Teaching with the non-negotiable in mind

Thinking about my non-negotiables (morning meeting, brain breaks, giving something time, teaching with the end in min and collaboration) I have started to think about my plans for the year and how these fit in. 

When thinking about morning meeting I know I will need to be very explicit with this. My students probably did not do a morning meeting last year so I will directly model what it looks like and we will practice many times. Once we have the routine down I know the students will see the benefits of morning meeting. My hope is that morning meeting has a positive impact on my students, myself and the classroom environment. We will spend time getting to know each other and morning meeting will be used to extend our learning at times. 

They say students should be able to focus for as many minutes as they are old (or maybe a few minutes over). Keeping that in mind I know using brain breaks will impact how much time my students are able to stay focus. If I use short brain breaks periodically my students will be able to get back to learning instead of checking out during the middle of a lesson (hopefully). I know I will need to plan these transitions intentionally and make sure I model and make them as smooth as possible for my students so they can continue learning. 

When trying something new I know there will be times when it goes well and times when it doesn't. I need to keep my goal of giving something time in mind and stick to it. Just because something doesn't work once doesn't mean it won't work all the time. Being reflective and thinking about what went well will allow me to make the changes I need after really trying something. This will impact my teaching because I will have a better picture of how something works since I have given it plenty of time. 

When planning my lessons I need to be very intentional about what the goal is and where I want my students to end up. The curriculum we have available is nicely laid out and has multiple ability levels available for small group work. I need to remember that students may take different paths to end up at the same goal. I will keep the standards in mind and use the essential questions so my students have bigger understandings of concepts. 

Collaboration will have a huge impact on my teaching this year. I know I will need help from veteran teachers and I hope I can give them some ideas as well. Being able to talk through ideas on lessons and students will help me meet the needs of my 5th graders. Being able to get ideas from other teachers who have done these lessons before will better prepare me for the best way to teach at this level. 

I know for all of these non-negotiables going slow to go fast will get me far. I need to remember to take baby steps at first and really model, teach and set up expectations so students clearly understand what to do. For my own teaching going slow will help me dive into my new setting without taking on too much too fast. 

Things I Won't Change!

As I start my journey as a 5th grade teacher in a new district I am faced with ALOT of changes. They really do things differently than I'm use to and nothing gets you thinking more than when something in your life changes. I can't help but think about the old ways of doing things but I know I need to be open to change. While I'm thinking about the differences I will be faced with, there are a few things I know I will not change in my classroom even though some may not do them in my new district.
1. Morning Meeting: My new district is not a Responsive Classroom district and most don't do a morning meeting. When I heard this I was shocked because it seems to natural for me. I made the decision to fit it in because I have seen how important it is for kids. Morning meeting is a nice transition into the school day and a great way to build community.
2. Brain Breaks: As I get all my new teacher's manuals for curriculum I feel a little over loaded with how much we have to teach. Especially since the curriculum is intense I know I need to fit in brain breaks for my students (and myself). I know they give the kids a chance to relax and it will help them stay focused when we get back to work.
3. Giving something new time: When I usually implement something newI tend to over think it and am quick to change it if it doesn't work right away. I know giving something time will let me see the big picture and really allow me to reflect on if it is working after giving it multiple tries.
4. Teaching with the end in mind: I know this will be hard to do this year since I am learning a whole new curriculum in about 2 weeks but I need to remember the goal of each lesson and unit. I know taking the time to plan a path and vision for where I want my students to end up will allow me to teach with focus and give the kids more of what they need to get to the goal.
5. Collaboration: I am the kind of person who likes to talk things through with people so teacher collaboration is a must for me. Thankfully I have found someone who has a similar style to mine and we have already been bouncing ideas off of each other. I think we grow more and get more ideas when we talk to teachers who have done similar things.

Best practice for ell students

The article I read was about best strategies to use with ell learners with disabilities. This was an action research study that was conducted in a few states throughout the US. The focus was on strategies that work in math,reading and science. The top teaching strategies were named for each subject. For reading using visuals, teacher prereading and repeated reading were the top strategies. For math it was using manipulatives, connecting math to real life and using visuals.  The top science strategies were hands on activities, graphic organizers and student made models. The biggest connection I saw between all subjects was the use of visual strategies. I recently went to a training on nonverbal communication which also stressed the importance of using visuals and symbols academically and for management.
I found this article to be interesting but only applies to a very small population of the students I work with (ell students with disabilities).  I do teach a lot of ell students and have had questions on how to differentiate between learning English and a learning disability. There were a few conclusions that were not met in this action research article but it was really well written and gave me some ideas on how to write my next ar write up better.

7 Structures of Best Practice

After reading through Zemelman's chapter on best practices I noticed I have used many of the structures he discusses. There are a few structures I know I need more practice with and through certain activities I plan to incorporate this year, I know I will gain more experience in these areas. I took a few ideas away after reading this chapter.

Small Group Activities:
Zemelman says "students of all grade levels show significant achievement gains across the curriculum when they are organized into collaborative groupings and projects." I have tried to explore cooperative learning more this past year in my classroom. The article discusses using groups in effective ways can be really powerful to a student's achievement. One activity I want to try is group investigations. I think my students would need some guidance but it would be interesting to see where they go with an activity like this.

Reading as Thinking:
Teachers go beyond reading and answering questions during literacy instruction. Zemelman discusses the best reading strategies are "interactive activities that use discussion, writing and drawing to help students engage with, understand, and apply the reading that they do." One strategy I want to try is text coding. I want to teach my students how to respond to text right in their book by marking certain pages. This way I know they are thinking about the text because they put the marks there for a reason. I also want to try written conversations about books but I would have to think about how to do it with students who can't write.

