Students Nervous for Break

A couple of students in my advisory expressed some tension that they feel in their families over break due to family tensions, divorce, being with a parent they don't like as much, etc. I was thinking about this--and about how much our jobs entail. What we do has so much to do with the whole student--not just what they do in class. I know more about these students since they are in my advisory, so I do get to know them more than I would in a large classroom setting. I am glad that the district sent out the email about how some students may be having a hard time around this time of year. For many students, coming to school is a safe place and a refuge. They know and understand the routine, and they have some control over some of the factors. For some students, they DO have a hard time at home.
I just wanted to put this out there and was wondering if other people have experienced this with students.
Happy holidays to everyone--it is important for us to take care of ourselves and rest, relax, and be around supportive family and friends!

Reading plays and doing acting exercises with students

For the language arts class that I co-teach, we have been reading the play "A Christmas Carol" out loud with class members taking parts. In hearing some kids, it occurred to me that the students were pretty nervous reading parts and very hesitant about getting into character. I was thinking that before reading a dramatic piece, it may be useful to have students do some theater exercises, like throwing an invisible ball of energy to each other, doing voices to get them loosened up,etc. I feel like there are time constraints to doing this, but I feel that theater is something that is alive, and if we let them have some fun, we will help facilitate an enthusiasm for the art and craft of theater.

I'm curious if other people have used more acting type exercises when they read plays out loud first, and what that experience was like. Also, I am looking for some feedback on what people have found successful, especially with middle school and junior high.

Movie Time Useful?

In English 7 this week we are reading a Christmas Carol to study the concept of theme and its connection to the world today. After reading the play we will be watching the movie fo the play. I always have mixed feelings about watching movies in class because they take up so much time. I wonder if the time is worth it. We watch the movie because we want to cement the plot in students' minds before we ask them to write about the progression of Scrooge and his relevance in today's society. I will have students taking notes during the movie on moments of change for Scrooge. These elements make me feel alright about watching the movie. But what does everyone think about movie viewing in classrooms? Do you think it is a waste of time? Do you see a purposeful use for them in the classroom? What activities do you do with movies that you feel makes them more purposeful?

Gradual Release

One of the middle school focuses this year is using the gradual release of responsibility model to ensure student success. I tried this with the character analysis paper my students are currently writing in English, and while I would like to say I have done it perfectly, I think that I still lack the ability to successful transfer students to their independent work with ease. Students still seem to look at me when I say that they will now do what we practiced independently and say they don't know what to do. I think that the second to last step of the gradual release is where I need the development. I feel successful modeling doing things as a class, but I don't think that I give enough pair practice before I send my students off on their own.

I think the larger concern for me is not how to transfer students to independent work, but rather to transfer them to independent thinking. Getting them to think on their own and be comfortable with the idea that they may not have the answer right away is challenging. I don't know quite how to do that. So I guess I am looking for ways for students to practice independent thinking in pairs. Or I would also like to hear if there are ways anyone teaches students that it's ok to struggle with a concept before they get the correct answers.

Progress and Balancing Acts

I just wanted to share some success that I am seeing with a kindergartener who is new to my program. For the first 7 weeks of the school year, this kiddo was demonstrating high frequency/intensity of aggression (hitting/kicking 5-8 times per day). After being fast tracked through the sped process, he qualified for my program. I have his incidents of aggression down to zero for the last 4 days with a significant decrease in work expectation :). Now comes the balancing act of incremental increases in expectation versus triggering aggressive behaviors. I love this part of my job; measuring/documenting the small successes towards the goal of full (and safe) inclusion with his peers.

Work Time in Class

In the 7th grade language arts class that I co-teach, we decided to give the students a couple of work days where we provide work time during class to complete the work they need for their novel unit (and we are there to assist them): finish reading the book, complete dialectical journal entries (and type them), character charts in their notebook, and generally getting ready to take a test on their novel, as well as start a paper on a character next week. We felt that we were doing the right thing since most student needed to work on their own, they are reading different books, and they are at different places in their books and their work.

