AGAPE: IDEA

The Lasaillian Concepts of Association, Generativity and Adaptation have truly been trans-formative to the way I approach my classroom now. Whether it be the way I'm thinking about my classroom, students, learning plans, spiritual approach or intention, I am continually thinking of my classroom as a "living" organism (which I've mentioned earlier in posts.)  This living organism concept has worked for me, because living organisms are constantly changing and growing, as is a classroom.

In the area of instruction, I have continued to be mindful of our early readings and discussions regarding play and community. We start each morning off with a Morning Meeting routine, to allow for sharing and greetings. The UbD is another concept has been a new concept that I continue to grow with in terms of instruction. It's benefits are very clear and it has allowed me and my classroom to be more creative, engaging, effective and efficient. During the school year, I've incorporated the idea of Mind Mapping which has added another aspect on creative thinking. I've also enjoyed using many new instructional strategies during my instruction.

In the area of discipline, the most significant change has revolved around my action research project based off of oral reading fluency. This research process has opened a new lens on the possibilities in the area of early childhood literacy that is very enticing. I am anxious to continue to implement and incorporate new best practice methods in my future classroom. Through Kidblog entries, I've also noted a few other instructional areas that I would like to think more deeply about and research possible interventions.

My classroom environment has been an area that I have enjoyed playing around with over the course of the year. The possibilities seem endless when thinking about engaging classrooms. The article "Look Before You Leap," had many strategies to keep in the forefront as I become a more constructive teacher. I plan on applying the "less is more" concept to the environment I create and want to make the classroom ownership my students rather than thinking it needs to be mine.

The area of assessment continues to be guided by formative and summative assessments that drive my UbD unit planning. As with my instruction, thinking of the assessments and essential understandings first, allows the educational environment and learning plans to become more meaningful, focused, effective, efficient, and engaging.

UbD Unit Relfection

UbD Unit Reflection

By planning the unit with the standards in the forefront, the unit objectives were much more focused and centered around a “theme.” They can be seen leading in each lesson, and also show adhesiveness towards lessons in the future. I found it more effective to lay out the standards and was also able to determine whether or not an objective/standard was met.

It was extremely manageable to incorporate the EU’s and EQ’s during the teaching phase. I found that I was able to use the EQ’s in many different scenarios such as a morning meeting question, or just a note on the board.  The EU’s gave my students and myself several opportunities to come together and reflect on what we had learned, what we wanted to continue learning, and where we were going as a group. The EQ’s allowed us many different avenues to travel while investigating our topic.

I felt and still feel that the EU’s and EQ’s were road signs and maps for us. Both entities of the BD philosophy allow many opportunities to see where the unit is going and also gives the students meaning and relativity to what is being discussed.

With my BD development, the formative and summative assessments were already developed with our curriculum series. I can tell you though, that it has made a difference in how I've prioritized and focused each part of each lesson.  In my experience with the assessments, it has helped to guide my lessons and allowed me to look at where I am putting my energy as well as my students'. The students' performance has improved, because everything we work towards and practice during our daily lessons, is something that will need to mastered by the assessments, but can also be applied to a greater understanding to be used in the future.

The biggest benefit to this style of planning, has been the constant funnel effect back to the “main” EU’s. During any lesson, you can ask any student, any time, to tell you how this related to what we are discussing and 9/10 times, they can give you an appropriate answer. I believe with this style of planning and teaching, it also allows students to have more control over what they are discussing and what they find important. It seems to give more ownership to the learner, and challenges to become a leader, instead of being reliable on you for each new piece they learn.

Praxis

Continuing along with the theme of my own growth, guidance, and intention, along with what really makes a difference in the fluency improvement among students, I can highlight and cite some pivotal changes I've incorporated into my classroom this year and plan to use next year.
Here is what the research says, according the BIG WIGS...and a small bit on what I've done because of it...

1. Types of materials to choose could be Reader's Theaters, poems, leveled books, audio books, songs, plays or song lyrics, which all lend themselves most fittingly to fluency instruction (Rasinski, 2005). 

Towards the final portion of my school year, I have incorporated numerous poems, listening activities, and plays which have been intended to give my students an opportunity to delve into effective, enjoyable and relative reading materials that are fun to read! 

2. Regardless of a student’s age, fluent oral reading to the students, coupled with discussion of a response to the reading, should be a regular part of any instructional package for children who are struggling with reading (Opitz and Rasinski, 1998). Modeling various readings can give teachers a chance to reflect before, during and after a story, giving insight to emergent readers on how they use various reading skills and how to process the information read.

