Reflection Questions to Start the Year

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to Principal Kafele deliver a Back-to-School Message -YOUR Power is in YOUR Attitude.

Due to technical difficulties we actually got a two hour pep talk, actually a motivational kick in the pants to get this year started. I can't tell you how much this man motivates me.  He is a great speaker, but beyond that his passion for education just oozes out of him and it is so authentic that you can't be an educator and not be inspired.

He asked us to reflect on 5 powerful questions.  I will share them here and start to answer them.  I say start because this is going to take time to develop. However, I don't think it is something I can put off for  someday when I have the perfect answers, because this is what will shape me as a teacher.  And every single day I am in front of my students is critical and I must be prepared.

1. Are my students at an advantage because I am their teacher?
   This question is more of a mantra I’ve got to start convincing myself of.  You cannot expect greatness out of your students if you don’t believe you are great.  I’ve had a not so hot track record with my test scores that I constantly allow to bring my self confidence down, but I have to remember that even though the test scores are important they can’t be the only indicator of success.  I know from students that I’ve taught in the past that I am making a difference and giving them confidence in their abilities and teaching them to strive for greatness.  To that end my mantra is this:
   My students are at an advantage because as their teacher I believe in them and I believe in my ability to mold them into exceptional learners.
   
2. Why do I teach, anyway?
   This may not sound polished and worded correctly, but I do feel this is accurate.  I feel that I allowed doors to be closed because I thought I wasn’t a good math student.  I once took a mathematical aptitude test at the Chubb Institute and they were shocked by my high score.  I was too and didn’t believe it or pursue the opportunity to get into the tech field in the late 90’s which could have really changed my life. This makes me passionate about helping students avoid this same mistake.
   
   I teach because I want to be the person in a young person’s life who shows them that they have a choice in their future.  That there are doors that can open and close, and to guide them to decide that they will not have any of those doors close so that they can peruse their greatness, especially if they don’t know yet what that might be.
   
3. How badly do you want to see your students succeed? What will be the evidence?  How much time will you devote?
   This is my 7th year as a teacher, I still have the same drive and determination as I had the first year.  The only reason I can think of for this is because I truly want my kids to soar. Its not about me being a great teacher, it's about seeing students reach their greatness.
   I will do whatever it takes to make sure my students succeed.  Success means that they master the content that they are required to and also to become lifelong learners themselves.
   
4. Where will my students be ten years from now as a result of having me as their teacher.
   Principal Kafele stresses that the ten years is just an arbitrary number, and we have to think about the impact we are making on students futures.  I am lucky enough to be connected with a few of my former students on social media and it brings me such joy to see them soaring.  It is my hope that the majority of my students have successful lives.
   
   In ten years from now, my students will be first year college students.  It is my goal that my students develop the mindset that they can grow their brains and do anything they set their mind to do.  Not only will they go on to college but they will not need remedial classes because they learned the value of hard work and perseverance.
   
5. Do my students see in me who and what they can become?
   I love how Principal Kafele explains that you can be a role model to anyone in front of you, it doesn’t matter if you are a different race or gender.  I will strive to be that role model to my students. I think the most important thing is to be authentic. Kids can sniff out fakes like nobody's business!

I can't stress enough what an impact Principal Kafele made on me today with his Facebook Live message. I really urge anyone who reads this to look him up on Facebook and listen to these recordings.

Day 13-Thoughts Have Power

Even though I consider myself a positive person and very optimistic, when I reflect on my work I usually focus on the negative.  Not in a negative way, but in a "how can I fix this" way.  I feel like that is very important to do in order to improve, but I'm also realizing that I spend too much time focusing on what is going wrong.  I need to also look at what is going right and try to learn from and build on that.  

So as I look back at this week these are the things that are going well and I hope to build on:

1. I am getting more comfortable with the centers!  My students have learned the procedure for transitioning to the next group and they are getting better at it each time.  I have them switch on a count of 3, at 1 they all stand up and push in their chairs. On 2 the back row comes to the front of the room and stands in front of the first group.  On 3 they all go to the seats behind them.  It has a good flow. 

