Back to the Roots

Over the last three years, I have noticed that it is easy to get swept up in what is easy for instruction.  It is so easy to get caught up in the craziness of the job from day to day.  I have found myself caught up in good, but not great instruction and I really wanted to refocus this year to better my instruction for my students.

I spent a lot of time this summer really thinking about my practice in the classroom and how that really matches up with my beliefs about learning.  I can confidently say that I believe my students learn through real practice with purpose, all while enjoying the process.  I know that they learn when they are challenged and when they make mistakes.  I know that they learn at their own pace and it will always eventually "click."  I also know that their time in the classroom isn't their only priority and outlet.  

It was clear to me that there were some things in my practice I needed to change to match these beliefs.  One of the biggest one was my homework policy.  I used to give nightly worksheets for my students to complete.   This year, I switched to weekly homework in math.  I did this because I wanted my students to have the flexibility to complete the work when they have the time.  This allows them to have time to still be kids and continue to learn to love learning.  The homework should be my students practicing what they have learned and working with the knowledge they have to continue to grow.  Weekly homework with a purpose has been doing just this.  

Take a look at some of our homework assignments from last week that were turned in today!  Needless to say... I am a proud teacher of their hard work, effort, and excitment.  They didn't all get the answer correct, but I was able to quickly see where their misunderstandings were and that was extremely valuable.

And We're Off...

to a new year with new excitements and challenges! The first week has come and gone.  We are into the second week of a new school year now and I feel more settled than I did the last few years.  It is amazing that I am starting my third year in my own classroom (six years total in teaching).

One of the biggest things I have done differently this year than other years... taking each day as it comes.  I have found myself less stressed these first few days and having more time to enjoy my students and getting to know them.  Now don't get me wrong, I still have plans (and lots of them if you know me), but we are getting to the plans as they come and fit into our day.

By having done this, I have learned in 4 days of school that I have one student that thrives as a leader and has great communication skills.  I have a student that thinks outside of the box in every way (and is going to challenge my thinking this year!).  I have a student that cares for her peers and what they need.  I have a student that takes pride in what he perceives to be an important role he was hand picked for.  And, I have a student that wants to learn and impress everyone that he doesn't let his differences in learning get in his way of being successful and sharing in class conversations and group work.  I can't wait to continue to learn about the rest of my students.

This taking things as they come and going with the flow each day means I am not necessarily getting everything I had planned for the day complete, but I am learning so much more about my students.  This will undoubtedly be more valuable than the writing seeds activity I was going to do today or the book genre conversation we were going to start on Friday.  I hope that I continue to take each day as it comes this year and really let our day be guided by what my students are doing, saying, and learning... not just my plan book.

Happy getting to know your new group... take some time to figure out their personality strengths this week.

Book Hoarding...

I used to be that student that loved getting my hands on a new book in the classroom.  Did I always jump to reading it right away?  No, but that was before I learned how amazing books could be and where they would take my imagination.  Now, I jump right into the new books the second I have a chance!  Have you ever had a student like this?

Well, this year I have one.  This student loves to get her hands on the new books the second I introduce them to the classroom library.  The only trouble is, she then holds onto them in her desk (sometimes 3 or 4 books at a time).  Now, I know where to search for the books first when a student is looking for a particular title, but even with 8 days of school left this year, I am trying to figure out how to help this student get into her books, read them, and share them with her classmates.  I certainly don't want to discourage her desire and excitement with new books, but I don't want these books sitting, hidden in a desk for weeks at a time also.

I have called this "curable virus," book hoarding in a way because my kids LOVE the books in our classroom, but sometimes, they just love to keep them in their desks and not read them.  At home, I still have a tendancy to make piles of books around my house that I am looking forward to reading.  Maybe they are getting that from me???  One thing that I can't complain about is that my students love getting their hands on new books to read.  They talk about the books with one another and I have been finding the books being passed around.  My current "book hoarder," now sits surrounded by students who share their books with one another, talk about what they are reading, and just can't put books down.  I have even started my "Trailer Tuesdays" giving students time to share what they have recently read with the entire class.  I am hoping with these subtle attempts, she will learn the excitement of diving into the books rather than looking at her pile of future adventures!

Preparing for a Genius Hour

I have been thinking about the idea of starting a "Genius Hour" in my classroom for next year.  I have been reading about what this is and trying to figure out what it would look like in my classroom.  I already love doing projects with my students during the year and this seems like the next step I need to take towards more control of learning in the hands of my students.

