Pondering the year

One day that I would have to say makes me feel good about my job or gives me the "warm fuzzies" is definitely the first day of school!  I LOVE this day!!  We are so new to each other and get to learn about one another.  Since we can't have a first day everyday, another day would have to be Wednesdays of each week.  This is our "Creative Minds" day.  I take the reading story or novel that we are working on and focus on a specific skill (IE- Narrative Elements, Compare/Contrast, Inferencing...) and I do a "fun" activity with it.  Let me back up a minute to explain how the week works.  During my 30 minute whole group time, I have a theme for each day of the week.  Monday is "Vocabulary Madness".  We go over and discuss the vocabulary for the week and our spelling words.  Tuesay is "Teaching and Story Time".  We go over the skill for the week and read parts of the story, applying the skill.  (This usually takes 45 minutes!)  Wednesday is "Creative Minds".  We reapply the skill for the week and pull in other skills as a review and make something creative to hang up or share what we have learned.  Thursday is "Grammar Gurus".  We learn our weekly grammar lesson and apply it to the story as well.  Friday is "Final Day".  We take our weekly tests or finish up comprehension activities that went along with the story/novel we worked on for the week.

I really love Wednesdays because it allows us to do something "out of the ordinary".  It gives the students a sense of creativity and allows them to show me what they have learned.  Although this is the messiest day, I think the students really enjoy working together and creating something they can show.

As a pinnacle leader, I think days like this remind me that we need to be the teachers/helpers for our peers and then allow them to take what we show them and be creative in their own ways as well.  This gives them the freedom to use and show what we have exposed them to iand make it their own.

As I am writing this, I am coming up with newer ideas to incorporate technology and see what my students can do as a PBL in Reading, using the skills they have been taught and giving them the opportunity to show it through projects.

Project Pics

The top pictures shows their posters of the habitats and what items should be included in them.  The bottom pictures shows the actual habitats created as a class.

Technology Unit

Unit Overview
One of the units in 4th grade Science is Animal Habitats.  As an introduction to this unit, I had students complete a United Streaming lesson.  In this lesson, they were instructed to watch a video and look at a web link to research a given habitat (biome).  Once they had their storyboard filled out, they created a VoiceThread as a culminating activity.  Students were able to dissect a frog as part of the exploration of adaptations for body parts on a specific animal.  I thought they would be "grossed out" by this part....but they LOVED it!!  They actually asked if we could dissect more animals! :) The kit itself was then taught/explored.  Students learned about three specific habitats: Soil, Pond, and Ocean.  During this classroom unit, students were divided into small groups and created a poster specific to their given region to show what is needed in these animals' habitats.  As a follow-up to the unit, I created a net-vibes webpage that students used as research to find further information about their habitat.  The webpage included a Google Form for students to complete.

Classroom Website (This shows all resources used in Unit)
Discovery Education  (This is the lesson used as the introduction)

VoiceThread  (This is the culminating Activity):








Netvibes Site (This is the follow-up activity)
Learner-Centered:
Much of the planning and creation was done by myself which didn't allow for much learner-centered opportunities.  However, I did have several students want to explore more and created different outcomes for themselves.  This wasn't part of their assessment so as I would like to say, they led their own learning and outcomes, they didn't have an opportunity to do this.
Relation to Core-Content:
This unit comes straight from our curriculum and Science Kits.  I added technology to enhance their learning and push them to explore these habitats through their own research.  Students used technology in a variety of ways, from research to projects.  They even had the project rubrics and directions straight on our class webpage.
21st Century Skills:
As stated above, I believe that technology was used to enhance this unit.  Students were held accountable for their own research and discoveries.  Technology was used to help them succeed in the learning objectives.  The technology used here was project-based and required them to comprehend material, be creative, and respond to questions to analyze their learning.
Pedagogical Change:
I don't think I had to change a lot in the way I teach to allow my students to complete this unit.  Again, it was something I was teaching any way.  One thing that I found helpful was using VoiceThread.  All of my students had been in TRICKS classrooms the previous year and had the experience with this tool before.  This cut a lot of my explaining/teaching out.
Reflection:
I really like giving my students a task and letting them "run" with it.  The introduction to this unit really allowed students to do their own research (using the resources provided) and complete the information based on what they found, not what someone was telling them to look for.  Many of them questioned this because they are so used to being told what to think and look for the one correct answer.  This project gave them more freedom to really discover their own learning.  I wish I has started it earlier.  Not all of my students had a chance to complete their VoiceThread.  This was poor planning on my part.  Another regret that I have is taking pictures of them completing the assigned tasks.  I wish I had more to show what they actually did.  I do have the posters they completed and plan to add them on here.
Student Work Samples:
See above VoiceThread....Pics will be added soon! (We are still in the process of finishing the unit!!)

Training Update

The training that was held last month went pretty well.  We had a few issues with one of the sites uploading but that does happen from time to time, especially when you have a lot of people on the same site!  Our training was split into two separate classes.  The 3-5 then the K-2 training.  The first (3-5) I thought would have been the easier training but in reality, the later went much smoother.  Our K-2 teachers were really involved with the training and asked lots of questions.  They also had really neat ideas in how they can incorporate the site into their own classroom.  My partner in this training and I looked up numerous examples and tried to make it "real" for them in preparation to the training.  However, they were able to look at it and throw out ideas that we didn't think of and were much more creative and innovative than what we had in mind.  I guess that is good, seeing that they do teach those areas!! :)  The second group seemed more excited in using the technology and I didn't get the feel that they "had to it."  I really think they WANTED to do it!! :)  That is VERY exciting!!

