Red Flagging Ourselves

I was talking with a colleague today recently after school and we got onto the topic of "red flags". Usually, as teachers, we look for red flags in our students. We think about what the grade-level expectations are and we diligently follow our students' progress.  

But what about finding our own "red flags"?  How do we know when we have become complacent?  How do we know if we are using best practice?  How do we know if our management strategies are efficient?  

I think our best compass is our internal compass. 

I know when I've wandered off the path, so to speak, I can feel it in my gut. And when I think closely about the times when my compass is off is because I know that what I'm doing is not in sync with what I believe teaching should be. 

For example, In the past I've had a slotted time in my day for independent reading for my students. But it wasn't long before I started to get this feeling in the pit of my stomach that this reading time was missing something.  I was giving them 15 minutes of extra time to read for fun, which is good, but I couldn't drop the feeling that I was not taking advantage of this instructional opportunity.  I could just feel it. 

Even though structures are in place to help, our best guide is ourselves. We just have to pay attention. 

Normalized Exclusion

I was talking with a friend of mine who is an elementary teacher from southern Saskatchewan. One of her favourite things to do is put together and organize fun, celebratory days focused around holidays and birthdays.  When I think about my own time in school, I have to admit that I also consider those class parties some of the best memories I have as a child. But as she went on I started to feel a little bit sad.  She shared how she had a couple of students in her class that had to remove themselves from each celebration because their religions forbade them taking part.

To be clear, I wasn't sad because I thought it was unfair that the students had to sit out in the hall or miss an entire day of school because of an unfair set of religious guidelines and expectations.  Quite the opposite-I was sad because of how normal my friend thought the whole situation was.  What ensued was a lengthy conversation about why she decided to go through with it all in the end even though some students could not be included.  

I was surprised to find she didn't really bat an eye at the fact that these students were being excluded.  Actually she didn't even really consider looking at the situation in that way at all. One of the first statements she made was that she figured the rest of her students shouldn't miss out because only a couple of them weren't allowed to take part. 

I have to admit I don't understand that argument. I always thought that a big part of teaching was focusing on those pieces of the world that were not represented in the dominant culture. But when we selectively exclude students based in any number of things, including religion, we are not only reinforcing the dominant culture, but we are telling our students that some voices are more important than others; that some ways of life are "normal" and "acceptable" and some are not. 

How can we teach empathy when we deliberately exclude? How can we teach compassion or equity, or kindness when we establish hierarchies in the classroom? 

These are hard questions and require a lot of self-reflection, and can even cause feelings of anger, frustration and resentment. I feel like some days I do a pretty bang up job when it comes to inclusion. Most days I have that nagging feeling that I am just not doing enough.  Plus I always find it harder to reflect on what I'm not including and WHY I'm not including it, than reflecting on what I've included and ways I can improve. 

At the end of our conversation, we politely agreed to disagree, and moved on to talking about when we would catch up the next time she was home for a visit.  Even though we've been friends for years, I can't help feel like the conversation has changed our relationship in a very profound way.  I never meant to make her feel bad or like she had to defend herself to me, but I definitely wanted to shed a different light on the situaion. I hoped she could understand a different point of view, if not agree with it.   

