Math talk moves

I have to say that I love the math talk moves we have learned this quarter.  I have found myself using them with my students across disciplines.  The first time I used the talk moves, during a math lesson, and asked my students to add onto or revoice what another student said, it felt a little clumsy.  But during the following days math lesson I continued the use of them, and began to see the benefits of doing so.  At one point during the 2nd days lesson, a student was explaining her thinking, when a I asked another student to revoice what the other student had just said, he looked a little puzzled.  I gave him some wait time, and on his own, without prompting, he looked at the other student and said, "can you repeat what you just said?" He was then able to repeat what the other student said and it seemed that he understood what he said as well.  If I hadn't used the talk moves I think this student would have still been confused about what we were discussing.  This is just one example of many I have seen over the weeks of using the talk moves and how it benefits and enhances student understanding and engagement.  Since I have now been using these talk moves for many weeks it just feels second nature.  I now use them across disciplines and can't imagine doing without. 

Mutliple Techniques

I have seen many different techniques of how teachers gain the attention of their students.  My cooperating teacher uses a variety of different methods.  The two most common are doing "shout-outs".  She says "3-2-1" and the students respond with "zip" and then are expected to be quiet and listen, and let me tell you it almost always works.  Another "shout-out" we use is, she will say "hubba hubba" and students respond with "yes ma'am", this also almost always works as well.  I have seen other teachers ring a bell when they want their students attention.  I have also seen teachers use a musical instrument or a song to gain student attention.  I like, and use, the methods of my cooperating teacher and since we are teaching 6th grade I find them very age appropriate and kind of fun.  I like the idea of using a variety of methods so you are not using the same one all the time, but at the same time not using too many that students become confused on what is expected of them.  If I teach 5th or 6th grade next year I will definitely be using the methods of my cooperating teacher.  If I teach a younger grade I like the idea of a musical instrument or little bell.

Constructive Feedback

I find all of the constructive feedback I am receiving helpful in one way or another.  One specific example is from my first observation and debriefing with my field instructor.  It was pointed out to me that during the lesson I said "ok" over 35 times within an hour and fifteen minutes.  When she asked me if I noticed I was doing that I said no.  I had no idea that I had said "ok" that many times.  Once she pointed it out to me I realised how much I like to say it.  I use it as a transition word and apparently a space filler.  This feedback was extremely helpful because it first of all made me aware that I was doing it and secondly reminded me to be very conscious and purposeful with my word choice.  In the next lesson I taught I found myself doing it again.  I thought about how distracting that might be for my students.  So I stopped what I was doing and talked to them about how it had been brought to my attention that I say "ok" a lot.  The students agreed that I say it all the time and we had a great laugh about it. I told them I was really going to work on not using that word as much and asked them for their help in pointing it out when I do so.  We agreed that if I started over using it they would all raise their hand at the same time.  While I still say it every once in a while I have greatly improved, with the help of my students, in a very short amount of time.  This feedback was extremely helpful because it made me conscious of not only my over use of a specific word but conscious of my word choice in general and making it as purposeful as possible. 

Building Community in the Classroom

This is the community quilt we made as a class during September in my main placement.  After our summer course, in Human Growth and Learning that focused on community building activities in the classroom, I was very excited to do one with my students.  It was a lot of fun and allowed us all to learn something new about one another.  The kids loved this project and began to see themselves as a community instead of just a bunch of individuals sitting in a room together.  It created a shared experience that we can look back at everyday since it is still posted up on the wall in the classroom.  This is definitely something I will be doing again and again in future classrooms.  But, what community building should I do next with my students?  Any ideas, or favorite ones you have used or seen in your placements? 

Oh Twitter...

          Hmmmm, what to say about Twitter?  This quarter I was "forced" to join Twitter, yes I did say forced.  Before this quarter I could have guaranteed you that I would never join Twitter or Tweet, but I would have been wrong.  After a whole quarter of following people on Twitter I would have to give it a mixed review.  The good thing about Twitter was being able to follow and read about what educators are talking about.  The best thing I got from Twitter was a how to guide for teachers about blogging with your students in elementary school classrooms.  This was very helpful and I don't think I would have come across it if I hadn't been on Twitter.  With that said, I didn't really get a whole lot more out of Twitter.  Most of the other Tweets I found useful just linked me to a blog post, which I feel I could have gotten otherwise from just following blogs.  I kind of feel like the overall time I spent on Twitter was not well spent.  I could have used the time spent on Twitter more productively, by doing something else.  Though I won't write it off completely.  I do see that it may be a great resource once I am in my own classroom, especially my first year of teaching.  What do you think about the usefulness of Twitter for teachers?

