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?

Making Goals

The second day of school, my students sat down and spent 15-20 minutes writing out their goals for the school year in all subject areas (including other).  Setting goals are super important to me.  I know how important they are in helping me get better at things.  I figured that my students could benefit from this at the very start of the year.  Their goals are posted right above their cubbies for them to see each day when they walk in.  They are a constant reminder to them of what they want to work on this year.
 
 I have been really busy thinking about and working on my teaching goals for this year.  It has been a lot harder than I thought.  I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the teacher standards and thinking about what is it that I want to improve on.  What do I want to get really good at this year.  The hard reality for me to accept this year has been that I will not get really good at everything this year.  In fact, I may never be really good at everything in teaching. 

I started the school year out pretty sure that I wanted to focus my goals around teaching reading and writing.  But what I have realized is that I wanted to focus on teaching reading and writing because I like those areas.  I feel comfortable teaching those areas.  It is Math and Science that my comfort level is much less.  At first, I was pretty sure that I did not want to mention my comfort level with this to my mentor (and I know you are reading this), but after really thinking about it, how will I become a better teacher if I don't hone in on and work on the more challenging parts of my job?  That is the only way to get better.  Not only that, but what kind of a model would I be for my students.  I asked my kids to do this when they wrote their goals on the second day.  Our classroom logo is "Mrs. Rowe's 5th Grade Growing Learners."  I should be a growing learner this year too.

Welcome to Mrs. Rowe's First Week

Week one is over!  I found myself feeling so overwhelmed this week with everything.  Today was the first day I left work well before 6pm.  But, at the end of my first week as a full time teacher, I can truly say that I still love my job.

I have a lot of kiddos to teach this year (27 as of now) and all have their very own needs from academics to behaviors. At the end of this week, I already feel like I know them so well and I haven't even completed or graded one start of the year assessment yet!  My how much I will learn in the next few weeks about them.

I spent the early part of the week really getting to know the kids, sharing with them, and planning for how our classroom will operate this year together.  Check out some pictures of our work so far.

Our getting to know you activity along with the book Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou (see an earlier post about this here).

Our classroom Constitution.  This started our first Social Studies unit about our U.S. Government and gave us a chance to decide what was important to us as a class for how we act and treat one another this school year.

After really starting to establish the expectations this week, I dove right into teaching by Wednesday.  We talked about picking a just right book using the "I Pick" strategy and the five finger rule.  I would share a picture, but my drawings were not so great (the kids decided that the five finger rule should be called the five leaf rule in our classroom instead as my drawn hand looks more like a leaf).  We talked about our thinking while we read and after practicing and marking our thinking in our books with post it notes, here is what we came up with to chart:

We talked about how to "Buzz" with a partner about the book we are reading.  This year, this is what our "Buddy Reading" is going to look like.  Talking about and having a conversation about what we have read with a partner/friend.  The kids did a great job at coming up with ideas of what this should look like and sound like:
     - Ask your partner: What is happening in your book? (Giving a summary so far)
     - Sit knee to knee
     - Talk about your opinions of the book and why
     - Talk about predictions
     - Describe your own visualizing of the book (the movie in your head)
     - Sharing the questions you had while reading
We talked about when it is okay to abandon a book and reasons we have all abandoned books in the past.  We spent so much time re-learning how to independently read and "buddy" read this week.  By today, they all wanted to know when we could have our reading workshop again!

In writing, I decided that I want the kids to do a lot of writing with technology.  The type of writing that they will do in ten plus years when they are in my shoes won't be the type of writing we do today or did yesterday.  We don't write handwritten notes anymore.  Rather, we type up an email and send it out immediately.  It occurred to me that kids don't understand that this is still letter writing and the concept of "text" language isn't always appropriate.  I decided to focus our early writing this year on the concept of friendly email format.  Check out what the kids and I came up with after taking a peak at some real examples:

I am so excited to see what week 2 brings and cannot wait to share.  I hope you enjoyed a peak into what we spent our first week doing in Mrs. Rowe's 5th Grade Classroom!

Twas The Night Before...

The first day of school.  Tomorrow is a day that I have wanted and waited for for a long time!  I am so excited to get started (I think I over planned because I am so excited to get moving into the school year).  :-)  However, that is by far not all that I am feeling.  I am finding myself feeling nervous.  I want the school year to be perfect.  I know all of you veteran teachers are laughing as I say that, but a teacher can dream can't she?  :-)

My classroom is set up just the way I wanted.  It is organized and perfect in my mind.  I have planned and spent a lot of time thinking about what is most important to me to get across to the kids on day one. I know that I want a classroom community where each member respects one another and puts their best efforts forward everyday.  I want my kids to know that I care about each of them individually and that I want to see them succeed.  This week is filled with plans on how we can learn to grow as a community of learners together.  We are learning how to make goals for ourselves and then we are going to make those goals.  Even I am going to sit down with the kids and make my own personal goals for the school year.  I want the kids to see that I think it is so important to make goals and modeling it is the best way for them to see it.

I said that I want the school year to be perfect.  It will be the perfect "first" year for me.  I am excited to welcome 27 students tomorrow morning at my classroom door.  I am also super nervous to welcome 27 students tomorrow morning at my classroom door.  That is a lot of young minds to encourage to grow and learn.  Can I do that?  I know that I can.  I have before in all of my long term subbing experiences, but there is a part of me that wonders.  This time, it is the "real deal."  It is my classroom and there are no safe outs.  I am 100% responsible (I always viewed it that way when subbing, but now it is really true)!  Pressure!

I am sure that on the last day of the school year, I will re-read this post and think how silly I was for being so worried.  After all, in 9 months, I will have completed the school year, my kids will have grown (in learning and height) and I will be ready to start thinking about year two and how to improve even more.  To all of my new students (and teacher friends), I hope you are as excited and nervous as I am tonight, because I think that the right combination of the two equals the perfect start to a perfect school year.

Happy first day of school to many of my teacher friends.  You will all have a perfect start to the year tomorrow because you have all prepared well and I am sure are a little bit nervous to start all over again this year!