For now I am keeping the activities simple, but I'm working really hard to make sure they are meaningful and not just busy work. These are Learning Stations, not just Doing Stations.  I am working on building students understanding that the work they do here is their opportunity to play with the new concepts and develop their own meanings.  

2. I feel like my lessons are becoming more effective using the resources and methods I've been accumulating over the years.   For example, I've started pulling the concept development ideas from EngageNY which I think work very well, but also using Whole Brain Teaching to teach vocabulary.  I also like how the Whole Brain Teaching management techniques fit with the Teach Like a Champion strategies, such as 100% and No Opt out.  

Day 9/10-"Centers"

I tried the reworked version of my centers and found that it still needs a little tweaking, but it is definitely headed in the right direction.

The baskets worked great!  I had all of the supplies including printed directions in each basket.  I assigned a Captain and a Supply Manager for each group. My Captains kept everyone focused on the task and kept track of time.  The Supply Manager distributed the supplies out of the basket, read the directions and collected everything at the end of the time limit.  I feel like they did a good job with their roles so that is staying.

I did change the desk set up though, I had three groups of six which I really liked, but 1. it was hard to get them in position, and 2. this is a very chatty group of students and although I'm working on getting that under control, I think its too many together.  Right now they are paired up in rows and I have three groups, I had  the middle pair split up and one will move to the right and the other will move left.  So it will look like this:

xxx     xxx

xxx     xxx

xxx     xxx

I  still had 3 activities but I made two baskets instead of one.  Also, instead of the basket moving, I had the students move in order to give them a little leg stretch during this long block.  This worked really well even on the first try!

This afternoon, our external instructional coach came in and I got some really good feedback.  She said I was on the right track and gave me some things to tweak. Especially the type of work I should be having the students do.  I am super excited to try it out tomorrow.

Another observation I've made is that this group of students, while they are challenging as far as their behavior goes, they have already demonstrated some great math talk and reasoning!  I can't wait to start actually blogging about their math soon!!

Day 7/8-1st Full Week Done!

First let me say, I survived the first full moon of the year!  If there is one thing that I have learned during my time as a teacher, it is that students are definitely more challenging on a full moon.  That doesn't have to be a negative thought either, and its not just them, I believe I have to watch my own behaviors during this time as well.  I try to be more soothing and calm and not get them too hyped up.

I have learned soooo much this week and I am excited about that!
I attempted to introduce "centers" and conferencing with students.  This is something I have struggled with forever and I am more determined then ever to get it right this year.  I now have a 120 minute math block in the morning and about 95 minutes in the afternoon.  There is no reason this can't work!
Lets just say this was a great learning opportunity for me.  Especially since our wonderful RTI specialist, who I just respect so much and adore was in the class with me.  She gave me some really great suggestions and helped me make a plan for next week!
What I learned and how I'm changing it and concerns:
Not enough structure!  Since I have 18 students and set my desks up in three rows of pairs, after the mini lesson, I will have the pairs of students turn their desks and face each other. This will create 3 "groups" of 6 students.  I will have 3 activities planned with all of the supplies in a basket.  I will designate a captain for each group, that person will keep the group focused and on task.  Each group will have a supply manager who will be responsible for distributing and collecting supplies from and to the basket.  There will also be a messenger who, if the group is having a problem or question and cannot figure it out themselves, the messenger will be the only one who can ask me the question.
Concerns:  I'm pretty sure I know my high, middle and low groups already, but I know there is not a perfect 6 of each.  Something I plan to do is pull 4 students at a time to my back table.  So I will also have to take that into consideration, would I want all lows together and when I pull my 4 only 2 are left?  Still a lot of learning for me to do and I think I won't be able to know for sure until I try it.

