It's time to reflect!

So, we've been blogging for awhile now. How's it going for you? This blog is easy and interesting to read. My edu-blogging has been overwhelming--so many sites, too little time.
What are your thoughts?

Make like the pilgrims... eat local!

Check out this blog my response! I think its a good way to work the idea of Thanksgiving into a classroom without it being a huge focus. In addition, I believe ALL students could participate because it would not be a religious celebration.

http://mywonderfulworld.typepad.com/my_wonderful_world_blog/2008/11/make-like-the-pilgrims.html?cid=141029626#comments

Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge - TIME

Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge - TIME
If you haven't read Time's cover story about her, here it is. Her basic premise is to fix schools, you have to fix teachers. She wants to get rid of ineffective teachers and reward the talented ones. This is an interesting article to read. Check out your blog lists too, there's lots of chatter about this article.

The State Budget Shortfall

In today's newspaper there was a projection as to where the state will be making cuts to the budget to account for lost revenue. In this projection, it was estimated that up to 70% of the cuts will come from education, with almost 50% of that coming from K-12 and the remainder coming from higher education. Of the cuts mentioned, one of the most discouraging was that the mandate to reduce classroom sizes will probably no longer be funded. The reasoning is that it is not a good idea to raise taxes on the wealthier citizens because their spending will be what jump starts our economy. However, if we do not educate our youngest citizens, where will our economy be in the future? This is such a short sighted veiw. I realize that balancing this budget will require some very tough decisions, but education should not always be the easy target.

Excluding kids??

A teacher I know is planning a read-in for her students. Sounds great, but not everyone will be allowed to participate. There will be two students out of 27 who didn't get their work done, so while everyone else is hanging out on the floor with their friends, eating snacks, reading and having fun, these two will be working at their desks. This really bothers me. I think a read-in is something everyone should be allowed to participate in. Excluding these two students (who usually have some degree of difficulty completing assignments on time as it is) will make them stand out even more. The teacher said that she told these students all week that they needed to get their work done in order to participate; even with knowing the expectations, the students were unable to finish. I think they already miss out on so many things because they are constantly behind. There has to be a better way to motivate and help struggling students....

on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (Link to photo here)

I wanted to share with you my nephew's work. I think photography and technology is an amazing way to get students to "write" for a purpose or real audience and learn at the same time. I can see students doing creative things like this photo and then writing a story around it. This would be so much fun for them!

Happy Thanksgiving

Dear bloggers,
Thanks for all the thoughtful and thought-provoking posts. This is a blog that I look forward to reading. I am thankful that our cohort is filled with such committed and supportive people. Next year at this time we will have survived our first round of report cards and conferences!

I hope you are all able to enjoy the day with family and friends. Our turkey's been on the grill since 4 this morning (my husband is the chef) and I'll get started on the rest soon--but I wanted to blog first. Hmmm, I guess the tech class is having an effect on me!

High needs kids--they all arrive in 6th period!

Because of scheduling issues, it seems that most of the high-needs kids show up in sixth period in the science classroom I spend time in at my dyad. It just seems ludicrous! There are at least three kids with significant language problems--recent arrivals from Spanish-speaking countries. Something like 6 others are ADHD or on the autistic spectrum somewhere. That leaves about 18 students without major learning issues.

The dynamics of this class are so very unlike any of the rest, I just feel overwhelmed. I stopped at the table where three Latino boys are sitting, and doing nothing. I ask what the problem is, and get no response. I ask how I can help. I try to show them what they are to be doing. I get blank looks or odd smiles. I feel like I've completely failed. So I wander off and look for trouble elsewhere, but eventually stop by their table again. This time, the boy I'd decided was "least likely to succeed" is writing furiously, and seemingly on task. I'm amazed. The other boys are conversing, giggling, and occasionally writing on the table. I still wonder how to reach them. Is it the language barrier, cultural barrier, the "I don't care about school" barrier, or something else?

I finally have a terrific time with an ADHD boy, who responds very well to some one-on-one tutoring, in preparation for a test. My master teacher later tells me he has very severe emotional problems and an unstable home life.

This is in a mostly-affluent, high-achieving school, by the way. But there's still a lot of stuff like this. Some kids get support, and some don't--like the Latino boys who seem destined for academic failure. I can see why Matt, the teacher in the next classroom who recently finished at UWB, tells me his biggest challenge is figuring out how to connect with families. I wonder if that's the way to best help these kids. Easier said than done, I'm finding.

