Service Projects Are Real-life Greatness

As educators, for the most part we deliver instruction to our students in hope of each of them not only understanding the concepts but applying them to real life. Today the 8th & 9th grades took part in Service projects & attended a Youth Frontiers Respect Retreat. I somehow wish, our district had a vertical team of such ideas. So much can be learned through giving a providing, it'd be so meaningful if there was a scope and squence of yearly such retreats that focused on reflecting and experiencing the good in these great days.

My PDP

I feel as though I may have left my goal a little open-ended for this year. I wanted to grow and develop professionally be learning new things/participating in new things throughout the year. I signed up to do Responsive Classroom training over the summer and knew I wanted to incorporate that throughout the school year. I also knew I would be getting a Smartboard mid-year and wanted to learn about that. Finally, I signed up to do the Literacy Cohort because I would like to continue learning about how to teach reading and writing to the best of my abilities.

Basically, I was already a little "overbooked" when the school year began. Then I decided I would be an advisor for Student Council (which is a great program for kids) and agreed to be a teacher representative for the S-team in the spring. While I certainly met my goal and learned a lot, it was completely overwhelming! It felt like I had meetings every morning and I think I spread myself way too thin. (Contributing to everything but giving my best to nothing.)

Does anyone else have this problem? It's like I want to do so much and see how all of these things can improve my teaching but fail to recognize when it's gettting to be too much. I would like to say that next year I will scale back... but not sure what I will cut. Hopefully I learn from this past year though and try to give myself a break!

S-team

In March, I was asked to be a teacher representative on S-team (the referral team for special education evaluations and interventions). Since my PDP focuses on growing professionally this year, I felt it would be a good experience and would teach me more about the special education evaluation process. We met almost every Thursday morning discussing students, the interventions teachers had done throughout the year, and what steps should be taken next.

Having sent a student through the evaluation process this year, I can say it is a very frustrating experience. Very rarely does the student receive they help they need during the same school year they are brought up to S-team. This means that the teacher doing all of the work (interventions, documentations, filling out forms, going to meetings) rarely sees any benefits (assistance for the student). Since the process takes such a long time (I started the process on a student in late September and he is having a hold-over evaluation that will take place next fall.) it's sort of a "pay-it-forward" situation where I can only hope this particular student receives services he needs to be successful next year.

Does anyone have any ideas to improve the S-team process? At my school we're meeting for a half day to go over ideas and suggestions to make it more successful but it would be great to bring up ideas from other schools as well. Thank you in advance!

Testing

April was mostly consumed with preparing for testing and taking the MCA and MAP tests. While I understand the rationale for testing kids, I'm concerned the testing is taking precedence over learning. In April alone, my students spent approximately 6 days worth of time testing. When there are only around 20 school days in the month, that's crazy! This doesn't even count the content-area tests they take for a grade (math, science, spelling, etc.). So where do we draw the line? After taking the Reading MCA's for 4 days, one of my students asked, "Do we actually get to learn next week?". Poor kid!

Third grade is the first year the students take the MCA's. That means we don't just take them, we have to teach the kids how to take them. (Rules, strategies, etc.) I truly believe that teaching to a test negatively impacts what/how students learn during the course of the year, but what do we do? We're required to take them and unfortunately, there is a lot of weight put on them. Does anyone else think there has to be a better way to prove that we're doing our jobs? Also, I often wonder how taking all of these tests benefits the students? A lot of the time I feel like they're doing all of this work and going through all of this stress and not seeing any benefits to themselves. At least with content area tests I'm getting immediate feedback on what my students know and what areas I should reteach/go more in depth into.

Does anyone know if we're going to have to take the MCA's three times next year? I heard rumors of this and I'm a little concerned about what that is going to mean for the kids.

End of the Year

As it comes to the end of the schoo year I'm feeling very worn down. This year has been very difficult due to the group of children in my class (a lot of personality conflicts and many needy children). I love my job and can't imagine doing anything else but these year has left me feeling drained. How do you bounce back from a year like this? I'm always excited to start a new school year but it would be nice to leave school without a "bad taste in my mouth". Any ideas on how I can re-energize before I get my next year's class list in August? :)

Also, do any other teachers help principals create next year's classes? It seems like it would be helpful to have the teachers look at the classes before they are set to prevent an overload on one or two classrooms. (I know, I know, energy points are supposed to prevent this... but do they?)