SUM2015: Taking Time to Learn

This weekend I attended the SUM Conference in Saskatoon, focusing all of my attention on ways to become a better math teacher.  As a student in elementary and high school, I would have been considered an average math student.  I wasn't blowing anybody's mind with my mathematical genius, but I wasn't giving my teachers any headaches because I didn't know what I was doing.  Average.   
Turns out, the joke is on all my past math teachers.  I didn't know what I was doing.  I had no number sense.  I didn't understand place value.  I had no skills in applying math.  I don't even want to talk about word problems and solving for x.  Truth be told, as an adult, I have a limited (one might say basic) understanding of math. 
When I was told about the conference, I was initially very excited to go.  But after a few days to think about it, I became really nervous about it.  I began to think about the situation I was potentially walking in to.  I decided that I was probably going to be in a room, filled with people who, more than likely, were enthusiastic about math, considered themselves "good" at math, and who had mostly positive personal experiences in math.  This is not me.  Sure I memorized the formula, rules or steps to get the job done, but it was hard for me.  I remember pre-reinforcing my paper to protect those ever-important notes that contained every step I needed to complete questions that would fill my entire page.  I almost always had to turn around in my desk to ask a friend for help; a sure sign that I was wasting time, therefore not putting in enough effort, subsequently loosing precious marks that would have otherwise boosted my final grade.  On the rare occasion I did muster up the courage to get up and walk over to my teacher who was sitting at his desk watching us and listening to the sound of pencils scratching over paper, the events looked something like this:  He would stretch out his hand to take my paper, but never look at me.  His eyes focused on the class in front of him.  He never asked what my question was.  He found the question I was having trouble with, crossed out my work, and did the question for me, nary an explanation in sight.  Then he stretched out his arm again, without looking at me, and gave my paper back to me. 
All of these (and other) experiences came pouring over me and I began to develop anxiety about it.  I didn't want to be the only person in the room who didn't get math.  I didn't want to be the only person in the room having to work hard.  I didn't want to be the only person in the room who couldn't share, didn't have the right answer or had nothing to offer.  And when I was done going through all the possible horrible scenarios I could think of, I gave my head a shake and went anyway.
I am so glad I did.  I was still massively out of my comfort zone, but I couldn't believe all I was learning about math, how I understood it, and how to teach it to my students, or rather, how to have my students teach it to me.
I took away a general message of "Play, talk, stay out of the way!".  Play is an essential part of student learning.  While this message is not unfamiliar to me, I think it's safe to say that, in general, we teach the "play" out of students.  Over the course of the weekend I have learned that I teach the play out of my students when I show them that there is only one way to solve an equation, and then step in every time they require assistance.  I also do this when I don't validate their ideas, and even when I give them praise.  I do this, still, when I simply don't give them time to play. 
In all fairness, I don't exactly know what math play looks like.  I don't remember playing in math myself as a student, so I don't even have anything to lean on so I can "fake it 'til I make it".  I think that it looks like me giving students a problem, then allowing them to access a variety of learning tools to help them show their understanding , and giving them time to solve that problem in multiply ways.  That's what it's going to look like for our class right now, anyway.  (Suggestions welcome!)
As they play, they have to have a chance to talk.  This is vital.  It's vital because in doing this, they justify their thinking to one another, and to me.  They learn what respectful listening is, and how to respectfully respond to an idea.  They learn patience, how to ask questions, how to trust their own thinking, and how to deal with mistakes. 
Writing it this way seems a little rosy, I know.  The truth is that students will need many opportunities to practice these skills, and infinitely more reminders about the expectations, but I know from past experiences with students that they can do it!  It's not fair of us to assume our students know how to do these things when they come to us.  Neither is it fair for us to show them once, and expect they "get it".   What is fair is laying out very specific guidelines for expectations, and giving students chances to show us they can do what is expected.  Fair is also being patient as they learn, and being even more patient when they forget themselves.
The importance of "talking" was driven home by Dr. Ruth Parker, who shared her invaluable knowledge of Number Talks.  She modeled for us the teacher role, and we were her students, engaging in discussion and sharing our thinking and understanding of the problems put before us.  What I found most interesting is that, in general, we (the adults) had very complex ways of solving problems.  Once we shared our thinking, she would say, "Want to see what my 5th graders did?".  And without fail, every time, they showed a deep(er) understanding of math, and solved the problem more practically and in less steps than us.  It.  Was.  Awesome. 
I quickly understood the value of number talks, and realized that I am doing them (to a small degree) by accident in my classroom.  I'm also doing them incorrectly.  The biggest mistake that I'm making is that I'm acknowledging the students thinking, instead of simply recording it.  While I mean to praise students as a way to encourage them, I'm ultimately having the opposite effect.  I'm creating an environment that is unsafe for students who might be timid to share, lest their idea not be worthy of "oh, interesting!", "did you notice what she did?!" or "great idea!".  I am not encouraging independent thinking with those comments either.  I'm encouraging everyone to think like the students I'm praising.  I'm certainly not helping students discover intrinsic motivation.  I guess the silver lining in all this is that I realize what I am doing.  And when I know better, I do better. 
Learning to "stay out of the way" is another vital piece to student learning.  During her presentation, Dr. Parker emphasized the importance of letting the students take the reigns when using number talks.  This is student time.  It's a time for them to share their own thinking-correct or not.  It's not a time for me as a teacher, to interject, make suggestions, point out mistakes, or even use a "teachable moment".  There is a time and a place for all those things, but number talks are very strictly opportunities for students to talk.
As she modeled the role of the teacher for us, she would record our thinking, never once assuming that she knew what we were saying.  We were always asked to explain what we did, how we grouped images, and ultimately, how we added or subtracted numbers.  For me, this is a vital piece, because, in assuming I know what a student is thinking/saying, I might be leading them away from their true thought, and stifling their math creativity. 
The conference is over and I am mentally exhausted and completely satisfied, committed to making changes to my teaching and our daily math routines immediately.  I'm so excited to go to work on Monday and have our first number talk, and I look forward to playing in our classroom-even though I don't know what that means exactly, and expect that will be my next uncomfortably steep learning curve.  The good news about uncomfortable learning is that your brain literally grows as you make mistakes.  I have to remember to share that with my students... 

