Google+ - A Great PLN!

Good Morning!

I just wanted to share with all of you how awesome google+ is. I joined with my school gmail account a few weeks ago. Recently, they added a new feature called "communities", which is similar to facebook groups. I posted a question in one of these communities and had 6 comments on it before lunch time. People gave me ideas, resources, and even self-paced tech training videos that went along with their suggestions.

Google+ also has those little +1 on like every website which makes it easy to share things you find on the internet.

I would highly recommend getting on google+ and following teachers such as Richard Byrne and also finding communities that interest you. Oh, and you can add me to your circles! :)

See you on G+!

Eric Hills

PLC Data Protocol

In our PLC we completed our first data protocol of the year. While we have been discussing student achievement, rewriting assessment, and comparing work informally, this was the first time we sat down and officially looked at test results. For the most part, this was a great relief. I found that our scores on the assessment were similar for the most part. Also, we got an opportunity to rewrite confusing questions as a whole group. I think this is much more helpful than me just rewriting with my own ideas. What I especially like about this data protocol was that we agreed the test was were it should be in terms about rigor, but we discussed ways to teach the concepts better, so that our results turn out better next year. It was nice to get to the instructional part in a discussion about assessments, as usually I think many people get caught up in what didn't work . We focused on what did work. Have you looked at test data as a PLC? Do you find it helpful?  Also, do you plan enrichments/remediation at this time?

Free Writing for Language Arts and content areas

Last year I was coteaching in a 7th grade language arts class. We started doing a freewrite activity at the beginning of class during our poetry unit. It was great fun since the students were motivated to read out loud by allowing them to perform if they wanted to. Some students did raps, some did creative readings. I started this fall with freewrites in my pull out Level 2 EL class grade 7. They are motivated by what they can create and show and perform for their fellow students. Sometimes it is competetive between them--I don't make it competetive, they do. Sometimes they bring the writing home to add to or improve it--and they are excited to show it the next day! I think this generation is motivated more about what they can show the world than what the world can show them--social media makes so much sense--like facebook is about what you can PUT OUT THERE--not so much about how you can injest more from others. I would suggest doing freewrites in ALL content areas and just see what the students do creatively with the vocabulary and concepts--just give it a try! --Ann Browning Zerby

Technology Overload

One thing that I love about working in this district is that the opportunity to incorporate cool technology in the classroom is always there.  Sometime I wonder how people taught before technology was available!

Today, I am feeling overwhelmed with all the technology that we have access to.  In my classroom, my students use Lexia, Study Island, Math Expressions, Fusion, and Education City, Benchmark, and Tumble Books.  While I love having all of these options out there for my students to stay engaged and excited about learning, I am having a hard time managing all of these resources so that they will benefit my learners.

I am wondering if anyone has advice on how they are finding the time to into some of these resources to assign things, or make it individualized for each student in a class of 23+.  I feel like I am letting my students down because not every resource is personalized for their level/ability/skill.  Any ideas would be appreciated!

Sub Plans

I was fortunate enough to travel the week before Thanksgiving, which meant that I took three personal days last week.  I am still exhausted from the process of planning for it all!  It took me longer to plan for the sub than it usually takes me to plan for a whole week.  I spent long nights the week before I left writing detailed plans for each day and making sure everything was exactly the way it needed to be.  I wanted to make sure I covered every contingency and that I had plenty of activities for each class.  I feel as if this helped make the transition easier, both for my students and for the substitute, but I still feel like I'm trying to catch up from my time away.

How do you usually plan for a substitute?  What do you think is necessary to include in your plans?  How strictly do you want your sub to adhere to your plans?  I found out my sub didn't follow the morning meeting quite the way I wrote it down, and that doesn't bother me so much, but when I found out he didn't require all of my students to do their morning work, that did bother me.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Google Account?

You have a shakopeeschools.org account. That's good. Now what do you do with it?

I've run into a number of people that have our lovely Google accounts and really haven't done much other than make a blog posts. I thought I would list some ways I use it and I'd also love to hear how you all are using yours!

Here we go!

1.) I made a Google calendar and have it on my teacher website with all my assignments listed. I also do this for my swim team schedule.

2.) I sync my bookmarks using Google Chrome's "sign into Chrome" feature and can access my bookmarks on any machine with Chrome (including my iPhone, iPad, laptop, and desktop.)

3.) I created an exit ticket and put it on my teacher website when we were in the computer lab.

4.) I created a Google+ account to follow education blogs and other teachers as well as share resources I find (MORE PEOPLE SHOULD JOIN SO I'M NOT ALL ALONE!)

5.) I use a Google form to have volunteers register for my swim/dive team meets. I also use it to keep track of their contact information.

6.) I store important documents in the 5GB of storage that's on Google Drive and can access that anywhere on any device.

I think I should be a Google sales rep. 

How do you use your Google Account?

Behavior Interventions... 6th Grade -UP

Within my EBD program, I feel that a lot of our behavior interventions are working well for students, scheduled breaks, visual schedules, social skills groups, point sheets/reinforcement programs. My last two years, I have had few 5th graders. This year, I have 6. Now is the time for me to start planning how to transition/gradually transfer responsibility to these 5th graders to prepare them for 6th grade and up. So, any ideas/experience for how these types of interventions are implemented within classrooms in the upper-grades? Are visual schedules used much (i.e., individualized schedules to carry around), do students self-initiate for breaks. What works well in your rooms for students who have behavior/social/emotional needs? Thanks!

Its that time....

I cannot believe how fast the year is already going; however I can honestly say that I am ready for a 2 day break. With teaching I feel that we can often time forget the 'ME time.'  Its important that we still have a balance between our work life and personal life.  Sometimes they can get very intertwined and its important to take that time for us. 

What are you looking most forward to on your break?

Websites: Sharing Notes and Presentations

Hello Everyone!
I've had a number of requests from students and parents to share my notes and presentations that I use in class. They want them posted on my website.

