Learning From Baseball

I am a huge Red Sox fan. I have been since I was a little kid. While I live in Seattle, I still root for the Red Sox whenever they come to town (I nearly had a heart attack last Thursday when they were here). But I follow the Seattle Mariners, if for no other reason than to want to see the home team succeed. It isn't much fun, as a sports town, when the home team is getting pummelled on a nightly basis.

One of the blogs that I check out, casually at least, is the Seattle Times Mariners Blog. I stumbled upon something that hit home for me, as a teacher, when I read it...

You don't learn by studying the stuff you know. You learn by studying the stuff that you don't know. So, if you divide the world into (crap) that you know and (crap) that you don't know, and you study the stuff that you know, then you're not going to learn very much. All of the progress comes from studying the stuff that you don't know. So, that's really what's interesting. And that's where most of your focus should be. Studying stuff that you can't agree about.

Just a thought that I will carry with my for a little bit.

Greater Tech Usage

Ever since my time as a pre-service teacher, I was dreaming of integrating a variety of technological pieces into my instruction. As I moved forward, I used a little bit in my student teaching and continued to dream of a technologically literate classroom. Last year, my first year of teaching, I used tech on a regular basis. From the class wiki, to having kids highlight passages on the Activeboard, to having students create presentations in powerpoint, we were all over technology.

Now was it what I had been dreaming about? I suppose I could answer in two different ways. Relative to where I was in teaching, I felt fairly good about how I was able to integrate technology into my daily instruction without making it feel forced. Relative to others I am inspired by, I was itching to add more and make them integrate with more fluidity than before.

This coming year I have a few new wrinkles planned...

• A class blog: with the 70-80 kids I'll see, the goal will be to divide them into 3 groups and have an A, B, and C. One week, A will be blogging in response to a question, quote, statement. That same week group B will be responsible for commenting on the work on 1-2 of their peers (I'll tweak it based on ease of use, efficiency), and group C will be off. We'll rotate each week. This will likely be connected with social studies and/or our novel study, giving everyone something to connect to.
• Wiki Group Work: my past class of kiddos was great at creating powerpoints. While I sometimes struggled with the content they created (writing style, conventions), their technology knowledge was fantastic. Instead of 20 powerpoints on the Boston Tea Party that just get sent to me (they presented too, but it was really an audience of 1... me) we will create using the wiki. We'll be using some rubrics to assess our cooperation, our contributions, and the content. Plus we'll take out some of the flash that became uber-distracting with the powerpoints.
• Podcasting: I had hoped for a podcast this past year, but it just didn't happen. What I am considering doing is having a monthly podcast from each rotation group, with 3 students per rotation working on it. Essentially it will be "Social Studies in October...etc" They can cover concepts/content they liked, books they read, or something I haven't envisioned. They'll need to create an outline/script, and then use Audacity to record it (3-10 minutes). We may also podcast some of the other audio projects we're working on.

There are probably 1,000 other things that I could do to integrate more technology into my classroom. But those are the big 3 I am going to be focused on. Secretly I am hoping that wikis become the technology focus this coming year for my district (we have a yearly district focus with training around it). But, I'm also hoping it is something entirely new that I can wrap my head around.

Reading to Teach Reading

To the left is a picture of the camping trip my wife and I took to the Washington coast. While beautiful in its own way, the weather leaves a little to be desired. Instead of reading on the beach in the sun, we sat around the campfire in sweatshirts and jeans reading the day away. Not all bad, but a little cool for my liking.

I made my way through The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan on the trip. I then finished Gossamer by Lois Lowry (author of the Giver) since we returned home. Both of which were really great reads, and quick in their own respective ways. One was action packed, picking up where the Lightning Thief left off, and weaving Egyptian history throughout. I felt like I learned quite a bit from reading it, a great feeling when you finish a book. The other was more delicate, and really came together in the end. The themes of dreams and resilience resonated for me, and made me want to start using it with my kids at school.

With each book I found myself thinking of questions I could ask my kids. What are some of the strengths of Carter and Sadie Kane? How do the two characters complement each other? Why does Anibus make Sadie chose to save either her father or the world? Have you ever faced a difficult, or "impossible" decision? What can you infer about the characters from their names in Gossamer? Was your prediction about John and/or the end of Gossamer the same as it was written (and were you surprised)?

As I read more children's literature I see the standards in the writing. I see main ideas or themes woven throughout, inferences I make from information in the text, and predictions I started with based on some of that aforementioned information. I don't stop and say "let me infer here" but I am more conscious of it now. The challenge is to teach kids early in the year to recognize that they are already using these skills, to varying degrees, and that our task is to slow down the process a bit to ensure that we are on target. Otherwise we cruise through on autopilot, missing important details that help us come to a greater understanding of what we read.