A Book-A-Day...

During the summer holiday I was roaming through Twitter when I came across an image of one of the coolest bulletin boards I had ever seen. A teacher, (Jillian Heise-@heisereads) had made a giant grid on the school wall and filled the grid with book cover images of picture books she read to her class over the year.  One book for every day of school. Below her very amazing image was the hashtag, #bookaday. I knew immediately this was something I wanted to do, so I committed right then and there to creating a similar board. 

You'd think reading one book a day to students would be easy, but in actuality, a fair bit of thought has to go into it. Where do I start?  What do I focus on for those very crazy first few weeks?  What are the messages I hope to share?  What are "good books" I could use. 

I was lucky in the sense that I started the year by introducing Daily 5. I knew it was possible for our class to take up to nearly a whole month to become comfortable with the processes and follow expectations, so we spent a significant chunk of September learning the CAFE Menu, and practicing a small handful of reading strategies. Luckily, there are many suggested books on the Daily Cafe website for teaching reading strategies, so that was a great place to start. I also had a good look through our school and public libraries, I read "Writing Power" by Adrienne Gear which had great suggestions for anchor books for writing, and, as is often the case, the Internet was a great source. I used Twitter and simply followed the hashtags. I mentioned #bookaday, but I also stumbled across #classroombookaday and #nerdybookclub, which are all really good sources for finding books. I also simply went on Amazon and let my mouse take me away!  

So far, our Book-A-Day board has been a success. My students are looking forward to seeing the board fill up over the year, and are quick to remind me when I haven't put up the image of "yesterday's book". 

On the book cover images I have added the strategy or lesson the book is related to. 

We began the year with letter writing and I used several books to anchor the format for writing letters, and to provide students with lots of examples. The books we used for this were "Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters From Obedience School", 

"I Wanna Iguana", and "Dear Mr. Blueberry". 

I'm also looking forward to having our Book-A-Day Board fill up as the year progresses.  If you have any suggestions for anchor books that can be used for reading or writing, I'd be happy to have them!!

It's Only September...

The month is almost up and the honeymoon is definitely over. Our students' true colours are shining through, and ours are too. And an all-too-familiar feeling is starting to settle into the pits of educator stomachs. If left unchecked, this feeling can cause some serious problems. This feeling's name...is panic. Well, it's actually that nagging feeling you get before panic. Pre-panic.