I was really surprised at some students lack of motivation during work time. It really made me think about the questions I ask students about why they don't have their homework done for class. The first thing was how many students hadn't brought their notebook or novel to class, even though they knew it was a work day. When we would ask them, they said they didn't want to go to their locker for fear they would be late to class.(UGH) We asked why they didn't bring their notebook and book to the class before so they wouldn't have to go back to their lockers--problem solving out loud. It made me wonder about the 7th grade problem solving and thinking ahead ability! It seems like planning is a real challenge for this age.

Many of them were still far behind on their reading--when we had them write their pages of what they were supposed to read by what date in the planners--and we had them check the dates to see if they were caught up as we went along. It seems like it is such a good idea for students to have an individual reading opportunity based on their interest, but it seems like for many students, having a book they read on their own with a due date they are in charge of is a REAL challenge. It almost seems like we need to teach an organization curriculum--or make that a part of every 7th grade class.

Scheduling Consderations

Within my program (settings I-III EBD) I am responsible for scheduling paraprofessional support to address student needs. When student needs change (i.e., the addition of students into my program), I have to make scheduling changes...enter frustration :). How do I determine which students/target service times should lose support/change so that new student needs can be met; tough! Different factors come into play when thinking about this, such as relationship building, intensity of behaviors, topography of behaviors.

I am hoping for comments/experience you may have on a "type" of need that you find just requires para support (such as, on task/proximity support or organizational support). Or, do you feel that a paras' relationship with the student is a key factor. In all cases, it is hard to target the reason why a student's schedule of support should stay the same or be changed (as all students have individualized needs); I am finding it difficult to explain to staff why/for what reason their schedules/service models are changing when they don't/can't have all of the information. Thanks!

Conferences

Congrats to everyone for making it through their first round of conferences this year!! Any positives anyone took away?

I couldnt believe what a difference I saw this year in how many parents showed up and how involved they are!!
Even though I had a few conferences in which I wanted to lean over the table and say, are you serious? I had to remind myself that as tough as it can be to take the brunt of it all, these parents only want the best for their child and they want to them to feel successful. I just have to take a deep breath and remind myself that I know how hard I am working to help each student reach their highest potential and feel successful in school.

Rubric Writing

In our PLC yesterday we were working on a rubric for our next essay with students. One of my collegues pointed out that students seldom look at rubrics and that graphic organizers with points might be a better way to help students understand what is expected of them. Though the other way may be more accessible, I think that rubrics are essential for grading, because then we are clearly stating what we are expecting for students. But the question I have, especially at the middle school level, is how do we help students interact in a meaningful way with rubrics. How do you get students to actually read and make changes to a project or paper based on the specifications in the rubric? I was thinking that maybe handing it out during peer revision would be helpful, but what format would be best. Can anyone share positive experiences with getting students to change based on a rubric?

Literature Circle Questions

I am starting literature circles with my 7th graders and am dreading the discussion part of the circles. I know that this part is important and is the focus of literature circles, but structuring the discussion makes me anxious. Full group discussions are fantastic and I feel I can hold everyone accountable to certain standards, but the problem with literature circles is that ideally students discuss on the same day, and then I can't hear all of the conversations happening. My colleagues have recommended that I just discuss with one group each day. This would stop the discussions from getting off track, but also it might distract other students who are in the room silent reading. I don't have a para every hour, so I can't pull my discussion groups either.

I want so much for students to have thoughtful, interesting discussions about their books because I think that is why I love literature so much. Does anyone have ideas for how to hold kids accountable to discussion without doing it on separate days?

Handholding or Helping Students Succeed?

Since I teach EL students, I am used to checking on their grades and asking them about work in other classes that they have not completed--basically checking on them--to see if they need help with their English. I have a case management class period, and this gives me time to do this. Many times, when I check with colleagues about students who haven't completed their work,the colleagues feel that this is too much handholding to check if all students have projects turned in. I understand that many teachers feel overburdened with large classes, and they feel they don't have time to be checking. It is part of my job to check on the students' successes and check with them if they need help. I do get different responses from the students--some don't care, some don't know how to do the assignment and need help but don't know how to ask for it. In fact, many of the "I don't care" students will start to care when they realize they may have to repeat a course that they fail. And they also start to care when they see the steps they need to take to get help.