Summer Reading

My wife and I are heading on a little mini-vacation this week. We'll be back by midweek, but will spend the first part on the Washington coast. I'm bringing a plethora of books with me, mainly those that I hope to use for my novel study groups this year (one or two that aren't)...

• The Red Pyramid- Rick Riordian (new series with Eygptology by the author of the Lightning Thief/Percy Jackson books)
• Sounder by William Armstrong
• Al Capone Does My Shirts by Choldenko
• Wringer by Jerry Spinelli
• The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
• Gossamer by Lois Lowry

I'd rather have too much to read than too little. Plan is to pull up a chair and read by the ocean for copious amounts of time.

Wall Space (re-post)

(sorry if you get this twice... problems with the previous post)

One of the big things I've been thinking about is the lack of wall space in my classroom. The way the school was built (and many in my district), there were rooms that were large enough for classes to use for special projects and small groups. It abuts classrooms on each side, aside from the door to the outside.

In the front of the room (right side on the first picture) is my Activeboard. The ceiling is high, so I utilized a small section about the projector for a timeline (link to social studies standards). On the far wall is an open wall that I've used, but it still lacks some of the accessibility because 2 computers sit in front of it. In addition the green area is a bulletin board with 2 computers in front of that too (you're starting to see a pattern).

As we travel around the room counterclockwise, we have more of the same. My double doors to the outside, makeshift coat rack out of shelving, and really high ceilings that let in lots of light. There is actually too much at times as it whites out the Activeboard. The space above the doors is a space I haven't really used, although it certainly is a consideration. I'm also thinking of blacking out the windows (lock down precaution anyway) and using that for charts or student work. In the back you see another bulletin board with 2 computers right in front of it.
Now the last two pictures continue to travel counterclockwise. The theme, again, is computers in front of wall space (by the way, the classroom library is to the right of the big green/blue cupboard). My whiteboards (one to the left of the Activeboard, one in the back) are well used. The back for schedules, sites we use, and jobs while the front is used during teaching.
I think what I am looking for, overall, is a way to display information that we have covered (American Revolution, Slave Trade, Colonies, etc), charts we have used to help us work on skills (inferring, predictions, FQR sheets), and student work from current events to book recommendations. I think some things need to be moved around like my maps and number line. Additionally I need to make some executive decisions about how to prioritize what goes where (most important in most accessible area). I also will need to consider making some charts larger so that they can be seen better, particularly if I want to better utilize that high ceiling area.

Give and Receive

Tomorrow I plan to post some pictures from the past few days. Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture of my notepad as it currently stands, full of scribbles and ideas for how to make them work. I'll also post a picture of my classroom, and my quest for more wallspace to put up charts and student work (I'm not very good at posting things in the room).

But I did stumble upon a posting on twitter linking to someone's Top 20 Websites need for the upcoming school year. Some of them you'll have seen, while others will be new. Alas it was well worth clicking through, seeing what the sites look like, and envisioning how I could use them in my classroom with my kids.

PS... got a new home computer, with a snipping tool... so great! I need to better integrating pictures into my posting.

Worth Watching

As my wife and I start the process of getting set for the school year, slowly but surely, I am trying to go through my google reader for inspiration. One post which I saved was from Brian Crosby of Learning is Messy. When I had started the teacher certification program, and just getting started with web 2.0 tools, I started following a few different blogs. This was one which I followed fairly regularly, but was intimidated by because of how impactful the teaching was. It was as close to problem based learning as it gets, and the experience was moving to me.

Fast forward to last year and I tried to implement some of those same tools. We used our class wiki on a regular basis. It was an effective tool that students could use to write about events in US history, as well as revise some of the work of their peers. Beyond that they were able to search for other usable sites that would add depth to the information they already learned by embedding links and pictures. But I shied away from blogging in year one, if for no other reason than uncertainty around how it would work with 60 kids (and no true plan for how to ensure it would be connected to the standards).

Below you'll find a link to the TEDxDenverEd presentation by Brian Crosby. It further reinvigorates me as I prep for the upcoming school year.

Revamping the Classroom Library

There comes a time that books go out of style. Over time, the book will lose its appeal to the audience. It might be the story, or the cover, or the binding. For some reason people just don't want to read it anymore. That seems to be the case with my classroom library.

In particular, my novel study books are fairly dated. Books like Hatchet, the River, Detectives in Togas, and the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler are all fine books, but rather old (all things considered). I still plan to use them, or at least some of them. But once August hits, I need to head over to some of the local used bookstores and look for newer books. I tried that earlier this year, finding the Janitor's Boy from Andrew Clements (another book from the author of Frindle). Kids were very excited by the newer book, clambering to have a crack at it.

My attention will turn to books like the Breadwinner, Al Capone Does My Shirts, and Tiger Rising. The goal will be to accumulate as many copies as possible for the 70-75 kids I'll see in Reading/Social Studies. Later, someone will go through the same process I am (hopefully in 15-20 years!).