WBT is going well and still a lot for me to learn here too.  Of course in my mind I expect instant perfection and I'm not there yet, but that is OK.  In the first week I have seen more than one student who has the tendency to be off task and disruptive, self correct and work really hard to get a "line" on my tracker sheet to earn a star.  That is success in my book!  Here is the other thing I noticed this week.  I've raised my voice once or twice and said some negative things (Do you want to lose recess?  If you can't follow the rules you are not welcome in my classroom-things like that) and some of the support teachers have done the same.  The students respond to that really well AT THE TIME, but then go right back to the behaviors we do not want.  On the other hand, I've already seen as mentioned before, behaviors being changed from the positive reinforcements even when I'm not actively talking about it.  I'm not sure I'm explaining that correctly.  Anyway, I plan this week to really focus on and call out all of the good behavior I see and less focus on the misbehavior.  I won't let the misbehavior off the hook, they have already learned my stink eye and I will stand by students who are talking out or not focused, I will still wait for 100% and things like that, but I will go out of my way to make a big deal over students who are doing the right thing.

Day 6 The Super Improver Team

I introduced my Super Improver Team board today and I think it went over pretty well.  I did not hand out the goal cards today, I don't think they need them yet.
Here was the board from the first day of school until yesterday:

And today they walked in to this:

I explained that the SI Team is like a video game where the object is to "level up".  The way you level up is by improving things like your behavior or academics.  It can be anything that needs improving!  As I observe students doing things better than they were, I will praise them and mark a line on my chart.  Each time I mark a line I am making a star.  When they have a complete start I put an actual star sticker on their card, 10 stars and its time to level up.  I showed them that I had already printed their names on every single color so that they knew I expected them to level up.
It felt really good to be on the lookout to catch students following the rules who normally didn't and a lot of students got 2-3 lines today towards their stars.  It helped with redirecting unwanted behavior too, there were a few students who I simply asked if they wanted to earn some lines and they instantly changed their behavior.  I am hoping I can get  a few of them on the yellow level by tomorrow to get them excited.  The hardest part about this for me is the students who are really great anyway!  Its hard to not want to just give them stars for being "good." I think I will conference with those students to see if there are any goals they would like to strive for that we can monitor on the SI Team.

Day 4 Disaster!

Yuck!  Today was awful!  Everything that was wonderful about Friday was the opposite today.  I am going to point it directly at not doing the Teach/Okay!
I am still struggling with this younger grade as to knowing what to do with them and for how long.  I normally would jump into my curriculum starting today just like all of the upper house teachers were doing, but I thought no, I need to stick with practicing routines and procedures.  Bomb city.  They actually know the routines and procedures that I've taught and practicing them over and over is driving all of us nuts.
So tomorrow I am going to start teaching some content, but going really basic with a LARGE focus on the routine and procedures.  I feel that having the content will give more of focus on why we have are routines and procedures.
All I know is that today did not work and if I was to judge 3rd grade by this day I would be looking for a new job right now instead of writing this blog!

Day 3-Glimpse of Teacher Heaven!

Today I pushed myself to fully use teach/okay.  I had taught the procedure to my "good" class, but not my challenging class.  This was the step of WBT that I struggle with since I had such a mental block with the gestures.  Since I decided that I was going to break down the rules on anchor charts (I don't know why I didn't take pictures of them!) I decided that was the "lesson" I was going to use.

Here is how it went:
First of all I used big exaggerated gestures, funny voices, walked all around my room (*racked up 16000 steps on my fitbit!!) and just went all in!
Me:  Claaaaassss!
Students:  Yeeeeeees!
Me:  Mirror Words!
Students: Mirror Words!
Me:  Rule 1 looks like following directions quickly but carefully (repeated 3 times)
Students: repeated what I said and my gestures-anyone not engaged (maybe 2 at the most) I would walk over and get right in front of them squatting down if I had to until they did it!
Me: Clap clap teach!
Students: Clap clap okay!
Boom they were doing it and loving it!!!!  I did about 3 "looks like" statements for all 5 rules and it was AWESOME!!!
The best part was not only did my "good" class do it, but my challenging class loved it even more!!!!  It was truly teacher heaven.
It was a lot of work but man, I had a blast.  It was fun!