To prepare for this, I started trying out some new things last week (mentioned in my blog last week as well).  Not only did I love the work we did and learned a lot from the experiences, but I loved watching the excitment around learning my students had last week!  It left me wishing I had started this all sooner!  

On Wednesday, my kids and I participated in Wonderopolis' daily wonder that is posted each morning.  They spent about thirty minutes researching on their own and deciding how they wanted to share their learning with their classmates.  Each group shared their learning with the class and we tweeted to wonderopolis what we learned.  My class loved the researching, sharing, and the responses we got back from wonderopolis!  They couldn't stop talking about it all day!

On Friday, we tried our "In the News Friday."  In small groups, students read an article and participated in a discussion around two questions I provided them with.  This one is going to need more guidance than I originally thought.  Trying out these new ideas now has been a huge benefit in having time and practice for a learning curve before I jump into this "Genius Hour" idea.  

What have your experiences or thoughts been with or around a "Genius Hour?"  

Testing is Done... Now What?

Now that testing is over with for the school year and there are only four weeks before summer arrives, what do you do?

I like to use this time of the year to trial some new ideas for the next school year.  I am excited about some of my ideas that I picked up from some of my blog readers, Twitter chats, and thoughtful colleagues.  Here are some of my plans to try before the year is over:

Trailer Tuesday: One of my blog readers recently mentioned how she does this in her classroom and I am excited to trial this in my classroom.  I plan to have a sign up sheet for students to sign up to share a book and I plan to share a book I have read each week as well.  Thanks to a colleague and mentor, I have been reading one book from my classroom library a week and I now have a wonderful stack to share!

Wonder Wendnesday:  Wonderopolis posts a wonder question each day on their Twitter account.  I plan to utilize this question each week from our class Twitter account (IRESRowe).  I will be in the dark with my kiddos (scary, but trilling thought at the same time).  With groups and partners, we are going to discuss, research, and think about the wonder for the day.  I'm not really sure how this will look or where my kiddos take this one, but I am happily along for the ride with them this week!  I am going to try this as an introduction to a genius hour in my class next year (also a scary, but thrilling thought for me).

In the News Friday:  I am going to try a different use for my Time for Kids magazine subscription.  On Friday's, I plan to have my students read the main article in the weekly magazine and have a discussion around the weekly news.  I will provide groups with a list of discussion questions that they can use as a guide or add their own as they go.  There won't be anything to record or turn in.  I simply want my students to learn how to listen to one another and carry on a conversation with others about what they read and the world around them.  

I am excited to see how this works and to make changes as the students need them.  

What are you planning to trial for the end of the school year?

Reading Along Side Students

A colleague and mentor of mine recommended tonight's post.  I am grateful for her support and suggestions along the way as I grow as a teacher in many ways, but particularly language arts this year.  

A few weeks ago I mentioned my desire to focus on modeling more intentionally and frequently for my students.  The last few weeks, I have done this in many ways, but particularly in the world of at home reading.  Some students are not fortunate to have family members modeling adult reading for them.  I decided that I could do this through keeping a reading log posted in the front of my classroom each night.  I come in every morning and record the previous night's reading for my kiddos to "see" my reading life outside of the school walls.  

After a week of doing this, my students started making comments about how they could beat my reading minutes in a week.  I took them up on the challenge.  If they beat my minutes come Monday morning, they would get a little extra treat (homework pass, classroom money, candy, pick from the prize bin, popcorn pass, etc.).  The first week, I had one student beat my minutes.  The second week...

I had 5!  Not to mention that these five students went above and beyond racking up 1800, 3130, 1970, 910, 480 minutes!  Many students in my class today said that they were setting a goal to beat my minutes for next week.  I can't wait to see them all achive that goal!

My excitement around this extends beyond just the number of minutes being read by my students, but the conversations they are having around the many books they are reading.  They are sharing about their books more because they are reading books more!  One of my reading groups hijacked my plans and had a book talk about what they were all reading independently.  I enjoyed this reading group last week where I could set my plans aside, and observe the support, encouragement, and excitement they were providing one another.  I even have one kiddo that is on me to finish my current read ("A Snicker of Magic"  by Natalie Lloyd) because she can't wait to read it herself.  They are pushing one another in their own reading as well as pushing me to get books completed faster!  

Book Auctions/Introductions

The value and excitement that a new book brings to a classroom is incredibly addictive!  Today, I introduced about six or seven new books that I recently purchased for our classroom library.  You would have thought that it was Christmas morning in our room... again.  It was even all the chat on our class Twitter account today, winning our official class post for the day.

