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.