Almost Back

There is a ton that I need to get done before we start up on Wednesday. First and foremost is figuring out what I am teaching. We ended a unit just before break, and now need to move onward. There are some social studies topics coming but I need to lay them out. I've also got to decide what novel study books will come next. I had 9 books going this past round, but still have a few in my library that I haven't used. Additionally we have a book room to access. Question is which books and why.

Just to make things interesting I have some work to score. These are the videos that the kids made. They shouldn't take that long, but it needs to get done. I need to start with a clean plate.

Lots coming, I just need to do it. Here's to getting it done.

Book Projects

Some teachers rue having students do book projects. This typically means having kids do a book report. I've opened the options for them, and I do them very infrequently. I can have kids show what they know in other ways, and don't want to burn through larger projects (project fatigue).

Heading into the holiday break I had kids working on their first book project. It was useful since I really didn't want to start a new unit just before the holiday- and I also didn't want to throw away 2-3 days. Instead we were making posters and book covers to advertise their favorite books thus far. The results have been pretty amazing. The artwork has been great, and the writing about the book has matched.

Like any project in my room, it isn't done when I thought it would be... But I'm pleased with where it is going.

When Projects Go Well

Projects are an investment. They are rewarding yet also frustrating. They require time to put together and don't always yield what you are hoping for.

Over the past 3 years I've done a project where students create an advertisement for a region of the US that native Americans settled in. I'll admit that when I started it in year 1 I didn't have a solid handle of how to get kids to the end I wanted. I said "here's the problem- find the best region" and let them solve it. It was the equivalent of dropping kids in the pool and saying "swim." Ultimately I ended up helping a majority, some far more than others.

Over time I've implemented more scaffolding, laying the project out in a more linear fashion. Now we start with the over arching question from the jump- checking in on it as we mine for information, and do some comparisons. We also work more systematically- gathering information, working in reading and thinking skills along the way in a planned fashion.

As they're finishing their photostory projects, I can see the fruits of that effort. We have developed thought out projects that are really good, particularly for their first time working on this size of project. I am genuinely excited to go through each am provide feedback- even if it will take some time.

Reading Novels

We are finishing our second round of novel study. I'm pleasantly surprised at the progress we've made. We can describe characters and identify story elements. We can make predictions, and provide evidence.

What we still need work on is writing at greater length. Moreover, I need to do a better job modeling what that looks like. I need to give kids a better model of how to link ideas together, knowing that too much is actually better than being brief. My kids, probably like your kids, like to be done so they can move on. Sometimes you need to linger.

Rigor at every level

What do you do when kids don't get it?

What do you do when kids get it, and need challenge?

Two questions I'm giving a lot of thought to.

The Secret to Being Observed

Being observed is part and parcel to your first 3-5 years of teaching. In year 4, I have 3 formal observations. I also signed up to help pilot teacher learning walks so I have teachers coming into my room (to give feedback) on another occasion (today, Wednesday, in fact).

Observations are a good thing. They I've you information about your practice. They should also give you a chance to be more reflective- not that you aren't, but let's not kid about the realistic time constraints of teaching.

But there is a secret: act like no one is there. Do the things you'd normally do, and get on with teaching the way you know how. No one wants to see a song and dance. If you are concerned about how effective your lesson might be- so something else (a different one) or rethink what you want to accomplish. Otherwise you create more work for yourself.

Gone 'til November

Around conference time I feel off the map. Yes I was still teaching, but blogging took a back seat. Between conferences, marathon training, an observation, challenge course, and Halloween I simply didn't feel like I had the time. It dropped down the priority list.

Where am I at?
We just finished our unit on Government. Our end tasks were to write a persuasive piece to get someone to vote for a candidate. We used information from CNN, and focused on writing with reasons and examples. The net result? Really impressive writing.

Where are we going?
Next is Geography and American Indians. Typically this comes first, but I moved government forward due tote election (timeliness and relevance). Beyond that I need to get back to blogging more regularly. I'm aiming for a weekly posting set into my Outlook calendar. I've found blogging to be an integral part of thinking lessons through and considering how they went. I need to return to it.

Until Friday.

We've Got Issues

I struggle mightily with homework. On one hand it is kids' time, and they should do with it as they will. On the other it is an opportunity for extra practice, connecting families (homework help), and good study habits. I dislike the daily homework seeing the legwork on my end to be significant compared to the payoff.

What I started doing 2 years ago was a current event. Kids select an article of their choice to read and summarize. It shows comprehension while also focusing on distilling ideas from a larger article into 4-5 key points. It ties into reading standards in a variety of ways while leaving little legwork on my end, and allowing kids choice.

This year I am going to tweak it a bit. Instead of an open ended free for all we will have a structured context to pick from within. For example, we started with Government this year in order to highlight the 2012 presidential election. The month of October will be focused on election stories- who is running, what they are saying, etc. it will provide some interesting context to go through facts/opinions and persuasive writing also. Later we will highlight other important events/milestones/themes. We will likely do something around community needs in December. January we will come back to government as the inauguration/government start up begin. February might be for finding something you love- animals, video games, etc.

I'm pretty excited about it. The evolution to something meaningful is going on, which is pretty great.

Fluency Testing

Last year I fluency tested my 5th graders that I considered to be low. They were students that missed grade level on the 4th grade MSP (state test), or we're close to the cut line. I opted for that approach, thinking it would be a time saver.... It was.

This year I have opted to fluency test our whole grade level. In a profession where time is of the essence, and oh so precious, it would seem counterintuitive. Why fluency test kids who exceeded grade level standard? The key is in knowing them as a reader. This is my first piece of information in my reading puzzle. From the conference I can see just how easy (by rate/voice) it is, as well as how they retell information. I can ask questions and see where they are, and the additional time is minimal because they are faster (by and large).

How does it inform my instruction? The key is it gives me a subtle benchmark for where to go. I don't fluency test them to the instructional rate because it largely isn't necessary- I can tell if books are right from simple passage reading if needed. But it tells me how the handle inflection while they read, punctuation (do they stop at periods?!), and what do they do in retelling? Do they rely on the cover, or can they give more specifics?

It is an interesting puzzle piece. It only begins to fill in as I continue my running records during reading.

End of Week Reflections

This year I have started doing two things differently. The first is writing objectives on the board during non-social studies block time. I write them during my literacy/s.s. block, but typically haven't during our get to know you or pre-assessment activities. I also did a thumbs up/down with it, and kids gave me a good check for how we are doing. I liked it, seeing it as important in this time when it seems like we aren't doing much.

The second thing I started doing is a weekly reflection. Kids are asked to come up with 2 things that were positive from the week- sharing with a partner, and a few to the whole group. This was awesome! Kids were willingly sharing, and had some great positives...

-I made a new friend.
-I climbed all the way across the monkey bars.
-people tried really hard

I want kids searching for those positives. I'm hoping it will only build going forward.

First two days

The best part about the mobile blogger app is that it makes blogging more accessible. I typically reflect on my day in the evening, and am not always in front of my computer. I also don't always want to be thinking about my school day while sitting with my laptop on my lap, or hunched over a table. So hopefully that leads to more blogging, or more reflection...

The first days are always a bit of a grind. You really aren't humming along, and everything takes a little longer than you think it will. But we got quite a bit accomplished. We've established our expectations, spending about an hour working on them- what is an expectation, what should the room look like during learning, what should the room sound like, and how do our interactions go. Kids have done this before, so it comes around after a few minutes of sputtering.