What I have noticed is that some students just assume they can slack off in class and then print the notes at home... that's why I've been resistant.

But I'm curious, how do you share notes to parents and students online?

Meaningful Discussion

My major goal for this year is to create an environment for higher-level discussion in the classroom.

As a group, the 7^th graders I work with are very willing to participate and answer questions. However, I struggle with asking higher-level questions and fostering genuine discussion. Students are willing to raise their hands to share journal responses, for example, but I don’t think those questions are necessarily as deep as they could be. When discussion is the focus for a small group, students take turns, but often don’t build on each other’s responses further than “I agree.” In the past, I have tried different discussion protocols with varying degrees of success.

Do you have any suggestions for encouraging meaningful discussion at the middle school/junior high level? Has there been a certain protocol that has worked well for you?

1st qtr done - WOW!

Getting great help and guidance from my team. 

I can’t believe 1^st quarter is done.  I can finally say I feel I am with the rest of my team (meaning we are on the same platform waiting for our train).  Starting a classroom after school has started has been a challenge again this year.  I feel like I have been missing the train and trying to find all the things I need to teach my class successfully.  My team has been a wonderful help sharing with me what I do not have and helping me identify what I need to still get for my class.  It has also been a good challenge this year to have to share my room.  It has made me be more organized and prepared for my class I only have my room for the morning and then another teacher has the room in the afternoon.  Any ideas as to how to share the chart paper?  Two classes one easel?? 

Conference Time Again

Hi,

So the first Jr. High conference was last night, and I could not believe how many parents came in to see me. I had a line and talked all night. It was fabulous. I feel like this year I had more conversations about how parents and students could specific target skills to improve in English. I also felt like parents were holding their students accountable to their grades rather than holding me accountable to student effort. I am glad to see that the parents of my 7th grade class are so invested in their students' educations. But I do wish that I could more concisely move parents through a conversation. I don't like that many of the parents had to wait in a long line to talk to me. I would like to focus my conversations and try to be more brief on Tuesday, the second day of conferences.

Does anyone have ideas for how to speed up a conference? How were conferences for you? Is there a specific structure you use to discuss students when parents talk to you?

Making Connections with Students

I was so priviledged to have my 9th graders share some personal moments with me Friday last week in English class. We are beginning our memoir unit, and to start we are bringing in significant objects from our past. I brought in some personal items from my past and I was actually nervous that my 9th graders would act too cool for school and complete the assignment in a superficial way. When I had them bring in their items, I was shocked at the time and care they put into their assignment. Some brought in their luvies or stuffed animals from when they were young. Others brought in dog tags or their rock collection from their youth. Others brought in photos or items that reminded them of a loved one that had passed away. I was so suprised not only with the sharing, but the level of respect in the classroom. Other students shushed talking students if they were being disrespectful. This makes me so excited to continue the year and to develop meaning ful relationships with my students.

Have any of you had particularly suprising or meaningful moments yet this year? Please share.

Supportive Teams

I always think back to what if I didn't have the professional support system that is in place for me as an educator. I believe that although I am internally motivated to succeed in my profession, it is my team around me who continue to help me grow as a professional. My collaborative team helps guide me tio draw my own conclusions out of my practice, make decisions, and support both myself and my students when needed. I am thankful for this system, as if I didn't have it I believe my job would be different. There has been plenty of PLC talk as of late, and I see this post as a continuation of this concept. My team, in its' own way, is a PLC. - James

Parent Volunteers

I have an elementary age classroom.  This year, about a dozen parents have expressed an interest in volunteering.  I think it is very valuable for parents to be involved in our classroom for so many reasons and I want to involve as many parents as possible.  Scheduling can be a challenge.  One parent comes in weekly, so it is easy to plan a routine for her.  Other than assisting with the occasional field trip, how have you used parent volunteers who are able to come occasionally but are unable to commit to a regular schedule?

First Observation

Today I had my first observation for the school year.  Since I am at a new school this year, it was also my first observation with a new administrator.  I always get a little nervous before observations, but I think the lesson went well today.  The activities flowed together well and we met the learning objectives for the lesson.  I feel as if my students have a firm grasp of the skill we were working on.  It was helpful to reflect on the observation this afternoon using the high leverage elements from the evaluation standards--I found myself actually writing more than the 1 or 2 paragraphs recommended on the observation handout.  I'll know more after my post-observation conference on Tuesday, but for now, I'm optimistic!

What about you guys?  Do you get nervous before observations?  Any advice for dealing with jitters?  Is it helpful for you to reflect after your observation?

Enabling?

As first quarter winds down here at SWJH, I find myself trying to keep a balance between helping kids to improve their grades and reinforcing irresponsible behavior. As junior high students, I think it is important for kids to take the initiative to ask questions about missing assignments or extra help on their own. I also know, from experience, that most kids don't. It is really hard for me to see students earning grades below--or sometimes even far below--their potential. I have grades posted and updated in each week in the classroom, I have contacted parents multiple times about low grades, I remind students of my availability during and outside of the school day, I emailed missing assignments to study hall teachers, I have registered kids for SWAT...but still there are missing assignments. I'm not sure where to go from here. I so badly want my students to succeed, but when is "chasing them down" too much? Where is the line between helping and enabling...and am I on the wrong side of it?

Technical Reading Strategies

In the FACS classroom, technical reading is super important.  Whether it is from reading a recipe to reading directions to sew a garment together, technical reading is all over our curriculum.  Last year, I was able to work with our literacy coordinator to come up with some great ideas for the foods classroom and 8th grade sewing.  This year, I'm reaching out to all of you for ideas for my 9th graders.  They all had sewing last year and they are STRUGGLING to reading simple directions.  I'm finding much of it is that they come to ask me how to do it before reading instructions and don't like my answer when I tell them to first read their directions.  Are kids being spoonfed too much nowdays or is it lazy or is it that they lack the skills to read their directions first before asking for help?  Anyone have thoughts on this and suggestions to combat this?  My kids now know when they start to come up to ask me and I look at them, they turn around and go read their directions first...I feel like this is something I need to teach to them though.  Suggestions?