Going back home!

The day has finally come.  I get to go back to my main placement and see my kids.  I cannot possibly express how excited I am to see each and everyone of them.  While I have been back a couple times over the past 8 weeks to visit, it is extremely exciting to be going back knowing that I will be with them for the rest of the year.  I can't wait to see how much they have grown and learned while I have been away.  I am also excited to apply what I have learned over the past 2 months from both my methods classes and dyad placement.  I can't wait to try out one of the small group inquiry math lessons with my kiddos and see how it works.  What type of lesson are you most excited about teaching to your main placement kiddos?

Class Meetings

Ok, so I know I want to have weekly student run class meetings in my future classroom, but what is the best way to structure them.  When I was volunteering in a 6th grade classroom a couple of years ago I was introduced to weekly student run meetings.  I thought it was such a great idea.  The students were able to address issues that were important to them and involved every member of the classroom community.  The teacher pretty much stayed out of it, accept in rare circumstances where he felt he needed to intervene or interject. 
I have not been in a classroom where they have regular class meetings since I was in the one I previously described.  I was wondering if anyone else out there is seeing regular class meetings in their placements.  Some important key parts of the meetings I saw were that students ran the meetings and came up with the topics and issues discussed; there were clear guidelines and agreed upon rules that students followed such as being respectful of one another and only the person with the ball could talk.  Does anyone else have any ideas or knowledge of resources to help structure student run class meetings?  What are some other key parts?

Working the Gap

How do I find balance between the required scripted curriculum and pacing guides, mandated by school districts, and my own voice as a teacher? 


With all that I am learning in my Teacher-Ed program, as well as in my interactions with students, it is clear that the best learning happens when students are deeply engaged in their learning.  How do I get my students engaged in math when the textbook itself seems so dry and naturally unengaging?  I definitely believe it is my job as a teacher to take the curriculum and mold it in a way that works best for all of my students, not just some.  I also realise that doing this well will take time, perhaps a lot of time.  I don't expect to perfect this in my first year of teaching.  But, it also doesn't mean I am going to wait until my 5th year of teaching to begin trying to use alternate methods of teaching subjects like math.  I am constantly trying to figure out how I can make learning more interesting, exciting, fun and accessible for my students, both now and in the future.  For example, the interactive, hands on, small group ways of teaching math, that I am learning in my Math Methods course, seems like a drastically better way to teach math!  So why am I not seeing this style of teaching math in classrooms? 

Blogging in the Classroom

If you have ever thought about having your elementary school students blog click here!  This is an amazing how to guide, created by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano (with resources from many others), that explains in detail how teachers can start blogging with their students.  Any questions I previously had about where and how to get started with bringing blogging into the classroom, is laid out clearly and in great in detail in this guide.  There are many resources and detailed lessons on how to teach your students the purpose of blogging academically, how to be safe and protect themselves, the benefits of blogging and so much more.  There are also videos you can show your students about online safety.  There are numerous links to current classroom blogs that teachers and students can look at to get ideas.  As well as, tips on effective commenting and relevant writing.  I feel so lucky to have come across this wonderful resource that I just had to share it.  It is how to blog with elementary students from A to Z.  I already knew that I want to incorporate blogging into my future classrooms but wasn't really sure exactly how or where to start, now I know both and can't wait to give it a go next year.

What to think about Sugata Mitra?

Hmmm... What to think about this video?  I agree whole heartedly with Sugata Mitra when he said, "if children have interest than education happens."  But what exactly are the children in this video learning?  For example, when he quoted a 12 year old girl who recited an impressive line about DNA, what did that show other than the fact that she was able to memorize a sentence from the computer?  Did she have any real knowledge or understanding about what she was saying?  While this was an interesting and enjoyable video to watch, I am not convinced by watching that the children were involved in "deep learning." 