All this excitement makes me so excited to share the new books I bought today from our school book fair with them (I planned on 4 books, walked away with about 10 instead).

The thing that my kids enjoy about days when we have new books for the library, is that we "auction" them off for students to be the first to read them.  After I introduce all of the books to the class.  I ask who is interested in a particular book.  If more than one student can't wait to read the book, we "auction" it off by picking a number between 1-10.  If there majority of the class can't wait, we go to the sticks and the first person drawn who wants to read the book, gets it!  They LOVE this and can't wait for their peers to finish the new books if they are waiting.  

It warms my heart to see their excitement about new books in our classroom.  They can't wait to hear about the new books when they see a pile on my desk!  

All evening I have been thinking about how to rejuvenate some of this same excitement for current books in our classroom library.  After all, I can't purchase new books every week (even though I so desperately want too)!  I am thinking that I will have a time of book reviews next year, either each week or every other week.  This would be a time when I can share a few books from our library with students (and some weeks this would be a pile of new books).  I am thinking that I can even have my students share books they have been reading from our classroom library as the year progresses.  Not a novel idea, but certainly the next routine and adventure I am looking forward to starting and tackling the remainder of this year and next year!

How do you go about introducing new books and old friends to your students during the school year?

The Challenges of When to Model for Learning

One thing that I am constantly reminded of in my teaching is the importance of modeling, modeling, modeling for my students.  I have found that it is easy to forget and so easy to assume that my students will get the idea and we can move on.  After all they are in fifth grade!  But on the other hand, they are only ten and eleven years old... still kids at heart and mind (and should be).

Why am I finding myself thinking this?  I feel that it is the large amount of content that I feel pressured to cover in a given year.  Having now taught in my own classroom for almost two years, I am amazed at how 180 school days does not seem like enough to get through the pages of standards (which seems so doable before the kids show up at the start of the school year).  That leaves me, at times in a rush, thinking that my kids will get the idea and we can continue on to something more challenging.

When I go to assess their learning progress, I am reminded of how I may not have modeled or modeled enough for them to be successful and feel successful.  I then have to take a step back and model the expectation and learning for my students.  I am finding that some classes need modeling in some areas, but not as much in other areas.  How challenging it is to determine what each class needs from year to year!  There truely isn't a "cookie cutter" school year for a teacher!

One thing that I have recenctly realized is that my current class has trouble with their at home reading.  I don't think they have the motivation on their own, an at home model, or perhapes a real world example of how important reading is in their future adult worlds.  I have decided that I am going to complete a reading log, along with my students, to track my at home reading this week.  I am hopeful that by having this log posted in the front of my room all week, my kids will begin to see the value of reading and how/why adults read daily.

What are some ways you are reminded to model for your students during the school year?

Celebrating Individual Strengths

I had the pleasure of spending all day Saturday listening to and learning from Ruth Ayres (read her blog here: www.ruthayreswrites.com).  I attended a session where she talked about celebrating in the world of writing.  This year, I have really worked hard to celebrate my student's writing, intentionally, not only at the end (product), but also in the process.  On Saturday, Ruth gave us more ideas for how to celebrate our kids work.  I left this professional development session with my head spinning and ideas flowing!

This is a time of year that I remember being more challenging last year as my fifth grade students were excited and focused on their big changes with middle school on the horizon.  This class is showing no different signs of excitement and anticipation.  That being said, their focus, thoughtfulness, and kindness towards one another has not been at their best for a few weeks now.  On Saturday, we were asked to select one student to record all the things I could celebrate about them over a few short minutes of writing.  What I ended up with was a list of five students, lots to celebrate, not enough time to celebrate/write more, and an idea that has turned my student's classroom community around quickly!

I made the decision on Sunday to write each of my students a brief, two sentence note letting them know what I celebrate about them, individually, as a part of our classroom community.  No two students had anything similar on their notes.  Take a look at some of my comments below.

The response I got, blew me away!  I stood in the hallway greeting my students and watched their reactions as they found their personalized notes.  They looked around the room with smiles and confusion on their faces.  They walked around sharing one another's notes and reading eachother's note.  They talked to one another.  They came to me and told me how they had no idea I had noticed.  They wanted to share more because they were so happy to hear I noticed their behaviors and choices in the classroom.  I even walked to my desk to find notes from my students that left me smiling ear to ear.  