I am curious about what people feel about this topic. Do many of you feel that students should be reminded--or that students should be left on their own--or do you do something somewhere in the middle? I know it depends on the age of the student, but I have worked with older students that needed to have reminders as well.

Government and Citizenship

It is that time of year when we begin to focus on government and citizenship in the second grade. Since this is really there first taste of this content area, it is always interesting see what your students will come up with.
While we were sharing how to be a good citizen, one of my students exclaimed, "Don't sass the cops!" Let's just say, I had a difficult time keeping it together the rest of the lesson. I guess she caught me off guard. However, you must admit... she is right. :)

Honors Students

In 7th grade Honors English we are currently reading classic short stories and then are going to write a literary analysis on one of the stories. Students are asked to pick quotations that showcase the devices we are discussing in class and then explain how that device helps achieve the author's purpose.

This is a challenge for my students because they are reading challenging texts and then are asked to not just label the device, but explain why the author is using the device. I handed back their first individual journal yesterday and some students had low scores because they were not putting in their full effort or they did not think deeply about the story. I have modeled these processes in class and had them work in partners to complete the acitivities, but I think it is sometimes hard to get my students who are used to simply excelling at English to slow down and think about the activity. I am going to conference with my students today during class, but some of the students I talked to yesterday were quite offended that they had not scored well. Almost as if it was my fault it did not come easily to them.

I guess my question or concern this week is how to prod students who normally do well to take on challenging work. I don't want them to be stressed out (which some honors students can be) so that they overthink everything, but I need them to take the assignments seriously enough that they are purposeful in their writing. I hope that as I continue to model and practice these strategies with them it will get better. If anyone has great ideas for working with HP students, I'd definitely love to hear them.

Student Aggression and Teacher Observations

Hi :),

In a class I am taking right now, we are reviewing research that compares different rates of student aggression in the classroom using teacher observations. Primarily, we talk about reactive aggression and proactive aggression. Reactive aggression is more of the explosive behavior (yelling/pushing) in response to a stimulus, while proactive aggression is used by students to get what they want with the intent to harm another individual with minimal harm to themselves; it is calculated (peer relationships/social status/school consequences). Proactive aggressive students are much more likely to attempt a reconciliation process (patch up the relationship with the victimized peer to maintain social status).

The study suggests that teachers are less likely to identify students as aggressive if they use proactive aggression. Similarly, teachers are much less likely to identify females as aggressive (as they use more relational aggression, like gossip or rumors).

Do you feel like the proactive aggressive students sometimes slip by our observation in the classroom; or, they are shadowed by the more reactively aggressive students? How do you handle students who are manipulative/coercive with their peers but do not actively disrupt the classroom environment (proactive aggressors)?

Extra Support in the Classroom

I have a class that originally had 16 our of 38 students on IEPs. We did manage to get another section added and reduce the number down to 26, but 14 of the remaining students are on IEPs. I've been lucky enough to have a paraprofessional assigned to the room AND a special education teachers comes in twice a week. Has anyone out there tried something out of the box and unique in order to maximize support staff in the classroom? I feel like we have to balance the para's comfort level, perceived expectations (some are there to work with a specific group of students and make sure to take excellent notes day after day), and students' perceptions. Do any of you ask paras to do things like walk the room for proximity, track on/off task behavior, work with a small group on organization or content (maybe take them to a smaller setting to allow different pacing), or anything else? Especially when I have the special educator in the room, I try to break students off into small groups to work with her. I'm a little worried that this slows down the pace of the rest of the class and that students feel intentionally isolated (in a negative way). Thoughts, opinions? How can we maximize support staff?

Homework: Worth it?

I think some of you out there did a book study on a book about whether or not homework is something that we should be giving students regularly. (Can't remember the name of the book?) I have not read the book, but am very interested in the topic. Homework (especially for non-honors students or AP track students) is something that I struggle with for multiple reasons (kids whose households aren't conducive to homework, do they really learn more with homework etc...). I would love to start a dicussion on the topic of homework. Is it worth it? Do you give a lot? Have you read the book??