It does seem daunting... Anyone else have similar experiences?

Conference observations

In my dyad placement, there is a child who is a great kid - funny, bright, well-liked and is always eager to participate in class discussions. She gets pulled at the end of the day for help in reading and writing. One of her biggest challenges is getting anything done - she seldom completes her homework, and always seems so unorganized. The teacher has asked the parents on numerous occasions to follow up with their child to make sure she works on her homework, but the majority of the time, nothing comes back. Her divorced parents came in for a conference, and I was surprised to hear how they were unable to come to any kind of agreement when it came to helping their daughter with her work. The father blames the mother; the mother, in turn, says the father is no help. The mom wants the teacher to make all these changes in how work is assigned. The resource teacher and occupational therapist have made suggestions on how the child could be helped at home, but the mother doesn't feel they're right. This child is supposed to wear glasses, but can't seem to find them. The mom makes a comment about how the glasses won't really help her....what's a teacher to do? I was exhausted at the end of the conference, and I was only an observer.....imagine how the teacher must feel.

Looking Forward to Next Year...

One of my good friends, who graduated from this program a year ago, just got a job teaching Kindergarten. I was so excited for her when she told me the news. Immediately, I started to dig into my children's books at home to help her supplement her classroom library. As I was organizing my books, I was getting so excited for her and it gave me little hope for next year.

Then, as I started helping my friend, I was listening to her talk about about all the things she had to do this week and then I started to feel very nervous for next year. Because she is starting late in the year with a new Kindergarten class, the Kindergarten parents were very concerned about the move. They expressed a lot of concern over my friend's credentials. After all, she was available for a job in November, and she was new, she must not be very good was the general consensus of the parents. Also, one of the IA's informed my friend that everyone wanted her to be the teacher except that she is not certified. Certainly, not everyone is cheering for my friend to succeed. It is a bit intimidating to think of all of it.

Fortunately, my friend has reported that all has so far been going well. Her first day of classes involved no lost children, no bathroom accidents, and no crying. A success in my mind!

More conference observations

As a parent, I have attended many conferences. It is very different to be an intern observing the parent-teacher conference. Some things have changed; I don't remember my children being expected to present and participate in conferences. This week, I have watched sixth-graders explain their behavior and grades, strengths, goals and areas to work on to their parents with the help of the teacher. I like this; it makes sense to me and helps students to take control and responsibility for their learning.

Conference Observations

I hope you are all getting a chance to observe some conferences as I did today. I realized that I've been a parent at conferences over 40 times, but I certainly see them through new eyes now.

Teacher A, schedules 20 minute blocks, and sent out a pre-conference form. She appeared relaxed today, and planned on starting the conference with whatever issues the parent's had listed on the form. She has sent home all assessments for parent signature, sends artwork home when it's done and the report card went home with student's last week, so she'll use her 20 minutes to discuss what the parent wants to talk about rather than reviewing work or the report card, which the parent should have already seen.
Teacher B schedules 1 hour blocks for each conference. She reviews the report card with the parents at that time and goes thru each subject area, in depth, including assessments. Each subject area was in it's own color coded folder, with a pre-printed label. She explained all the items on the report card and asked for any questions at the end. She explained that she doesn't write any comments on the 1st report card, as it's all about assessments in different areas. She will have comments in the spring.
The good news is that in both cases the parents seemed to leave satisfied, and the conference seemed to fit the temperament of the teacher. Looking back to my parent conference days, I hoped there are were no surprises at the conference, and I hoped to see some evidence that the teacher "knew" my child.

I'm interested to hear your conference experiences.