ASD students in the classroom

This year I have had a challenge in my classroom with 3 ASD students. I have a para if not more then 1 in my classroom during the day. I have become frustrated with the communication between my self and the SPED teacher and parents. The parents seem to communicate with her and I then am not always informed of information that if important to know about the child. I think that the parents are missed informed or unaware that I have those students in my classroom all day with me and they have little contact each day with the SPED teacher if any. She is supposed to be coming in my classroom for support each day for 20-30 min and am luck if she is in my room a couple days a week. There is not enough support given to the classroom teacher for these students at the beginning of the year. I have never really been given support or information other then their IEP about techniques or ways to deal with these students in the regular ed class. I feel that it is the SPED teachers responsibility to check in with these students on a regular basis or daily at the end of the day to go over their day. I think that the district needs to do a better job of having a time for teachers to meet with the SPED teachers at the beginning of the year and several times during the year to discuss ideas and issues about the SPED students in their classroom. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to work with these types of children in the class and with the special ed department?

DRA Testing/Reading

I am working on getting my DRAs done for the end of the year. I have found it time consuming to DRA 25 students several times to get their independent reading level. I did recieve some advice about pulling a small group of students that are at a higher reading level to take the test in a small group at my table. This has helped get through more students each day and not have to wait for them to come to my table to test. The problem I am still having is picking the level to start the student at and then giving them at least two tests if not more to find their independent level. I am not sure if there is something that I am doing wrong or missing that could help with this situation. I also feel that I am testing students who don't need to be tested again at the end of the year who are reading well above grade level. I have a high reading level group of students this year and feel that this is just more testing that they have to go through only to be tested again in the fall.

Frustrated!!!!!

I am very frustrated wrapping up the end of the year with my students. I have a student in my classroom that is very negative and disrespectful to me and others in the classroom. This brings down the attitude of the students and me as well. He joined our class after winter break and has changed the whole dynamics of the classroom. I have never had such a negative second grade child in my classroom before and am not sure how to deal with this behavior. We were taking the MAP Math test today and he had a very hard time taking the test. He would ask me questions and I couldn't answer them for him. He then just would say things like "then I will just guess or fine I will get them all wrong". I continually reminded him that he needed to try his best and if he didn't know the answer to pick the best one and move on. I have tried to ignore the behavior, but have a difficult time with that when he is influencing the behavior of other students in the class. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Smart Board!

I was so surprised and thankful to get my smart board after Christmas Break. Right away I used it with our new math resources, but I haven't used it much for literacy.
As I read over my journal from the winter, I see time and time again how nervous I was about using the new technology. I wish I had a class on how to use it before I got it.
So upon reflection, I signed up for a smart board class being taught at SORLA. I am looking forward to it. I hope to get some new idea, and also I hope to feel less intimidated by the technology.
At SORLA I am also going to go to a Pattie Greene class about conferring with the reader not the book. That goes along with my PDP for this year. Every time I listen to Pattie Greene I take away something new and useful.
Is anyone else going to SORLA? What classes are you taking?

Five Paragraph Papers

I think researching and developing a five paragraph paper on a famous person in American history is not developmentally appropriate for third grade writers. I know I am not alone because my team and I have talked about this, and I have talked to other teachers about it too.
So this year we decided to write the five paragraph paper on the solar system instead. It was a much better learning experience for me as a teacher and for the science investigators. They were much more engaged with this paper. It was finished in a shorter amount of time too. They took a whole week less to write than last years biographies.
We still studied famous people this year, but the paper was only a paragraph long.
With the new standards quickly approaching I wonder what will happen in the future. I want my students to be excited about writing, and I want them to feel that they are good at it too.
I hope by this time in the school year they feel like they have grown as writers. For example, they know how to write strong leads now and solid conclusions.
The past few weeks have been so consumed by testing that I know I haven't given writing the attention I was before all the MCA and MAP madness.

Looking Back

As I look back over my journal from the beginning of the year, I see that as early as September I questioned if "Parent Letters" were helpful and productive or possibly hurtful. All family situations are different and therefore not every child has an adult at home that is willing to sit down read the letter and then also thoughtfully respond. Maybe I should go back to just having them write me letters. What do you think?
Recently, I have also thought about pen pals as a strategy for meaningful letter writing. I am considering writing to a friend's third grade class in Lakeville where I use to teach. Or a teammate and I may have our third graders write to senior citizens in Shakopee.
These are just ideas I am reflecting on as another year is quickly coming to an end.

End of the Year...

Although I'm at home on maternity leave, I have been doing TONS of reflecting on the year, and wondering how all my hard work (and students' hard work) has paid off with my long-term sub and all the end of year assessments. My goal for this year was to create an assessment binder for reading and writing. Looking back, I should've just focused on reading, because it sure was alot of assessing! I also had to remind myself that MAP tests and DRA's are not the ONLY final assessments that my students will do to determine whether or not they progressed and whether or not all my work with my conferring and assessment binder worked..there's so much more to it.

