Lots of Little Modifications

It feels like every day I'm trying to make little adjustments to make everything go a lot smoother.  This is who I am and it is a huge strength for me in anything I do.  It can be a bit crazy though, and I'm always rushing off to try and fix a little thing, while missing the big picture.  That being said, I've made at least two changes in the last few days that seem to be paying off and I've set a few others in motion.

1) I was getting super frustrated with the end-of-day procedures.  The students weren't all doing what they were supposed to be doing and it ended up turning into a case of a few students working really hard to tidy up while others just walked around, talked and did nothing useful. I had a talk with my flatmate (source of seemingly unlimited wisdom) and she suggested I put on a song for cleanup. Surprisingly I had seen this before in action and had been quite impressed with it at the time (forgetting things like this is also part of who I am, and definitely not a strength), so I definitely was willing to give it a go after a particularly trying end of day mid-week.  We did it on Thursday and Friday and the students were much more enthusiastic (it was a song they learned as a school to sing) and the jobs got done and there was little or no stress on my part.  I'll need to get a proper CD or CD player and keep this going.

2) During an afterschool chat with a colleague, I was asked how I was using my success-o-meter.  That was something that I occasionally referred to in the first couple of weeks of school, but have been trying to encorporate it into my teaching a bit more.  Last week for the flipcharts I had used the pictures and labels to talk about our work and to help the children make value-judgements on work.  I had also cut out their names and had them beside the success-o-meter when he came in, not really thinking exactly how I would use it.  He asked me if I used it after every lesson.  That had not been my intention, but a good idea is a good idea.  I've used several ways of self-evaluation, so I gave this one a try when we wrote similes on Friday.  The children were pretty good with them and it was integrated into the lesson since I did give examples and reinforce what level each type of simile would go on.  Some students put themselves on the top level when they should have been on the second, but still, they were pretty bang on with their self assessments.  It's definitely something worth getting into the habit of.

3) I'm also trying to get children into the habit of bringing and changing their bookbags every day. I've made up a laminated sheet to keep track of which days in a week they bring them in and I'm offering housepoints for bringing them in.  Hopefully that adds a bit of incentive, though I guess I can't force them to read at home.

4) One thing I've done once but not again (and it was successful) was build  sentence (thank you Read, Write, Inc.).  It is just super hard to find the time to fit it all in.  I've got to find a slot for that during the day.  Perhaps I could do that one afternoon between Reading to the Students and Project (Tuesday or Friday would be good, I think). It's hugely helpful in building their vocabulary, memory and their ability to write interesting sentences.

I'm sure I've forgotten a few things, but there's no way I could write about every little change I'm trying to make just to make things go a bit more smoothly.  It's all about the process and not so much the details at this point.

Karen Boyes Sample Lesson Observation (and Staff Meetings)

Yesterday I had the privilege of watching Karen Boyes, a Habits of Mind guru, teach a class at our school.  I also had two staff meetings run by her, devoted to teaching the habits of mind.

It was an interesting experience to see a lot of new strategies at work. A few things I saw from her that I'd really like to use (coming from both the staff meetings and the observations):

1) Saying thank you instead of good, great, fantastic, etc.  This I'm still a bit torn on (it's one of those things you don't want to be true, after all those years of people telling you to heap on the praise to children) but I completely agree with the theory behind it so I think it's definitely worthwhile to have a go at it. I still will find a way to use a variety of praise (I think behaviour is one area, though I do like the "thank you for doing the right thing" that I use quite a bit).

2) Lots of talk time, giving children the chance to be prepared to answer so that speaking is less of a risk.  I've actually made some adjustments over the years so that participating is less of a risk and children are prepared, but she did give some good suggestions as to how to bring that aspect to a whole new level.  She was very insistent on getting the children "knee to knee."  I've already tried this, and though they did at first confuse it with "elbow to elbow, knee to knee," I did find that it has worked fairly well.  I've also increased the amount of time I've having them talk to their partners.  Not only does that get them more confident with speaking, but it also forces them to participate.  I also use popsicle sticks so that all the children know they could be called upon for any question so they need to have some sort of an answer (usually after talking to partner so they're not put on the spot).