Keeping Students Engaged

I was in my dyad today watching a class in science. Prior to today, I had only seen this class in reading. I was particularly interested in watching to see if they were engaged or not. The class was learning about solutions and mixtures and how to separate them. It was an inquiry based lesson. Overall, I noticed that as a whole this class was involved on a level that I had not seen before. Usually they are very quiet and reserved during reading.
However, I did notice a few students who were not completely engaged. One student who does not "like" his group would not participate at all. If he had been with friends, he would have goofed around but would he have learned more than being without his friends? I also noticed in this same group another student who wanted to participate but was "shut down" numerous times by two other students. This particular student is younger than everyone else in the class and the class as a whole shuns him. It appears that the class is annoyed by this particular student's immature actions. He is also from another country and has a very thick accent which makes him hard to understand. How could he be made valuable to the class? I then watched a third student, who had been engaged in the hands-on portion of the activity, shut down and stare blankly at the wall when it was time to read a related science article. How can teachers make it so students want to read these articles? The teacher has tried numerous avenues to try and work through the challenges associated with these three particular situations, but so far no success.
It was an interesting moment for me to realize that sometimes no matter what you try, students are not going to be interested. The talent that I, as a teacher, may see in individuals, who are so young and who do not realize their potential or how important learning is to life, will be a point of frustration. Those feelings along with the notion that just because I feel it is important, is it truly? Success, I am learning, is measured in many different ways. Each of us has their own notion of what it means to "make it." For some reason this all resonated strongly within me today during this class period and I wanted to share. Thanks for reading.

Power Teaching Math

Has anyone seen this method for teaching before?

Grading inflation

In my dyad, my partner and I have been allowed in on the grading process. During their ‘final projects’ for their reading unit, we were asked to give grades on a scale of 1-4. Both of us came up with a similar pattern…. 4….4….4. We thought they were all fabulous because they were able to show what they were good at, and they really took ownership of it. However, this brought us to the question about grading. What if a student put in a lot more effort than usual, however it still does not reach the standard about what a 4 typically gets. Can teachers still give the student a 4 based on what they know about the student, and with the hopes that the grade will give them the confidence to always put effort into projects? I really believe that absolutely we should do this. However, what do we do when a parent complains that their child’s project was better than another’s who got a better grade? There is a quote on the wall at my dyad that says something along the lines “Fair doesn’t mean equal. Fair means getting each child what he or she needs”. Could we just relay this to the parents?
I would love to hear from actual parents. How would you feel about this?

Steps to Respect/PeaceBuilders etc.

I'm wondering what school wide behavior programs you're seeing out there. Both of the programs in the title are in my 2 schools, and the feedback on both is mixed. The PeaceBuilders is much more visible with phrases like "are you increasing or decreasing the peace by ...". There's a song, with sign language accompaniment, posters up around the school, etc.

My DYAD school felt that wasn't working for them and did a study of schools with similar demographics in other districts to see what they were using. Based on that input, they switched to Steps to Respect a few years back. Then they tweaked that, to better fit their school and wrote a handbook. The principal said the school needed ownership of the program, and they just didn't feel it with PeaceBuilders. He is very much in favor of Steps, but not all the staff is sold on it.
I agree with the principal that the program needs to fit the school, and whatever is picked needs staff buy in for it to work. Another interesting factoid is that PeaceBuilders is now a subscription program, rather than a purchase package, so price must be a consideration too.

I'm interested to find out what programs are at your school. Thanks.

Philosophy Change

I've been reading November Phi Delta Kappan and finding what my dyad teacher calls "gems." An excerpt from the book, Lost at School by Ross Greene is helping me unpack and examine some of my own thoughts on kids with behavioral challenges. Greene would like teachers to consider the philosophy from "kids do well if they want to" to "kids do well if they can." This may sound fairly simplistic, but this idea has caused me to think deeply. It really fits in with what purpose a behavior is serving and why it works for that student. As I begin to process and adopt this perspective, I notice many of my long-held beliefs make little or no sense. Why wouldn't all kids want to do well, wouldn't it make life easier and more fun? How can we as teachers teach the skills and problem solving strategies to catch up these challenging kids? I plan to read the book and hope to see some real life strategies and solutions. Did anyone else read the article? Any other views or thoughts?

Sceince Notebooks in the classroom

In my middle school Dyad placement, my master teacher uses science notebooks in the classroom for the student's to keep a running record of all their lab notes, classnotes and assignments, all in one place. I think that this makes sense on so many levels. It helps the students keep track of all their papers in one place. It also keeps a sequential record of what was done in class, hopefully helping making it more clear to the students the progression of a unit. The science notebooks also allow the teacher a quick way to walk around the room and do a quick check of all the notebook entries, so that students get immediate feedback on their work. The students can also use their notebooks for the tests, so that is an incentive to keep their notebooks in good shape and if they have been keeping good notes, etc in their journals, then they usually don't even hardly need the notebooks during the test.

How's the health of your school's culture?

I've been thinking about what are good indicators of of a healthy school culture, and wondering how many of our schools seem healthy to us.