Next year, I'll do another assessment binder and continue with reading and writing as my areas of emphasis. I know that I'll organize my info a little better, and next year, focus on sharing more of my collected information with parents. The little I did, parents were impressed at the overall knowledge I had of their child and his/her academic capabilities and potential.

Final Post...

Last week I had the opportunity to observe our Media Specialist. It was great to see another specialist teacher, observe what they do in Media class, and, most importantly, see the same students I see but in a different context. I was amazed by how a lot of the students that are more timid in P.E. were less timid in Media, shouting out answers, and vis versa. I was also impressed with what 1st graders were able to do on the computer and what they knew about various authors. I think it would be so beneficial to have the chance for all the specialists to observe on another. We would be able to include each other's content area into our lessons and support one another that way.

Overall, this has been a very busy and productive year. We have made great accomplishments with creating and implementing new assessments. We just need to continue working with these assessments, testing them out and make the necessary changes.

END OF THE YEAR...

This has been a great year. I've learned a lot about myself, as well as about my specialist area. We're progressing deeper into more assessment and I've learned that we need to start small. Test out new ideas before committing to them, and we should continue to modify them to make our program better. I've learned to advocate for myself more and my students. I've learned about the need for clarity in directions, the importance of following through on expectations, and how to reach out to those students who really need extra support.

I will continue to use what I have learned to modify my instruction and to grow continuously as a professional.

MAP TESTING

Wow! It is that time of year for the end of the year testing. My class just took the reading MAP test and I had 17 pass their goal and 6 not meet their goal. 2 of the six missed their goal by one or two points. I am really impressed with the grow of my students. I have been out on leave after having a baby and have been gone for the past 3 months. It is amazing to see the growth in the students after being gone for so long. The students were just starting to build their fluency and comprehension when I left. They have come along way over the year. My sub and I have really focused on mini-lessons with the students. We have used anchor charts with the objectives on them to help guide and focus the students with their learning. I have found this to be a great idea just posting them on your anchor chart. This was something that was taught and talked about this summer at the Lit. Institute. This has made me focus my lessons and not make them long or drawn out. We will be taking the Math MAP test next week. I hope the students do as well on this. I am not really sure how well I have been teaching the vocab. Does anyone have any suggestions about teaching math vocab in the future? Good luck to everyone else with all the testing at the end of the year. It is fun to see the growth!

UPDATE: Letters to Parents about height and weight

Earlier I posted that we were having some concerns from a few parents about measuring their child's height and weight in our physical education class. After further discussion and suggestions from administration, it was decided that we'd send home a letter to the parents allowing them to take their own child's height and weight and submitting it to us at school.

Reading by 3rd grade

I've recently come across another statistic (forgot the name of the source, but I've read/heard this before as well) that if students are not at grade level for reading by the end of third grade, then they are likely to be behind the rest of their life in regards to reading skills.

In your experience, what do you think? Although I haven't studied more statistics, I would be willing to agree with that statement. However, I do think that children and adults always have the potential to progress and improve their reading skills without a doubt.

With my second graders, more than half of my class this year came in below grade level expectations in regards to reading. Although I have a long term sub for the end of the school year, after she DRA tests, I'm willing to guess that at least half of those students (so a 1/4 of my students) will still be below reading expectations. As sad as that is, I have to remember and acknowledge that they all improved SO much, and many made leaps and bounds of progress.

Thoughts?

FitnessGram & Awards ZONE VS. STANDARD

In physical education in Shakopee, we've been in the transition of switching from Presidential Physical Fitness testing to the FitnessGram. One of the disappointments for our students for the FitnessGram is that they do not receive an award for achieving a specific standard as they used to for Presidential Fitness testing. I've contemplated printing certificates, buying some sort of award or creating our own Shakopee patch for the kids. Some students keep the patches and put them on their letter jacket or post them in their room as a keep-sake. It is something that they really look forward to and I believe it increases their over-all motivation and work ethic towards physical fitness testing. The FitnessGram outlines a "healthy fitness zone" for our students whereas the Presidential Physical Fitness testing provides a national standard for a specific age group that allows us to measure their overall physical fitness according to the standard.