Now, the only issue I need to work out is this.  I still don't have my challenging class when we are not doing mirror words and teach okay.  I still keep thinking that when I start Super Improvers and star cards and I can already tell I'm going to need the Bullseye for 2 of my students, that things will get better.  Yet I also want to say that its only the third day and they will get it.

The other issue is I feel so vulnerable not having any real consequence like warnings, detentions etc. but then also I guess recess squad will be that once I get that going.  I did take a few students out into the hall for a talk, happy to say 4 of them were to tell them privately how thankful I was to have them in my class, they were doing such a good job and I was proud of them.  Then my two major rascals, I took them out and gently told them to knock it off, very very gently, one cried, but it did "work" for the rest of the class.

Third Grade Day 2

So today I thought that my challenging group from yesterday afternoon would act a little differently since I had them in the morning.  Unfortunately, they were worse.  I fought the urge to move on to keep up with the other class.  I am determined to keep working on their behaviors and solidifying my expectations, rules, procedures until they improve.

I've noticed that although they can recite the 5 rules, they do not put them into practice.  We are working on making anchor charts of what each rule "looks like."  I feel like breaking the rules down and giving that visual reminder will help.  I know that once we get into the super improvers game and the practice cards I should see some changes, but everything I read says to save them for as long as possible.

I will keep pushing, it is so hard to not jump into content, but I know that if we don't get the behavior issues resolved, getting into content will be a waste of our time.  I am giving them a diagnostic test, Its a 6 page test that I've broken down and giving them 1 page per day.  This weekend I will be able to see where they are academically and begin planning from there.

Third Grade - Day 1

I survived!
It was so hard to plan this day since I had no idea what to expect from 8 year old students!  I am extremely grateful for all of the WBT materials I have been studying all summer.   As I thought, it felt like a natural fit in 3rd grade.  Did every student act perfectly?  Nope, but it was a great first day and start.

Since I teach math and science, I have two sections.  I had my homeroom class for the whole morning and then the other class for the whole afternoon.
My class did a fantastic job. We did class/yes, mirror words, teach/okay, scoreboard, 5 Rules and Star, and hands and eyes.  I have two definite beloved rascals in that class but they are not overbearing.

My second class really struggled with  the 5 Rules, LOTS of blurters.  They were not able to handle mirror words or teach/okay - I didn't even try it with them.  They do have class yes, but started to struggle right away with the Mighty Oh Yeah and Mighty Groan on the scoreboard.  I even let them do a "Mighty Dab" when they say Oh Yeah instead of clap, but that didn't get me the 100% I need.  Lots of beloved rascals in this class.  I'm probably going to start recess squad tomorrow!

So tomorrow the groups switch and I have the rascally bunch all morning and the other class in the afternoon.  I am interested to see how that changes anything, if at all.  I know students are usually a little more focused in the morning and "off" after lunch.

One thing I learned today is to slow down!  Even when I think I'm going slow, I need to go slower.  I can tell that if I don't get these routines down now it will be a rough year!    I feel pretty confident that we will work it out.  They are going to be an awesome group for the Super Improver Team!  Can't wait to get that started next week!

NJCSA Conference

Today my school attended the New Jersey Charter School Association conference in Atlantic City.    Overall, the conference needs some beefing up, with better sessions for teachers and more vendors.  However, I can't complain today because I attended an amazing session called Getting Messi:  How Mistakes make Mathematicians and Scientists.  The presenter was the winner of the Fishman Prize for Superlative Teaching (which I didn't even know existed today, but it is really cool!) Check it out here: http://tntp.org/fishman-prize/winners/fishman-prize-2013/keith-robinson  Anyway, the session was all about Mindset!  My passion of late especially since taking Jo Boaler's class over the summer and now participating in the Perts study.  Most of the ideas presented I was familiar with but did come away with some ideas for really creating the growth mindset culture, such as presenting my "fake" mistakes for students to analyze and awards for class culture such as for the hardest worker, or the best question asker, etc.
The best part was I was a winner of Carol Dweck's Mindset, which I've never actually read.  So excited to get reading!