There are definitely some things I like at my current placement, and I'll start with those:

I see the principal and vice principal in the hallways a lot. Sometimes the principal shows up in the least-likely places, just hanging out. This seems like an example of something I've seen described as 'management by walking around', or MBWA. He interacts with students and teachers, and even calls me by name! After school, I see one of these two people out by the school buses, interacting with students and parents. These things seem like marks of a healthy school environment.

Similarly, I see some teachers who spend a lot of time in the hallways. I remember this to be something we discussed in the middle school class last year. I recall thinking it sounded like a good idea--and I think it is.

During the daily home room television broadcasts, students make frequent appearances. They make announcements, and play videos they've produced, which sometimes have a serious theme, and sometimes are simply humorous. The significant student involvement in these technologically-sophisticated productions seem like a very good thing.

Some (maybe not all) of the science teachers talk frequently, sharing ideas and resources. Some (maybe not all) of the math teachers do likewise.

I haven't seen any instances of violence, although there have been occasional hints of intimidation by some of the bigger students toward some of the smaller ones. Things that are subtle, but perceptible. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of physical safety is the panic that ensues as the tardy bell rings at the beginning of each period. You will see students flying down the halls and around corners at a full run. I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one in the entire school who finds this hazardous, and issues verbal warnings to slow down.

Among the teachers I've observed, there seems to be genuine concern about maintaining good communications with parents. I do sense some apprehension about parents who may over react about certain issues, but I haven't sensed either apathy or animosity.

Is this anything like the school you're currently placed with? A lot different?

teacher- student ratio

classroom decor

I observed a 5th grade classroom, and it was very interesting. It's understandable that all teachers have their unique classroom management style and room decor ideas, but I have never been in a classroom that was so sparsely decorated. When I walked in, there was nothing on the walls, except for a couple of posters about positive thinking. I'm used to seeing classrooms that prominently display student art either on the walls or hanging from the ceiling. It really looked like the teacher was in the process of moving into the classroom. Ther absence of books (can't recall if I even saw any!), personal effects, color and anything remotely interesting to look at amazed me. In one corner of the class, there were piles and piles of photocopied worksheets ready to be passed out. From what I've heard, this teacher likes the room like this. It reminds me more of a high school classroom. Has anyone else seen anything like this at the elementary level?

Not on the Test

Posting Blogs of Interest?

Dear Team,
I'm confused about adding blogs. It appears I can only add/edit to my own Science/Tech category. If I see blogs that look good that aren't in that category, how do I add those? thanks

Copyright rules

In an effort to add some humor to our blog, I googled education cartoons, with the hopes of uploading some pearl. I saw several relevant cartoons and the big red copyright sign--so I decided to investigate and here is what I found.

In his article Are you a Copyright Criminal Dave Zelinsky make the following points:

Copyright owners have five exclusive rights:
The right to reproduce the copyrighted work.
The right to distribute copies of a copyrighted work to the public.
The right to prepare derivative works, or creations based on the original.
The right to perform the copyrighted work publicly.
The right to display copyrighted work publicly.

Abuse any of those rights -- that is, photocopy, distribute, customize, publicly perform or display someone else's original work without permission -- and you're breaking the law.
Copyright protection now lasts for the lifetime of the author or creator, plus 70 years.

To be in the public domain -- and free of copyright complications -- information on the Web must have been placed there "expressly or deliberately" by the copyright owner himself, most obviously with an accompanying note saying, "I grant this to the public domain."

Interesting stuff. I emailed the cartoonist for his permission to post his cartoon on our site, when I hear back I'll post it.

Looks like fun?

Are all interactive white boards the same? Any more ideas on tutorials or tech classes?
CC

AP US History: Is this our best model?

My daughter, just like several of your children, is taking AP US History. After watching her race through chapter after chapter of material and hearing her teacher say that the goal is to give broad, but shallow, coverage of history in order to do well on the AP test, it just makes me wonder why our educational system holds these classes up as the gold standard of high school education. Because of the frenetic pace necessary to cover all the material by the May test date, there is little time to process the material, and almost no time for discussion of different points of view. After reading “Lies that my Teacher Told Me” last year in Amber’s class, I can hardly stand to look at the narrow focus of the textbook being used, knowing that there is no supplemental materials or activities being provided to help the students process the material from multiple angles. Why is having all kids taking AP classes our goal? In US News’ high school report each year, high schools are rated solely on how many of their students are taking AP classes. Is this really the social constructivist, differentiated instruction that we are striving for?