Representing to Learn:
This strategy has students engaged and create something to show what they have learned. Some ideas could be journals, mind maps, drawings etc. Next year I really want to do more with our math journals. I want to incorporate more writing into our math class and include some reflection in our journals.

Classroom Workshop:
"Children learn to read by reading and learn to write by writing" Classroom workshop allows more time for students to be doing more authentic work instead of listening to a teacher's lesson. Children are busy doing work while the teacher conferences with individual students and works on specific needs with each kid. Sometimes I feel like I don't know what to say and ask during conferences at times. Zemelman explains that it can be easy to start with: What are you working on, how is it going or what do you plan to do next. This is a good start and then I can gauge where to go from there.

Authentic Experiences:
Students come up with questions or things they want to learn about and then the teacher supplements lessons throughout the topic. This is a very constructivist approach that puts students in charge and take ownership of their learning. One thing I want to try in my classroom is giving the students time to think of questions they have about certain topics and brainstorming where we could find this information. I think I need to try this approach and see how it goes because the more I do it, the better I will be and the easier it will get to modify lessons.

Reflective Assessment:
This structure involves using different kinds of assessment where the teachers are assessing the kids while doing certain activities, showing what they know or applying information. It goes beyond questioned tests. One thing I tried a little in my classroom this school year is self reflection. I saw the benefits right away and the students were able to think about what they just did. When I do it again next year I will scaffold how to reflect and what a good reflection looks like.

Integrative Units
This is the idea of creating units that are cross curricular that address a specific topic. I feel this is a strategy I don't use very much. Many of my lessons are isolated and I don't have a lot of connection between classes. It would be easiest to start with social studies and reading. I could create a unit on the states and incorporate reading strategies within.

Overall these strategies have a constructivist approach. The teacher is a guide and the students are taking ownership in their learning. I know this article will fit with my AR topic because I want to explore what will work with diverse students. I know these strategies will work with all students so I will see if other authors agree that these strategies work with certain kids.

Attention

It is interesting to reflect upon such an abstract concept and one we don’t analyze very much. Thinking about what you are paying attention to really emphasizes what is important in your life. It can also lead you to realize how much attention you are giving to things you may not want to. I have had this thought many times throughout the year. I seem to be distracted daily. Many of my students crave my attention and will get it any way they can (which can be VERY distracting). This year I have been more intentional about giving certain students my attention and noticing more of the good behavior than the bad. This leads perfectly into the part in the article: “increasing attention you give to your intentions increases the likelihood they will become reality.” Another part that stood out to me was the part about what I choose to pay attention to is really important. Taking time to reflect upon what I spend my attention on will allow me to see deeper into what I should and shouldn’t be spending so much time on.

As I was reading this article I heard a quote on tv: “I’ve been to these places but I’ve never really seen them.” Many of us have been in situations like these and I keep thinking of the quote “live in the moment”.  Taking time to really pay attention to the here and now will allow me to see so much more of what is going on right in front of me instead of always looking ahead.

Praxis

Praxis:

After researching and focusing on big ideas in reading, it became apparent what was really important to my reading curriculum. These ideas became practice and routine in my room and I saw the benefits of these strategies in my students.  I knew sharing and reflecting was important for students to do after reading. After researching and implementing this more routinely in my classroom, I saw the impact it has on engagement and comprehension. .  In Daniels Zemelman’s article Best Practice in Reading, he states that “kids should have daily opportunities to talk about their reading” It is a great skill to learn and take with them into adulthood. I was surprised to read about what level books students should be reading independently.  Allington’s article What At-Risk Readers Need he explains why students should be reading text below their level.  I noticed it was easier for students to talk about their book and they were more likely to finish books that were a little easier for them. Both of these practices will be used in my future classroom. Because I have started implementing them more intentionally, I have seen the benefits.

Adaptation Strategies and Routines

These are the strategies/routines I hope to continue in future years with a connection to adaptation.

Instruction-how

*Questions. After teaching a backward design unit I found myself asking more questions than just delivering information. This gave the students control and the opportunity to share what they know and for them to ask more questions.

*Cooperative learning activities. I want to prepare my students with the skills it takes to work together. This takes a lot of work with my students but they love working together. We have worked a lot on how to problem solve with other students and how to appropriately react to certain situations. I will definitely continue to use cooperative learning in the future.

Discipline-what

*Use big ideas. I have just started using this strategy with my units but I can see its power and benefit. It helps build those connections between my lessons.

*Use real world examples. Using real world examples in my classroom has made my content more relevant to my students. They feel more connected and have more to add when they feel connected to the curriculum.

Environment-relationships

*Teaching the social curriculum. This has always been an emphasis in my classroom but this year I have focused a lot on cooperative learning. We have focused on empathy and being aware of what others are feeling.

* Ownership and sharing. Our classroom should be a place where students are discovering and exploring. If they need certain tools or materials they should feel comfortable using what we have. I need to instill in them a sense of ownership of our classroom and respect for out things. I will continue to teach them real life skills like manners and what to do when you need something.

Assessment

 *Provide time for discussion and questions. Students should have the ability to share what they have done and think out loud about what we have learned. Usually lessons are rushed but when I leave time for reflection and discussion my students tend to make more connections and think deeper about our learning.

* Use a variety of assessments. When I’ve used different assessments students were able to show me more about what they know more than what they would have been able to with traditional assessments.