9/25/15
We are almost one month in! It does feel nice to have our classroom routines mastered. We are still learning and reflecting, but for the most part we know all of our classroom routines. We have started math workshop, but we are still building our math stamina day by day. I have introduced "math by myself" and "math games". We are working on our "math games" stamina because this rotation is the area that some of the students get off task or use normal voice levels. I am staying very consistent while I train my students so that when we are fully trained, I will be able to teach guided math groups since the students will be on task, using proper voice levels while performing meaningful work. I am hoping by next week that I will be able to start guided math instruction as long as my students have fully built their math stamina to 20 minutes for each rotation. I also have been brainstorming different approaches for our mini lessons. The e presentations provided by EDM seem to be too long for the math workshop model. I am going to try to make my own power points for each lesson and see how that works with the students and their learning.
10/24/15
Wow! I cannot believe it is almost November. We are quickly approaching the end of our first trimester.
Since school started a week later than usual, I feel that we are finally getting a grasp on math workshop in our classroom.
It has been a transition to translate the new EDM lessons into the "mini lesson" format for math workshop. However, I have found a way that works best for the students.
I have been creating power points for each EDM lesson. Within each lesson, I still am beginning with a mental math warm up and quick math message.
We then move into our " I can" statement. I then teach/model the new strategy, and the students get time to practice the new skill before
transitioning into math rotations. I am using the examples given by EDM. I started the year off by using the E presentations provided by EDM on ConnectED
online, but I found a few issues.
my teaching based on student responses and feedback. At first, I was hesitant to make my own, but I am starting to feel more comfortable for three reasons.
We are almost one month in! It does feel nice to have our classroom routines mastered. We are still learning and reflecting, but for the most part we know all of our classroom routines. We have started math workshop, but we are still building our math stamina day by day. I have introduced "math by myself" and "math games". We are working on our "math games" stamina because this rotation is the area that some of the students get off task or use normal voice levels. I am staying very consistent while I train my students so that when we are fully trained, I will be able to teach guided math groups since the students will be on task, using proper voice levels while performing meaningful work. I am hoping by next week that I will be able to start guided math instruction as long as my students have fully built their math stamina to 20 minutes for each rotation. I also have been brainstorming different approaches for our mini lessons. The e presentations provided by EDM seem to be too long for the math workshop model. I am going to try to make my own power points for each lesson and see how that works with the students and their learning.
10/24/15
Wow! I cannot believe it is almost November. We are quickly approaching the end of our first trimester.
Since school started a week later than usual, I feel that we are finally getting a grasp on math workshop in our classroom.
It has been a transition to translate the new EDM lessons into the "mini lesson" format for math workshop. However, I have found a way that works best for the students.
I have been creating power points for each EDM lesson. Within each lesson, I still am beginning with a mental math warm up and quick math message.
We then move into our " I can" statement. I then teach/model the new strategy, and the students get time to practice the new skill before
transitioning into math rotations. I am using the examples given by EDM. I started the year off by using the E presentations provided by EDM on ConnectED
online, but I found a few issues.
- They were taking a TON of time to load and move onto the next screen.
- They didn't include an " I can" statement at the beginning of the lesson.
- They required me to provide a separate math workshop power point outside of Connect Ed that explained the rotation for the day.
- It was taking me so much time to tweak them that I found it easier to make my own aligned to EDM.
- They were way too long for math workshop. They seemed to follow a whole group lesson format. ( that would probably take around 45 minutes to complete whole lesson)
my teaching based on student responses and feedback. At first, I was hesitant to make my own, but I am starting to feel more comfortable for three reasons.
- I am still following the EDM lessons/format ( mental math, math message, focus, practice)
- My lessons seem much more smooth and seamless.
- My students seem more engaged with the new pace and opportunities for math games within math workshop.
I am also starting to feel more comfortable implementing the math games. I have developed a consistent routine to introduce new games to the
students that has really helped with the management of new EDM games. From September to now, I have been much more consistent keeping track of each student's mastery of the "I can" statement with my formative assessment checklist. I am now using a checklist to document student progress toward the daily learning target. Throughout the mini lesson, I am informally assessing my students through many avenues, and I use these observations to help create my math groups for that given day. This way, I am able to document student's progress toward the target as "beginning, developing, or mastery".