Parent teacher conferences

As parents we have so much emotion tied up with our children. We want what is best for them, but we also want people to think they are as wonderful as we know they are. These two things do not always match up when it comes to school. Teachers want to tell us how we can best help our children to learn. They always have the best of intentions. Unfortunately, that is not always what we parents hear. We hear the fault they are finding in our children and we respond with the hurt that we feel. Conferences and meetings with teachers cannot be entirely objective because of this.

In my opinion children should be involved in parent teacher conferences whenever possible. For one thing it is a performance by their child which entices parents to be there. It also leads to better self reflection and self evaluation by the children. Having the student there takes pressure off the parents, it is easier to hear from your child what they struggle with, and creates the desire to help them not resistance. Additionally it sends a message to parents that the teacher really knows and trusts their student. Of course the teacher really does have to know the student well to involve them in the conferences. This makes more work, preparing the students. I believe the benefits outweigh the work.

One idea for technology use...

I just came across this blog that discussed the idea of using social networks such as facebook in the classroom. Previously I thought that we should NOT encourage the use of these websights to our students as they can be dangerous. However, not I have a new opinion. Instead I think we should teach them how to use these safely and then how to utilize them to increase their learning. Some ideas I can think of off the top of my head:
1. An assignment to spread an idea through these mediums. For example, Obama had a huge part of his campaign through these websights and I believe they really helped to get young people to vote. I have seen advocates for Breast Cancer, and many other awareness campaigns on these social networks.
2. Learn about another culture. Meet someone from another country who is interested in talking. Learn about them.


Check out the blog and my response if you are interested!


http://appliedimagination.blogspot.com/2008/11/potential-of-facebook-to-transform.html

How are your teachers using technology?

Just wondering how your master teachers are using technology in the classroom. From my admittedly limited observations:

• Maybe 75% have interactive boards.
• Perhaps half of those use them for more than just screens.
• Of those who use their interactive boards, maybe half really make use of more than just writing text.--e.g., changing colors, drawing tables, moving things around.
• When these boards are used effectively, student engagement seems to be significantly improved, compared to classrooms where they're not used, or are used sparingly.
  
• No one prints out what they've written as a source for notes--either hardcopy or on the web.
• Very few use short video clips as means of introducing a topic, reinforcing a concept, or just keeping students engaged--well, I did once or twice.
• No one videos any of their lessons for possible use by students who were absent or just want to review a concept.
• Students rarely use computers, interactive boards, or other media tools in the classroom. On the other hand, I do see a lot of computer usage in the junior high library where I'm currently placed.
  
• Technically-oriented courses, like math or science, seem to make no better uses of technology than the social sciences. Why is that?

I'd be interesting in hearing others' experiences, and maybe in how you're managing to make effective use of technology in the classroom, too.

Bad example

profanity from teachers

In the last few weeks, I've overheard comments from several students about how some of their teachers swear in class. These students didn't care for the behavior but would never dream of saying something about it, mainly because they are concerned that the teacher will find out who it was that complained about them. How can students feel comfortable in their class environment when it is their own teacher's presence that is the cause of the stress? What's unfortunate is that these students don't feel like their opinions would count even if they were to tell someone in the school. I gave some suggestions, but both students didn't want to rock the boat. This is a teacher who has said he wants students to be advocates for themselves....

The 10-60-24 idea introduced yesterday seems like a gem to me. I understand that we need to present concepts to students in a variety of ways to engage many different learning styles, and I liked having this as a framework or guide to help students process information. By refreshing and revisiting previously taught materials, teachers can deepen concept understanding for some students as well as giving others more time to process. I found this idea helpful; has anyone seen 10-60-24 specifically used in practice in the classroom?

Reading is the window to light

I saw this image and it was titled "Reading is the Window to Light." I felt that was just an inspiring title that spoke volumes with the corresponding photo.

Phonics Faces helping to teach the vowel diagraphs... hmmm...

You always need a good laugh...