I struggle with the concept of a "zone" vs. a "standard" because I think it can lower the expectations we should have for student physical fitness. Students are expected to reach specific standards within the classroom, why can't this be the same within the physical education setting? Every year we have to make A.Y.P and students are given awards to celebrate academic excellence, but the issue becomes much more sensitive when it is applied to the physical education setting because in physical education the term has been coined "everyone is a winner." The reality of life is EVERYONE IS NOT A WINNER. There will be times when you win, times when you lose. Times when you face set-backs or perform poorly when it matters most. Enabling our students to develop the "everyone is a winner" mentality does not make for active citizens in society that are resilient, self-motivating, optimistic, determined or confident. Having that mentality is not realistic or true. We need to teach our students how to handle set-backs and provide them the tools to handle the occasional bumps in the road. We must continue to set our expectations high through all subject levels and provide our students the tools to reach them.

Literacy in PE

I have not been incorporating literacy into PE lately... It wasn't until recently that I came up with a simple idea. At the end of PE, my students sit on class lines to wait for their teacher to pick them up. I instructed my students to clean-up and told them to hustle because I had questions to ask them. I then told them I was going to give them a word that I wanted them to spell and if they got it correct, they would get a sticker and they'd get to go to the front of their class line (this is a HUGE deal to go to the front of the class line : ) ) I asked them to spell simple words that they should all know and I incorporated challenge words as well. I was pleased to see how eager they all were to answer. I will definitely incorporate this into my daily routine and the closure of my lesson.

Chapter Books for High Readers

Currently, I am trying to keep my highest reading group in books. They are flying through Sharon Creech and Kate DiCamillo.
The readers have rich discussions and great writings on what they have been reading and thinking. Each student has a file folder so I can see how the reflecting changes over the course of the book.
This group just finished The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo. Anyone have any suggestions on what else to challenge them with now?
One of the readers came up with the idea to write letters to the author telling her what book of hers is their favorite and requesting that she come visit our school. I love when they want to take it deeper!

Observing other Classes

This afternoon I had the opportunity to go to Red Oak and observe the P.E classes there. I wish we had more chances to do this. I felt like I learned a lot of great ideas and it's fun to see all the different teaching styles. I observed a game that is very similar to one we do at Eagle Creek; however they added a different twist to it that I wouldn't have thought of.

I also want to observe other specialists and classroom teachers. I want to see the students and how they act and behave in a different environment. I also want to see the different teaching styles, management protocols and rules, and learn different attention getting ideas. There is so much we can learn from our colleagues; we just aren't given many opportunities to do so by having quality observations.

Taking your time on the MCAs

Happy Testing Shakopee Teachers!

We are on our 3rd day of testing at Sun Path.  We are testing the Reading MCA.  My kids are doing great and are really trying their best. I am very proud of them.  Of course, I have the occasional students who are speeding through the test and spend the rest of the time sitting there staring at the wall. In fourth grade we have the students sit at their desks rather that work on something or read afterwards. This has helped with kids taking their time as there is nothing to "rush" for.

Any ideas how to motivate my speedy test takers to slow down? Today, I think I may require all books to stay open until a certain time.

Leann

Extension Activites for Literature Circles

 Right now I am working on planning effective ways for my students to demonstrate what they have learned from their book.  Our main focus on our last literature cicle was Story Elements. I plan to suggest a variety of projects to accommodate all learning styles in my classroom.

Here are the projects that I plan to have my students choose from.

1. Flip Book- This flip book has 8 flaps, setting, main idea, main character, title and author, vocabulary word, favorite part, problem and solution.

2. Cereal Box book report- front of box- title and author, back- setting, side- problem and solution, side- main idea or theme

Any other ideas???

I would love to hear about anything else that has worked for other teachers for projects to conclude literature circles.

Teachable Moment

After returning from spring break, I was asking some of my PE classes what they did over spring break that was active or fun. I was scanning my class and noticed one of my students got her hair cut significantly. I made the comment that she did and she was beaming. She said she donated her hair to Locks of Love. Some of my male students reacted by saying "ick" or "yuck." I knew I couldn't let this moment pass without some further explanation. What she had done wasn't the least bit disgusting, but rather a self-less act of kindness. I asked her to come up and stand by me in front of the class. I asked my class if anyone knew what Locks of Love was all about? One of my students explained "It is when you cut your hair and you donate your locks, which is your hair to kids who don't have any." I explained further that often times cancer patient lose their hair. People donate their hair and it is used to make wigs. I told them that there are many people who grow their hair out and donate it for this cause and that it wasn't gross. I told them that instead of wasting your hair and throwing it away, you could actually help out other people by donating it. It was an interesting opportunity to teach my students about helping others. It's neat when these moments happen unexpectedly and your students can learn a valuable life lesson.