I've also committed myself to writing my objectives on the whiteboard where the schedule is. Why? I want kids to see where we are going. Right now that is me directing the ship, but soon it will be them crafting the objectives (with guidance). I surveyed kids (thumbs up/down) at the end of the day to see if we met our objectives... That gave me some barometer of how it went, as well as other things we need to work on (more community, more emphasis on reviewing routine).

So far so good. Very excited to really dig in. Tomorrow we will start doing some fluency work, and I'll also start to really dig into some initial writing kids are doing (intro letter) to see what we need some support with.

Get It Started

Tomorrow is day one for my school district. I'm firmly of the belief that if you don't get nervous for day one with students then it is time for you to reconsider your choice of profession. You've got 20-30 kids staring at you wanting you to give them direction- and you don't want to screw it up because... It is the first day, and first impressions are important. Alas.

Like 99% of my brethren I start with very simple objectives. The first day is about community building, routines, and common expectations. We'll sprinkle in some assessing, but not a ton on day one. There is that sweet spot for not assessing- not right away (kids are on summer mode) and not too late (wasted instructional time).

I'm toying with the idea of putting our 3-4 objectives on the whiteboard. Typically I do that for my reading/social studies block, but I haven't done that for our beginning of the year stuff. I have the feeling it will help us set our course, particularly since we are still dreaming of summer. So why are we doing "class about me bingo?" and why am I writing you a letter? Oh right, I am getting to know my peers and introducing myself. Right!

Carry on.

Happiness part 2 (and leadership)

Here is the video that I mentioned yesterday. Shawn Achor from TEDxBloomington, speaking about Happiness and Success.

 

I've also attached a second video, one which my wife watched at one of her trainings. It is about breaking down leadship from the world changing to the person impacting. Drew Dudley, Leading with Lollipops.

Welcome Back to Happiness

This morning we kicked off our first day of our professional development week. Like most, I was still half in summer mode while simultaneously excited about a new group of kids. Our first order of business was to watch a TED Talk by Shawn Achor about the science of happiness (note: I'll embed a link to it later since I'm currently posting on the mobile app). The link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLJsdqxnZb0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

My big takeaway from the video was about our conditioning. We see far more negatives- natural disasters, murders, failures, accidents- than we do positives. Because of that we have a warped idea of the world around us. This is coupled with the notion that we will be happy when we are successful. But what happens when you are successful? You want to go further, and the finish line is extended out. You condition yourself to think you were not good enough or successful enough. These ideas don't make you more successful, they actual make you less successful. Put simply: you are better able to think, create and perform when you are experiencing happiness (dopamine and other fun stuff).

How does apply to my classroom? I often think in the context of high expectations. But you can't forget to celebrate the small achievements, no matter the student. You've also got to be careful about the escalating goalposts. Instead of celebrating reaching a new reading level it shouldn't be "now let's keep going." It needs to be focused on that accomplishment. Even on the smaller level, I'm going to return to the "what was one thing that went well today/this week" and/or complimenting someone for something they did (or didn't) do. The end result might just be a happier, more "successful" group. What that success is we don't know yet.

Integrating Content

I'm entering year 4 of teaching. This will be the fourth year that I work on a team of 3 that divides the work in the same vain as a middle school might. I am left with literacy, and social studies. Ultimately it is a significant amount of content as you are working through social studies information and skills while simultaneously working in reading and writing skills.

My subject areas are a natural combination. You can't necessarily access the social studies content if you can't use effective reading skills. You also can't effectively communicate your understanding, particularly the analysis behind events, if you aren't able to write. There is obviously one glaring and gaping hole. Anyone see it?

If you guessed reading and writing outside of the non-fiction/expository genre then you guessed correctly. How do you go about using your daily 60-80 minutes to ensure you go beyond nonfiction and expository writing? That is the same question I have been wrestling with my first three years of teaching, and I still haven't really found a satisfactory response. While a majority of my counterparts struggle with teaching enough nonfiction, I am tilted entirely in the opposite direction.

In curriculum mapping this fall I started with my Social Studies content. I know it relatively well, and can easily generate a list of essential understandings, guiding questions, and standards to match. This also helped me in thinking about it from a problem based perspective where kids are going to need to generate some sort of product where they will evaluate and/or analyze information. I don't necessarily touch the reading standards at that point, largely because I need to better flesh out those units. If I do more comparison work, I will integrate that reading GLE. I might do categorizing, or questioning, or something else (which obviously will change the GLE used).

But where to start with reading? I have the Units of Study and enjoy them, even though I find them slightly cumbersome. Instead of diving through them, I started with articulating what I want for my kids as readers. I also wanted to state why those things are important. For example, stating "I want them to love reading" is great but doesn't tell you why you should love reading. To that same point, I hated reading for the sake of reading as an upper elementary or middle school student. So why do I need to love reading? Having a clear vision that it is important due to all of the reading you do throughout your life just to simply function is important, let alone to actually process information so that you can make rational decisions (or enjoy yourself, have a conversation about a book, function at work, etc etc). From that starting point I started in on what skills I wanted to ensure I cycled through- inference, story elements, etc. While it isn't complete, I'm pleased with the direction it is going. As I consider who I balance out my days (and time blocks) I can see what time I might need to allocate to each, and how that use of time will work.

8 days until I'm officially back, and 17 until kids start.

Wanting to Procrastinate, But Not

I waffle between procrastinator and overachiever. Depending on the task, I'll either get right on it or I'll let it slide a ways down the line. Sometimes I'll do a combination of both- start uber early before ultimately letting the task wither on the vine a bit. School prep is one of those combination items. I do a little bit before school gets out, since the information is so fresh and I often have ideas for how to revise my practice heading into the following year. But I want to take a break, and typically take a few weeks- depends on myriad of factors, but 3-5 weeks where I do little school work.

All of that said, once August hits I start to get restless. As much as I say I'd like to never work- running, reading, playing everyday instead- I end up starting to want to work. In the past 5 days I've gone into school for about 5 hours in order to do some room setup. I prefer to do that stuff without the hammer of the start of school hanging over me- many will do all setup during their first week back. I tend to need more space to get it done, freedom from folks interrupting or planning for the year. The planning tends to be my first week back stuff, a chance to really dig in without stressing about classroom environment.

This year I move out to a portable. I'm excited about the move, since previously I was in a shared space. This gives me more more wall space, as well as a lower ceiling and the ability to hang things from it (student work, etc). I think it is roughly the same square footage, if not slightly larger. In the end it will be nice. I'm unconcerned about the fact that it is outside of the building, therefore meaning we will lose a little bit of instructional time. Assuming I plan for it with my teammates, it shouldn't be a huge issue. Some of our swapping of kids could be challenging since that means lugging binders and notebooks around. But I think it will work out just fine after some initial adjustment.

Below are a few pictures of the room. It is what you'd see looking in from the door, panning left to right. This is before getting things put away, but is a rough idea of what the space looks like. Lots of table space! There is a gap by the circle table in the first picture because that is where our netbook cart will be going (cart of 16- the other cart will be in the other portable). I am also relatively sure that my 3 groups of 6 will be trimmed since I likely won't have 30+ kids, and we don't have spare desks. Let me know what you think.

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

My 5th graders loved The Lemonade War. When I had the book as an option during novel study, it was a top 2 or 3 pick for over half the kids. When I looked at top books towards the end of the year, this was one of them. I didn't have much of a chance to read it during the school year, but brought it home in hopes of getting to it. Now I have!