Where in the Hell is Matt

The attached video was shown by my principal at my main placement. It took 14 months for "Dancing Matt" to make this. It's fun to watch. Thanks to Chelsea for putting it on the blog for me! Lolita

flexibility in curriculum

One thing that today has really reinforced for me is just how necessary a flexible curriculum is. We did not talk very much about the election today in my 6th grade dyad, which I really think was a huge loss in potential learning.
I feel like today was a big part of history and student’s should have been a part of it. The link I posted below is a video of 6th graders simply talking about the backgrounds of the candidates and giving facts about them. I distinctly remember in 2nd grade doing the same thing for the Election between Clinton and Bush Sr. followed by a mock election. If it still sticks out in my head, it was obviously extremely meaningful to me and maybe it had some impact on the love of politics I still have today.
Therefore, I sincerely believe that of while of course the curriculum is important and we need to get through a lot, the benefits of putting our plans aside for one day to address a big event largely outweigh the costs. Does anyone see any negatives to it? I would love to hear another opinion so I can understand why so many teachers skimmed over this amazing learning experience.

Here is a video showing a great way to get students involved with the election! Wish I could've done it with my 6th graders!!

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=63d777f121d2775d1ebf

commenting on a blog

I've joined one of the blogs from teacherlingo - http://teacherlingo.com/blogs/default.aspx
It's "an educational community that connects teachers from every level" - there are a ton of blogs to choose from. Since my dyad is in a third grade setting, I've responded to one written by a third grade teacher. It will be interesting to compare notes. If you have any spare time (ha) check it out...

This is how some of my fifth graders are

turning Newsletters into pdf files

Hi Gang,
It's easy to turn your Word or Publisher files into pdf's, so everyone can read them. Search your computer for cutepdf (all one word). If you don't have it, it's a free download. To use it, create your document as you normally would in Word or Publisher and select Print. Once the print menu comes up, under printers select "cutepdf" and voila, you've saved your document as a pdf file. Easy!

Running Records Website

I was out browsing the web and found a site on running records. It explains what they are, when to use them, and how. It is pretty detailed and builds upon what we are learning in Anne's class. If you are interested in seeing it here is the URL: http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/teacher_resources/literacy_pages/running_records.htm

Using Tech

inspiring with art

I have to share an experience teaching art. I'm the art docent for my main placement class; on Friday, I taught a lesson on Keith Haring, who is well known for the subway art he created in New York. If you want a great subject to do an art lesson on, look into Keith Haring. I read portions of a picture book to give the students some background on the artist, and for the entire time, everyone paid attention. For the actual project, I took a sheet of 8 x 11 black construction paper, taped it to a piece of 11 x 18 construction paper (to protect the walls) then taped the paper to the hallway walls - some up really high, some low. The students pretended we were in a subway station and their assignment was to create a work of art using chalk that would tell a story. Later, students would guess the stories behind their classmates' artwork, then share their own. I was surprised at how enthusiastic everyone was, and it was great that so many of them came up to me afterwards to tell me how much fun it was.

Classroom management advice

I went back and visited my main placement on Friday and walked into a big surprise! The well behaved class I had left in September had definitely undergone some transformations. My master teacher warned me that this would happen as they got more comfortable, but I didn’t realize how serious she was! They were still the very sweet students that I left of course, but obtaining their attention was extremely difficult and keeping it…. Not possible! I know part of it was simply their excitement in seeing me since it’s been over a month. However, I feel like I need to go back in January with a game plan! I really don’t want to use punishment in my classroom management but the only idea that I can imagine working is card pulling. So, I was hoping that someone might be able to give me some feedback for some positive discipline I could use to ensure that I have control of the class but also to ensure that my students keep their integrity. I really dislike going into classrooms and seeing the same kids cards pulled all of the time. What can I do to keep those kids motivated to behave?

Music for Math?

Just wondering whether anyone in our cohort has seen music being used to teach other subjects in the classroom--like mathematics. Here's a site with music resources for teaching math.

I've heard of teachers doing this, even in middle school, but I've not seen it done anywhere. I figure I'll be brushing up on playing my guitar soon for use in a math class!

Take a look at the Quadratic Rap

I Blogged

Well I just did my first official reply to a public blog. It's at http://learningismessy.com/blog/?p=31#comment-134490. It was fun and hopefully that is the right link. I wanted to past the link in here but couldn't figure out how to in the limited time I have here at the library. It was an interesting post about reading and math taking over and everything else being left behind. I would recommend the read to anyone. I hope some teachers read my post and give me some real feedback! By real I mean something I can sink my teeth into. Take care. ~Catflips

Roswell: Not Just Aliens!

Cool video created by kids!