Reteaching Grammar

I teach EL, but I co-teach with a language arts teacher for a few periods of the day. Today we were going over pronouns--subjective, objective, possessive. As we all know, students need to have a basis of grammar in order to understand the types of pronouns we were teaching. So when we asked, "what is a pronoun?" we found that we had to re-teach noun. With subjective and objective, we had to reteach verb. There were only a few students who felt confident enough to say what a verb is. I know the days of the old grammar packet or grammar unit in isolation are over. However, it seems that when you don't spend a focused time on grammar, then students don't learn it in a context of grammar. It seems to be haphazardly taught and included in the curriculum. In my opinion, if I asked 7th graders, "What is a verb?" they should all shoot their hands up and be able to tell me that is is a state of action or being. At least the state of action should come to their minds--or even just "doing something." I understand that much of teaching grammar in isolation was redundant. However, we may need to rethink our idea of scrapping grammar and then just teaching bits and pieces--because grammar is interconnected and concepts build on each other. So it doesn't just spiral--it is an intricate part of good communication, reading and writing. It is an ongoing skill that should be practiced--even in isolation at first for mastery, then touched on in contexts of reading and writing projects. Then we don't have to have these mouth-dropping realizations that the 7th graders don't know what verbs are!

Teaching vs. Acting

Have you ever wanted to be an actor or actress? How many people do you think have dreamed this dream? Would you ever think it was possible to be an actor or actress?

Teaching is a profession that is filled with so many other professional duties, that sometimes I wonder if in a way, our role as a teacher can also force us to be like an actor or actress. Have you ever had this thought?

After reading Pippi Longstocking and Matilda, many of my students have asked me if I am an actress. Now, I can definitely say that I am NOT an actress. Nor would I ever want to be due to my fear of microphones, and audiences, however, I thought it was an interesting question to ponder. Do you ever feel that as a teacher, you play the role of a teacher for your student audience?

Cooties

Cooties have been around for years, possibly even centuries. However, if you really stop to ponder the term cooties, what does it actually mean? Well, when I was in the first grade and second grade, I determined I would not get cooties. In my determination to escape from cooties, I found myself making sure that nobody ever touched me.

Well, it seems that the cooties epidemic is running rampant throughout the elementary schools... even centuries since I have been in the first and second grade.

So the other day cooties came up during class time. I about cracked up when I heard one student say, "Oh yes," in a very serious tone and demeanor, "I have seen cooties before." This was followed by a long sigh. "They give you little bumps, all over your arms." I don't know if it was the tone of voice, or the subject matter, but it took all of me to keep myself from laughing. FUNNY!

Now, I have to ask you... could you tell me some facts about cooties?

How nice is too nice?

I feel like classroom management is always a difficult topic to talk about because I think teachers often feel like they can't say they are not fantastic at it without being judged. I run a classroom where students learn and are interactive, but they have been chattier and more off task this week. This leads me to a discussion on classroom management.

I feel that perhaps I didn't do enough initially to set the tone in the classroom because I was trying to develop a good relationship with my students. I know that both expectations and relationships can be developed, but at times it feels like all that comes secondary to planning good curriculum. A student threw something small at another student yesterday and due to this I have decided that routines and work time needs to be valued more heavily in my classroom - starting today. The problem is, I still want kids to enjoy coming to my classroom, but I need them to take classroom rules more seriously. I guess my goal is to try to be more concious about my nonverbals in class so that I am encouraging the class to do what I want without having to lecture. I am also going to try to focus on engagement time so that my students always have something to think about.

Ideas/suggestions are always wonderful, but I think that just stating that this will be my current focus helps change my mindset.