The plot revolves around Evan and Janie, brother and sister who are best friends. Well, they were best friends until Janie gets a letter from the school telling her family that she is now going to be in Evan's class in the upcoming school year. Why? The school is small and they are merging some classes, and Janie gets moved up since she is very bright for a soon to be 3rd grader (well, now 4th grader!).

Along the way a few things come out. First is that Evan and Janie are part of a single parent family, as their dad left a while back (a non-central issue in the story). Second is that Evan is not quite as bright as his sister, and he is at the age where he knows it- this is consistently shown as Evan struggles with math problems. Janie does not see Evan as less smart, and is the consummate idealist.

As Evan is angry about the impending doom of having his sister in his class, he challenges his sister to a lemonade war. Sell the most by Labor Day when they go back to school. You learn quite a bit about sibling relations/rivalry, math, and the economics of selling lemonade. I found the story to be approachable to kids if not a little low for many of my readers. That might have been why they liked it, a break from some of the usual stories in a fun and almost thoughtless way- almost like a beach book we read during the summer.

Rating: 3 of 5. Easy to read, not a difficult plot to follow. Good for readers with siblings, or those who like a little competition.

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy has been on my bookshelf for quite some time. Meloy is married to Colin Meloy who wrote Wildwood as well as the Decemberists. It looked interesting in an old world-follow a character-get into a storyline type of way. The book sat because a newborn happened, and there really isn't as much time as there used to be!

The story revolves around Janie, an American who has parents that may or may not believe in Communism during the building of the first nuclear weapons. This forces them to leave LA for London, living in a small flat. Upon arrival they see the apothecary, and the intrigue starts to build. The apothecary is a cross between a pharmacist and a magician, making the unbelievable possible.

As the story unfolds Janie becomes enamored with the apothecary's son Benjamin. Together they start spying on people in the park, and are pulled into a world of espionage and counterterroism. As the apothecary vanishes Janie and Benjamin go in search of him, a journey that involves changing shape (think aviary!), befriending a jailed pickpocket, escaping detectives from Scotland Yard, and stowing away on a ship.

I really enjoyed the story. I found the story to be believable, and not to bog down in minor plot lines. Meloy kept the main thing the main thing- the apothecary, what he was doing, and finding him. The other story lines all fit neatly within the main plot and are not overly distracting. I'm excited to push some of my more advanced readers into this over the course of the next school year.

Rating: 4 out of 5- really good, and I don't typically like historical-esque fiction. 

Common Core Standards

If you haven't looked at the Common Core Standards you probably should. A vast majority of states have adopted them (40 some odd), and they will likely replace your state standards soon. In Washington, this will take place in 2014 but some districts might make the move sooner (if I remember correctly). Since I have the time, since I'm at jury duty, I went through them today. I had done s previously but not in great depth. Today I went through the English Language Arts section. They simplify the Washington standards. Instead of EALR 2 with a variety of components, you have a standard that has some specificity. They are relatively easy to navigate. Go through your grade level and read the various descriptors. What I like is that the descriptors make sense. There is movement, in reading, from the explicit to the implied. You move from citing ideas from the text to making inferences, and using context for a variety of applications. That isn't necessarily new, but the implementation previously involved selecting the appropriate inference. Having kids select something doesn't necessarily guarantee you are getting a gauge of their reading. It could also be good multiple choice selection or some combination of the two. The last piece is the emphasis on integration. You aren't simply looking at technology standards but rather looking at how they are a part of communication- ways to research and present information. It is how we already do things, but included in one document instead of 3-4 (reading, writing, technology, and some sort of content). To me this is a step forward.

End of Year Redux (Part 3)

First let me start wby saying that I am at my jury duty summons, hence the lack of time away from school stuff. Lots of really interesting information gathered from my end of year surveys. Most were things that I already knew or suspected. The next step is to think about next steps... Technology needs to be leveraged. It integrates wells with literacy and project based learning. What I need to do more of is doing more with particular tools. Instead of doing 1 photostory then another two months later, I need to follow it up more immediately. This will help as I expand the various tools available for kids later in the year. This might mean doing a few shorter projects- those not 2+ weeks in duration. It also might mean having less integration with content areas- more sproduct focused as opposed to duly product/content. More reading! I have two different ideas. The first is making reading the primary homework. Since our district is going to be adding a new online learning platform, I could have some short response work for them to post. In some ways this would mimick the flipped classroom- less lecture in class, more done in advance. This would provide good information about their understandng prior to arriving, helping narrow in on some of the students with misconceptions. It would not eliminate reading during my literacy time. But would allow for more novel study books, and/or more social studies content learning (and time for projects). The last thing I am thinking about connects to our use of journals. I need a better system for dividing it into parts. Currently I do front/back with social studies in front and reading literature in the back. Unfortunately the back just isn't what I want. I need more space for word work/roots, and a division between strategy work and novel study. While we apply the strategy with the novel study, I wonder if that makes the journal a bit disjointed. By that I mean you can't see the continuous train of thought around a book. I'll likely used the Reader's Workshop model for journals as a guide. Soon I'll post more about changes in my curriculum map, and how I want to change the way kids demonstrate understanding.

End of Year Redux (Part 2)

As part of my end of year survey I wanted to know what things went well, and what didn't. I asked for two things that the kids liked, and one thing they might change. Here are some of the results, and some quick thoughts.

What Went Well?
--Using the netbooks/technology was universally liked. We used them on a near daily basis for research, typing, project creation.
--Lots of reading. Most mentioned enjoying our novel study, book clubs, or 20 Book Challenge.
--Projects. Loyalist/Patriot Speeches, Designing a County, Evaluating Explorers.
--Our issue research (CBA). Kids enjoyed researching a topic and then making a presentation that advocated for people to do something.
--Having choices. I let kids sit where they wanted (unless they made poor choices/negative learning choices), choose their presentation format, and read books of their choice. Big hit.
--Memoir/Memory Writing. Kids liked being able to reflect on their time, and write with feeling about it.

Quick thought 1: None of this information is groundbreaking. I expected these to be common themes. We stuck with them because of the enthusiasm kids had for the various projects, and typically worked hard to wrap up in a reasonable timeframe so that we didn't burn out (see the next session for more on this).

Quick thought 2: I need to find a way to leverage my technology time so that it isn't necessarily about using new toys or tools. If I can integrate them earlier on in short projects (not necessarily integrated), then it will shorten some of the time needed for the projects. Part of the project time was spent teaching the tool since many of the kids hadn't used Audacity or Photostory at all (or much) previously.

What Could Be Done Differently?
--Extended deadlines. Deadlines approached and toppled some of my kiddos that work slower.
--More writing. Yep, more writing.
--More projects/technology/presentations.
--More than 20 book challenge/different novel study books

Quick thought 1: The extended deadlines was an expected piece of feedback. I have wrestled with this issue before- how long to go since you have the vast majority of kids that are done and others are not even close? I know I need to do a better job of making modifications to help those kids ensure that projects are done in a timely fashion (and well, with the content understanding).

Quick thought 2: Writing sometimes ends up being the odd item out. I embed writing into everything, but the large scale writing projects are often lost. I need to find a way to tie those in around the same time I do novel study- read and then do some writing projects.

More reflections on the school year later.

2011-12 End of Year Redux (Part 1)

At the end of each school year I gather some information from kids. I want to know the following...
--How many books did you read?
--What are two things you liked from Social Studies/Literacy this year?
--What is one thing you would change in Social Studies/Literacy in the future?
--What were your top 3 books?