The results I got have turned a frustrating, at times, day into a pleasent day(s).  We have had fun as a classroom community and we have started listening to one another again.  My kids needed to know their value in our classroom and know that they were noticed for their individual strengths.  I will certainly do this again... only sooner!

Giving up the Control

This school year has been such a busy year!  I have grown so much as a teacher and am amazed when I think about all the different things I have tried this year and learned from.

Today was one of those days that I wished I had tried this activity last year, because it went so well and my class would have loved it last year!  I know I never would have tried it because it was much less structured than I would have ever considered a year ago and yet it is just what my class needed this year.

Today was a reminder to me of how much I have grown this year.  I never would have trusted myself to let my class "go."  I had students working in so many different directions today during our Language Arts block, yet they were the most engaged they have been all year!  I had students working on their persuasive essays (both at my table with me and independently at their desks), students were reading, students were planning their persuasive essay commercials, students were taping their commercials, students were editing their commercials, and students were working on non-fiction text feature posters.  Having this many activities happening all at the same time was a lot less structure than I am used to and often comfortable with.

The results of the day were amazing today.  I had students who completed their commercials that far exceeded my expectations!  I had students lost in their books.  I had students tell me that they were proud of themselves for completing their essays and that they were proud of the essay they have spent so much time working on.  I left feeling as though we had a very successful day as a class and can't wait to see if I can continue giving up the control like I have this year to my students and their opportunity to learn through experiences.

Year 1 Complete

The first year has come to an end!  I cannot believe that one year is done.  As I reflect on my first year, there is so much that I have learned.  A lot of things I plan to keep the same, tweak, and change altogether.  It is amazing how much my kids have taught me this year.  I find myself feeling so bad that they did not get the benefit of my first year of experience, but I have spend some time really thinking about what they did get and accomplish.  My kids grew leaps and bounds from where they started.  Are they where I would love to have them and my students for many years to come, not exactly, but they have improved in many ways and I am excited to hear about where life takes them from here!

What I plan to keep the same:  Not much next year.  At this point, I plan to keep my behavior management system the same (marble jar, money system).  That has been great for individual behaviors and the kids have really enjoyed it.  I finally like my classroom set up and I plan to keep that the same.  I love having my kids in groups and still having a space for the kids to meet on the carpet.  After all, fifth graders are still kids. I also plan to keep my math block the same as I finally have a system that I like which allows me to work with the kids in smaller groups and one-on-one settings everyday.

What I plan to tweak: Many things.  I am going to focus on my Language Arts block this coming year.  I tried the Daily 5/CAFE model in my room for part of the year and it wasn't working well.  I am going to sit down with a colleague this summer and brainstorm some new ideas for our classrooms.  I have also been reading some professional books this summer already to help give me some new ideas.  This part of our day is half the day (all afternoon) so it will be a BIG change!  My team is also changing how we teach science.  We will be rotating for science units, so I am excited to really dive into my topic: Earth and Space Sciences.

Overall, I am excited to dive deeper into the content this year and establish better routines from the beginning.  This summer, I will share with you all of the things I learn from my professional reading (hopefully pool side reading :-) ).

Blogging- Who Would Have Thought?

Why don't I let my kids run with things more often? I introduced our classroom blog to my class on Monday and couldn't be more impressed with my kids! They have jumped on board without hesitation! I have been so afraid to bring this into my classroom all year. I was afraid that it would be too much to handle and become too overwhelming for me to teach the kids how to use the site and then properly "blog."

After my last observation, I decided, what could it hurt? I set up the classroom blog last week and realized that it only took 10 minutes to do! I figured that would be the easy part, but it turns out, it isn't the easiest part. On Monday, I pulled up our classroom blog, showed the kids how to log in, and then we jumped right in and wrote a blog together stating our requirements. We did this as a shared writing and then posted it for them to frequently check back to.

My kids couldn't get to the computers, laptops, and iPads in my room fast enough to start "blogging." I had a few students ask if I knew how to write a blog post because they felt that the writing was different than a typical response. I was immediately taken back by the insight my kids had about this type/style of writing. I thought that the only thing I would get out of this experience was to read their reading responses in a more convenient way for me. Who would have thought that would be the smallest thing I would get from this?

My kids wrote posts this week that were deeper than any other reading response I have read this year (they used to write a response each week in a notebook that was passed between myself and them). My "lowest" readers/writers became examples for classmates on insight and depth in their thinking and writing about their books. I had students who never turned in a reading response (or rarely did so), posting immediately! Now, mind you, the requirements did not get easier, only harder! They still have to write a post once a week, but now they have to respond to at least three classmates. Plus, this is worth more points than their old responses (now 20 points, was 5 points a week).