Graphic Organizers

I co-teach in 7th grade language arts class, and it seems that there is a real push away from the class doing work on the same text--and towards students doing assignments from a chosen book. We did an assignment this week that turned out to be less effective than we thought it would be. We were having students doing a summary of a fiction text using a somebody-wanted-but-so graphic organizer that I created. After they filled in the main points from the text, they put these points together into sentences for one summary paragraph. This worked really well when we modelled from one text, then we had the pods work from one text. However, we had the next step be working with partners on a chosen picture book--so every pair had a different book. This did not work so well because some picture books did not lend themselves so well to writing a summary using the somebody-wanted-but-so strategy. We will use the same text for all students for the next independent assessment for practice. that way, we can go over summaries as a group and learn together. There was no opportunity to really come together as a whole group with students using a chosen text. Choice is important I think for just right books and independent reading. However, so much is lost when they all have different texts for targeted assessments. ANY THOUGHTS??

Rigor throughout grade levels

Eric's post inspired me to write about the topic of our VT meeting this week: rigor in reading 6-12. We will be looking at how much each grade level expects students to read and what the rigor of those texts are. I like that at VT we will be doing more vertical alignment because often it is overlooked as we try to accomplish our many PLC goals. Making sure our students are challenged appropriately and increasingly at each grade level is one of the most important ways I can think of spending our VT time. Having taught four different grade levels in the district, it is so interesting to see how our students who go from reading 20 + books a year in 6th grade struggle to read 4 books in 10th grade. It will be interesting to see what each grade does to promote reading. Hopefully we will be able to better shape our curriculum based on our discussion on Wednesday.

My question is, do other VTs talk about these topics? Do you assure alignment with any sort of tools other than the standards? Do you have questions about what other grades are teaching? Do you feel the thinking and quantity of work is well scaffolded between grades in your discipline?

Grading Practices - the debate continues!

Hello Everyone!

I heard that a number of VTs are going to be discussing grading next Wednesday. I would like to use this post as a place to reflect on as well as keep other people informed of their discussions within their VTs. I think it would be great to hear what all of you are discussing!

I know that's our big focus for VT Social Studies this year.

What did your VT discuss?
How did you approach changing practices?
What are the main reservations of teachers in your VT?
General reflection is good, too!

How do you "do" groups?

As we develop our collaborative practice through PLC's, there is strong focus on being an effective group; we need to make more collective decisions and inquiry as we move towards this way of "doing." :).   So, now I am reflecting on the question: how do you develop the skills to be an effective group member?

While sitting in certain teacher groups, I have felt some stress as the discussion (which can be quite lively) continues on for our scheduled 30min. (for example) without a single decision being made.

I think there are key skills that need to be fostered as we move towards this model of interdependency in our instruction; skills like effective paraprasing, pausing, avoiding vague terms, or being able to switch between dialogue and discussion (there is a difference!) :), for example.

As we focus our discussion on data, student interventions, and formative assessments; do we also need to focus on our way of "doing" groups and being a part of a group?

A new way of looking at the function of behaviors

What does the "F" stand for in "FBA."  I was recently posed this question by Ross Greene at the Social Thinking conference last week. For those of you who are in the world of special education know that an FBA is a Functional Behavior Assessment. An assessment when we are seeing a reoccurring behavior in a student. It is our job to sort out what is the function of this unexpected behavior.

Ross made a point that resonated with me, "Kids do well if they can."

All of our "trouble" kids with these problematic behaviors WANT to do well. They are lacking the skills to do well. Using the example of a student with a reading challenge; when does that child struggle? When you require them to read. This is the same concept for our students with challenging behaviors. These students aren't always challenging. They are only challenging when “The demands being placed upon a person exceed the person’s capacity to respond adaptively.”

Reinforcement systems can be motivating, and for those kids who don't have behavior challenges come easy for them. We need to adjust in teaching the students skills over creating motivation. The motivation is already there, “kids do well if they can.” The student would much rather be doing well in class, but is lacking the necessary skills in order to do so, therefore, Student has found a maladaptive behavior in order to cope with his lack of skills.

If you are interested in more topics by Ross Greene here is a link to his website;

http://www.livesinthebalance.org/

Reflecting on Reflection

As teachers, we are constantly reflecting whether we realize it or not. After a lesson, we consider what went well and what didn't, for example. The challenge--for me at least--is to take that even further. I need to make sure that I engage in "deliberate thinking" and figure out WHY something didn't work and how I can adjust it. In doing so, I would be able to tweak and build on my lessons rather than starting all over. Reflection is also important with student behavior. As a 7th grade teacher, I am lucky enough that I teach in a "house." At our team meetings, I can reflect with others to help with student concerns. If something is working for another teacher to help students be successful, I can try it as well. I need to remember that reflection isn't an isolated practice.

PLCs...

As we start an exciting new school year and settle into our new routines, we have some common practices that we can reflect upon. Here's a 'starter question' to help you build blogging into your weekly habits. :) Responses to these prompts are optional, as always! This is just one way to get your feet wet... 

My October reflection-of-the-month is: What is one way that active participation in a PLC is impacting your professional practice?

Think about: How is your PLC...

... enhancing your reflective practice?

... improving your instructional practice?

... challenging your philosophical beliefs?

     

Great Discussions!