I've sat on the surveys for about a week, giving myself this first week away from school and kids. Since I was getting an oil change this morning I figured I should compile their information. Below is some of that data, and some quick thoughts. I'll have more in depth reflection later. This looks at information from my three groups, or "rotations." In particular we will focus on books today...

Books, Books, Books!
First rotation total books read, and average: 794 books, 36/student
Second rotation total books read, and average: 372 books, 23/student
Third rotation total books read, and average: 1408* books, 50*/student
Total books read, and average: 2,574 books, 39/student
*One student is a voracious reader, and read 300 books... total does not include his 300.

Quick thought 1: My second group has students that are pulled. If those students are excluded, the rotation average is close to 30 and is in line with the other groups. The first and third groups have a few students that are voracious readers (80+ books). If you were to find the median it would be close to 25 in each of the first 2 groups, and 35 in the last group.

Quick thought 2: The 20 Book Challenge worked well in motivating kids to read, and read a lot. Reluctant readers were over 20 (by and large), and those who loved to read were pushing themselves to read more and with variety.

Top 15 Books
1. Hunger Games
2. The Lightning Thief
3. Swindle
4. Harry Potter (a few appeared, I lumped them together)
5. The Last Apprentice
6. Mockingjay
7. The Lemonade War
8. Catching Fire
9. The Name of This Book is Secret
10. Rules
11. Maximum Ride
12. Gregor the Overlander
13. 39 Clues
14. The Last Olympian
15. Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat

Honorable Mention:
-A Mango Shaped Space
-Popularity Papers #1
-Al Capone Does My Shirts
-Strange Case of Origami Yoda
-How to Steal a Dog
-Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Quick thought 1: The Hunger Games as a whole were a big hit, which is a huge testament to older siblings reading the books as well as the release of the movie. I did very little pushing of the series because of the complex nature of the books. Most get them on some level, some get them on a more complex level (dystopia, control of the state, etc).

Quick thought 2: Kids love reading books in a series, or by the same author. Books by Gordon Korman were all over the feedback, and they were always popular in the classroom. Rick Riordan, Christopher Paolini, and Suzanne Collins were also popular authors.

Quick thought 3: Kids want to read more complex books. If someone suggests books they will read them. Book talks, book clubs, and book reviews all contributed to kids finding a variety of books. It also helps to suggest a wide range of books in the 20 Book Challenge, as well as purchasing a good range of books for your classroom. Over 90% of the money I spend goes to my library. Well worth the expense.

Missing Assignments

I've always wondered how others approach missing assignments in intermediate grades. Do you follow up the day they return from vacation/sickness? Do you give them time? Do you sometimes let it go?

In our electronic grade book I have some items where students have missed assignments. You have the option to mark it so it doesn't count, a common occurrence for me. Typically I'll follow up with students when they return. Sometimes, often on longer assignments, these get lost in the shuffle. Why? The missing 1-3+ days makes getting the writing or research done difficult, particularly if we moved on. What is then more important, the assignment or the instruction?

Sometimes people use recess time. I get that. I often choose not to go that route. They weren't sick because they wanted to be, and they are kids. They need fresh air and time to socialize with friends. If it is a multiday assignment and they are dragging, do we want to do the dance of getting it done because it should? Could we instead bag it because it is benefitting no one?! I lean towards the latter.

What they don't teach you

When you are in your education program there are a myriad of things you are taught. Best practices in literacy. How to construct knowledge in math. Ways to engage students in science so they come to deeper conceptual understanding. All of those are part of the education you get (or should get) prior to getting your teaching certificate.

How about the juggling act after year one? It seems like everything has stacked up in these last few weeks. Field trip #1, field trip #2 (all day), promotion, grades, comments, talent show, end of year party, field day, health curriculum, and a large end of year writing project. How do you balance that out? You've still got to teach, so that isn't an option.

The obvious thing is that some items are taken off. This year I didn't get to government. I just simply ran out of time. The larger projects monopolized time, squeezing out a huge part of what I wanted to do in social studies.. But you also take out things like lunch- talent show tryouts and putting together the performance list.

You learn to deal with it. You do. But it isn't something you learn in your education program, and likely not until you are a year or two in. Next year will be different, or at least I say that now!

Memoirs

As we start to wrap up the year, we have begun our end of 5th grade memoirs. In many ways these are a series of vignettes that encompass moments in their elementary lives. We started them on our last field trip- an all day outdoor experience in Carnation. It was a rather auspicious start.

I'm trying to get them away from listing events from all grades. In the past I've seen this done where kids write about most grade levels, including who they had and what they remember. Often it seems like very little, and lacks feeling. Instead I want them to write about 3 (or more) events in detail, starting with a zoomed out lead in and zooming into that moment that was important. This will yoyo between out and in as they transition between moments. The effect should provide a glimpse into the moments that were meaningful, including how kids felt and what they were thinking.

In the little bit that we have worked on this I've seen kids gradually get moving. After listing events they pick one, often remembering far more than you would imagine. They pick out who they were with, how they felt, and the atmosphere before/during/and after. The smiles as kids talk through moments are heartwarming.

For me this is the payoff. It brings the kids back I center as they get set to leave the comfortable confines of their soon-to-be-former academic home. It gives them a chance to think about where they came from before they find out who they will become. I hope the writing itself will be something they will remember.

Being Inspired to Write

Writing was never my greatest interest. In fact, literacy as a whole was never really something I enjoyed. Throughout my career as a student, literacy was my weakest area. I preferred math (and PE!). Somewhere along the line the switch was flipped though- I'd venture it was when I began working at a bookstore (the now defunct Borders). You mean I can take any book I want from the store, using it like my library?! Brilliant!

Quite obviously being a reader can translate into inspiration to write. Many of my students that love reading also enjoy writing, and are often quite skilled. Why? My guess would be that they've been exposed to writing that they enjoy, and are willing to attempt something similar. They've been provided with inspiration to write.

I've struggled to find the time to read over the last two months. Having a two month old has led to a significant decrease in available time. Reading? Perhaps some student work. Books? Not so much. Coincidentally, or not, my own writing has tapered off. Some of that is connected to my decrease in time. But I'd also posit that it can be connected to reading far less. I'm not reading blogs as much as I was. Not reading kid lit as much as I was. That has left me without the inspiration to really get going and blogging.

Going forward what do I do? I need to read more. That starts this weekend with kid writing. 75 student writing prompts should provide significant cause to write. At least that is what I hope.

Give me liberty...

Like last year, we are doing speeches for the loyalist and patriot sides of the American revolution. It was good fun last year, integrating persuasive writing with history content. We taped them and kids loved them.

This year we just kicked it off. Kids were psyched to start. I randomly generate which side they are on- odds/evens for each side and random.org for the number generator. They then read about people on each side, paying special notice to the characteristics of those people and their reasoning behind their point of view. It was interesting to hear kids talk about the points of view, particularly as their perspective changed while reading. "I thought it would be good to be rich and protected, but these guys are mean. They just sound like they are protecting themselves" one said about the loyalists.

The notion of seeing many perspectives was a pipe dream at the start of the year. Now it is realized, or something like it.

Reading Groups and Analysis

I love reading groups. I've professed that love before. Kids enjoy getting together with their peers to talk about virtually anything, books included. At the tail end of last week I had a few great experiences with my kids participating in their novel study groups.