I use these markings to instruct in small groups during math workshop. The goal, of course, is to get all of my students to mastery. Most times, I may need to pull students more than once on a different day to reach mastery which can be difficult since the curriculum does continue to move on. However, I have just recently started using a whole group "show me what you know" exit slip at the end of each math lesson to gage the whole class' depth of understanding with the daily learning objective. This not only helps me plan for the next day's math small groups, but it also helps inform my next day whole group instruction. ( reteach, move on, provide new strategies, etc.) After writing this and reflecting, I can say that I am proud that I am using many of the assessment literacy practices this early on in the school year.However, my goal is to continue to adapt and align the EDM units and summative assessments to assessment literacy. I have started doing this with unit 3, and I plan to do the same for the rest of the units. Another goal I have for the upcoming months is to plan more purposefully with EDM resources for small group math instruction. This is difficult to do since groups adjust daily based on the lesson, however I would like to look more deeply into the resources EDM provides to have some small group
options available. I also would like to use the EDM technology site more often with my students.
We also recently met for our "Lost at School" book study, and I have been trying to think of ways to make our students responsible for their learning in a respectful way. I have been doing problem solving circles with my class since fall, but I want to make sure that I am checking out and figuring out the real why a child makes a poor choice, to eventually solve the problem. We need to get to the root of the problem rather than just giving an illogical consequence.
12/22/15
I cannot believe we are already to Christmas break. I made it! Time sure is flying by, and I am feeling much more in sync with my class. I am greatly enjoying the rhythm in routines that my class is in right now. My students have become much more independent, and at times, I feel like they are "self-running" the classroom. Of course, I have those students who need redirection/breaks, etc. But for the most part and overall, my kids are doing a phenomenal job of meeting the expectations on their own without reminders from myself. I have noticed that I am finding myself being more consistent in upholding our classroom routines. For example, I am finding that I am much more consistent at this point in the school year holding students accountable for our classroom rules by using logical consequences. Going even further, with one child in particular, KP, I am happy with my consistency in handing out reflection sheets that require him to reflect on what choices he would make next time if in the same situation, naming who he hurt, and what he can do to mend/solve the problem or hurt caused by his actions. It is really important to me that my students are held to high, yet attainable expectations. My kids are very aware of the rules/expectations in our classroom, and I am proud to say that they take pride in following our rules as a family together. Going back to KP, in reflection, I think I need to do a better job of keeping on top of logging and recording his challenges into our school wide behavior log online. I keep track of his behavior in my own behavior binder, but sometimes I do forget to log his data into the discipline referral system. That is an area I would like to improve in. I would also like to reach out to KP's parents to get some suggestions for him when he gets agitated/off task.
In regards to math workshop and EDM, I am feeling even more comfortable than I was in October. It has only been a couple months, but I am making some noticeable progress in my confidence and implementation of EDM using the assessment literacy practices. It all excites me so much! Up to this point, I have gone through the "assessment literacy process" for the past 4 units. And the exciting part ( other than that I have the work done for the first few units) is that the kids are excelling! It is so exciting to see their pre and post test scores and see how much these students have truly gained through a unit. I also am noticing that my kids are finding it easier to self assess themselves with each learning target compared to the beginning of the school year. I think this is because of the continued practice with stopping and assessing where we are in the learning cycle to see what changes we need to make to have mastery of a learning target. In response to my goal from my last entry, I do feel that I am being more purposeful with my small group math instruction. It does seem much more guided and adaptive to the kids needs. I have found that it is much easier to have the EDM supplemental activities on hand for each lesson so that I am prepared on the students' needs every day. It is challenging at times to know all of what the kids will need or what misconceptions will be constructed during the math whole group lesson, but having the supplemental activities on hand for the beginning, developing, and mastery levels is helpful. I also have been trying to come up with some additional activities/games that align to the EDM units for the kids to practice with partners and in small groups. I came up with some fun measurement activities that really helped pushed kids toward mastery with the additional practice in a fun engaging way. ( Ha! They were measuring mustaches. They loved it!) Another thing I have tried over the last couple months in math is an accountability piece. I was concerned that some of my students who were not joining me for small groups as often were not completing their work. I was not sure of this, but I did not always have evidence of their completed math journal pages. I did have evidence of their learning through the formative assessments which generally pushed me to look in their math journals, but I wanted more concrete evidence. For these reasons, I started having slome students show me their work before moving onto the next activity. I thought this might ruin/disrupt my math small groups. But, I actually find it to be very beneficial for accountability and also to check and find misconceptions right on the spot rather than waiting for the exit slip. I don't do this for all kids, but I switch it up to hold kids accountable for completing their work to the best of their ability. Kids are aware of the expectations and this is kind of like a check in for my purposes.