Let's keep the suggestions rolling... I love learning from your experiences and suggestions. Also, no need to worry too much or apologize for being 'late' in posting to our blog. Give your best shot to be present each week and share your own ideas. You can start a new post if you choose, but since our primary goal is to engage in meaningful professional conversations, responding to others is a valuable way to contribute! Keep it up. :)

Talented kid with an attitude

I have a student who is quite musically talented. She learns music very quickly, and she was also selected for my audition 6th grade choir. My problem is she has quite the attitude. Her work ethic is not great. Within the academic school choir setting, her attitude and lack of effort are shown in her rehearsal technique and citizenship grades. My bigger worry is the way she talks to other kids. To me, it has a feel of bullying. Every comment she makes to another student has that sassy attitude tone and she often puts kids down when making statements to each other. I think she does this because she is a 6th grade girl who doesn't know herself all that well, but it drives me NUTS! She isn't meaning for it to be "so mean," as she has stated to me, but it really bothers me. Any ideas? I want to channel her talent positively.

Communication

We all know there are vast mediums to communicate with students, parents, and colleagues. It seems today that most people prefer to use email, phone, text, and face-to-fact conversation. However, with such limited time in the day how do we best communicate with parents and our colleagues? On average, my inbox fills up with 10-15 an hour - with 8-10 of those messages requiring a response. When do we have time to respond to those? Personally, I am an early bird so I've dedicated my 7-8 AM time (our start time at Sweeney is 8 AM) to answering emails, and then I try stay away from email during the day, as that's taking away from student support time. However when I see an average of 50-70 emails a day, and our hectic schedules, I don’t feel I always have the time to return communication in an efficient way. Do others have a systematic approach to communication? If so, are there particular ways you prefer to receive communication, and then organize it? At any given time I have support staff, general education teachers, and related service providers coming to me as a student's case manager consistently. I have moved to a paraprofessional tracking sheet this year where our paraprofessionals track some data, but there is room for narratives - which serves as some of this essential communication. Other than that, I am looking for any suggestions that others may have!

EL students being stuck in L3

Hello Everyone--Sorry I haven't been posting. It has been a really busy beginning of the year. I was at a conference last spring where the keynote speaker was discussing the "stuck in Level 3 syndrome." By this, she meant that there are EL students who seem to progress so slowly that they get stuck in level 3 and either there is a learned helplessness (and this is teacher's problem) or they aren't movitated to keep going (this is the student's problem) or both. So how can we balance student legitimate need for servicing from creating a dependency? I'd be happy for any feedback--I'll leave it open-ended and not share my opinions until I hear from others.

A fun new reward system in Phy Ed class at Sweeney

Just wanted to share something new that my teaching partner has started in phy ed class at Sweeney and I definitely think other subjects should try something like this out or maybe some other teachers have similar systems like this...
We started a reward system called, " I know what to do, and I will do it!" My teaching partner came up with wonderful idea.  We get to see our students 4 out of 10 cycle days, so it adds up to be about 100 minutes a week. It's really hard to waste time by chatty students or disruptive behavior in phy ed since we don't have that much time and need to get through our curriculum.

So... We had every student in the school grades 1-5 sign a huge poster saying I know what to do and I will do it. By having them signing the poster, they made a promise to us that they know the rules and expectations in phy ed class and will follow the rules and we hung it up in the gym. When we see a student doing the right thing and following the rules by listening or participating in the skill or game, we will give them a ticket. On the ticket, it has a face with binoculars saying, " You got caught!" For doing what is right, nice job! When a student receives a ticket, they quietly walk over and grab a pencil we have sitting out in the gymnasium and put it in their grade level bucket. Every two weeks, we draw 5 names out of the grade level bucket and will announce their names over the loud speaker so their teachers, the principal and classmates know that they are following the rules. One lucky name drawn out of the bucket will also get to come down and pick something out of the prize bucket. We have jump ropes, Frisbees, hula hoops, etc that they can choose from. We also added lunch with your phy ed teacher for a day and are asking some local business's in Shakopee, like cherry berry to donate some gift certificates. So far it is working great and we carry these tickets around and the kids are ready to listen, learn and follow the rules.
I know a lot of schools have a system school wide for positive behavior, but I just thought I would share this because it's fun to have something in your class. This works great with elementary students :)

Here is the poster. I tried to turn it so you can see how it hanging but I can't figure out how to do that on the blog, so you just have to turn your head :)

Review: A New Approach

Matt Braa sent me this link to a blog post that talks about a different way of reviewing. It is called "The Mistake Game." Students work in groups on a problem to find the correct solution. Then the group has to re-work the problem and make one mistake on purpose. The fake solution is presented to the class, and the other groups have to find the mistake. I thought this was a really clever way to approach review. It incorporates higher level thinking. It is easy to watch someone give the correct solution to a problem; it requires more attentive thinking to know how to do the problem correctly AND recognize the error. I think this would work especially well for my honors classes who "get it" right away. I am excited to try it out for our first review day!

http://kellyoshea.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/the-mistake-game/

Nerdy Tech Ideas!!!

Okay, I know some of you that know me will laugh when you see the title of my post here but I just came up with this amazing idea that I can't wait to try! It's nothing new to the tech world but new to us here in Shakopee, I think.

So my 7th grade students all have science (with a class set of iPads) and have set up gmail accounts through the schools google account (@shakopeeschools.org). First, I want their emails in TIES so we can send mass emails to them just like we do with parents. It would be nice if they could use those accounts to sign in to Schoolview as well.

I embed a google calendar on my website with due dates and test dates. Using those gmail accounts, we can have students add due dates and such to their google calendar by going to their teacher's website and simply clicking on any events that they need to know.

The biggest test is... will 7th graders actually use those gmail accounts?

All that being said, if you have any ideas that you'd love to share in this thread, go for it!

Mr. Chatty

I am trying to find new and creative ways to deal with an extremely chatty kid.  He is super nice and is a great contributor to the classroom discussion but he is overbearing and no one else seems to havea  chance to talk.  Any thoughts to try to contain his energy and allow other students to feel they can contribute to the discussion as well?