The first instance involved a kid changing his mind about a book. I asked the group, "So what do you think of the book so far?" The reviews were largely mixed, and very tepid. That was until one of the kids said "I really like it now. It is like a mystery where your brain needs to solve the puzzle." This brought on a conversation where he was helping kids clarify some of the puzzle in the book "Chasing Vermeer." Everyone got into it, and was really invested in moving the conversation forward.

Later in the day I had some kids discussing the Phantom Tollbooth. They ran their group, which is difficult for a book where you are attempting to follow the myriad of plays on words. They were going over how Milo was going to get rhyme and reason back together, and escape many of the conundrums he found himself in. "Why didn't the 'Which' push the button to leave the dungeon?" bringing out a larger discussion about the meaning of "which" and the choices in the story.

The most difficult part of groups is trusting peers. You can talk about ideas, but trusting to put them on paper is tough. I had kids working on a problem solving and character analysis sheet, which they were to bring to their groups. It was interesting seeing kids reluctant to really discuss the rationale for why characters acted a particular way, or what actions said about a character. Some really took to it- "Holling standing up to the bullies show that he is maturing. Earlier in the story he would have complained about them, but now he is doing something. I bet it will help him stand up to his father.." Others really struggled in the discussion. It signals a need to keep building trust, as well as ways to converse with each other. It might also signal a need to really peel apart the layers of how characters act. How do character actions speak to who they are (or aren't)? That is what I want us to get at, and it is the hardest work done while reading.

Writer's/Reader's/Social Scientist's notebook

Currently I use one notebook for writing, reading, and social studies. In many ways it is far from ideal. Why do I do it? Largely because of the structure of our rotations where my responsibility is literacy. One hour of literacy as fast as you can! Again, it isn't really enough but it is what we have (we also do an hour of mag and an hour of science). I will add that it has worked for us.

This year my journals have been divided into two parts. The front is for social studies content (and writing about social studies since it is embedded). The back is for reading of fiction, the stuff that really isn't US History- novel study etc. Next year I think I am going to do it differently. I will divide it into three parts: 1) social studies 2) word study and/or warmup work and 3) novel study. We'll use tabs or sticky notes to delineate sections to help keep track of what goes where.

The middle section is still a little fishy. I use Words Their Way to teach Greek and Latin roots. I typically provide 4 roots or prefixes a week, and they will look for words with the root, define them, and look for common patterns. I will continue that. But I also want a section for other vocabulary work, particularly things like misspelled words or adjectives (a big focus of ours). If I make it a section I want to use it... Can I get more out of that space? That is part of what I am thinking about as we start to wind toward the finish.

Back in the saddle

Two weeks off is a long time. It is particularly long considering I planned out the instruction and wasn't the one providing it. That said, it was great being back. I love the vibe of kids excited to see their friends, and ready to learn. The oddities that go with it are nice too- kids wondering if I'll be there tomorrow (yes), wondering if I'll bring my kid in this week (no), and conversations you forget about when you leave the room.

The day to day life of teaching is great. Exhausting, but pretty great. We'll see if I have the same idea tomorrow.'

The Original, No Substitutes

Being out of the classroom is a pain. The initial pain is writing lesson plans. While subs should be able to come in and pick up where you left off (they do have the same certificate as other teachers) it rarely works that way. I also like to be detailed so that I can eliminate confusion- what to do, materials to use, when, and why.

Since I've been out for 2 weeks, I had more detail I my plans than usual. I also have less of an idea where my kids are at this moment. What was covered, how well, in what depth, etc. my guess is that there is an email I. My inbox with some loose approximation of those things above. But I'm not going to check my email today. Not while on my last day of leave, and not with the knowledge that I'll likely get frustrated with where we are. It isn't meant as a slight on subs, but is often the reality.

Many districts are moving in the route of having more uniform materials and sequencing. The theory is that kids should get the same from one school to another. But everyone knows it is the teacher that makes the difference. They bring knowledge and style that can help kids succeed. Likewise, an inability to adjust or think on your feet can make a big difference in the opposite direction. Tomorrow I'm back, and the kids get the original...

Help Me Help You

I've been on paternity leave since Spring Break. It has been 2 weeks out of the classroom, plus half of Spring Break. During that time I've certainly missed being in the buzz of the classroom. There is something to be said for the noise, bustle, and thinking that 75 kiddos bring to your day. I'll be back on Monday, and for all that I say I miss the buzz I'll likely be regretting the time missed with my baby boy at home!

One thing that I've had a chance to reflect on is the need for patience. I've re-watched Dan Meyer's "Curriculum Makeover" TEDxNYED talk again. In it he speaks of the need for patient problem solving in math. Our textbooks end up providing a smooth trajectory to the end product, and if it doesn't work out you can just check your work in the back of the book. That is the equivalent of kids finding out "Is it good enough?" which I've lamented for quite some time. The applications to other subject areas is clear, at least to me!

Let's look at reading. First off you end up with kids who go "Do you have a good book for me?" The willingness to try is off to a poor start off the bat. From there said student might grab one of the books or opt to grab none, and just pick one at random with no connection to it aside from the hammer of needing a book hanging over him/her. They read about 5-30 pages (30 is really high in this case) before bringing it back and putting it away. When questioned they often go "eh, I just didn't like it." Like Meyer's example for math, many kids are accustomed to a book that hooks you with action that carries throughout and ends neatly. No bigger problems. No larger applications.

Delve further into this with the example of the Hunger Games. This book is huge everywhere, and my classroom is no different. I don't use it for novel study, but do have a few copies of it. I don't pump it up as I want kids to self select into the book for their own reasons. I will typically pull kids over that are reading it and have them read orally, checking for fluency first... then we go through some questioning. Why do you think Katniss was thinking that? What do you think she means when she says...? Why do they have the Hunger Games? The answers vary, with some very nuanced answers. But often you get the less patient view of- she just wants to live; she likes Peeta; they want people to fight to the death; she is scared of the games.

The willingness to prod deeper is often limited. Why? It is hard. The books before have always had the hero come out alive, or triumph over bad. Often they solve the problem in a relatively quick fashion. Theme? What theme?! My response isn't to tell kids not to read the books, or to explain the theme. I'll lead them in that direction but won't compel them to think about it. Instead we'll look at some of the broader themes in novel study, and we'll often go back to look at overlooked sections. But if I tell them what I think I've done the intellectual heavy lifting, making them less likely to persevere. Patience. You need it in teaching and parenting.

Curriculum vs materials

I always cringe when people talk about needing new curriculum. This came up recently in my local news when Seattle began discussing the need for new arts curriculum. Curriculum is what a teacher teaches. Sounds simple enough.

What does a teacher teach? The state standards and Eventually this will likely be the Common Core Standards. Either way, teaches teach various grade level standards. Materials are created by a publisher to help a teacher teach those standards. This helps districts keep kids across a district on the same relative page, while also helping those teachers that just don't know what to do to meet standards. Think of them as a one size fits all big box store of teachers. Similar to a Target where you can get many things of varying degrees of quality.. And some things not at all.

Materials are useful. I use Units of Study to help teach reading and writing. I love them. I also use TCI to teach social studies. I like that too, but I use it as a reading text and not a social studies text so the teacher's guide is somewhat useless. Regardless they are not my only resources, as they alone don't help me address the state standards. If there is a hole, or something is moved by too quickly, I can adjust to meet the needs of my kids.

