Time to Return

     Summer is winding down- I have just a few days left to soak in the last few days with my children and try (most likely not complete) to organize my house before returning.  I love the first few days of school, the smell of new pencils- the nervous anticipation of both the teachers and their new students, and the tearful goodbyes from parents as they entrust us to care and teach their children.
     There is a lot of pressure on teachers to perform and perform well under any circumstance. This year our school was moved the the SINA list (Schools in Need of Improvement). We were not able to make the expected growth and reach the goal of 100% proficient in the areas of reading.  Let's look at that number again- 100% ... Is that even realistic? I know it's not mathematically possible to have 100% proficient.  We needed 85%  to reach safe harbor we had 80%.  5%= about 15 children of all tested.  Well, what now?
We can beat ourselves up, we can ask what we did "wrong", we can make excuses (legit or not) or we can move on and ask what can we do to improve.  The tests aren't going to get easier, the expectations will not lessen, and we cannot control the environments in which our children come from. So what can we do?
   Well this summer I read more about ways to improve my instruction.  Ways that are supported by research, years of research and authentic evidence gained in a classroom.  I've gone back to my favorite authors and reread what they see as best practice in order to see where I can improve.  Anyone who thinks teachers just take the summer off are kidding themselves- this is the time we can refocus, regroup, and find ways to improve our craft.
     I started with Patrick Allen's Conferring.  Now some people may not like the flow of the book or find it dry, I on the other hand love his approach to conferring and how he starts the year setting the tone for respect that fosters communication within and between himself and his students.
                                                     
Then I went back to my other favorite author Kylene Beers in Notice & Note.  If there is one regret from last year it was not getting my hands on this book sooner!  I read and implemented her strategies in February- it would have been great to have started that at the begininning of the year (which is my plan for this year).  This text looks at having kids notice "signposts" within the text and evaluating them to gain a deeper understanding of the characters and story development.  Love. Love. Love this book!
                                                     
Lastly, to dive more into writing instruction and conferring in workshop I turned to Mr. Carl Anderson.  You cannot go wrong with his books! He has great practical ideas and lessons that help you confidently teach and confer in the writer's workshop.

                                                

Whew! Long and lengthy post about a summer of what some might call "boring" reading.  But, no matter what anyone says teaching is not simple- you should NEVER pull out the same exact old lessons you've done for the past however many years and never take time to reflect on whether they are actually meaningful, and purposeful.  That is exactly what I do each summer and all throughout the school year.  Is it work? Heck yeah- but it's my job, I'm good at it, and I want to continue to be good at it.

Where We Are In Place & Time

Oh how I have been anxiously awaiting our next science unit!! Finally the day has arrived!  I love science, I think that for some of our children this is the hook that gets them inquiring and really gain a love of learning. This next Unit of Inquiry is called Where We Are In Place and Time.  This unit will focus on how the innovations of today will affect our lives tomorrow.  We were lucky to be able to tie this into our science curriculum, as I have noticed that so many of the IB units are related to the social sciences.  As a tie in with the new Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) we will study these lines of inquiry:
 1. Identify and understand varied uses of energy.
 2. Necessity of conserving resources.
 3. Efficient uses of energy through inventions and machines.

If you haven't looked at the NGSS that is now out and published- I will tell you this unit is going to be extremely tough!  The students will be expected to understand how waves travel (amplitude & length), they will also need to understand the movement and transfer of energy, to name just a few learning goals.  We had to think about how to get the children engaged and thinking about energy in terms of application to their lives. I also wanted to find a way to bring in literacy, both informational text and fictional text.  ::::Cue the trumpets:::  Bring in the City of Ember and Rube Goldberg!!

We began reading this book last week and in an attempt to bridge our two units of inquiry we examined what form of government the City of Ember would be classified as.   The students thought that it was more like a dictatorship or monarchy than a democracy.  We also discussed what it would be like to have no choice in who you are to become.  This theme is a common theme is dystopian fiction, and many young adult novels of today so they had a lot of opinions on that topic! This book's main problem revolves around the generator failing and the city losing power- a great tie in with our science!  

So, day one launch was a reading of the first chapter and discussion of the questions listed above.  I also had them choose from a hat new jobs for the classroom (some more desirable than others), this was to in some way replicate what was happening in the Ember society.  

Up next: Building a catapult, and introduction to simple machines.  And, my all time favorite example of Rube Goldberg by Okay Go.

January 12, 2012

In our classroom our reading groups are more of a book club, we call them literature discussion groups.  The students are asked to select from 4 different books the one they would most like to read. Here are some of the choices for this round:

 Before each meeting they are responsible for completing their assigned reading, and a thoughtful log response.  Contracts will be coming home with them today to expain their first job and what is expected of them. You will be asked to sign as well as all of them. 

In preparation for our discussions we have been delving deeper into what makes a successful discussion and literature response.  We have been reading books and writing our responses and then using them as a springboard for discussion.  Here are a few examples of anchor charts we have made, originally seen in Life in 4B another Dorn model school. ...

 This chart helps us to remember what is required in a successful log response.  The students have their own copy in their journal. 

We watched a literature discussion by two model teachers and sketched out the strenght of their ideas. You can see that in the strong model the ideas build on one another and begin to look like a constellation. 

Talk is the key to a successful literature discussion group!  We have been really working hard on making our conversations more meaningful.  I can honestly say that after this week of stregthening our responses and practicing purposeful talk we have made tremendous progress!!!

Revisiting a Thoughtful Log Entry

Now that break is over it is back to the grind!  We are reviewing the expectations in our literature discussion groups. These groups are a time when students gather and have purposeful talk about their chosen book.  We are practicing what a well thought out journal entry would look like.  The students listened to a short story I read called Camp Fat and responded to their thinking (flag spot) in their new response logs.  A good response will meet the following expectations:
        1. Indented paragraphs
        2. Complete sentences
        3. Appropriate Punctuation
        4. Evidence!!!
        5. Reread to be sure it all makes sense.
They then got with a partner and used a self assessment checklist to see how well they thought out and planned their responses.  Here are few pictures of some of them working through their entries.