Seventh Hour

Last week, I have to admit I totally spaced on the blog (sorry!) . My mind was already in over drive trying to figure out what to do with my seventh hour. They are a rowdy group. I am dealing with a lot of side conversation and random shot outs. I can't even get them to write silently for two minutes. I have tried having them lay down on the floor with pillows and low lighting to calm them down, but that only works for a while. I want to try brain breaks, but I am worried that will get them more anxious. Last week, we did try a dancing brain break, but then they were high energy the rest of the hour. Does anyone have any ideas for what they do to help students stay focused even when it is seventh hour?

PLCs and Special Education

Providing special services for students K-5, I am working hard with my special education colleagues here at Eagle Creek to identify our "best fit" within the PLC model. I was fortunate to join our building's PLC team at the Summit this summer and feel that I have a strong grasp on the procedural and learning focused outcomes for the model. However, key barriers/topics to address for us as special education teachers include:

-Time restraints of attending two PLCs, attending both a general education and special education community (IEP and Eval. meetings make our morning availability tight). Should we participate in only one? How do we prevent a dichotimous relationship between Sped. and Gen. Ed.?

-Creating SMART goals for students we impact across grade-levels and abilities.

-Devoting our time as a "special education resource" to the achievement of students without IEPs (this barrier was raised as our services/funding comes through special education) and how do we be a part of a team/commit time towards general education student goals when we are also responsible for student IEP goals/needs/objectives.

-Creating formative assessments/common data sets across our disparate caseloads of students.

Thoughts to chew on as we move towards this way of doing to affect all student learning :). The goal, really, is that all of the students are all of our students, as we move towards inclusion. Thank you for any reflection you may have!

Where does homework fit in?

As I'm easing back into the groove of teaching I find myself taking a critical look at grading. More specifically with homework. It seems that more and more emphasis is being put on test scores as opposed to homework. Now that we are using standards based grading I find myself in a bit of a grey area when it comes to using homework as merely formative assessment which is ungraded, versus actual assessment of the given standard. Penny for all your thoughts?

Welcome Back!

What is one new thing you are planning to try this year?

End of the Year

It’s the end of the year!  Can you believe it? Last year I had the students write letters at the beginning of the year as a way to get to know them, and then had them write letters at the end of the year reflecting on 6^th grade.  I also had time for the students to make posters for the “future 6^th graders” giving them tips on how to succeed in 6^th grade. This year I feel like I ran out of time, so students will be finishing up our last unit, poetry, basically until the second to last day.  However, I still want to make sure I take time to say good-bye to the students and wish them the best for the summer and 7^th grade.

Just wondering if you do anything special in your own classroom for the end of the year?

Grading Practices - Always Evolving!

Hello Everyone!

I just finished reading A Repair Kit to Grading by Ken O'Connor. It has been a very rewarding book study for me. These are the big things I've taken away from it:

1.) Always accept late work and don't take off points. Kids that are behind easily get into "give up mode" when they know they aren't going to receive much credit for late assignments. While you need deadlines, if students talk to me and continue to show they understand the content, I will reward them with full credit.

2.) Don't grade participation, aesthetic concerns, or behavior. That doesn't show what they know! And some kids don't let grades control their behavior.

3.) Make good assessments. Make sure they are balanced and show what students know. This is tough, but the makes grading a more accurate indicator of what they know.

4.) Don't grade formative assessments. These are practice. In the future, any vocab quizzes I give will be graded but won't calculate into their final grade for the quarter.

My question to all of you... what are your grading practices like? What concerns do you have about grading?

Poems and Other Creative Assignments

I am so excited because in English we are creating poems right now, and while there are many requirements to these poems (they have to be quatrains and ballads), students are still able to be creative and play with language. I forgot how much fun it can be to listen to students as they discuss poem generation. Many students are coming in and saying things like "I wrote an awesome stanza last night, Ms. Goedtke!" and when they are talking to their partners, students are actually discussing how to improve rhythm and rhyme in their poems. I love that our fourth quarter in English focuses on creative work. I think it fits nicely with the Spring.

This also makes me wish there was a way to make researching and other writing as interesting and personal to students. We unpacked the research standard as a VT at the last VT meeting and are in the process of shaping our research to be based on a question. I am hoping that questioning will help students find the fun in research. But I wonder if there are other ways to pull that creative part of writing into more formulaic writing styles like essays and research papers.

Thoughts? Do you think that it is possible to adhere to more rigid writing styles (or other required projects or papers that are more rigid) and still have students excited about learning? How have you been able to do that in the classroom?

Professional Growth over the Summer

I just started thinking about my summer plans and the possibility of doing the SORLA workshops. I think it is so awesome that Shakopee reimburses for SORLA, and also may give a stipend? I feel really lucky to be in a district that is committed to professional growth. I am wondering what other people are doing over the summer to contribute to professional growth. I think it is really important to rest and relax, but this summer I would like to take more opportunity to expand myself with many different areas--especially since I will be teaching the more "junior high" grades--7-9. I keep thinking I need to be more trained with technology--Smartboard use, etc. Or maybe it is learning more techniques with classroom management designed for this specific age. Am interested in what people are doing . . .

Benefits of Book Study

I have been a part of the PLC book study group and I must say that I am enjoying it immensely. It is so interesting to read about what a PLC is supposed to be doing and compare it to what we are doing. I'm already trying as a PLC leader to implement some of the suggestions (like sharing positives at the beginnings of meetings and having a day to sort unit activities into keep, create, or toss categoreis) into my meetings. I am happy to see that the book is focusing on tangible suggestions rather than just talking philiosophically. I am hoping that next year I can start to shape the PLC into more of a action research based meeting rather than a curriculum writing meeting. But as we talk about constantly in our book studies, that means time to write curriculum outside of PLC. This is an interesting topic to struggle with and I am happy that we are getting the opportunity to think through the process of creating the PLC rather than simply being told what to do.