Furthermore, how were the kids being tested? And what were they being tested on?  It does seem that the kids were learning something, but what?  Yes, they seemed to be teaching themselves how to navigate the internet, but to what extent?  What is the value of such learning?  I see the value in having students work together in groups and how much students can learn from their peers, but how does answering a single question, that can be answered solely by looking it up on Google, equal the "deep learning" he claims that it does? 

While this video did both intrigue and puzzle me, it mostly left me with many questions.  What is the value and purpose of his experiment?  This video showed the resilience and curiosity of kids, as well as the power of the internet to connect people from all over the world, but what kind of learning did it show?  Hmmm... Can't say that I am sold.

Food Journal Reflection

             The experience of keeping a food journal taught me a lot about my eating habits.  I have never recorded my food intake and doing so made me more aware of what goes into my body.  As far as the activity portion of my journal I did not learn as much.  Throughout the journal keeping experience I did not do much activity because the second day of keeping track I became sick with strep throat.  Because I was sick my activity was never very much throughout the entire experience.  Overall the keeping of the journal made me realize that I don’t actually need to change my eating habits very much.  I do feel like I will be a healthy role model for my students and would love to incorporate this type of project into my classroom. 

            The goal I made after week one for the food portion of my journal was to eat more fruit.  While I don’t necessarily dislike fruit, I don’t eat very much of it and very rarely ever desire eating it.  I was pretty successful in reaching this goal.  By making the goal and making a conscious effort to eat more of it I was able to incorporate it into my diet on a daily basis.  The goal I made for the activity portion was to get some actual cardio workouts in but I was not able to reach that goal because I was pretty sick throughout the keeping of this journal.  I was able to manage to get some very leisurely hikes in at my parents’ cabin while we were there over the 4^th of July.  When it comes to my students and helping them reach their goals I would suggest to them that they start with a smaller more reachable goal and work their way up throughout the year.  I wouldn’t want my students to get discouraged or stressed out about reaching their goals.  I would advise and teach them to make gradual changes in their diet and activity so they would be more likely to stick with the healthy changes.

            The implications this type of journal has for teaching health in my future classrooms is that it is something that every child would be able to do.  It would teach my students to be conscious of what is going into their bodies and how that affects their health.  The journal itself takes very little time to record which would make it very easy to incorporate into the curriculum.  If you had the students keep track of portion sizes as well as what they eat you could integrate this activity with math because students would be working with fractions and conversions.  You could also integrate it with art by having students create a visual representation of the types of foods they eat most. Overall this project made me think about my own health as well as how I can bring this into my future classrooms.  

Daily Blog July 7

The most important thing I learned today was how cool my brain is.  While of course already new that our brains are amazing and complex, the activities we did in class today showed me specific ways in which we can teach our students about the power of the brain.  All of the brain activities we did were fascinating.  It was also very helpful to see how a teacher can utilize and explore student questions, as we did with the reading the colors activity.  I can see how learning how to balance and judge the amount of time needed to explore such questions needs to be a consideration but not necessarily the deciding factor.  As teachers we need to be able and willing to adapt our lessons to student needs, curiosities and questions. 

Daily Blog July 6

The most important thing I learned today was about teaching sexual health to students and ways that we can be more comfortable articulating and discussing sexual health issues with our students.  The discussion we had in class about how we might possibly answer student questions was helpful.  I really appreciated being introduced to the It's so Amazing resource.  From this resource I learned how to articulate aspects of sexual health in a clear and approachable way.  It would also be extremely helpful if I were able to either watch a video of, or physically be in a classroom, where sexual health is being taught.  Are there any videos available of a teacher discussing and teaching these issues to students?

Daily Blog June 30

The most important thing I learned today was how and when I need to make the call about suspected child abuse of a student. I learned that when in doubt, or even suspect any form of child abuse, make the call and let CPS determine and investigate whether or not any form of abuse is actually taking place.  I learned so much today that I can't even begin to list everything.  While I learned so much about what situations and signs might signal that a child is being abused, I am still left still left with many questions.  Unfortunately most of my questions are not ones that could be answered with a definitive yes, no or clear explanation of what to do.  I will just have to listen to my students, watch for ques, follow my instincts, remember what I learned in class today and rely on fellow teachers and administrators when specific questions arise.