Then after lunch I got to be a speaker at a session!   I was kind of thrown into it as another teacher was going to do it and backed out at the last minute.  I am so glad I did!  We talked about some of the things our school did to increase math fluency, deeper conceptual understanding and incorporating the 8 mathematical practices.  It was really easy, I talked about our "Mad Math" program, how we set it up, how if runs, some of the changes and improvements we made since last year.  Then I talked about using KWI (What do I know, What is the questions, What are my ideas for solving) for multi-step or word problems along with TAPPS, Talk-aloud-partner-pair-share also for problem solving.  Finally I talked about using kid friendly translations of the 8 mathematical practices and how I introduce three to four main practice to focus on when I introduce the objective of the lesson and also how I have them hanging above my number line and refer to them often throughout the day.  I got to present this with our math coach and the Director of my school.   It was fun, I could talk about teaching math all day long!

Starting to "Click"

I have been so excited about the way a few small changes can totally transform the way my classroom works.  I love reading and learning about new methods and ways of becoming a more effective teacher.  Over the summer I read Minds on Mathematics: Using Math Workshop to Develop Deep Understanding in Grades 4-8 by Wendy Ward Hoffer, and I was hooked.  It sounded amazing and exactly how I wanted my classroom to run.  

After going through the PD of our new curriculum, I didn't know how it was going to work out.  One of my biggest flaws especially with teaching is if I don't think I am doing something perfectly, I feel like I'm wasting precious time with my students who for the most part struggle with math.  So I have been floundering with the workshop model because I thought I should stick with my usual way until I learn the new curriculum. 

So the way I've always taught is the "I do, we do, you do" model.  Even when I incorporated some flipping, my videos were still the "I do's" and then we did the other two parts in class.  I've never given enough struggle time and I think that is the missing link, no matter what method you use to give it.

With that as my goal, the first thing I did was cut my "I do"  or mini lesson way down.  I began to only model a very basic example of the main concept, point out important vocabulary, or model my thinking process-not necessarily a step by step of how to solve each problem.  

Next I set them out to read and discuss the worked out examples in the textbook.  The most important thing I've done here is I give them guided questions that they need to answer while they are reading the examples and they are to use them for their discussion.  The greatest thing is that I can see after two weeks, some of the kids are starting to ask their own great questions that I didn't write out!  See in the past if I asked them to do any type of pair/share or discussion, they would spend about a minute saying "what did you get? I got this" and think that was all they had to do.  The questions are the key!   On a side note, my students have no clue how to read a math book and use it as a tool.  I can't tell you how many times they won't turn in their homework because they say they don't know how to do it and I ask them "well why didn't you look at the example in your textbook?" and they look at me like I have 3 heads.  I'm hoping they will also start learning how to use this tool to help them. 

Next I have them work together on 3-5 practice problems this is where they start to struggle and I walk around and check to see if they are working through their struggle. Once they are successful with these problems I release them to independent work.  When everyone has finished the 3-5 practice problems I stop them and we share out. I purposely let some of the errors be shared so we can discuss it and the kids are already getting used to that!  

I know I am way more excited about this than its probably worth, but that's because I can't really articulate the way the culture has changed in room from just these really small changes.  But I am liking what I see and even though we haven't tested on the new chapter yet, the way the kids are talking about the content is definitely different than they was they did before.

I know that things take time, but I can really see how I am going to keep working towards the workshop model and feel like even though its not perfect right now, its going to keep getting better and better.

One full week of blogging done!

I think it was pretty successful. There were only two days I didn't know what to blog about and I really feel like I made some progress with getting an idea about how my class will work next year.

Something that helped me blog was setting up a recurring task in Astrid. I have been playing around with different apps and that is one I like.

Blog blog

Watch "Amongst the Waves lyrics - Pearl Jam" on YouTube
Promised to blog every day. This is all I got today! Inspirational and motivating... and it rocks :-)