2/15/16
It's that time again. It's funny because I look back at my past reflection entries, and I am always start with the same statement that time is flying by, and it really is true. It is crazy that we are already halfway through the school year. But what that being said, my kids have really been revealing their growth since returning after Christmas break. We came back from Christmas break, and I am continually seeing independent third graders who are excelling. I actually just got done doing my winter round of Fountas and Pinnell assessments, and my kids rocked it out:-) They were so proud of themselves, and they deserve it. They have been working so hard. All of my students grew at least one level. A majority of my third graders grew 2 levels! It is always helpful to take a day or two to really sit down and assess students, and I found those days helpful to show me the areas that each student needs additional instruction with in regards to reading. I do feel that I am consistent in keeping up with strategy groups and reading conferences with every student, but I find that sometimes these running record assessments reveal a deeper misconception or area of need or even a extreme area of strength. I am grateful to have had the days to dig in and assess my students' reading capabilities at this point in the year. I now feel confident that I can plan purposeful instruction to continue to have my students grow throughout the rest of third grade. There are few particular students that need some fluency interventions, while there are more than a handful of students who need to work on comprehension strategies.
In comparison to the beginning of the school year, I feel that I am really doing my best to integrate the 4 C's into our everyday learning. Our classroom has become BYOD, and the kids are loving it. It is amazing to see the kids using the technology to enhance their learning. Up until this point, I am not finding any issues with students misusing technology, but I will continue to keep my eye on this as students easily do get distracted with the vast opportunities presented with technology. We are using technology as resources for writing, avenues for independent reading, platforms for graphic organizers, math practice, and in many other ways. I am having fun researching and finding engaging ways to incorporate technology into our classroom. I am trying to be very careful to make sure that I am only presenting opportunities for technology that enhance instruction. I don't want to just use technology to use it, but rather I want to use it to help students continue to grow or even to help them continue to grow. Some of our favorite apps in our classroom right now are Popplet, Kahoot, Google Drive, Raz Kids, Scanning for QR codes, and SeeSaw. I would like to continue to incorporate google drive into our learning. For example, we are doing book clubs right now during reading, and I think many of my book clubs are ready to start using google drive to document and share their thinking. I also think this could be helpful to share graphic organizers and even whole group charts used during our whole group instruction. Moving into the creativity and critical thinking piece, I feel that I am making gains in combining projects with our provided curriculum. Up until this point, my students have created projects for all of our standards in science that we have learned thus far. I would like to continue to use projects to guide our learning and not just at the end of our learning. Some of our projects included creating an animal to survive in a far away land with adaptations, creating a musical instrument to display an understanding of volume and pitch, constructing a roller coaster in a group to reveal an understanding of Newton's laws of motion as well as potential and kinetic energy, creating area and perimeter cities, and quite a few others. I am also seeing a pay off from using these projects to guide our learning. The students are becoming better communicators and thinkers. Comparing this point to our first project, the students have come along way in their collaboration skills. I now see students for the most part working together for a purpose while also using each other's strengths to contribute to the group project. I look forward to continue my journey in using technology and 4C's projects/ideology to lead my teaching practice in the upcoming months.