TRACK AND FIELD DAY T-SHIRTS

At Sweeney we usually get a packet of information about different t-shirt designs for track and field day. This year my co-worker and I were not totally thrilled with any of the designs, so we challenged our students to creating their own designs and we made a contest out of it. We received probably 50+ designs from students. We allowed them to work as individuals or in groups and encouraged them to turn in multiple designs. We received some high quality work and it was fun to see our students creativity. We then chose the top 5 designs and then had our students vote for their favorite design. Our winning design was: Sweeney Track and Field 2011 (Picture of a saber in the middle) Taking it to the limits! Sweeney 11 (On the back like a jersey) * I'll try to get a picture of designs up soon!

Literature Circles Assessment

Okay so now that my students are all familiar with the Literature Circle packets that I have given to them, I need to find an appropriate way to assess them and give them a letter grade.  In fourth grade, we give letter grades and it is important to provide rubrics to show our resoning for giving the grade. I am struggling because sometimes I feel that the grading for this is so subjective. I have been researching online for rubrics and other ideas to assess literature circles but all I am finding is self-assessment by the individual student. Does anyone have any ideas as far as a teacher assessment/rubric? Here is a student self assessment that I found and liked.

4—always 3—usually 2—sometimes 1—rarely

I am prepared for each session of the literature circle.

I participate in discussions and take turns.

I listen attentively.

I see clarification when needed from group members.

I respond to group members with appropriate input.

I make predictions as I read.

I use information from the text and from my own background knowledge to make

sense of the reading.

I make connections between the text and real world

I understand key information from the selection.

I learn new words when reading and use appropriate strategies to determine their

meaning.

I ask myself questions about the text selections I read.

Asking yourself (or the text) questions

I know the difference between fact and opinion.

I can visualize many parts of what I read.

I support my thoughts and ideas with information from myself, information from

the reading and information from other reading I’ve done.

I add supporting details in both writing and discussion.

I add detail to my writing with descriptive language.

Using sketches and illustrations to spark or extend ideas.

Where can I improve and why?__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Assessment binder

I made my assesment binder for this year by having a tab for each student and keeping their papers after the tab. I am finding the binger is too big and is not useful. Any ideas on how to better keep an assessment binder?

Also, for conferring with students I tried the clipboard and notecards but found that too time consuming when a card needed to be switched out. Any ideas on how to keep notes on students? I switched to a journal, but with the flex groups for reading, I find that digging through the notebook can be just as time consuming.

Let me know if you have something that works well for you!

Literacy in PE Put on the Back Burner

With the addition of all our new assessments and finding new ways to evaluate our students, I feel I have not been able to find much time to incorporate literacy activities into our PE classes. This is something I was very passionate about last year and spent a lot of time developing and creating materials for various literacy warm-ups and activities. Now there just does not seem to be enough time in a 50 minute class and in the school year for everything! How do we find time when our curriculum is already full and we still need to add more assessments and activities?!

Pictures from earlier post. Let me know if you have any ideas how to decrease the clutter ;o) Thank you!

DANCE!!!!!!!!!!!

I know some PE teachers do not like to dance, but it is one of my favorite units! I have attended a zumba class at Lifetime in Lakeville. We dance to a lot of the songs our students listen to. I decided to teach one of the zumba dances to my students. They seemed to really enjoy it. We danced to the song Dynamite, and now some of my students want to perform it for the talent show.

I think it's important that we modify our lessons and try new things to spark our students' interest. Simply changing the old music to music the kids are familiar with increases their interest.

Weighing our students

Fitness testing is around the corner...

Again, we're facing the issue in PE about taking the weight of our students for the Fitness Gram. There have been concerns about this issue through all ages of our Shakopee students. I teach at two different schools, one school does take the weight measurement, while the other school does not.

I'm just curious what everyone's opinion about weighing our students in PE class is? Do you think this is a good or bad idea? Do you think this is damaging to their self-esteem or a valuable tool for an evaluation of fitness? If the test requires it, do we need to stop using this test and go back to Presidential Fitness testing?

Preparing Literacy Lessons for LTS

I've worked so hard all year on an assessment binder, reader's and writer's workshop, building students' reading stamina, and so many other enriching literacy things that I'm finding it hard to let go of all I've done and hand over the reins to a long-term sub! I know my sub will do just fine, but I know there are limitations as to what their experience is in balanced literacy. I've offered many materials and ideas, so I feel like I did what I could and can only hope for the best! I know I'll be very busy this spring, but I'll still be thinking about my students and their progress (not to mention MAP tests, DRA's, etc.)