Is anyone else in a book study group? How is it going? What are you learning? What concepts do you struggle with?

Outside of the Classroom

Anybody have any strategies for EBD students? I actually don’t have any EBD students in the classroom setting, but I am a tennis coach and there is a player on the team who is EBD. There have been issues with this player listening and getting along with others.

Any suggestions that could transfer from the classroom onto the tennis court?

There's only so much in our control

As we look forward to next year, there is some anxiety about the different changes in some of our schools. Some schools are brand new like the 6th grade center (well--new staff, etc.) Others are shifting staff (Junior High East and West) and some elementary teachers are going here and there. A colleague gave me advice once that I will pass on. When I told her about changes and anxiety I felt about them at a school I was at, she asked me what it was that I could control. It made me think for a few minutes. There were a couple of things--I could control how I felt about the changes and what I could do--but not the changes themselves. It made me relax and feel a sense of "serenity"--What is that serenity prayer for 12 step programs? Grant me the serenity to accept the things that I can't change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
We can choose the anxiety we take on--and we can let go as well. We don't want to take on too much and just burn out. It's also important to take care of ourselves, and then we enjoy our jobs much more!

Summer Jitters

Is anyone starting to notice students sliding into summer mode? As I am observing students in the hall or in my classes, I am noticing students are starting to get more and more fidgety and are starting to lose their focus.

As the weather gets warmer and the students get more anxious to be out of school, in what ways do you all hope to keep your students focus on school?

Looking Forward

So the English 7 team just found out where we would be officially yesterday. Though we will all be in the building we want, only two of us will be teaching 7th grade next year. One person is moving to 8th and the other to 9th. It is very exciting for us to all still be in the same building, but I'm sure there will also be many growing pains as well. I am staying at the 7th grade level, which will be much easier than learning a new curriculum; however, it will still be an adjustment, planning with just two people, learning to coteach, and teaching curriculum to two other teachers at the new building. I am wondering how everyone is feeling about next year, whether or not you are moving buildings. Are you excited? Apprehensive?

I myself am very excited to have a second chance at Honors English 7. I like what I did this year and being able to adjust the independent research paper and continue to increase rigor while still using gradual release makes me look forward to next year. I am also excited to be coteaching, as the method has seemed to work well in the two 7th grade classes that used it this year. The idea of parallel teaching seems like a fantastic way for us to meet each student's need while still beign able to increase higher level thinking for the class as a whole.

I apprehensive about our two most experienced teachers leaving the department. Nate and I have experience and will do well together, but it does make me anxious to go it a little more alone. We are now the more experienced teachers, as the teachers from the other school will not have experience in the curriculum.

I am also nervous about how we will keep consistent curriculum with two buildings. How will we meet to make sure we are implementing our assessments in a common way? Will we meet in one school? And then how will we make time for that? I think perhaps meetings could be biweekly instead of weekly for PLC so that we could meet for a longer period of time, but weekly check ins do seem important. Any great ideas for how to have a PLC accross buildings?

Spring Break!

I feel very fortunate to have a spring break…and a week long one at that! I know not all teachers are so lucky, but what a great chance for us to recuperate and reenergize for the last bit of the school year. I am not going anywhere exciting, but am just looking forward to catching up on other stuff that I haven’t had time to do.

So I am just wondering what other people’s plans are for spring break? How do you plan on spending your time off?

7th Hour Blues

I have a group of some challenging boys in my 7^th hour class. There is a wide range of negative behaviors that occur such as excessive talking, not paying attention, blurting out, and lack of effort/motivation-, which leads to missing or incomplete assignments. I have talked with these students so many times I feel like a broken record…but nothing changes. I am working on contacting parents and having students come in for lunch, but I would like some other “in-class” strategies I could use to help change these behaviors. Any ideas?

Laptops for all students

I have been reading through the postings about getting kids to do their homework--especially papers. Are we at the point where we provide students with laptops? We could write grants so that all students are provided with the same laptop, like they do in colleges now. That way, we provide backup tech support, and they learn, they get papers done and typed, they have no excuse for not being done with work.

Would this be feasible? What do people think?

Pandering to Parents

I find that parents can be the most stressful part of the job at times. Either it seems that our students are behind, and we can't get their help in motivating their students, or parents are emailing constantly and complaining that work is too hard. We are currently trying to revise the 7th grade independent research project, and we as a PLC are trying to wade our way through the parent feedback to figure out what is a legitimate complaint and what is parents just being parents.

Do you incorporate parent feedback into your lessons and curriculum? If so, how?

Making Study Hall Time Useful

On the Owl team we have been struggling with Spring Fever in our study halls. It seems that students are choosing not to use their time to get work done. Either students have all their work done because they've learned how to use their class time, or students are checked out and have given up on school it seems. We have been printing their grades and giving them extra copies of their work. We have also started doing read alouds for silent reading time because students are not reading independently. Mr. Neu suggested that on Friday I give talking time at the end of class if students work dilligently during the first 3/4 of the hour. I was just wondering how you manage your study hall. Also, do you find that study hall is useful for students in lower grades? I never had a study hall growing up and I see the same levels of missing work. So I was just wondering how useful people think this time is for students.

Homework that students love!

Hello Fellow Teachers!

Today, I had the privilege of collecting an assignment from my students. I call it the castle blueprint. All students do is draw a castle, label 7 parts, name the castle, and turn it in. I asked students to use the back side of the directions (8.5x11 paper) or any materials they wanted. The product I received was so incredible. I got 12 3D models and about 75% of the rest used their own poster paper! I can't believe how motivated the kids were to complete the assignment and they all put such much effort into it! The turn in rate was almost perfect as well. I wish kids loved to do their homework this much all the time!

So my question to all of you is... What homework assignments have you given that kids love to do?

Getting Students To Be More In Charge (Responsible!)