Materials are not made for specific states, nor for your specific kids. You need to teach the standards. You also need to meet the needs of your kids. If you don't do either of those then you aren't teaching. If you use the materials then you need to make them your own, with your style and knowing what will work in your environment. Otherwise what are you, a script reader? Perhaps a warm body? Teaching is an art, largely made up by the personality and knowledge you bring on a daily basis.

I love teaching. Sometimes the semantics make me crazy.

Sub plans for yourself

I'm in the midst of prepping for a short leave of two weeks (possibly less). My wife and I are expecting out first child which is incredibly exciting. Simultaneously I am incredibly nervous about leaving my classroom. The only time I've had a substitute is when I was a new teacher visiting other mentor teacher classrooms. Otherwise, 1 day with a sub? No more than 2.

I love my grade level and want the best for my kids. Just doing worksheets or busy work is unacceptable- as it always should be! So how do you make sure the sub helps your kids get to where you want? That is the big $1,000 question.

My plans have my objectives and have an overall layout. I've broken down tasks that I might have kids do seamlessly. Instead I've built in extensions to keep kids moving and interested. Our work is with the colonies, so they'll do some additional research beyond the textbook in graphing population growth among other things.

The irony in this is that the leave was to start last week. Instead I've been using the plans. It helps me see where my planning needs some work, and how I could do things differently.

We've Got Issues

We're in the midst of our 5th grade CBA- curriculum based assessment. In this they need to select an issue, research it, analysis positions, and call for action. The project is ambitious, but worthwhile. My understanding is that some classes will do this as a stand alone assessment, and it will take 2-3 days.

I've taken to teaching this as a unit on issues. We'll discuss issues in our local community, go through what stakeholders are, and determine how we filter out information. We started earlier in the week by looking at a road near school that is ridiculously busy yet had no sidewalks. Instead it has a painted line as separation- helpful I suppose. We went through why this is a problem, who might care, and what could be done. Afterwards I modeled using search engines and our research databases (god help me if we type I the question again!!!).

How is it going? We're slowly moving the horse. Some are really pumped, and want to employ all of these skills. Others say "I'm not sure what issue to do can you pick one" or "there aren't any issues that impact me." The latter of those statements is particularly frustrating. They will say that we use too much paper or that school lunch doesn't taste good and turnaround to say those issues aren't a big deal to them. I will steer them into a choice between issues and let them do the rest, as it isn't my project (I already know that I can think about issues). My focus needs to be on pushing all of them, even those disinterested, to analyze information and explain. You can't say what should be done just because you think it sounds good!

Why I enjoy book groups...

Reading is a tough nut to crack. You can get it, or seem to get it, for a period of time before really missing the mark. In my experience you typically don't have that with some math skills- got dividing with remainders one day and then not the next. I will have kids that get it and then suddenly pop out the oddest of responses to questions.

"Getting it" is vital to book groups. When kids are responsible for coming prepared to a meeting the ante is raised. Moreover, the bar is set higher with a group of peers. No one wants to show up unprepared and stall out the group because they plowed through 60 pages without truly reading- word calling if you will.

I'm not sure what has done it, but my book groups are super. I've worked hard to get kids in high-interest books they have self-selected as ones they'd like to read. I put kids in groups that are not dominated by one voice, but definitely have someone who cares about reading. If need be, those are the kids leaned on to move conversation or push thinking further. The last thing is I've cut out lots of the writing kids pass in. It has steadily decreased over my first 2+ years. Instead, kids will stop and jot in journals daily with a smaller assignment once a week (2-3 over the course of a novel study). Kids have shown up well prepared, excited to talk, and willing to interact respectfully. You can't beat that.

Groups That Run Themselves

I'm trying something new for round two of literature circles/novel study. Instead of imposing page limits per week I'm going to turn control over to the book groups. Previously I'd assign 30-70 pages to be read over the course of the week. Some of that was during social studies and some of it was assigned as homework. This time is a little different.

I'm ceding control for a few reasons. The first is the length of this study. We are going to cruise through our books in 8-9 days. Instead of 2-3 weeks we are condensing it a bit, and more of the reading with happen in class. The second reason is because of how quickly they read. With some kids crushing, and understanding books in 2 days or less I needed to try something different. That leads me to my third and final reason...

I want kids to have more ownership over the process. They need to feel like a part of the process. It doesn't make a big difference if they are chapter 3 or 6 by the time they meet. They will all finish by the end of our schedule. But giving them a chance to decide as a team creates a bit more buy-in, and more ownership over the process. What I need to devote myself to is being sure to provide 15-30 minutes for 3 group meetings... Tough to cede valuable time, but it should be worth it.

Recurring themes

One of the best parts of teaching over a period of time is that you can find patterns. I enjoy data and like looking for patterns, themes, and connections. It is just how my brain tends to work. One theme that pops up often is this: I love projects, but dislike the time investment. This tends to come up around midwinter break, or whenever I embark on a project.

Therein is the struggle. Everyone wants their teaching to be engaging and interactive. I'm not sure of anyone that gets into the profession thinking otherwise. Often that leads you to some sort of outcome that isn't a worksheet, and is difficult to quantify or measure (but you do because it is called assessment and not fun time). The largest impediment for me is time. It is less the time to teach, but more the time to put the skills into practice and create a presentation or analytical essay. You also have the time on the back-end scoring work (seeing gaps in instruction).

We recently worked on our explorer projects. We developed a rubric for evaluating explorers, mined information, compared explorers leading to this "thing". Kids did a great job and really grappled with whether the explorer they chose was truly a great explorer. But getting there is a tedious process. Couple that with technology and a desire to add bells and whistles and you begin to stretch a 2 or 3 day project into 5-7 days. That is just the assembly part. The legwork beforehand is another few days since you're reading and categorizing information, determine important information etc.

As much as I love the work they do, I wrestle with time. Do another project or give it a rest? Some kids need a little more practice reading and responding instead of more free-form analysis. I want innovation yet know there are some content pieces I need to get to. Time, projects, and my inner struggle are my recurring themes. Judging by how I write about them, and when, this will continue for a while.

Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham

Recently I was browsing through the bookstore looking for something new. Faced out on one of the shelves was the book pictured to the left: Down the Mysterly River. The cover looked interesting, particularly as my kids love to read anthropomorphic stories like the Warriors, Seekers, or Wildwood. Something about animals that can talk generates a fair amount of interest.

It took me about 3 weeks to get through this story. I didn't necessarily become disinterested with the book as much as I was doing other things- reading blog posts, blogging using the mobile app, twittering... etc. During this break I finally finished the story in 2 short sittings, and am pleased to report that it was worth the time I spent working through it.

This has the characteristics of many fables, fitting with Willingham's previous work (writes the comic Fables). Max the Wolf (a boy scout) appears in a land far away from his boy scout troop. There he runs into a talking badger named Banderbrock. Together they go on the run from an odd group of people who are seemingly out to get them (the "Blue Cutters"). While on the run they pick up a bear named Walden, and a yellow tomcat named McTavish. No one knows where they are, or why they are there. But together they start to make their way through an odd land full of talking animals, yet teeming with danger. Their journey takes them to, and down, the large river in the middle of Heroes Wood called the Mysterly River. The journey involves great peril as they seek out answers to their many questions at the Wizard Swift's castle. Only time will tell if they'll make it.

Knowing that the author previously wrote fables provides some significant background knowledge. You recognize that the stories of the animals and Max have fable-like characteristics. They are approachable, and seem to speak towards the ideas of being kind, loyal, and truthful. The characters were also largely true to their animalistic nature. McTavish is a bit of a monster, as you'd expect a tomcat to be. He bickers with Banderbrock the badger, but also has the fighting spirit of badgers (not that I've ever encountered one). While it definitely gets a little heady, readers will like how the "mysterly" has resolution in the end.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Takes a while to really settle in, but enough action to capture the minds of a variety of readers.