Does anyone else have experience with preparing a long-term sub for not only literacy lessons, but other academic areas?

I started giving each group a Literature Cirlce packet. I meet with each group at least 6 times. This allows each job to be completed by everyone at least once.  I grade this packet and it is part of their reading grade. This has helped with discussion too.  I was running into the problem, that no one would say anything. It was like pulling teeth to try to get some of my students to discuss the book. This has helped and has added more organization in the cirlce.  Here are the jobs that each member can choose from:

Connector: Your job is to find connections between the book you are reading and

the outside world. This means connecting what you read with your own life, to what

happens at school or in the community, to similar events at other times and places,

or to other people or problems. Once you have shared your connection to this

section of the book, each member of your group will also relate their own connection

to the book, although they may refer to a different passage.

Describe the part in the book, page number, and then explain your connection.

Discussion Director: Your job is to write a list of questions that your group might

want to discuss about this part of the book. The best questions will come from your

own thoughts, feelings, and ideas about this section of the book. You also need to

write your own answers to these questions.

Story Illustrator: Please illustrate a detailed picture of an important scene in your reading that you were able to make a connection with.  Be sure to tell why it is important and your connection to the picture. Label your connections as T-T, T-S, T-W, or T-M.

Literary Luminary: Your job is to choose a paragraph or sentences from the book

to discuss with your group. Your purpose is to help other students by spotlighting

something interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important from the text. You

can read parts aloud yourself, or ask another group member to read them. Include

your reasons for picking the paragraphs or sections you did. Please record the page

number and paragraph.

Passage Finder: Your job is to choose a paragraph or sentences from the book

to discuss with your group. Your purpose is to help other students by spotlighting

something interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important from the text. Please write a response explaining your reasons for picking the passage or sections you did. Along with your response tell what strategy you used. Please record the page number and paragraph.

Summarizer: Your job is to prepare a summary of the reading. Don’t tell the whole

story, just focus on the important parts. The other members of your group will be

counting on you to give them a quick statement that tells about the story (the

summary), and the key points.

Vocabulary Enricher: Your job is to look for a few important words in your reading. If

you find words that are puzzling or unfamiliar, mark them down on this page while you are

reading. Later, you can look them up in a dictionary and write down their definitions. You

may also find words in the reading that are significant to the story. Mark these words too,

and be ready to point them out to the group. Be sure to add your connection to the word.  How does the word relate to you and your life? Code your thinking!

What do you have you student's responsible for in their Literature Cirlces?

Forming Groups for Literature Cirlces

In the past, I have given book talks and formed my groups based on student choice.  I have also just picked books and told the groups what they would be reading.

From doing both, I have found that I enjoy giving book talks better and then having the students vote on their top 2 books and go from there.  The only problem with this that I ran into this year was my literature cirlce groups were all reading at different reading levels. Sometimes I noticed the higher level readers getting fustrated with the lower level readers because of their reading ability, not coming to group prepared, etc.. In a way, it helps everyone learn patience and how everyone reads at different levels.

Is it okay to have literature circles with mixed levels?

One thing that I would like to try after the MCA's for one last literature circle before the year ends in having students give the book talks.  I will select 5 students to give book talks. Each one at a different reading level. This will help accomodate all readers in the classroom and have a variety of choices. I will form groups on student's choice based on student book talks. I will also tell students that they person giving the book talk is just giving the book talk. It doesn't mean that person will be involved with that book.  I am hoping this will elimintate kids voting for a book based on the presenter.

Literature Cirlces

I found this in an article that I was reading on Literature Circles and wanted to share. I have been struggling with trying to do them the "right way" and trying to figure what way is the exactly "right way". This made it more clear to me that the way I am doing it will work too.

"there is no one way to do literature circles.  Literature circles look different in every classroom; they change from teacher to teacher, grade to grade, student to student.  Literature circles have no recipe, they are not a specific "program", and they never look the same from year to year -- or even from day to day.   The reason?  True engagement with literature within a community of learners can't possibly be prescribed -- it can only be described. 

This year my literature cirlces look more like guided reading groups. However, the needs of my students require this setting more than an independent group literature circle. I have 5 groups and each group has been involved in 2 literature circles that look like guided reading groups.

Are you doing literature circles in your classroom and if so what do they look like?

