions to offer, they are establishing a pool. This pool, which makes me think of floaties and a life preserver, is to establish capable candidates for the district. I see the district's point of view, which (I think) is that they want to be in control of who teaches in their district, as well as ensuring that their principals/staff are focused on teaching (instead of wading through applicants). You could posit that good teachers are good teachers, so what's the fuss?

I simply wonder whether the district knows what is best for each individual school. I'm not sure all teachers fit at all schools, particularly as they bring different strengths that are useful for particular positions. The technology skills that I have might not be as useful at a school lacking in technology. Similarly, my monolingualism doesn't serve me well in a school dominated by second language speakers or dual language programs. Does a central screening process, by a district, serve it well with applicants? I really don't know. What I do know is that my eyes hurt.