Why do I think a huge improvement was shown? Well, I think for one, this was of high interest to my kids because it involved technology. They love the technology we have in our room with this pilot program (which I hope I never have to give up this technology), but now they have a way to interact with one another using this technology.

I think that their responses are more insightful and well thought out, because their peers are reading their posts as well! I would love to think that my kids valued my opinion on their writing, but the reality is, I am the teacher. Their peers have "real" opinions that matter to them much more than mine ever will. If the kids are anything like me and my blog posts, they can't wait to log into the blog, open up their recent posts, and see a comment about THEIR writing from THEIR friends.

If I could go back in time and was allowed to make one change to my classroom and instruction this year, it would be to start this classroom blog from the beginning of the year. I have already learned more about my students as readers (and writers) from this first week "experimenting" with this than I think I have learned from many of our conversations. I have also found that they are more excited to talk to one another about their reading and participate and share in our read aloud discussions. I am so excited about this in my room and can't wait to hear what my kids think after our first week is completed and we re-evaluate as promised.

The Power of Observations

As a teacher, we know that observing our students and what they do in the classroom everyday is critical to understanding what they know and how they learn and are progressing towards the learning targets. I do this often in the classroom trying to make a few observations about at least ten students a week in math and reading. I use a great log that I created that works for me. But, this week I learned that the power of an observation lies with more than just watching our students.

I had the opportunity to observe another teacher within my district teach her reading workshop block, Karen Terlecky. Earlier this year I spoke about how valuable observations are here. I find them to be so helpful to my teaching that I felt the need to reflect about them once again.

While on my observation, I found myself feeling so overwhelmed with questions and thinking about my classroom. I mentioned my feeling of grief about not supporting my students in a way that I felt they deserved from me this year. I wanted to be better for them in my classroom and wanted to start the year over to do that. The time I had to observe gave me a fresh perspective on what I am doing well and what I need to reevaluate in my classroom.

I left with so many reflections and questions for myself to consider as I complete this school year and start next year. I spent this year focusing on math, creating a math workshop that was supporting my students in a way they needed, and learning the content. I invested so much time in this that I found my reading block lacking in many ways. Sure, my kids were still getting instruction and are growing as readers this year, but not as much as I want them to.

The funny thing about my focus on math is that I started the year saying that math was my weaker area while language arts... well I had that one figured out. At the end of the year, I am realizing how very wrong that statement was. I can see that I will never have things "figured out" like I thought.

My observation spurred me on to try some new things. The kids are at the end of the year, state testing is almost here and done with, and I need to keep them focused for one more month. I decided the best way to keep their attention was to through something new and exciting into the mix.

I think it is so important for my kids to see how adults are reflective in their practice and decisions. I often try to model this for my class. I decided that I was going to be honest with my kids. I told them that I had been on an observation of another teacher and that I wanted to change some things for next year. I shared with them all the things I saw and learned. I then asked them, which new ideas sounded the most interesting to them for us to "practice" for my class next year. They decided on two focuses: read aloud notebooks and a bi-weekly blog post.

So, I promptly set me kids up on kidblog.com and we are going to jump in feet first on Monday with this. I don't know how it will go, but I have a lot of confidence that my class will teach me a lot that will make next years class better. Since we are going to do a reading blog as a class, I decided my reading notebooks (letters) were too repetitive. So we turned these into our read aloud notebooks. This has been a bit rocky, but after four days of intensive instruction on their use and long conversations around them, I can already see improvement.

Observing not only another teacher, but my students practice these new ideas is only going to make me a better teacher next year and has already made me better for my kids this year. I am finding that this is the time of year to do this! I am learning so much and I get to try it without worry of the failure it could bring. Happy observing in your own classroom!

Student Growth

Along with the middle of the year in my district, comes midpoint diagnostics.  Since fifth grade gets state wide testing for reading, math, and science, our midpoints are in these three areas as well.  My biggest fear starting teaching in my own room this year was that my students would not show much, if any, growth in any content area.  I really lacked confidence in my own teaching.

Well, I was so surprised and excited when I completed the grading of these diagnostics because my class average in all three content areas showed growth.  In some content areas more than others, but growth nonetheless!  I could not be happier.  I am finding myself celebrating this little success and anxious for the next one to come around the corner.

