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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.