 

You might be thinking the following:

"Where are all those papers with that important information I need that I got with all those other papers at the beginning of the year?"

"We still haven't mastered the routines in our classroom!" 

"I have assessments that have to be finished in 1/2/3 weeks!"

"The other class is so much farther ahead than I am!"  

"I should really be organizing that."

"Are my pants seriously on backwards right now...?"

Well that last one might be a bit far-fetched, but you get the idea. 

When I touch base with other teachers, one of their (and mine) concerns is how long it seems to take for students to follow classroom procedures. It's difficult to ignore because we need those procedures in place to help us as we teach for the rest of the year. It's so easy to become frustrated, especially when you think you sound like a broken record and, saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over....

Here's what I try to ask and remind myself of when I'm starting to feel overwhelmed in September:

1.  They're kids. All of them. From 5 to 18.  And they just came back from a two month vacation, and if I'm tired, they probably are too. 

2.  Am I just expecting too much?  There's a lot for students to adjust to this time of year. It's important for me to remind myself that I'm not the only one with a full plate. 

4. Did I explain procedures well, or did I assume they're mind readers?   Sometimes, I think they're mind readers. But they aren't. Two words. Exlpicit. Teaching.

5. Get a grip. It's only September. 

And really, that's what it comes down to for me. I can be really hard on myself because the pieces of the puzzle have not all perfectly fallen into place.  But that's not fair to me or my students. I am trying to be consistent, fair, kind, and patient because it will all work out in the end. And after all, it's only September. 

Body Breaks

I can't say enough good things about body breaks and brain breaks.  I love them.  I think that they are a gift to teachers and to the sanity of teachers. 

I recently had a conversation with a new teacher who asked me a great question, and then made a very honest comment.
"What is the difference between a body break and a brain break?" and "I just don't know if I can fit it in my lesson with so much content to cover."

In reference to the question, I can offer my own interpretation of body and brain breaks.  To me, a body break is a set amount of time for students to get up and move around.  This doesn't always mean to get them in front of a SMART board for a 5 minute dance-a-long.  Sometimes it does, but most of the time, at least for me, it doesn't. 

I usually try to follow this general rule when using body breaks: "Short time, high intensity".  I want to get as much out of about 2 minutes as I can.  I want to get their blood pumping, and their heart beating faster.  One way to do this is by doing what I refer to as Physical Copycat.  I do various cardio movements, which students are expected to mirror...in silence (for the most part).  I jog in one place, do knee lifts, squats, hopping, and move my arms up, down and in circles.  Granted, this also gets MY heart pumping, but it's fine.  Usually I need a little pick me up too.

Another break is a table walk.  I have my students split up into small groups around one of the tables in our room and let them walk around it for 30 seconds.  Sometimes I say "switch" to tell them to move in the opposite direction.  I used to give students a set number of laps to do, but they always ended up doing the last lap more than once, so I switched to timing.  Frankly it helps keep me less annoyed.  This is also easily done around desks in pods.  I just split my students into their pod groups and send them on a walk. 

A brain break, on the other hand, is like allowing students to have a "thinking time-out".  They essentially get a break from whatever it is they are learning about, but you may not ask them to get up and move. 

I taught my students the hand jive recently.  That was funny. We started off really slow, and then "jived" progressively faster until we were going as fast as we could.  I was really trying to impress students with my super fast hand jiving skills, going as fast as I could go when one of my students stopped me and said, "You better slow down.  Your face is getting red."  !!  I love kids.

Another favorite is Copycat Clap.  Basically I clap different rhythms and students are expected to copy it in unison.  I don't give them any warning when I start, that way it doubles as a brain break and a strategy for getting students attention.

There are times when students need a significant break.  (And by significant I mean 5 minutes max.)  Sometimes, the go-to's just don't work anymore.  It's during these moments when I turn to on-line body break options.  I have three favorites.