I found it to be funny that I showed this growth because lately I have been feeling like there are so many things I want to change in how I run my classroom daily.  I have talked about my Daily 5 structure during reading workshop time, and have really been wrestling with this concept.  I loved it when I taught 4th grade last year in two long terms (4 months and 3 months).  I loved it when I started the school year, but now am feeling like it is not sufficient enough for my students.  It almost seems too easy for them and like a boring routine that we continue.

All of that being said, I want to change this part of my day, but am nervous to do so because it took us so long to set up this structure.  Some things I do know about what I want to keep: the workshop model, lots of reading and content practice during this time, and of course small and individual student work time with me.  What are some things you are doing in your classrooms?  I am anxious to begin thinking about this, but also want to put a lot more thought into this part of my day than I currently do.

Math is another area that I am finding myself wanting to really make changes.  As part of my resident educator program, I had to write a unit plan and my first one was on a math topic: decimals.  I took our current math program and re-wrote the entire unit.  What did I find?  My students did so much better than they have ever done!  The scored the highest on our unit assessment today than they have ever done, but more importantly, they can explain to you how decimals work and why they work that way.  They have a deeper understanding of the concepts!  I could not be happier, but I want all of my math units to be this way.

This makes me super nervous, because it has taken me forever to re-create that unit and put all of the pieces together.  To do this with every remaining unit (13 to be exact), seems so daunting.  I know the end result will make it so worth it, but finding the time seems almost impossible.  I am going to have to re-read my balancing time post from much earlier this year!

On top of all this newness running around in my head, I am taking part in a new technology pilot program in my school.  It starts in about a week.  I am excited about parts of it and a bit skeptical about other parts.  I am anxious to see how my teaching changes for the better from this and anxious to see what I find works with my teaching style and my classroom routines.  Some things seem like they will be very challenging for me, particularly because of my having to give up some control and that is not a strong suit for me.  I will have so much more to share on this in the near future.  But, in the meantime, how do you use technology in your classroom with your students daily?

The Midpoint

Today officially marked the end of the first half of the school year.  I think that it has finally set in that this is my classroom.  Over winter break a few weeks ago, I found myself excited to go back to my classroom and students.  Now that we have been back for the last few weeks, I have finally felt a bit more settled in for the year.  I feel like I know my students well and I know ways that I can support them in the classroom to help them learn the most they can.

As part of being this far into the school year, I am deep into my first year resident educator work (a mentorship program required for four years to earn a full five year teaching license).  At this point in the year I have to plan, conduct, and reflect on three lesson cycles (mini units).  I have fully completed one entire cycle and have been so thrilled with the deep learning that all of my students have had.  I have been even more thrilled with how much my more challenged students have not only learned but retained.  It was a definite proud teacher moment.  :-)  This has really inspired me to continue this work with the remainder of my math instruction this year.  The only challenge: it was a lot of prep work and planning.  I want to do this, but I am not sure where I am going to find the time on top of my already busy schedule with all of my other job to dos.  I am going to have to get super creative.

To mark the end of the first half of the school year, my team had a release day to work on data review and planning from here.  I was so happy that we completed so much work and planning.  We created an assessment to continue to track student growth and planned a series of 8 lessons that we will conduct as a team in the 8 weeks leading up to our state testing.  Today was so productive and I have a work day again tomorrow.  I am hoping that tomorrow can be just as productive.

I certainly did not think that I would be feeling this calm at this point in my first year teaching full time. I certainly did not think that I would have been learning so much this year either.  If you had asked me at the start of the school year if I thought I would grow a lot as a teacher and learn a lot about being a better teacher, I would have said no, but I am finding that I am a much better teacher than I ever was 4.5 months ago.  I cannot wait to see what the next half of the year brings!

Hustle and Bustle...

It seems as though the hustle and bustle of the holiday season carries over into the classroom.  Report cards (round one) are done, conferences (round one) are done, and teaching seemed like it could once again be the only focus in the classroom.  Just when I thought that,  I found my calendar telling me that I was terribly wrong.  This week marks conferences round two and the holidays quickly approaching. 

Not only is all of that happening, but I may have done the craziest thing to myself recently.  I decided to co-present at our districts literacy conference in February.  I am excited, nervous, thinking I may have lost my mind, and unsure about this decision all at once.  I am sure I will share more in the coming weeks and months, but I will be presenting on the concept of argumentative writing within the math content areas.  The focus will be on math and the common core standards and linking them to the writing common core standards. 