3) It's a small thing, but I really liked her use of "Hold your words in, put your hand up." I liked how she showed us a picture of this with a younger student, but I wasn't sure it would work with my class.  I talked to them about it and when I saw one student doing it, I commented on it and picked her to speak.  Funnily enough, the about 5 or 6 of them were doing it the next time I asked.  Though, the student who did it first, didn't really need to do it (she waits her turn all the time normally) but maybe it will catch on.

4) Her description of the Line of Life with Blame, Excuse and Deny below and Ownership, Accountable, Responsible on top was something I immediately started using today.  I actually saw many children who were doing the things below the line.  In fact, I had a wonderful inadvertent example of excuse, when I was asking the children to explain what it meant. One child gave his answer and it must have been the same answer another boy wanted to give so the other boy put his hand down and said "d@33it" (imagine the two 3s are 2 ms).  So I said "excuse me, do you think that language is appropriate at school?" and he said "But I didn't know." Absolutely brilliant.  I of course pointed out the irony of the whole situation to him by saying that was making an excuse.  He was tearful for a bit, but within a few minutes he was back.  The children really did seem to understand that and now I have a diagram to put in the classroom to remind me and them.  It should also help me remember to refer to it in those situations.

5) In her lesson, it was interesting also, to see what she did when things didn't go as planned.  She tried an activity with the children that they obviously didn't get.  Instead of getting frustrated or ending the lesson then and there, she kept going.  First she let the kids keep trying and offered small reminders of what was needed.  When it was clear there were some problems, she stopped the whole class and asked them a question to focus their thinking.  Eventually they were able to be successful.  No voices needed to be raised

6) Over the last week with Karen and with our certification, I've learned a great deal about the Habits of Mind and have tried to incorporate them more into my teaching.  I'd never heard of them before coming to Rowandale, but they are things I've done throughout my life and I definitely see them as the habits that have made me successful.  So helping children learn these habits is obviously a good idea.  Karen was able to give me a lot of good ideas as to how to start embedding these into the children's lives.  I hope I'm up to the task (if not, I'll persist).

Assessments and Other Recent Things

I've probably mentioned on here my recent foray into reading testing.  That has been going well, if not slowly.  I've been pleasantly surprised by several students who read extremely well and answered most, if not all, of the comprehension questions right (and thus get to move up a level).  Other students have me at a bit of a loss.  They are definitely struggling with the reading - it's super slow, and they're making a lot of mistakes - and it's tough to know whether to keep them where they are or move them down.  I feel a bit bad moving children down as they have been given a big confidence boost by being moved up.  I have a feeling this will be a constant inner battle for my whole career though, so I'm not going to let myself lose too much sleep over it for the time being.  I've also had some students read really well but have no clue what they just read. So I'll be trying to sort that all out in the next little bit.

I've also had a second go at marking writing.  I think I definitely changed my approach this time (it helped to come home on a Friday evening and have so much energy that I was able to read through a good two thirds of them) and the experience of having done this already for these children made it easier.  I found that several children had actually gone and done what I'd been teaching them (fancy that) and they really made an effort to work on the things I identified as their targets. I was able to move a few of them up a level (though that might not completely compensate for the few I moved down levels last time - yes, I know what I wrote above, but writing is not the same as reading) which was nice, but others actually wrote a bit worse than their first one and completely ignored both what I was teaching and their targets.  Is this a normal thing to only get a bit of success. I guess the question is now, how do I get to those other children who weren't listening, or to put it a better way, using their habits of mind (specifically: make it right, prior knowledge and taking responsible risks). There has been some success, so I'll start with what I've got and build on it.  I'm not going down without a fight (metaphorically of course!).