Midwinter break!

Midwinter break is here. I'm not sure I've ever been this excited for break. I'm a little run ragged between teaching, taking a class, and teaching a class. Add scoring 75 explorer projects and you've got a very tired Pete.

The plan for break is to get some things done. I have some planning to do to recalibrate heading into our spring break. I have a number of items to score and get into our online grade book. I've also got some reading to catch up on. I brought home 4 books that I (wishfully) hope to read over break.

Oh, and I hope to nap!

No Way He Makes It...

My kids are pretty good at making predictions. I think it is a skill that many kids become fairly adept at, largely because they do so on a daily basis. The real trouble comes in supporting our predictions with evidence. We've gone over this process before. It goes something like this...

Me: Ok, so we've established the problem to be that he is taking a shot from half court to win a million dollars. What do you think will happen?

Student: Well he makes it obviously.

Me: Fantastic! He makes the shot, he wins the million dollars. What makes you think that? It is a long distance shot.

Student: Well, all kids stories end happily.

Right! I forgot! Most kids stories to that point tend to end relatively happily. Then it becomes a matter of teasing out the other details... he wasn't good until he got a coach. He really wants to make it, and he is listening to his coach... often coaches make you better, hence you'll be more likely to make it than before!

If you've read the blog before, I am a fan of Dan Meyer's WCYDWT (what can you do with this). The idea is to take banal problems, and bring them to life using the "technology that is ubiquitous." Often problems lack relevance or provide too much information, eliminating the need for creative problem solving. He uses this for math, but I'm going to use it to illustrate predictions in reading and how to write those out with evidence. 

We are going to watch the final 10.8 seconds of the 2008 National Championship Game with the title of the video out of sight (Kansas vs. Memphis.. linked above). We'll start with what information we already have: 2 point game, guy from the leading team at the foul line about to shoot 2 shots. What are the possible outcomes of this situation? He could make both, miss both, or make 1 of 2. Now what information might you need to make a prediction? We'll look at how he has done on the season, and how he has done in this game. From there we'll make some guesses.

After that we'll watch until 4 seconds to go. The 3 point shot is about to go off. We'll repeat the process. What could happen? What information do you need? We're dealing with real life, not simply a kids book. In this case the statistics (if looked at longitudinally) actually lead towards the actual result, the making of the 3 point shot. He had been awful to that point, yet making the 3 pointer would bring he really close to his average, something they have worked on before. It doesn't matter what the prediction is, as long as they reference the evidence leading in that direction... we're going beyond "Well, I just think so."

Where does it go from there? We then apply that to modified passages on 3 settlements- Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth. They don't include the last 2-3 paragraphs that tell how it ended for the settlement (and few have the background knowledge to know the outcome). They'll make predictions, support it with evidence, and rank each from most to least likely to be successful. We'll post them on our online discussion board, and have a virtual (as well as in-class) debate about success. I'm excited for it.

True But Useless

I've been wrestling with the Steven Johnson video about "where good ideas come from" all week. I watched his TED talk, found here, and rewatched his "innovation" video. I've also had some conversations with colleagues about innovation, as well as some of the technology content (and lack of time to teach it). The thing that has started to come into focus is that the notion of "not enough time" or "lack of time" is true but useless. It is true that we have a finite amount of time. It is also true that the abundance of standards makes teaching each one thoroughly a virtual impossible.

All of that is useless to me though. I am not going to invent an extra hour. The likelihood that I am going to become vastly more efficient is slightly unlikely, although some gains are to be expected (with practice comes some success). Instead I need to change my mindset. I know kids need to have conversations, as well as share their work with peers. Those things take time, and I wouldn't say that I found that time to be worthwhile previously. I thought that sharing a powerpoint or photostory was cute, but non-essential. There just isn't enough time to make that happen! Or is there?

Instead of worrying about time (that is useless! and even more time-consuming), I opted to place a focus on presenting our work and providing feedback. We had a hard and fast deadline for presenting our explorer presentations. They were due on Tuesday, and I had kids that needed additional time due to their own pacing, etc, stay in to work on them during their recess times. Once we started presenting, kids wanted to stay in to finish (there were only a handful of them). I placed an emphasis on all that wanted to present could, and those that opted out had the option of opting in later on if they wanted to. We were going to provide feedback that was positive and constructive, with an email going to each presenter with that feedback.

What happened? Kids became hypermotivated. There were some who wanted to be involved right off the bat. Others less so, but many jumped at the chance after seeing a few of their peers. Others wanted to go back and edit to improve their work after seeing the work of their peers. I would say that 90% of kids wanted to present their work. The feedback provided was largely helpful, usually specific, and aimed at the student work. My fear was that they would present and it wouldn't be useful for anyone. Instead it turned into an opportunity. This was the first step in a much larger process of slowing down and placing an added value on the peer conversations that will help lead us forward.

Innovation and Ideas

In my tech class I watched a short video by/about Steven Johnson, author of "Where Great Ideas Come From." It was intriguing on many levels. First off, it appeared to be a collaboration with the Common Craft folks- the "in plain English videos" that are fantastic. The visual representation of Johnson's ideas are wonderful, particularly for someone like myself that can get lost in the web of interconnected concepts. More importantly, the subject matter for the video is at the heart of what we do as teachers. We want to inspire great thinkers, kids who can do the heavy cognitive work of analyzing, evaluating, and creating. While we, as teachers, want kids to be able to read, identify themes, solve equations, and write coherently, those are not necessarily the higher level skills we really want our kids to reach. You want them to do something with the information, make it their own.

The big takeaway for me was the incongruous nature of our classrooms and innovation. Your traditional classroom where you practice skills and apply them in somewhat real contexts does not lend itself to great innovation. Moreover, because of the amount of time that one needs to invest in the "slow hunch", we skip to easier to handle (and evaluate) skills. We want kids to collaborate but that requires more time than we believe is available. Perhaps that requires a rethinking of how time is allocated, the activities we place significant value on in our classrooms, and how we have students collaborate.

Watch the video and let me know what you think, particularly in the context of your own classroom.

Teaching Technology

Beyond teaching 5th grade, I have also taken on teaching one of the tech classes in my district. I've taken multiple classes previously. Each has typically been focused on a program or resource- OneNote, PhotoStory, ActivInspire (for Promethean Activboards). They are great in that you get the opportunity to learn a particular tool really well so that you can use it with your kids. This class really isn't like those ones!

The class I am taking is centered on the soft-skills technology promotes. Collaboration. Communication. Research. This departs from the "here is a part of a tool, try this, use it with your kids and report back" model I have become accustomed to. The focus is on how to best use technology with kids, and ways we can empower them in the classroom. There is a large information dump, with some discussion (electronic and in person), before some work time centered on planning for integration of technology with your kids. We've used some different tools that are examples of what we are looking to create/use with our kids. Corkboard.me for a virtual corkboard where kids can post notes (maybe for norms, although I used it for student input into what projects should look like),  Todaysmeet for an example of backchanneling (yep, could be done via Twitter but that medium really is not prevalent in elementary school!).