So, this week seems awfully busy when I look at my to do list from meetings, conferences, planning, teaching, grading, writing Christmas cards, Christmas parties (3 in three days!), and spending time for myself.  I am thinking that it may not all get done.  So if you are on my Christmas card list every year, I apologize if your card comes at the new year!  Teaching seems to change your personal deadlines an awful lot!  :-)

But, in the midst of all of this hustle and bustle, I am finding time to stop and look at what I have done this year already.  Just the other day, my students felt the need to inform me that I have become a much better math teacher in their eyes.  I was not sure if that was a compliment or not, but I choose to look at it and think about how even my kids feel as though they are learning more now and the work I have been putting into their learning is paying off.  As is true Angela fashion, I am always looking for where to focus my attention next and what to improve on.  It seems as though I want to focus on small group instruction. 

Last week, I spent a lot of time working one on one with many of my students on things they really needed some extra attention.  I didn't get to meet with as many small groups as I would have liked, but the time spend with these 7 or 8 kids last week was so valuable.  I had the chance to really see what they are struggling with and get a deeper understanding of where they are in their learning.  I am looking forward to more time spent working with these kids this week as we work to improve their writing in math, reading and understanding, and overall confidence in their wonderful abilities to learn and view the world around them each day.

I hope that you have a chance in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the next few weeks to take a step back and look at your amazing teaching and yours students individually. 

Time Flies!

In my school district we split the year into three trimesters.  Friday marked the end of the first trimester! I cannot believe that my class and I have made it through 1/3 of the year already!  I found myself reflecting on all that we have done and what improvements I have seen in my kids as well as my classroom set up.

One of the biggest improvement I have seen in my kids this year is in their writing, both stories and in math.  I have spent a lot of time focusing and planning for my math instruction every day.  As a result, my kids are consistently explaining their work and labeling their work as they solve problems.  I have seen my most struggling mathematicians improve dramatically from this instruction.  I have a student who went from no explanation and labels to always explaining what they do to solve a problem, labeling their work, and even sharing out in class without fear of being incorrect.  After repeated small group and one-on-one instruction with another student in subtraction with regrouping, I can confidently say that he can do this independently and no longer needs my support in that area of math.  The list of improvements I have noticed and reflected on continues.  I can easily say that I am a proud teacher.

But, my classroom set up needed some attention.  After living with it for a trimester, I decided that there were some changes needing to happen on Friday.  Take a look at the pictures below of my room set up for the first 1/3 of the year.

I have found that there were too many "blind" spots for me during independent work time.  I allow the kids to work around the room.  I have found that many of them are more comfortable when not sitting in their desk, but at the same time, many find it as an opportunity to "hide" and talk to friends instead of getting their work done.  As a result, assignments were not being completed, and I was having trouble teaching in small groups without having to interrupt them to correct a choice.  My new set up has split the Daily 5 choice boxes around the room (used to all be in one general area of the room).  My kids now have several open areas that they can work in around the classroom.  Take a look below at some of the pictures with the new set up.

Overall, the first trimester has been a growing experience.  I am excited to see the changes that will occur over the next 1/3 of the year.  At the end of this first trimester, I have realized how quickly time flies!  I have accomplished a lot in these 13/14 weeks, but not as much as I would like.  Maybe next year?

Developing a Workshop: Math

The last two weeks I have spent a lot of time focusing my attention on and thinking through how to transform my 80 minute math instruction time into a valuable math workshop.  This has been quite the process.

Most of this thinking started when I attended the first of four professional development opportunities with Joan Smith.  In these sessions, she is working with the fifth grade teachers in my district on helping our students to understand the basics of math (what numbers are, mean, and how they work in the world), begin using this knowledge to problem solve real life problems, and taking a hands off role to allow students to make mistakes (after all, that is where the most concrete learning occurs).

Last week, I jumped right in by setting the stage for what we would be learning and how we would do this this year.

We then worked on our first real life problem solving activity.  This is where I had to take a complete hands off role.  I provided students with the problem, manipulatives, the time, and I watched, took notes, and made observations about what students fully understood and where their "missing links" were.  My how surprised I was!  This was a two day event.  On the second day, we charted all of the thinking and math processing we had been doing for two days.  Take a look at our work below.

This experience was so valuable for my students and myself.  They learned from one another, they had a chance to practice what they knew and understood, and I learned where "missing links" were, how I should begin grouping the kids for "guided math, "and where to begin with each student.  Ultimately, I did a second lesson in a similar fashion since this one went so well.