I feel like I've turned a corner with my class in recent days as well.  There is a greater closeness I have with many of them and they're starting to figure out my rhythms and idiosyncrasies. We've bonded on some level which has been nice.  Yes, they can still take an foot when I give them an inch (and this from a Canadian), but they are responding much better to things and even today I saw some amazing focus and effort from some students who had previously not tried so hard.  Even in things like the basic facts practice (test) I've noticed some phenomenal improvement from most of the class.  I've not had to send any sheets home (yet, but I will) yet they are taking huge strides every time we do it.

Planning is still a bit of a time killer and I'm having a bit of difficulty getting it done before the weekend.  In fact, I'd say it's near impossible at this point.  I want all of my lessons - at least on paper at this point - to be great lessons.  I'm definitely picking up lots of helpful hints lately, though it does have the effect of making me feel a bit (only a bit, I'm not nearly as stressed as I was two or three weeks ago) overwhelmed with how to structure things.  But the key, at least I think it's the key, is to try and get some things embedded, not just in my practice, but in the children as well, so they can help keep our (yes, our) classroom running like a well oiled machine (teaching similes this week, it helps to try to use them in my writing). I'd say the quality of my planning is probably the best I've done, though I know it will get even better over time.  I'm able to think very analytically and methodically about things and now that I've had time to do some of my own assessments, I've got a much, much clearer impression as to where the children are, where they need to be and how to get there.

Feedback Galore

I really could break this up into two different posts, but seeing as this is my third in a row, I'd like to leave it at this.

After not getting much feedback the first few weeks (other than the planning, which I need to work on after this) I got two pretty big - and positive - bits today.

The first came from a walkthrough done by not one but two members of the management team.  I was a  tad nervous when they first walked in, but the class was under control and there was nothing I had to worry about at the time (glad they didn't come in for math today!).  It did go well and the feedback was really good (both told me so in person, so that was nice).  I do feel they picked out the good things I've been trying to do, so that's a big plus.  There are things I haven't gotten around to and those were not really brought up.  That did put me at ease quite a bit because that is my biggest worry - missing things I'm supposed to have, even though I have pretty much been going non-stop since the second week of the holidays.

The second bit was a bit unexpected.  We had a team meeting where we looked at writing flipcharts.  I had seen some really good ones and was reluctant to go up and share, but I took a responsible risk and just did it.  I was actually quite surprised at the good feedback I got from all around the table.  It did make me feel a bit validated and a lot less worried about the quality of my preparations and teaching.  Now the biggest trick is to find ways to do the same things in less time so that I can be fully rested every day of the week.

Running Record Demo and Practice Run

Yesterday I was given a demonstration of how to do a running record.  It was informative, but a bit overwhelming.  I'm not quite yet confident with what comments to write, and how to use the information, but I'm more confident with some things.  At least I know where to get the books and the records - that's a start right?

I did attempt two today, at the end of the day.  Not an ideal situation.  Nor was it wise to take two of my lower students.  They both struggled a bit and were almost at 90% accuracy - which means they weren't on the right level.  Both of them will likely have to go down a level now, but I've got to get clarification as to a) is that a good idea and b) if I need to test them at that lower level.

Still a bit of a mystery to me at the moment, but I'm slowly wrapping my head around the concept.  I figure if I get through this round of testing, I'll have a better idea of what to expect (from the students) next time, rather than trying to make judgements on the total of 3 running records I've seen done or done myself.

Reflections on Recent Changes

I made a pretty big effort the last couple of days to get my students to have a greater sense of urgency when completing transitions.  So far it's been fairly successful, though it's still a journey and they need to be more consistent.  I also implemented another strategy I didn't mention in the previous post - to get the children to tell each other about the word of the day, problem of the day and the weather.  It keeps them involved, even if it doesn't speed things up.  Well, it does speed things up in that while they are telling each other those things, I can move the laptop from the back mat to the front mat and have it all ready to go for shared book.