Classroom community is something that is on my mind right now; I think this is because I am proud of the problem solving that some of my students have been using over the past few months. I love the family atmosphere that we have created in our learning space. Coming along with being a family is treating others as family members. Of course, we have had some moments when problems have come up. From the beginning of the school year, I have used " restorative circles" to guide problem solving. This is a practice that I was trained in Ypsilanti, and I am a big believer in the values. Restorative justice is a generic term for all those approaches to wrongdoing that seek to move beyond condemnation and punishment to address both the causes and the consequences – personal, relational and societal – of offending in ways that promote accountability, healing and justice. Restorative justice is a collaborative and peacemaking approach to conflict resolution. When we have conflicts in our classroom, students are asked to problem solve in a circle fashion where we talk about the problem, the action, who was hurt, the feelings occurring, and what solution can be made to fix the hurt. This is something I have seen my kids fly with! At the beginning of the school year, I modeled this process many times, and I also would have to ask students to problem solve in circles, where as right now kids now ask me to go in private and have problem solving circles with friends when conflicts arise. Students are now starting to independently use this process as a tool to solve problems without my guidance! So exciting:-) It is always refreshing to see my students take actions that are benefiting our positive classroom environment.
At this point in the year, I am feeling confident with my implementation of EDM lessons. I have started to consistently use "I can" checklists to guide self assessment for students. I would like to continue to incorporate technology into our math workshop with the Connect Ed website, Xtra math, and other apps. I would like to look into this further to builds this into our workshop.
3/28/16
We are just about to start spring break, and I am feeling ready, ready for a break to relax and rejuvenate. But also, I am ready to reflect a bit on all of the things I have learned this year including at MACUL in Grand Rapids. I am really excited to get Go Formative up and running for when we return from spring break. I plan to give my EDM formative assessments/exit slips using the Ipads. I am a bit nervous since we don't have a class set of Ipads, but we are going to be flexible and make it work. I also am excited to continue to find out the different features that can help keep our class organized using Google Classroom. It is so convenient and efficient to have the kids complete some of their assignments in Google Classroom, for easy access and feedback.
When we get back from spring break, I am excited and kinda nervous to step out of box a bit and try out Genius Hour with my kiddos and Mrs. Caldwell's first grade class. I have been wanting to try out Genius Hour and passion projects all year with my kids, but I just never jumped in and didn't know when to exactly start. I reached out to Dottie, asking if she wanted to team up for an activity or project, and we came up with our third graders and first graders becoming passion buddies to develop a genius hour project over the course of a month and a half. We are both aware that we need to try this out and tweak the process as we go, but we both want to provide our students with this student-driven experience.
I am continuing to feel more and more comfortable with the EDM curriculum. We only have a few units left, and I am so proud of these kids' growth! I feel that the assessment literacy practices are working, and their scores have gone way up. I am very curious to see how they perform on their upcoming MSTEP next month. The nice part about running an assessment literate classroom is that I will continue to have small group time to reteach or push students higher and farther in the upcoming months.
5/24/16
But really, I know I say this almost every time, but really.... less than three weeks?? Where did the time go? It's funny because Kurt Ellis and Steve Laatsch showed us this graph at one of our new member meeting about the "phases" of stress and emotions throughout and typical school year for a teacher. And if you asked me a few weeks ago, I would have told ya that I was ready for the end of the school year, ready for a break. But now that it is so close and able to see, I'm not sure I'm ready. I am trying to hold back some of those bitter sweet emotions that sometimes come as we wrap up a school year. I really have had an outstanding year with these kiddos. I knew there was something special about this group when I first met them in September, but I really have grown extremely close to this group. I think maybe it could be that this is my first group as I have transitioned into Saline, or maybe I feel that I really got to know my kids on a personal level this year. That is one thing I have strived to do since I graduated from U of M. We took many classroom management classes at U of M, but one of my biggest take aways was RELATIONSHIPS. Kids need to trust ya, and in order for them to trust you, you need to get to know them personally. As I quickly am approaching the end of my third year as a third grade teacher, I feel that each year I have grown a bit more in this area. And with joy, it sure is a fun job. These kids are amazing. It has been rewarding getting to know about RB's background and her love for volleyball. I can't wait to go see SS play baseball in late June, and I feel that knowing GR's past emotional needs has helped me reach her emotionally and academically. I feel that getting to know and nurturing KP has helped him have a successful academic year. Luckily, I will be tutoring many of these sweeties over the summer. One new thing for me will be the fact that my third graders will now transition to a new building . In the past, I got to see the students the next year in fourth grade since it was in the same building. This will be a change, but I certainly trust that they are going into good hands over at Heritage.