Daily Blog June 29

One of the most important things I learned today was ways to teach safe behaviors to students.  The first part of class taught me about the GLE's for different grade levels and how they are directed towards covering the learning of safe behaviors.  The two micro-teaching lessons both gave specific ways in which teachers can talk to students about safe behaviors.  I now have to examples ofteaching safe behaviors to students through these lessons.  I of course still want to know, what are other lesson examples of teaching students about safe behaviors.  How would the two lessons, taught today, need to be modified and adjusted for different grade levels?

Daily Blog June 28

The most important thing I learned today was how to improve upon the lesson we created for 5th graders and heart-rate.  I learned that we need to pay more attention to the terminology and academic language we use.  The experience and feedback reminded me that it is important to spend more time defining, discussing and making sure students understand terms such as: heart rate, base heart rate, maximum heart rate, etc.  In the future I will spend more time making sure new terms are understood before moving on.  I do wonder though, what is the best way to assess that students understand new terms before moving on?  How do you make sure that all students grasp and understand new terminologies?

Daily Blog June 23

The most important thing I learned in class today was how to read and understand the layout and set up of the EALR's and the GLE's.  Though we had looked at them a little last quarter, today's class made them much more clear and easier for me to work with.  I learned what each of the numbers for the GLE's represent.  For example, with GLE 4.1.2, the 4 represents which EALR is being applied, the 1 represents the component and the 2 represents the GLE.  Before today's class I did not know what those numbers represented. Reading the specific standards for 5th grade health made me realise how many different topics can be taught within the health realm and also made me wonder how many teachers actually hit all these standards with their students.  In all the service learning experiences I had in the past two years, in elementary classrooms, I never witnessed health being taught.  Are teachers actually teaching health in K-6 classrooms?  Is most of it only taught in P.E.? 

Daily Blog June 22

          Today in class I learned what a concept map is and how to construct one.  I also learned  a lot about the details of what can and should be taught in health education.  When we first started brainstorming on our own about what should be taught in health education I could only think of two main topics...nutrition and physical education.  As we discussed our ideas, as a group, I realised how much more is involved in health education and what it means to be healthy.  While I was already aware of the further components of health ed., initially I had a very narrow view of what is involved.  Talking more about the details of what it means to be healthy and the issues we will teach our students about health and being healthy, makes me more excited to teach it to my future students.    

Where I'm From

I am from home

from ice skating on the pond, marching through forts

and swinging on the monkey bars

from “don’t fall in the hot lava” and scavenger hunts

I am from tree with moon

and purple room

from Wapato Point, Lake Cavanaugh

and camping at the ocean

I am from “when I was a kid” and “hate is a very strong word”

I am from mom and dad and big sis

From George and Betty, Margaret and Howard

I am from red ribbon cake, potato salad

and cheeseburger frie diet coke

I am from exploration and adventure

from 4 generations of teachers

and strong women

I am from dependability and stability

from lots of “I love you’s” and hugs

I am from “my name is Jessica not Jesse!”

I am from where my daughter lives

I am from home

The Other Side...

          During last nights discussion the "other side" of the standardized testing debate was brought up.  People wanted to know more about the reasoning someone might use in support of these tests.  I feel this is a very important question because it is always imperative that we see an issue from multiple perspectives.  To know the other side means to be able to know your own side better as well. 

          For me the question is not only, what justification and or reasoning do supporters of standardized testing use to back their claim of the necessity and benefits of these tests, but also who are the people making these claims?  What credibility do they have?  With this specific issue, of standardized testing, it appears quite clear to me which side I deem more credible. 

          Most of the articles I have read, videos I have watched and people I have spoken to that stress the negative effects of standardized testing, and the way they are used in U.S. public schools, are critical educators, scholars, parents, and researchers.  The people in the classrooms who experience the effects of standardized testing first hand have more credibility, to me, than politicians, corporations and policy makers. 

          My overall point is that, while we must inquire about the reasons for supporting the "other side" of the issue, we must also ask, who is making those claims and what might be their motives be?