Response for Eric's post re: pretest on Egypt

Eric's post on pre-assessment on Egypt:
I would go over the pre-assessment with the students--then they immediately start to build the schema. You could also tabulate which questions they got wrong--and focus on those questions. You may already do this--but thought I would let you know other ideas. You could also let students know the ones many of them got wrong. You could go through how you figured out answers with them.
Good luck!
Ann

Teachable Moments

Don't you just love when a concept you are attempting to teach your students, comes to life during the school day and you can capture those teachable moments? That happened for me today. Over the past few sessions of social skills, we have been working on the concept of a "social filter." It's okay to have weird or rude thoughts, but it hurts others when we turn that "thought bubble" into a "talking bubble." Today, as I was doing inclusion with a student, she was waiting in line to discuss her book she finished reading with her classroom teacher. A student was in front of her sharing his book with the teacher. My student blurted out, "Come on! What's the hold up? There are people waiting!" I simply leaned over and whispered, "Remember our 'thought' and our 'talk' bubbles? Well, that should have stayed in your 'thought bubble." She looked up at me as it clicked in her brain. She leaned over to the student and said, "Oops! Sorry!" She patiently waited in line until it was her turn. What's your fun teachable moments??

Question!!! How to use formative assessment results

Hello Everyone!

I'm curious, for those of you out there that use any form of formative assessment, how do you use the results? I have a new set of clickers (student response system) and I've come up with some cool formative assessments and "pre-tests." However, once I have the data and know who is struggling, I'm kind of lost as to what I can do to help. I know I need to differentiate instruction but I'm struggling as to how!

For instance, we are doing a vocab pre-test for Egpyt. The kids are looking at pictures and trying to identify what is shown. If they struggle, it's likely they have no schema for Egpyt and will need extra support, especially on vocab.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Active Engagement

During the school day I have 2 blocks, where I have students two periods in a row. The first period I teach reading and then second I teach language arts. I always seem to struggle with students being engaged in the second hour that I have them. I am not sure if it is because they are less excited about writing, or if it is because we do both reader's workshop and writer's workshop and the formats are very similar, so essentially it is like doing the same routine for both class periods. My goal is to get the students to remain actively engaged in the language arts part of the block. Currently they sit in the same seats for both classes, so I am thinking about having them in different seats for language arts as a way to meet other classmates and mix it up from reading class. We also do a lot of turn and talks and think, pair, shares in both classes, and again by language arts I think the students get tired of it. Anybody have any other ideas to spice up routines and increase engagement?

Quiz Quiz Trade

Like Connie, I decided to do quiz-quiz-trade--but I did this with English learners in an EL Newcomer class. I was surprised at how well it worked. The students were excited to be able to describe the words using gestures and expressions--and they could help each other brainstorm. It was much more effective at getting them to talk and interact using their words. It also helped with their reading since they had to read the words and the definitions on the cards to themselves and to each other. It also got them to use the words in different contexts if they couldn't remember the exact definition--which is something I hadn't planned on them doing--but it came naturally in conversation. I left the class excited and so did the students. When they can talk more about what they are learning, their confidence increases. And this game is a good controlled way for them to initeract. These are small classes, so I joined in as well. This let me continue to model how we could use other words and be creative with our descriptions. I would encourage any level of students to use this!

Kids Schema... Where does it come from?

Today we were reading another fun chapter in Pippi Longstockings. She of course, is always getting into trouble. Well, I asked the students where she was going next, one student yelled out, "Juvenile Hall." Wow! I had no clue that second grade students even knew about juvenile hall. Crazy! Well, Pippi didn't go to juvenile hall in this chapter, instead she had a nice coffee party. What a day! :)

MAP Testing

We just finished up MAP testing in the Language Arts classroom this week. I was wondering what people thought in regards to MAP testing. Some students did very well, and some students did not. It seems hard to counsel students on their reading score and make them feel good if they are really below the targeted mark. I could feel the pain of a few students who are ELL or are possible SPED and looking at their reading score. Other students ask about their reading score as well. For students just below the mark, it seemed like good motivation to tell them to keep reading because they were almost there. But the students that confessed to me that they always do really bad on these tests seemed to already be labeling themselves as not able to learn--and this is 7th grade. I understand the need for different assessments. I just wish there was more information that I felt good about telling really low students. I felt a bit lame telling them that not all of us are good test-takers, that they needed to not give up on reading, etc. These were just thoughts that I thought may generate some discussion, since I think there are others who have felt similarly.

Thoughts on extra credit

Hello Everyone!