The big tale away for me is that teaching with technology requires time. Teachers need the time, and the willingness, to plan for how they want it to be implemented. They also need guidance in how to go about designing activities (guided and independent) that kids can be successful. You can't simply throw technology- iPads, netbooks, iPods and what not, at kids with the hopes that they will figure it out. That does them a great disservice. The whole process- implementing technology on my own, and learning how to teach the use of technology  has been worthwhile. Hopefully I'll continue to grow.

Conferences

Conference time is exhausting. You're focused on making sure you communicate everything you want to say. Beyond that you need to have quality instruction. You can't simply mail it in. There really isn't time for that (nor a place for that to be honest).

Perhaps the hardest part is the lack of routine and regularity. You get out early which would seem to indicate you could get caught up. Unfortunately I scheduled mine poorly, only giving myself two 15 minute blocks to plan and prep. Now I've got a bag of stuff at home which I said I would avoid. So much for that.

Leveraging Technology

I'm in the midst of taking (and teaching) a technology class in my district. It is centered around 21st Century Skills, and how to teach those to your kids. The skills we're discussing, and working on, are largely soft skills- collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem solving. They connect with ISTE's Technology standards for students.

There are a myriad of issues to ensuring that teachers meet these standards. Ignoring glaring infrastructure issues for many districts, I think the biggest issue is a lack of understanding (by teachers) in how to use tech tools with kids. When you move along the gradient of teachers and tech, you have a high watermark of those familiar with a myriad of tools and how they can be used in the classroom. That is combined with a willingness to use those tools regularly with kids, helping them build fluency with the tools. On the other end of the spectrum are those that don't use the tech regularly (perhaps the Tech Lab once a week?!), and aren't fluent with the tools themselves. That, to me, is a big problem.

Teachers need a familiarity with the tools available to them. They need to have used them, seeing possible pitfalls along the path. Willingness to use the technology is certainly a part of this process- which is another issue altogether. But being willing does not necessarily mean that you will use the technology with your kids effectively. The issue of effectiveness, and how I can be more effective in my technology usage, is one that I'm wrestling with. I'm hoping that it will lead me to a significant change in how I plan to use computers and other tech tools.

Great Conversations... Take Time

We're in the midst of building knowledge about explorers. In particular, we're looking at European Explorers as this is the foundation for colonization (and ultimately government). We're aiming at the Social Studies History standard that there are eras in history. One of those eras is when Europeans encountered native people, colonized and brought about devastation. The end product is going to be a "something" that kids create where they evaluate information pertaining to these explorers.

Today was the second day of whole group class discussion on this topic. We need some sort of system to evaluate them. If you were going to choose between two cars, you'd probably look at a variety of factors- some that are good and some that are bad. As an adult we don't make that system clear and evident (usually). That was step one in this process: create a rubric. I asked them to create a 4, 3, 2, 1 rubric for the actions of explorers. They are familiar with the 4 through 1 scale as that is the same system we use for grading. Creating the rubric was relatively easy and painless in groups of 3-5. Moving into the whole class discussion... slightly different tone in the room.

The kids did a fantastic job. We started on the fringe- the 4s and the 1s, because those are the easiest things to work on. We can agree that killing the natives is a Level 1... it is the in-between descriptors that caused us the most trouble. We had some great ethics conversations, about slavery, about what should happen to natives, taking land, etc. Should putting natives as slaves be a 2 or a 1? It was difficult to grapple with, but important for my kids. I pulled sticks to get kids to share, called on volunteers as well as had them passing to someone else. It wasn't a conversation between 4 or 5 of the 25. It was beautiful to see.

Admittedly, as a teacher, the hardest part is allotting time to make this work. They need the time to grapple with the ideas, and the put them into a level. They need time to discuss with their peers, and to think. When it bogs down, the natural inclination is to punt and say "We'll finish later" or "I'll put in the rest." That wasn't my reaction this time. Instead, we sat in the uncomfortable-ness of not knowing. We argued our points back and forth, and we voted to solve problems. It was a beautiful thing, and incredibly worthwhile. It will make the project significantly easier, and promote much more buy in.

Snow Daze

My district has been out for the past 3 days. We were in on Tuesday, but that really was a struggle. Kids are way too excited to see snow flakes, and dislike the change in routine (2 hour late start... and a 60-90 minute or so early release). I am a creature of habit as well, and prefer the normal wake-up and schedule.

The past 3 days I've been hoping we don't go in. Why? I really dislike snow driving, going back to my east coast days, so staying inside was the preferred option. The only problem is that I don't get nearly as much done during this time. At school my to-do list is ever present, a stickynote on my desktop. Not as much at home. I opt to be lazy... even with the to-do list.

That being said, I am going to get going today. I finalized my conference schedule yesterday. I have some grading to do, and some things to enter into the electronic gradebook. No more of the daze that has been lingering. As much as I need rest I need to get some work done (and not leave it for the weekend or.... Monday).

The Take Home Bag

I would venture a guess that almost every teacher is familiar with the "take home bag." It is the bag of stuff you bring home with the hopes of working on it at home. Sometimes this gets done, and other times it is left in the bag. The bag is the burden of many teachers trying to give feedback to their kids, get stuff graded, and figure our where their kids are. I've virtually sworn this off.

For my first 2.5 years I brought everything home. 75 writing prompts? Yep, they go in the bag. "I'll grade a couple after dinner." Grading happened less than 1/3 of the time. Worse, the contents of the bag were the source of anguish as I felt like each passing day I was letting my kids down. A day more was a day further removed from the assignment, making feedback less and less relevant. At some point I just couldn't continue to do that as it was failing my kids, and was making me feel awful.

Opting to not grade isn't an option (nice double negative, right?!). Instead I've broken down my grading. I have 75 kids, since we swap kids in our grade level. I will do 10-15 at a time. During the week I strive for 10-15 a day, and then 2 or 3 sets of 10-15 on the weekend. For example, I have a pile of 70+ writing assessments. I went into the weekend with 35-45. It is easier to sit for 10 than 30+. I get tired as I keep going, and fatigue isn't good for scoring... so I take a break. It makes life a little easier, and works me towards getting kids feedback at a faster rate.

During the week this works too. We've got report cards coming up, which means 25 comments. How about 4-5 a day? 5 a day means that they are done in a week. It also means that each comment is fresh, and not at the end of your wits end. Your comments are more authentic, and likely of greater value instead of (alright 3 more to finish all of them... or, another 10..etc).

If you are bringing home the bag of papers every night this might be an option for you. Try it and let me know.

Selling Books

One of the things we've been working on are book reviews. Your typical book review for intermediate kids is somewhere between a summary and a piece of garbage. A piece of garbage you say? Yep. They really don't sell the story to kids, and kids aren't really excited about writing them. Beyond that the book review just becomes an exercise in jumping through hoops for the teacher. Call me crazy but I'm not so excited about that.

Instead we have been working on spicing up the book review. We've been working on book reviews like bloggers would write. An example is here. Kids were a bit reluctant to roll into it. They often go back to the standard retelling. Instead I have been prodding them into jumping right into the story... show, don't tell. They go through main parts of the story leaving out the finish. Afterwards they conclude with a paragraph about their expert opinion- why they liked it, and what the author did well (made characters believable, great description, etc... with examples!).

This has been a process. I can't say it has gone well throughout. It is easier to go to the old reliable than to try something new. That being said, they have really been coming along. The quality is improving as kids begin to build suspense into their writing, allowing the reader to feel the same suspense (or action) that is a part of the story. The best part has been seeing kids read them on the back wall where our book reviews are posted. Kids are looking for those books, and they almost never stay on the shelves... no surprise.