I am sorry to report that there are still several 7th grade English papers that are still unfinished. They were due weeks ago. My co-teacher and I have provided after school help a few times a week for a couple of weeks--and even went so far as saying that students who weren't done had to stay after until they were done.
The students who are low-level aren't necessarily low-motivation. Many of the low-level students in the class were adamant about getting help from us. They were worried about their work being late. They sought help. In short, they took responsibility by being in charge of getting help for themselves. We certainly assisted them, but they were the ones coming to the after school help sessions to get finished because they wanted to.

What do you do about students who are at medium skill level, but don't take charge of their work. In fact, when you remind them about their paper not being done, they look at you as if they didn't really realize it wasn't done. I am making one more effort to help these students. I am speaking to them individually about staying after school for the last help sessions tomorrow and Friday. But why aren't THEY coming up to US? I will make a point of asking them this. It almost seems like they think that if they don't mention it, it will just disappear!

Any other strategies??

Pre-Conference Preparation

With the second round of parent conferences coming next week, I was just wondering what other teachers do to prepare for conferences? Do you just show parents the students’ grades or do you have student work/assessments that you show? I usually have the students fill out some type of sheet evaluating themselves in my class. I like being prepared with something for conferences because I don’t like making things up on the fly, but it’s hard to be completely prepared with so many students and not knowing who will show up.

So what do you do before conferences to get ready?

Ideas

Does anyone have any great techniques out there that they use to help students with ADHD/ADD to stay more focused or attentive in class so that it does not take away from their learning?

Success

Currently I am in the process of grading students’ memoirs (like a personal narrative type of writing) and as I am reading through them I am pleasantly surprised! Not only are the fun to read, but I can’t believe how well-written some of them are! I think back to last year and I cringe thinking about those papers! But this year I can definitely see improvement in our curriculum and in the outcome of the students’ writing. I’m not saying every student got an A, but I could see them at least attempting the techniques we went over and being successful because of it.

I know for me, I expect a lot out of my students and myself, which sometimes causes me to focus more on the struggles or problems that occur, rather than the positives. But I think it truly is uplifting when students produce work that is something to be proud of, and I am very proud of the students that put a lot of effort into their writing…it definitely showed!

Any other successes that you have had this year with your students that made you really proud?

Students Presenting

Recently we had students present some posters that they had made for an activity in class. It made me think about presenting and speaking in front of an audience and how even though we have students do it, they don’t really understand how to do it effectively. Many presentations they do are informal, but even so they should be practicing the skill of speaking in front of an audience in a meaningful way. I know this can be something very scary for students, and then there are some students who it doesn’t seem to phase, but I was just thinking about how I need to address this more and have students practice those speaking techniques more consciously (eye contact, volume of voice, etc.) So I was wondering if you have students do presentations in your class, what do you expect of them as far as the speaking and presenting goes? Do you make students aware these techniques and or just expect that they do it? Or is more like students just present information and you are only interested in the content? Any tips to help them practice these skills?

Advisory

At the beginning and end of the week we have advisory in the morning for about 10 minutes. I know advisory is supposed to be like a home-base for students and it is a nice connection for them, especially at the beginning of the year. I go over announcements with the students and words of the day, and I focus on grades at mid and end quarter. We will also do some sharing about weekends and sometimes play some games. But I feel as the year goes on that Advisory gets monotonous. Does anybody do any other activities with their advisory? Any other ideas for things to do with students that are fun and meaningful, but don’t take too much prepping?

Writing a play based on a story

I was inspired by Gina's post about trying to make lessons more engaging for students. I happened on this one almost by accident. As we were reading, we were talking about dialogue between two of the characters. Then I was talking to them about story elements and how you can tell what characters are like by their dialogue. One student commented about how two students in class were like the characters in the story. I thought--YES--why not have my EL students create a play based on a story we read together as a class? I said it out loud to the students! Once I said that, they were more engaged with our plot outline we did, as well as looking at dialogue in the story. I also had them use some whisper phones to hear themselves talk. I am not sure how much room content teachers have in their curriculum, but if writing a class play together can cover one of the standards--maybe teaching drama terms as well as story elements--it could work.
It lets the drama terms come alive. As well, it allows for differentiation of students in the classroom: students who are strong speakers can take the leading roles, lower level readers can work on scenery and maybe even be part of the scenery with small speaking roles (example a tree could have a couple of lines), students good at writing can help compose the lines, etc.--even draw scenery or build props.

Works Cited Page

Hi,

This week a question of priorities when you can't find time. In English 7 we are preparing to write a research paper. We will be researching and writing next week. Every time I teach a paper, I struggle to fit in information about the Works Cited page in and it is always rushed. I realize that it is something that I need to teach, but I never feel I do a very good job of it. I tried to make it a focal point in my honors class by teaching it earlier, and I think that will help, but I think what ultimately stops me from teaching it well is my lack of care about the works cited page. I am not very concerned about if the commas are in the right spot or if there should be a colon. Does it really matter if the title is underlined or italicized? My apathy translates into my priorities in the classroom. However I know from college that it does matter to some instructors, so teaching the process is important.

My larger question is are there things in your subject area that you find simply procedural? Do you struggle to give this the priority that other teachers might? How do you motivate yourself to teach it? What are some strategies you use to teach very procedural topics?

What do you do in your classroom?

With so many standards we have to implement in our curriculum, I feel like sometimes we can fall into the trap of just teaching. We can forget to make our lessons exciting and hands on. I felt like I started to fall into that trap a little bit and I wanted to really take some time and re-vamp the lessons that I had and make them more intesting to my students.

As a Reading teacher we always talk to the kids about how authors use exciting and bold beginnings to get the readers excited and make them want to keep reading. So I asked myself...what can I do in my classes ( my mini-lessons) to get my kids excited and engaged so that they want to keep going with the lesson?

I have had some exciting lessons that get the kids excited and I wanted to know.....What have you done in your class that you are proud of? What got your kids excited and "pulled" into the lesson??