My focus for this second lesson was lesson on the concept we were working with and more on the practical use of manipulatives and tools.  In the process, the students surprised me with their connections to new math rules we had not learned or discussed.  Take a look at the chart we created together based on this lesson and learning below.

A little more than a week later, I have begun thinking about pulling students into "guided math" groups.  I am excited to dive into this with my students.  My developing plan for my 80 minute math block is below.

Problem of the Day (still thinking about this one)
Mini-lesson (using my current district program)
TIME work (check out more details here)
Sharing from our TIME work

As I begin to implement this and other developing ideas in the classroom, I am excited to share them.  What are your thoughts?  Where should I go next?  What have you tried that worked well?

Observations: Key to Success

As part of my required work for being a first year teacher this year, I have to observe teachers who are doing good things in area's that I want to work on and improve in.  My focus for improvement this year is primarily math.  I say primarily because at the end of the day, I really think I can improve in so many different ways, but I need to focus on one at a time to be the most successful.

So, on Monday, I went and completed my first two (of many) observations that I needed to do.  I went with the attitude that I just need to get these done and over with so that I can check the box and get back to the craziness of things that need to get done in my own room (and preparing for my own fall observation and evaluation by my principal this week).

What did I find from these observations?  A quick realization that I like little to nothing that I am doing in math.  What seems like forever, teaching math for 80 minutes a day, flew by and we went OVER in time after trying some of what I learned!  My kids were more engaged after I tried what I learned and I am certain were far more successful than they have been in this unit thus far.

Up to now, my math lesson has been to follow the teacher guide to help me think about the lesson because I was convinced that I couldn't do it all this year and had no idea where to start thinking about "creating" my own math lessons.  I went to observe a fourth grade teacher in my building today who uses the book titled Number Talks by Sherry Parrish to guide her own "number talks" in the classroom.  After 15 minutes of watching her and taking notes constantly, I was so excited to get back to my classroom, pick up my kids and dive right in.  I changed my math lesson the minute the kids walked in and did a variation of these "number talks."

What I found to be different?  My kids were more engaged than they have ever been in math, my instruction was more focused than ever before, and the result at the end of the lesson was that the kids got the concepts and information I needed to get to them.  I typically have 6 or 7 students working with me as I re-instruct them from the lesson that day, but today, I had 2!  I am so excited about this lesson and how it went, that I cannot wait to try it again tomorrow and see how it goes.

So in the end, I found that observing other teachers, no matter how time consuming or tedious it seems, it really is one important key to success in the classroom.  The two teachers I observed (one fourth grade and one first grade) gave me so many great ideas to try and work with in my classroom this week and in future weeks that I cannot wait to teach 80 minutes of math tomorrow!

Balancing Time: Is it Possible?

I am finding myself feeling so overwhelmed the last few weeks.  Is there ever going to be enough time to complete everything??  I have found papers getting back logged in grading, planning not being considered until last minute, and a constant list of meetings to plan for daily.

I am realizing in the midst of the craziness that I really need to sit back and think:  What is most important and beneficial for my kids at school?  Is planning a week in advance really beneficial?  Or should I focus more on getting my kids their feedback back on their work?  I want the piles to disappear in my room and the "To Do List" to get checked off, but that does not seem to be benefiting my students.  After all, my desk being full of papers to get to has earned the nickname "Tornado Ally" from my class this year.  Is that really a bad thing?  They are using analogies in a practical way!

I am quickly realizing that it is the intentional planning based on our previous learning and class discussions that day or the day before that is more important than sticking to my original plans made a week ago.  I am finding that checking in with my students and giving them feedback on their practice is more valuable than making my practice pages "pretty" or putting everything away in my classroom everyday.  What is valuable and worth my time and focus is what impacts the kids and their learning the most.

Time is unfortunately not infinite and I am having to learn the balance of that in such a real way.  I can't work on school work 24/7.  My kids will never have a teacher that understands the world they live in or can discuss the current events that affect them now and later if I don't balance.  I will burn myself out of the profession before I know it if I keep it up.  I have to have time for the things in life that are more important to me like family.  This is modeling it for my class.  They will need to have the ability to balance their time someday and I need to model that life skill for them.

I love my job and I want to be the best I can be at it (and the perfectionist in me is convinced that more time will make that happen :-)), but I will have to accept that I will never be perfect.  After all, who ever met a teacher that said he/she was perfect at his/her job and he/she was done learning and improving his/her practice?