Struggling to Persevere

My current book choice is Peter and the Starcatchers. While I have chugged along through the Percy Jackson series, and made my way through the first book in the Penderwick series, I've struggled to move through this one. Why is that? As I was reading some of the posts in my Google Reader, I came across one that hit the nail on the head. While she was reading an adult piece of fiction, she was having the same struggle I was having. Desire to finish, but the simultaneous feelings of love and hate.

I'm about 125 pages into the 400+ page book at this point. Who knows when I'll finish, as I've been reading it for about a week and my slow reading rate isn't what is holding me back. Instead I simply can't get into the plot, and don't really have the desire to know more about the characters. That is in stark contrast to my feelings with Percy Jackson or the Penderwick girls. While I thought the Penderwicks dragged, I was curious to see what trouble they might elicit because of the class differences with their hosts. Perhaps it was also the feeling of the latter two stories being written in a way I could relate to them, as they are set in more recent times (full disclosure: I'm also not a huge fan of boats, preferring land to sea any day).

All of that makes me wonder how some of my kids tackle books. I had a few kids this year that read books incredibly quickly, and were able to give fantastic retells with detail. But I also had a few other kids that just struggled to move their way through books, and had some books sitting on their desk for weeks on end. It makes me wonder whether the right thing to do when someone is struggling is to have that friendly conversation about their interest in the book. Why is it that you don't like it? Tell me about the book thus far? What do you think would make this better (and be specific)? I don't want to encourage kids giving up on books easily, but rather having them think critically about why a book doesn't work for them.

Reading Challenge

I've finished the first four books in the Percy Jackson series. Thus far they have been very entertaining. I've enjoyed how Riordan mixed mythology into the stories without being teachy. The books were action-packed, and moved along fairly quickly without an overwhelming amount of downtime.

Having read all four, and planning to purchase the fifth when it comes out in paperback on July 27th, I couldn't help but think of my previous class of kids. They would eat the books up (some were reading them during the year). But going further, I think I am going to create a 40 Book Reading Challenge or something like that. Essentially I'll be going through ALA Notable books, Newberry Award winners, etc to create a list of books that kids *should* read. We'll also do some book talks during the process. The end goal being to get kids reading books that are widely recognized as being good literature. I'm going to stay away from some of the older books that I plan to use for novel study, if for no other reason than they are older (kids and older books can equal pulling teeth). Where did the idea come from? The Reading Zone... the idea came from here.

Where to begin?

I went by my classroom on Wednesday. My parents were in town, so I wanted to bring them by in order to show them what my room looked like, and what the school looked like. It was also a chance for me to grab some of the curriculum materials that I need to get planning. I brought home my whole Houghton Mifflin reading set (unit guides, assessment guide, etc), my Units of Study box (planning guides for each writing unit), and my Social Studies materials. The latter I really don't need since I relied on it throughout the course of my first year. The other two I used, but to a somewhat lesser degree.

Where to start? Well I need to look at the standards again to re-familiarize myself with the grade level expectations. From there I want to look at my reading and social studies units to see what is standards are taught in each, as well as how manageable the material is. Even though it is in the curriculum guide, it doesn't mean your kids will find it engaging. I'll then look at the different assessments to see how they line up, and start to plan out my year (when I hope to teach particular things, how long that will take, potential deviations).

Where I hope to really focus some time (this month if possible) is on assessment. I want to find effective pre-assessments for our reading materials so that I can really see the growth of kids in particular reading skills. While reading is done holistically (difficult to separate out skills), I want to ensure that I am pinpointing skills like inferencing, main ideas, asking questions, etc. I also want to be better prepared to mix in novel study books at appropriate levels. Some of this past year relied on moving kids as they got into books, largely because what I anticipated didn't work out. Some of that goes back to effective pre-assessing of reading skills/levels. Having better pre-assessing will allow me to better target my instruction, and move into effective small groups.

For now the materials will stay boxed in the downstairs bedroom/office.

Rules

I just finished Rules by Cynthia Lord. As a whole I really enjoyed it. The book is about a middle school (or intermediate) aged girl who has a brother with autism. She has to take care of him often, and finds that others don't necessarily understand her. But the story becomes complicated by a boy that she meets at her brother's OT sessions. The boy happens to be in a wheelchair, and be mute. Additionally, a girl her age moves in next door and Catherine (the main character) hopes that they will become friends.

I see the applications to my kiddos. The themes of difference and acceptance run throughout. In addition I think many of my kids could associate with the idea of wanting to be friends with someone that is different than they are (with a disability etc) but struggling with the discord that is struck between what is popularly considered normal. Many might not really say that they have been in Catherine's shoes, but I would be willing to bet that more than 3/4's have. It is particularly important at an age where social status and fitting in starts to become more apparent.

Definitely will be considered for my novel study groups in the fall!