People Who Made a Difference in Your Community

I co-teach with 7th grade Language Arts. We are doing a research paper on someone who has made a difference and has also overcome obstacles. As I start to brainstorm a list of people who have made a difference in the world and in recent and past history, I start to wonder about the people who have made a difference in one's own community. I am wondering if people have done projects to involve local people--student who have interviewed people in their family or their community who they respect and admire, and have shown how those local people have made a difference.
A friend of mine who teaches in Robbinsdale district does a project every year and they bring people in from the community to be honored. I am curious about any school projects people have done (on any grade level) to honor local heroes and sheroes. World War II vets? Vietnam or any more recent war vets? People who have helped any poor or underpriveleged people? I would love to know!

Connections between Subject Areas

I love when I am able to address other subject areas when I am teaching. Not only does comparing and contrasting material from different subjects enhance student understanding, but I feel that it also pulls kids who don't normally connect to English into the subject. Today in class we were watching a movie on Cesar Chavez. In the movie it talks about non-violent protestors like Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. As they will be talking about Nelson Mandela and aparteid in social studies, we also addressed that topic during the movie. Now I have helped build background for that subject area, which makes me very excited.

In Honors English we are reading a novel on Japanese Internment during WWII, which fits perfectly with Social Studies as they just read a book about concentration camps. Students use their knowledge of WWII to make deeper connections to the novel, which is obviously what I want.

Social Studies feels like it naturally connects to English, but I am surprised as to how often I am able to connect Science as well. We study morphemes, which always lends itself to science terms, as many Science terms can be broken down into morphemes. For example, biology (bio-life; ology - study of). As we read biographies about adventurers and expeditions, I find it easy to relate concepts addressed in science in English.

The reason I write all this is that our focus this year at the middle school is incorporating Math into our curriculum. This is more challenging for me as a teacher. I am so used to incorporating Social Studies because it fits well and Science because it is a passion of mine outside of class. When I incorporate math into English it feels very forced right now. But I am hopeful that this feeling will subside as I try to incorporate math or math concepts more directly in my lessons.

What types of activities do you do that crosses subject areas? Do you like incorporating other subjects or does it feel overwhelming with all of the standards you have to accomplish for your own subject area? How is incorporating math going for you?

Rewrites and Revision

In 7th grade English we always allow students to rewrite their essays for full credit. I like this philosophy because it emphasizes the need to revise and redraft your work. In English it always seems like we are squeezing revision and editing into very few days because units typically take longer than they are planned to take. This requires that we be very purposeful about teaching kids to review their work before they turn it in. I know that this is important in other subjects than English. Science teachers want lab reports to make sense, Social Studies teachers want posters to be clear and neat, and in math students always seem to score better when they put the number back in the equation and check their work. But how do you encourage your students to do this? We use a SCOPE protocol and allow rewrites. What works in your subject to encourage your students to be thoughtful and do their best work?

Favorite Websites

Hi,

I use the Internet often when planning for speech language sessions with my students. I guess you could call me a Google fanatic. I can't imagine not having all this information at our fingertips as was the case for educators not long ago. When working with students on language targets such as idioms, cause and effect, verbs, etc. or when working with students on articulation, I have found I can usually search Quia and find online educational games/activities. I do not have a Smart board in my room, but I think some of the Quia activities would be great with a Smart board. Have you found a website that you are glad you stumbled upon and use it frequently in your teaching?

Making Development Day Count

Hi,

I was thinking about the development day coming up on Monday. So often I feel that we see this day as a time when we could be doing one hundred other things, but instead we have to sit through meetings and training. As a part of the VT for the 6-12 English, I am excited that it seems we will be doing activities that directly relate to what is happening in our PLC. Yet I still fear that people will come in with a "this will be a waste of time" attitude. I was wondering what you do to make development day a positive, learning experience for you. Do you think there is more that our leaders of meetings could do to make the experience more helpful?

The wonders of coaching sessions

Hi,

I finally have started my coaching sessions that are required as a phase two teacher, and I must say I am quite pleased. I met to discuss two things: my work as a leader of our PLC and classroom management in one of my hours. It was wonderful to be able to talk through how I could be a stronger leader with someone who had no opinions about the PLC itself. I was looking for a way to achieve more cohesion in the PLC, and I ended up coming up with ideas myself. I think that was the best part of the coaching. She just repeated back what I had said to her, encouraged me, or asked questions. This made the thinking easier and clearer because it was really like having a conversation with myself.

As far as the classroom management, it was nice to hear that my plans were not off track. It was nice to hear that I should be doing what I had planned on initiating in the classroom.

Needless to say , I am looking forward to my next coaching session. It is a level of support that was helpful and decreased my stress. I'd love to hear how other people's coaching sessions have gone. Have they been helpful?

5 things you are thankful for

Thanks so much for the comments about taking care of ourselves! I thought I would leave a post about something I heard about on a TV show. If you write down 5 things you are thankful for every morning, it can start to change the chemistry of your brain! I heard this on a public television show about brain information! He said that it is the one thing that seemed to be effective for everybody. Some of his depressed patients actually got over this depression by doing this exercise. I think it just keeps reality in check! And doing things for others can be a good way of feeling good about yourself!

After Break: Staying happy and healthy

I've been trying to focus on staying relaxed and taking things in stride today--the first day back after break. In fact, I made sure NOT to schedule big home projects to do over break, so that I had a chance to relax. I am wondering how people take care of themselves? I was taking yoga classes and going to the gym over break. I also made a point to connect with friends that I hadn't seen for a while. I can feel that the healing/resting time over break did me wonders. I feel that today I am much more patient, more joking, more "loose" with the students than I was before break. Why not post some things we do to keep happy and healthy? What are our new year's resolutions for ourselves--not focusing on our classrooms, but on ourselves? It was really hitting me over break that if we focus on our own health, the rest will follow.
What do you think??