Objectives

I recently had my last observation of the year and my principle and I were discussing how important that the students know what is expected of them or what we want them to learn. The objectives of our lessons should not be a mystery to our students. I've been pretty good at writing my objectives on the white board for PE. I think it can be difficult at times to "point" to them or refer to them when teaching since we're always moving around in PE and the area we have to cover is larger vs. the classroom setting. I've been working on leaving extra time for closure of the lesson/review of the objectives so I can refer to them at the end of class. I would love if PE could also have a smart board on wheels! That way we could move it where we needed it and I would love to show videos more videos with skill demonstrations or stories in the news that are unit related without a projector and laptop. :) Someday...

More Assessments...

I'm continuing to implement more assessments. I've been trying to do more formative assessments too to help give me feedback about what the students are learning and then I can adjust my teaching/lessons based upon the feedback.

As for technology, I would love to implement more technology into my lessons; however its nearly impossible since we don't have computers, monitors, Smartboards, etc. in the gym. We've been looking into getting some of these tech devices for P.E and it would make it possible to try so many new activies and lessons!

Technology

As I reflect on our last phase 2/3 meeting, I realized that there are so many more technology opportunities out there, but I feel limited to the usage of it due to my teaching of a primary grade. I talked with a Spanish teacher at the junior high or high school, and the things they do with technology are so cool! Although I don't feel inadequate in the technology realm, I do feel that my students are getting a sufficient amount of access to various forms of technology. It helps that I have a smartboard in my room to allow for more hands-on learning.

Is there anyone that uses blogs, wikis, etc. in second or third grade? I haven't attempted them, because the thought of kids trying to type a decent amount sounds painful. Plus, I know that most of my students in my class do not have access to computers or internet at home.
Andrea

Technology

I missed the meeting about technology networking and how is it going in my personal or professional life. It is very difficult right now as a professional to by network, I feel do to the amount of time that it is taking to write our own curriculum and gather materials. I feel that I use the internet, searching blogs, or post boards more for resources or curriculum not so much time for posting my own thoughts or information. I think that it would be beneficial to try to network more but due to the time and pressure of keeping up with all the subjects that we have to teach, I don't have the extra time. I don't know if it is just me that has this issue about finding the time to sit down and use the technology or if others are able to network through technology and keep up with it all.

Guided Groups and Strategy Groups

I have been really trying to work with my students by pulling them for strategy groups. I feel as though it still is falling into more of a guided reading group. The students that I am pulling at a certain reading level tend to need the same strategies. I have broken them down in a fluency group, story elements group, problem/solution group, sequencing group, and a literature circle for my high students. I have then been pulling activities at their levels that are based on these skills that we are working on. I am not sure about what I am doing or if others have any ideas about this. I feel right now that I am working in small groups and trying to meet their needs the best that I can.

Reader's and Writer's Wrokshop

September 2010
I keep going back and forth about my professional goal.  I really want to work on both the reader's and writer's workshop.  I feel like I have the Reader's Workshop figured out and implemented in my classroom.  It is running smoothly and the kids are responding well to it.  I do a 15 min mini lesson, followed by 45 minutes of small group instruction, and 5 minutes of sharing at the end that foccuses on the skill taught during my mini lesson. 
One thing that I would really like to do this year is implement Literature Circles into my Reader's Workshop.  I have done Literature Cirlces in the past but have made them more a guided reading groups. I would like them to be in addition to their guided reading group. I would like for the students to run their own literature circle with minimal teacher interaction. Any ideas??

Leann Ferrell

Visually confused!

       When looking back on my professional goal of posting and verbalizing content and language objectives in the classroom, it got me thinking about other things I post in the classroom. Being a neat freak and leaning a bit on the side of less is more as far as visual distractions, I am having difficulty deciding what to post and what not to post.

       I keep my objectives on key rings so they are easily accessible, but out of sight. However, I keep the essential questions for the month out and visible to the students. My big question is......when looking around your classroom, how do you decide what to put up on the walls and what not to put up?

     Also, when it comes to posting vocabulary, I am thinking of spending some time this summer typing and printing the vocabulary, found in the quarterly check-in, for each subject area. I will then put them in a binder by month, so I can easily place them in a pocket chart where studetns can see them. Is this a good use of time? Do you find your students really using those vocabulary words in their writing. I guess I am stumped when it comes to encouraging first graders to use the resources posted in the room without overstimulating them so that the things posted don't become meaningless. 

    As first grade teachers we post more than the upper elementary grades. It seems we find ourselves putting up a lot of the fun crafty projects along with several anchor charts with pictures, class schedules, manipulatives, number charts and word walls. Any ideas on how to manage space in an organized manner?

Pictures to come soon.......