Professional Development Training

As a teacher we seem to always be involved with some type of professional development.  It is much easier to go to the training and be the "student".  However, this month a co-worker and myself will be conducting our own training.  I have led trainings in the past...but not to be graded on! 

Yes, graded!  This one will involve an actual rubric.  I mean, it seems easy to teach something you are familiar with, right?  Well, that is right but throw in a rubric and it freaks me out a little!!  I have to really focus on how I articulate directions, how I respond to my peers, and even what I am planning to wear.  Typically these things are easy, but I must admit the rubric is making me nervous!!  Hopefully my next post will discuss how successful our training was and that I am now a PD pro....

...But until then....

I am working hard to finalize plans, get our timing right, and set up the information used in the training.  Our training will actually consist of two separate trainings, each with multiple sessions.  The K-2 will be working on a website we (my co-worker and myself) feel they will benefit greatly from and the 3-5 training will show them how to better incorporate Discovery Education in their classrooms.  Both sets of training are broken down into intro, HW, work time, more HW, and then follow-up sessions (to make sure they are using what we show them, of course!).

So......WISH US LUCK!! :)

Update With Harry Wong

Well I am sitting here checking my email and notice another one from Mr. Wong. He is asking me, yes me, if he can use my PowerPoints in his presentations. I, of course said yes and went on to ask if he had checked out the website yet. Now I am waiting to hear what he as to say.

As far as my school year...it is going GREAT!! I only have 24 students this year, as opposed to the 29 from last year! So I feel much more organized and feel like I can get my day done on time. Not to mention that they are a fantastic group of kids!! I am so excited and energized to work with them!

Getting Dr. Wong's Help

For those of you that don't know, Dr. Harry Wong visited our county and did a fabulous workshop on how to manage the classroom.  Many things that he stated, I already implement into my classroom.  However, I still got some GREAT NEW ideas as well.  When I returned to my classroom for the "yearly setup", I reviewed my Powerpoint and used some of the resources that Dr. Wong and his wife provided for us.  He also gave us his email address and asked that we contact him and let him help us improve our classrooms.  Hesitantly, I looked up the email address and told him how thankful I was for the resources and information he shared.  Of course the entire time, in the back of my mind, thinking, "He doesn't care what I have to say!"  Oh how I was wrong.  He has become a regular pen pal for me!  After sharing my PPT with him, he gave some suggestions and I fixed it.  He asked that I resend it so he could see it again.  Once again, he responded!!  He even questioned a link that I had on one of the slides so that let me know that he REALLY read it!  WOW!!  I am now waiting on him to explore a website I use in my classroom that I shared with him.  Who knows...I may be one of the new resources that he shares!! :)

Reflection on 10 Minute Training

I forgot to mention some things during the presentation: Can use video and I uploaded my letter to parents to get permission to be on websites.

I was excited to see that there was an educators account that gives us more time.

Characteristics of Adult Learners

This was a very informative article.  Some of the information (Learning Styles) was just a review but other parts of the article will be great for us to use in our own development of professional development.  The comparison of young learners vs. adult learners shows that adults need more of a challenge or learner-centered and not just informational lectures.  Adults can handle more "do it yourself" instruction whereas a young learner will need more background knowledge to complete such tasks.  It is also harder to keep adults interested in what you are teaching because, as the article stated, most of the time it was their choice to attend the PD so they feel they can up and leave while young learners know they "have" to be there.

I had never seen the thinking styles before which was very interesting to me.  I hadn't thought about the different way people think or solve problems.  That portion of the article will be great to have as a reference while developing professional development so I can be sure to give problems that will suit all thinking styles!

Teaching Teachers

There was a lot of great information in this article.  Much of it seems common sense but is not necessarily used in schools today.  For example, knowing if the professional development is working.  It seems simple to think that a follow-up or evaluation of teachers using programs/material taught to them would allow administration to really see if it works.  However, this is rarely done.  So, we will definitely have a follow-up discussion to see if teacher like/dislike the material as well as their students and to see the impact that it is having within their classrooms.

In addition, it discussed that students perform better when their teachers attend PD that directly impact the students' learning.  I believe the PD we are planning will definitely do this and hopefully the teachers at school will by into it as well!! :)

Classroom Comparison

avoca37.org
This is a great representation of what the article classrooms would look like.  This shows students engaged and working on diligently on a project or assignment in collaborative groups.  Both the article and the ISTE standards show us as teachers how to be more student led and integrate technology for the students' best interest.

At times my classroom looks this way, but not with laptops.  I do try to keep my classroom in pods so they can collaborate on all subjects.  But I do find it hard to keep everyone that has needs towards the front and each child away from the one or two that bothers them and parents have asked they be moved away from.  It also seems difficult with the number of students we have now.  Once a few start talking the discussions in the classroom take over.  I am going to continue using groups and trying to make my classroom more student led.  The standards and article definitely help us as teachers see that it can be done and it is expected of us!


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