The first is Go Noodle.  This site allows teachers to set up their class for free and choose a character.  Every time a body break option is completed, points are scored for their character.  There are a lot of options from dancing, to coordination to calming activities.  If you set it up on your favorites, it's easy to get to, and basically ready to go with minimal instructional time wasted.

My other two favorites can be accessed on You Tube.  The Learning Station and Just Dance are definitely student favorites.  The Learning Station has some really fun repeat-after-me songs (Go Bananas and Boom Chicka Boom) that are easy for students to learn and follow, and Just Dance gets them moving to their favorite tunes. 

An honorable mention here would be simple breathing activities.  Breathe in through the nose for a 3 count, hold that breath for a 3 count, and, controlling the breath, breathe out from the mouth for a 5 count.  This is a great way to calm a rowdy crowd. 

Now, moving on to the topic of time, and where we might fit in these breaks. 

I can definitely empathize with this teacher.  There is a lot for us to do in a week, a day, a period, but this is what I know.  If I give my students break, it helps them perform better.  For example, think of the last ten or 15 minutes of class before lunch.  Things can start to get a little hairy sometimes.  Maybe your time is the end of the day, or after a recess.  I've found I can either run around like a chicken with my head cut off, spouting all manner of stern but ineffective teacher talk at my student in the hopes that they will (PLEASE!) do something, or I can pause, use some of that time to choose and use an appropriate break activity (or activity combo), and then get back to work.  I will admit that it's not fool proof, and sometimes I have to try a couple to get them back to a productive place, but generally I see improvement.

As for when to use body breaks, I say it kind of depends.  Sometimes I schedule them into my lesson-after I've taught a new concept or read a book to the class.  Sometimes I want to teach a lesson and allow my students to stay focused for as long as they can.  Once I feel the energy in the room heightening, I use a body break.  There are some times when I just forget too.  This usually happens because I feel like I have lots to do that class.  What ends up happening is I find myself constantly asking students to focus on me, stop talking, stop playing, stop twiddling...  I'm getting better at recognizing these behaviors in myself, and that becomes a good indicator for when to use a body or brain break.

I would also like to say as an aside that if I am noticing a consistent lack of engagement and focus in my students, the first thing I do is look at my lesson.  Is it something that is engaging for students?  Have I explained the processes well?  Is there a purposeful reason for doing it?

Hope that helps to get you moving!
Happy dancing/clapping/squatting/copycatting/breathing/jogging-in-one-place...ing!

A Book A Day

This year I have committed to reading at least one full picture book to my grade 3 class a day. I have made a board for our classroom dedicated specifically to this idea, which we already lovingly refer to as our book-a-day-board.  On it, I post a 4x6 print out of the cover of the book we read together.  By the end of the year, we will have close to 200 book covers represented on the wall!

Although I want to help students cultivate a love for reading, we aren't simply reading these books just for fun. This is also a way for me to teach content, and model using strategies. 

I want to place reading at the forefront of our day as a way to underscore its importance. I usually begin by reinforcing the idea that reading everyday is important, and when we choose good fit books (re: The Daily 5), reading is so fun!

I also want to build a sense of community within our classroom.  Reading our book-a-day book happens in the whole group space in our classroom (I eagerly await the giant rug that's in order!). 

In this space, students are asked to sit closely together as they listen.  Then, when the book is finished, they have to discuss it in one way or another. So far students have practiced a turn and talk (students stay seated), and stand and talk (students can move around this way). 

Because it is so early in the year, we've been focusing on basic strategies for reading.  Using picture books, I have been able to model how I expect students to use these reading strategies daily.  There is already a class favorite on our board.  Toads on Toast by Linda Bailey is a book I used to model a comprehension strategy (Check for Understanding).

I recently read a great blog post by a middle school teacher who uses picture books in her classes to teach all kinds of concepts. I highly recommend checking it out. And don't forget to peruse through the links. She also offers up lists of book suggestions. 

A link to the blog post can be found below. 

Happy reading!

http://pernillesripp.com/2015/09/02/but-how-do-you-really-teach-with-picture-books/