The strategies have worked mostly when I've been insistent on them going fast.  They have been getting excited when I tell them - just before the sound to end the Daily 5 round goes - that we need to try to break our record.  They were actually cheering today when they got to the mat in 59 seconds.  However, I wasn't doing it all the time, and those times they were very laxadaisical with their movements.  I wish I spelled that word right.

I've also started recording the times so we can compare, and will be making a chart for the week.  They have definitely turned around the last few days and things are going well in that regard.

I also tried counting down from 10 during cloak bay runs and only having 10 students in there at a time.  I've been less on the ball with this particular change, but when I've been able to supervise it has gone well.  Some tears, but that's kind of the point.  Those kids won't be wasting time again.  I need to continue to be on top of that, even though there are things I need to do while they are getting their snacks and lunches.

Overal, I'm quite pleased with what I've done.  I just need to make them habits now, so it's easier in the future.

Frustrating Day and Some Conversations

Having spent a good deal of time planning and making sure this whole week was sorted out (see previous post), today was a slight letdown in that things didn't go as planned.  That in itself could be a valuable lesson, but that's not what I got out of the experience the most.

Basically the problems in the classroom today stemmed from issues around transitions. What it boils down to is slowness and not doing what they're suposed to be doing. This goes for pretty much all transitions and it's really only a handful of children setting the whole thing off.

I had a long conversation with my flatmate (who is herself a teacher - and a tutor teacher on top) about this and we talked about ways in which to put the onus on the children.  A lot does come down to me and the way I impress upon them the need for urgency.  Most children, as she says (and I agree), don't really see school as a rush, though I do, knowing how much we have to do. Two major things have come out of this particular conversation to work on: 1) getting things out of the cloak bay takes a ridiculous amount of time. A solution could be to send in 10 children, count down from 10 and if they don't have anything, they still need to be lined up. This, I want to try tomorrow. 2) I'm going to set the timer during the daily 5 to a) count up and b) repeat at the end so that the children have a clear indication of how long they are taking and how long I expect.  Perhaps evening keeping a "world record" on the board so that they have motivation to go quicker.  We'll see.

A third thing, which came out of discussions with the children in fact, is that 20 minute sessions for the daily 5 might be too long.  Not so much for their concentration, but for fitting it all in.  We only were able to fit three blocks in (after the shared book and spelling lessons) before 10:50, and that was a good hour and 40 minutes.  Time does need to be made up there - at least until they get the transitions better.

There's more that I could work on at this point, but I'll focus on those things right now and try my best with the rest.  No need to overwhelm myself.

Planning for Week 4

Last Friday (yes, anyone reading this will realize this took me a few days to write) I submitted my first week of planning to be looked at. Overall I found this planning to be fairly straightforward, if at times, a lot to do.  Once I got into the flow, it was easier to figure out the learning outcomes and work from them to create something simple but also that focuses on that specific LO.  Slowly but surely things are making sense.  The feedback was mostly positive on those lessons and the suggestions given were manageable (mostly adding more information to the plans so they are a bit clearer).

Unfortunately, not all of the planning was done beforehand, and I did spend some time this weekend working on flipcharts and sorting a few things out.  It wasn't a massive amount of time, but it was some work.  The goal in the future is to have most, if not all, of that sorted by Thursday night so I can enjoy my weekend and get recharged.  Even the little bit of free time I had this weekend was helpful in making me feel better for Monday (today).

I'm not finding anything that difficult at the moment.  I've learned a great many lessons in the past week (way too many to even just list here, and sadly some I've already learned in the past).  I think the planning aspect though has been the biggest leap this week.  For starters, just having a clear idea of what was expected and where to get the WALTs and how the lessons are structured.  Also though, and probably more important, is the need to have the children constantly doing activities and switching.  Further to that, I've made some attempts to include use of my Bloom's Taxonomy Chart in my planning as well as the success-o-meter in order to get the children not only thinking about their learning, but having them be in tune with what's on the walls around them.  Now, the only thing is to actually execute the plans.