These past two months have been a little crazy, but a whole lot of fun! When we got back from spring break, Dottie and I launched our Genius Hour project. What a beneficial experience for our kids! It has been such a delight to see students shine in their own element. We had kids researching how to make a kid friendly tablet. We had kids who wanted to know about the history of golf. We even had kids passionate about paper planes who wanted to design the fastest and most effective paper plane design. Not only did we get to see our kids explore their passions in whatever way the preferred, but I also saw most of my third graders become leaders/mentors. As this was a collaboration project, I continuously witnessed third graders stepping up and helping/leading first graders to the answers to their questions. It was so fun to see each student use their strengths to contribute to their partnership. I am really looking forward to seeing their showcase next week, students sharing their passions....what could be better than that? Student choice certainly proves to be very empowering and motivating.
Another huge piece that I am hugely excited about is assessment literacy. I have completed modifying and adjusting all 9 of the new Common Core aligned third grade units! I do have to go back and do some work with the first two units, but huge progress has been made! And it has paid off. When I was putting together by pre and post test data for the EDM tests, it just puts a smile on my face, and more importantly, it definitely put a smile on my kids face. When they see their growth compared to their pre test score, that smile runs high. I am impressed, I am motivated, and I continue to want to align my instruction and assessments even more. It also has pushed me to very specific with the needs of each individual learner. I feel that I could tell you per unit which student needs additional practice with measuring, what students have mastered measuring and maybe the few students that just need one or two more opportunities to master measuring. It is a great feeling to feel that I am truly meeting the needs of each, individual learner. I am very grateful to those who got me involved in this process last year, back in Ypsilanti. This training and focus has really refocused my teaching practice. Going even further, I am thrilled to be starting up a team to lead into the next school year. I can't wait to see them in that moment when they see their kids self assessing and the achievement raising. It's almost like that light bulb moment when students finally master a concept. Maybe even more importantly, I really hope the teachers who are hopping into this process are willing to reflect and open their eyes to maybe a new style of teaching that allows us to continually assess and reflect as teacher to best meet the needs of all of our learners.
Overall, I feel blessed, blessed to have been placed into this position, blessed to have grown so close to my amazing 24 kiddos, blessed to get to learn aside a powerful team of educators, and blessed to come back to a district that continues to push my personal growth. I have always believed that there is a place for me where I am specifically supposed to be to reach my potential. When I reflect on this school year, I am grateful for the chance, chance to teach these kids, who deserve the world. I look forward to coming back next year and tweaking my classroom instruction to best meet the needs of our 21st century learners, aligned with assessment literacy practices. Even more, I am grateful to come back next to an environment whereI know I will be pushed to reached my personal best, as a teacher.
Thank you for a rewarding year Brad.
We are just about to start spring break, and I am feeling ready, ready for a break to relax and rejuvenate. But also, I am ready to reflect a bit on all of the things I have learned this year including at MACUL in Grand Rapids. I am really excited to get Go Formative up and running for when we return from spring break. I plan to give my EDM formative assessments/exit slips using the Ipads. I am a bit nervous since we don't have a class set of Ipads, but we are going to be flexible and make it work. I also am excited to continue to find out the different features that can help keep our class organized using Google Classroom. It is so convenient and efficient to have the kids complete some of their assignments in Google Classroom, for easy access and feedback.
When we get back from spring break, I am excited and kinda nervous to step out of box a bit and try out Genius Hour with my kiddos and Mrs. Caldwell's first grade class. I have been wanting to try out Genius Hour and passion projects all year with my kids, but I just never jumped in and didn't know when to exactly start. I reached out to Dottie, asking if she wanted to team up for an activity or project, and we came up with our third graders and first graders becoming passion buddies to develop a genius hour project over the course of a month and a half. We are both aware that we need to try this out and tweak the process as we go, but we both want to provide our students with this student-driven experience.
I am continuing to feel more and more comfortable with the EDM curriculum. We only have a few units left, and I am so proud of these kids' growth! I feel that the assessment literacy practices are working, and their scores have gone way up. I am very curious to see how they perform on their upcoming MSTEP next month. The nice part about running an assessment literate classroom is that I will continue to have small group time to reteach or push students higher and farther in the upcoming months.