Lately there has been a lot of discussion about the merit of extra credit and whether it should be used at all. Obviously giving extra credit for things like bringing a box of kleenex would be a poor use. But I was thinking... what if kids go beyond what we're able to get to in class? What if I provide them something fun, interesting, and challenging that will expand their knowledge of the content and motivate them to be life-long learners?

So one thought I have is already on my site. I have students watch the Epic of Gilgamesh clips that I posted and summarize the story. Simple enough.

Is there anyone else out there that sees a value in such assignments? Or perhaps any sort of extra credit opportunity?

The Benefits of Quiz,Quiz, Trade

At the middle school staff meeting, we practiced the activity quiz, quiz, trade. I always worry a little bit about effectively modeling and practicing such a chaotic activity. However, the 7th grade English department tried it with our Honors English as a way to teach irony. Students each got a picture with something ironic on it. They thought about why it was ironic and then began to quiz, quiz, trade. It went fabulously! It saved me the time of having to give many class examples because they were able to teach each other. I think perhaps it might take more than one run through in a regular class to make it flow that smoothly, but the kids left yesterday feeling excited about English. Anything that can do that, I'm on board for!

Hopes and Dreams

In my second grade class we have been working on our hopes and dreams for the second grade. One of my students shared the sweetest hope and dream with complete and utter seriousness, and it has since inspried me to introduce a new perspective into my classroom. The dialogue went like this...

Me :"So, _______, what is your hope and dream?"
Student: With a very serious face the student replied, "My hope and dream (long pause) is to be a super hero."
I struggled not to show the awe, humor, and surprise written across my face.
Me: "Well, that is a wonderful dream! Now _______, if you would like to someday be a super hero, what do you think you need to do in the second grade?"
Student: (Extremely serious and contemplative) "Well, I'll need to make a suit, (long pause) and a cape."
I about lost it at this point, but somehow managed to keep it altogether. I loved his dream! In my class this year, we are going to have a super hero day.
So now, here is the one question I have for you.... What are your hopes and dreams?

Confering with Students

In the middle school we use reading workshop as the primary method for teaching English content. Students choose their own novels to read, and I come around and confer with students about their books to ensure that they are comprehending their reading. This is something I struggled with last year. I did my first conferring with students this year and it went alright. I'm trying to make sure students have "just right" books for them. Today if I saw students gazing off into the distance, I went over to them, asked them what their book was about and what was interesting about the book. Then I asked if it was easy to read. I suggested to a few students they find an easier book to start the year with. My concern is that I don't know how to say this in a way that encourages them to change books without being embarrassed. I told students that it might not be a good book for now, but that it could be good later. Still, I am working to find better ways to help students find appropriate books. Ideas anyone?

Pippi Longstocking

Our class is reading the book called Pippi Longstocking. Our favorite part so far is when she is being a Thing-Finder. She tells Annika and Tommy that the old gentlman is a thing, and they can pick him up and bring him home. Our class wants to be Thing-Finder's too! Wohoo! Hooray for Second Grade! :)

Balderdash Blogs... Dare we say brilliant? :)

Welcome to Balderdash Blogs!


Like I mentioned in the title... "Dare we say brilliant?"

This is a blog in which I plan to share the nonsensical day-to-day events that occur in the day and the life of a teacher. If you would like to read more about the "darndest things" kids say, or the puzzling events that somehow manage to occur, this blog spot is for you. :)

Please feel free to share your funny stories, and moments that make you smile or lol. I am excited to see what you have to say! :)

Welcome to our Professional Growth blog!

Please respond to at least one of these sets of questions (blogging, PLN, PDP) by sharing a comment. Or feel free to create your own post on a new topic!

The World of Blogging

What are you looking forward to about blogging? What apprehensions might you have? How do you see your use of this technology impacting your professional growth? student achievement?

Your PLN

As you think about building and expanding your professional learning network, how do you see these connections/relationships impacting your practice and students' achievement?

PDP Reflection

As you think about your professional development plan for the upcoming year, how have you made a SMARTER goal? Share your goal and strategies you've identified to anticipate and manage setbacks. How will you celebrate successes?