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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.