5/24/16
But really, I know I say this almost every time, but really.... less than three weeks?? Where did the time go? It's funny because Kurt Ellis and Steve Laatsch showed us this graph at one of our new member meeting about the "phases" of stress and emotions throughout and typical school year for a teacher. And if you asked me a few weeks ago, I would have told ya that I was ready for the end of the school year, ready for a break. But now that it is so close and able to see, I'm not sure I'm ready. I am trying to hold back some of those bitter sweet emotions that sometimes come as we wrap up a school year. I really have had an outstanding year with these kiddos. I knew there was something special about this group when I first met them in September, but I really have grown extremely close to this group. I think maybe it could be that this is my first group as I have transitioned into Saline, or maybe I feel that I really got to know my kids on a personal level this year. That is one thing I have strived to do since I graduated from U of M. We took many classroom management classes at U of M, but one of my biggest take aways was RELATIONSHIPS. Kids need to trust ya, and in order for them to trust you, you need to get to know them personally. As I quickly am approaching the end of my third year as a third grade teacher, I feel that each year I have grown a bit more in this area. And with joy, it sure is a fun job. These kids are amazing. It has been rewarding getting to know about RB's background and her love for volleyball. I can't wait to go see SS play baseball in late June, and I feel that knowing GR's past emotional needs has helped me reach her emotionally and academically. I feel that getting to know and nurturing KP has helped him have a successful academic year. Luckily, I will be tutoring many of these sweeties over the summer. One new thing for me will be the fact that my third graders will now transition to a new building . In the past, I got to see the students the next year in fourth grade since it was in the same building. This will be a change, but I certainly trust that they are going into good hands over at Heritage.
These past two months have been a little crazy, but a whole lot of fun! When we got back from spring break, Dottie and I launched our Genius Hour project. What a beneficial experience for our kids! It has been such a delight to see students shine in their own element. We had kids researching how to make a kid friendly tablet. We had kids who wanted to know about the history of golf. We even had kids passionate about paper planes who wanted to design the fastest and most effective paper plane design. Not only did we get to see our kids explore their passions in whatever way the preferred, but I also saw most of my third graders become leaders/mentors. As this was a collaboration project, I continuously witnessed third graders stepping up and helping/leading first graders to the answers to their questions. It was so fun to see each student use their strengths to contribute to their partnership. I am really looking forward to seeing their showcase next week, students sharing their passions....what could be better than that? Student choice certainly proves to be very empowering and motivating.
Another huge piece that I am hugely excited about is assessment literacy. I have completed modifying and adjusting all 9 of the new Common Core aligned third grade units! I do have to go back and do some work with the first two units, but huge progress has been made! And it has paid off. When I was putting together by pre and post test data for the EDM tests, it just puts a smile on my face, and more importantly, it definitely put a smile on my kids face. When they see their growth compared to their pre test score, that smile runs high. I am impressed, I am motivated, and I continue to want to align my instruction and assessments even more. It also has pushed me to very specific with the needs of each individual learner. I feel that I could tell you per unit which student needs additional practice with measuring, what students have mastered measuring and maybe the few students that just need one or two more opportunities to master measuring. It is a great feeling to feel that I am truly meeting the needs of each, individual learner. I am very grateful to those who got me involved in this process last year, back in Ypsilanti. This training and focus has really refocused my teaching practice. Going even further, I am thrilled to be starting up a team to lead into the next school year. I can't wait to see them in that moment when they see their kids self assessing and the achievement raising. It's almost like that light bulb moment when students finally master a concept. Maybe even more importantly, I really hope the teachers who are hopping into this process are willing to reflect and open their eyes to maybe a new style of teaching that allows us to continually assess and reflect as teacher to best meet the needs of all of our learners.
Overall, I feel blessed, blessed to have been placed into this position, blessed to have grown so close to my amazing 24 kiddos, blessed to get to learn aside a powerful team of educators, and blessed to come back to a district that continues to push my personal growth. I have always believed that there is a place for me where I am specifically supposed to be to reach my potential. When I reflect on this school year, I am grateful for the chance, chance to teach these kids, who deserve the world. I look forward to coming back next year and tweaking my classroom instruction to best meet the needs of our 21st century learners, aligned with assessment literacy practices. Even more, I am grateful to come back next to an environment whereI know I will be pushed to reached my personal best, as a teacher.
Thank you for a rewarding year Brad.