More Things To Learn

The exciting news in my classroom this month is that we got a SMART board! Since my goal was to grow and develop professionally, learning all of this new technology fits in perfectly. So far what I've been doing is just "dabbling". I've been borrowing things from staffshare (thank you professional network!) and taking things off of the smart notebook exchange website. I haven't made anything too fancy on my own yet but I'm super-excited about what an impact it has had on my classroom!

Behavior has been better because all of the kids know if they want to come up and use the SMART board, they have to be quiet and listening. Also, I get through things so much faster! It's much easier to have to up and ready to go than messing around with writing it on the whiteboard. One fun thing I started doing is recording myself writing in cursive and having the kids play it for themselves to see how I wrote the letters. It's so cool!

I feel like I'm on a pretty steep learning curve right now but at least I feel excited about it! Does anyone have any ideas for other fun ways I can use the board or places to find resources? Doug Keddie has been a god-send but the more information the better!

Technology for Better or Worse...

The title wasn't a vow or truly a question, but recently our PE department head went researching at 2 other districts to take a look at heart rate monitors & how they are being used elsewhere.
The numerical direct feedback of your efforts through movement is fanominal. Some schools are even basing the students grades only on their consistent achievement of their personal healthy zone.
To me this is taking one step forward, while taking one step back. Shako PE has made solid strides in assessing students through the NASPE standards. The usage of technology in this case "heart rate monitors" has an absolute power, too much power. Heart rate monitors are a great feedback tool, not a grading scale.

And the assessments continue...

We were able to create quarterly assessments for all our 5th and 4th grade classes. Initially we had done this; however they were all short answer questions. We decided that for many of our students (especially our EL students and SPED students), varying the format of the tests would be extremely beneficial. We created tests that have mutiple choice, matching, pictures, goal setting, Venn diagrams, self-assessment, etc. I'm excited to try these out.

We had done a few formal assessments and then we came across the problem and question of "What do we now do with these?" Besides using them for our own use, to give us feedback as teachers, to see what the students retained, we are not able to use them towards their grade. Currently our report card focuses on the affective domain (cooperation, sportsmanship, effort). All the elementary PE teachers decided that in order to utilize these assessments, we need to change our report card. Next year we're hoping to grade on all three domains. One grade for affective (same as now), one for psychomotor (their effort during skill work), and cognitive (which would include their knowledge based assessments.)

Converting Files to other usable formats

In we're trying to think of new ways to incorporate technology into our gym. I've shown YouTube videos twice for a unit this year. I showed two short clips about bowling. I ran into difficulties with this because our wireless connection was weak. I was informed of a site that you can use to convert files into any format you like. Just wanted to share it as a teacher reference if by chance you do not have an internet connection, you can still use video clips.

The website is: www.zamzar.com

Enjoy!

Is some, better than none?

This is my first year (as well as my team's) to start the phonics curriculum. We've always done our own phonics/grammar/spelling, so this has been quite an adjustment. Each month there's about 8-10 phonics lesson, but each requires ALOT of prep and time. We've started to separate the load, and just do one lesson for the whole grade level so we can share. However, there are many other components for the spelling as well. I've decided to stick with what I'm doing, but start some of the different spelling activities (making connections, look/say/cover/write/check, etc.)

Since doing EVERYTHING right now isn't ideal, slowly taking on the new activities seems like a logical idea. I figure the more I figure it out, my quality of instruction will be better too. Do you think it's okay to make a good faith effort, and gradually take on a new curriculum WITH the intent to do it all eventually? I am meeting the standards, just in a different way currently.

ADVOCATING

As teachers we've always been taught to advocate for our students. If we notice a change in behavior, physical changes, or "red flags" with our students, we're required to report these things, AKA "advocate" for our students.

I have experienced a situation where I was put in a tough situation where a professional perception of me was stated, which was not true. I wrestled with the idea of what I should do...do I pretend that nothing had happened and continue to teach like normal, or do I confront the person to clarify that what had been said was incorrect? I was obviously bothered by this situation since what was said was untrue, so of course I needed to act!

What I have learned is that we're professionally responsible to advocate for our students, but it is equally important to advocate for yourself because if you don't, who will?

PE Universe

I know many of you aren't Phy. Ed. teachers, but a great resource for those of you who are (basically just you Ashley :) ) is peuniverse.com. There are MANY lesson ideas and the best part is they are all videos so you can actually see what the lesson looks like. Perfect for visual learners like myself! There is also a section for discussions and one for blogs. In this area, there are great discussions from PE teachers across the nation about anything from assessment to technology integration to safety. Classroom teachers, if you're ever looking for an activity to get your students moving (and you have some space available) this may be a great resource for you too!
Just thought I would share this great resource!

http://peuniverse.com