Environmental Adventure School

For my Dyad, I am working with 6th to 9th graders at the Environmental Adventure School. This is a choice school in the Lake Washington School District. There are several different choice schools in this district and this one was started eleven years ago. The ideals that EAS is founded on are: integrated units of study, environmental stewardship, community building, and social constructivist, multi-age learning. The units of study are rotated on a six week basis, with service projects performed in between rotations. In the image above, one of the EAS students can be seen planting trees at the ground breaking ceremony for Brightwater's environmental center. Some of the other community service projects included teaching third graders about the environment, building bird feeders to be placed in the open spaces near the school and feeding the homeless in Seattle.

In addition to the community service projects, the EAS students also go on a community building camping trip at the beginning of the year and an environmental education trip in March. What an interesting way to revolutionize the usual classroom routine. As my master teacher says, they are given a lot of latitude in how they teach and organize their school because they continue to get very good WASL scores. It also probably does not hurt that the LWSD superintendent's daughters go to the school. It always helps to have a connection, but in my mind the school's concept seems to really be effective and the teachers' at EAS have earned their freedom to teach outside the usual boundaries.

I'm reading The Daily Five, Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades, by Boushey and Moser.  I am fascinated with their ideas on literacy.  They believe that children must practice reading a choice book for a significant period of time every day.  The way their classroom community is set up, this practice actually occurs and students learn to independently manage their own literacy.  They write of the "happy, busy hum" of children learning and working and I find myself wondering if this could really be achieved?  It sounds almost too good to be true, but I would like to believe it is.  I'm about halfway through the book, has anyone seen the daily five in action?  I remember most of my choice reading was done after school or on weekends and the same was true for my children.  But what about those students who don't read at home?  What a novel idea, practicing reading! 

a student needs help, but there's no one to help her

Any advice on how to support a student who has an IEP but is not receiving the support she desperately needs? I know of one situation where a third grade child is supposed to be receiving up to two hours of help per day. However, it is not uncommon for three to four days to go by before she gets pulled and receives the help she is entitled to. The school has a new special ed teacher who is overwhelmed by her student population. Apparently, the classroom teacher, principal and special ed teacher are trying to work something out; yet in the meantime, this student sits in a classroom, unable to truly participate in the day to day activities. Every subject presents a challenge for her. She needs someone to scribe for her and read to her.

As we get closer to having classrooms of our own, I wonder what to do in a situation like this. If a teacher isn't fortunate enough to have an IA, student teacher or parent to help out, how can the teacher help this child?

Learning about ourselves

It seems that we are never too old to learn more about ourselves. For me, yet another learning opportunity occurred this last month while we were hosting a German exchange student. Our student, named Katha, was here with 30 of her classmates. There was lots of socializing going on with the large group of exchange students, so many times I found myself meeting one or two new students that I had not met yet and then struggling to pronounce yet another unfamiliar name. Most of these names were not that hard, but I found I was having a very hard time remembering whether Lenos was pronounced with the long e sound or the long a sound. After butchering another German name for the umpteenth time, I realized that it was not due to lack of me trying, I was just having a very hard time distinguishing sounds in the uncommon (to me) names. This revelation caused me to think about why these sounds were so hard for me. I remembered that I had to take four years of speech therapy when I was in elementary school because I couldn't easily distinguish, and therefore say, the differences between sh, sw, sl, sp, ch, th amongst many, many other phonemic sounds. I also remembered how difficult learning Spanish was for me in high school. I mastered the written language okay, but I really struggled with the oral skills. Putting all this evidence together, I realize that I lack good phonemic skills. With lots of speech therapy, and learning coping techniques, I don't think that my language challenges are real noticeable as an adult, but when I have to learn new words such as the German names, my challenges become very apparent. It's funny, if I hadn't been learning about beginning literacy skills, I don't think I ever would have put all these ideas of needing speech therapy, sucking at Spanish, and mispronouncing new names all together.

Dear Future teachers of writing,
I had an aha moment with my teenager last week that I thought you could all relate too. I shared my rough draft for my literary vignette with him, which he was happy to read. When he finished he said that I needed to work on my transitions, that what I had divided into 6 paragraphs was actually only two, that I had some convention "issues" and finally that I wrote with a powerful voice.
First, I was blown away with his language--I had a "powerful" voice. Wow, was I impressed, but also disturbed that he started with the "problems" with my writing. "But what about my story? Did you like it", I asked. "Oh, it was great", he said. It really brought home to me again that we need to validate all our student writers for their ideas and know that the conventions will come!