Even I get excited about reading aloud to my students. Partly, because I love getting into character and performing, but also because nothing compares to the engagement and excitement in each students eyes when you have a read aloud that comes to life. When the students see, hear, and watch you model an effective, fluent, expressive read aloud, they want to be like you! That is what they take with them. 

3. Listening centers also provide additional, effective fluency practice. At listening centers, students can listen to an audio story, poem or play read through a reading curriculum CD, read by a teacher or even a student. Listening centers and assisted reading have a positive impact on fluency (Rasinski, 2005). 

One of the biggest questions among the teachers I worked with this year was, "What do we do with all of our new iPads?" A listening center gave me a wonderful opportunity to showcase how this technology can be used. With an idea from a fellow master's colleague, and the app "WavePad" for the iPhone, I set out a few iPads and our monthly poems at a listening center, and had student's record themselves reading the poems. Students were in groups of 2-4. When I first discussed the center, you would have thought it was Christmas morning! They were so excited. Soon after the centers began, you could hear the voice inflection, and variation; the students became different characters, and soon I began to hear character parts evolve...remember, all I asked them to do was record themselves! They took this center to a whole new level and they had FUN with it!

4. For independent reading routines to succeed, students need support, excellent materials to read, ample and consistent amounts of time, and opportunities to share their responses while reading with others (Padak and Potenza-Radis 2010). As students are surrounded by caring, knowledgeable, enthusiastic teachers, their chance of succeeding with fluency will be greatly enhanced. 

One last area that was truly a "game" changer in my classroom was the implementation of STAR time (Stop, Take a Book, and Read). We began this experiment by challenging ourselves to 10 minutes of silent reading. Students chose appropriate leveled books from our Guided Reading selection, and I had to sit down and read as well. Nothing is worse than having to be a student watch their teacher cruise around the room trying to get something besides reading done. A big piece of fluency success is modeling. After our first bout with 10 minutes, the students asked for 2 more minutes! Soon after the first, second, and third day of this procedure, I found that after they had read, most students wanted to share something about their books, so we added another "quick" time period to share 1 interesting item about their books with a neighbor. I felt as if we truly fostered a "love" of reading. I plan on using this time as soon as possible next year, and might include a day to read with a buddy (fellow student) or two.

Change and Growth

For the reflection on my growth and change over the school year, please follow the link provided.

Change and Growth: 2012-2013 School Year

5 Best Practices in Reading-Best Practices in Reading-Zemelman and Hyde-Chapter 2

While reading this chapter, I realized soon that it hit very close to home.  There were many great ideas pertaining to my first grade classroom. As I read, I was happy to hear that many of the strategies and practices mentioned, I consciously and unconsciously implelenent.The list of ideas consumed 2 pages, so I will choose 5 of the ones I am most anxious to embed into my literacy program.

1. Spiral Bound Notebooks for Small Groups: I would like each student to have a spiral bound notebook to jot down ideas and notes pertaining specifically to them in regards to reading. They could put down spelling words, vocab, or other information.

2. Prioritize my phonetic time and recognize which students need it most. If students are still struggling during the second half of the school year, continue to meet and intervene during small groups. I want to try to use a more meaningful and rich method that will give students an opportunity to continue to build their phonetic skills through literature.

3. Focus more on Heterogeneous and Homogeneous groupings. I would like to develop when and where to split my kids up.

4. Incorporate more Reflective opportunities for my students.

5. Work towards literacy circles.

The Peer Partner Learning Strategy

What is Peer Partner Learning? Peer partner learning is a collaborative experience in which students learn from and with each other for individual purposes. Currently, I have been able to implement this strategy in few different areas, but I've use it primarily for reading fluency and vocabulary development.  Each week, every student in my class has a fluency passage at their level that they work on to read as fluently as possible. Time is given for them to practice on their own, and on 1 day per week, the students get together with a partner and read their passage to each other.  One student becomes the "teacher," who listens and the other becomes the "student" who reads. They are timed for 1 minute. The "teacher" provides feedback and prompts the other to work on any errors that were heard during the reading. After 1 minute of discussion time, the roles reverse and the "teacher" becomes the "student." The reading continues for 1 minute. We complete this series of events 2 times.  Each week we usually have a focus to work toward during our readings, such as pausing for punctuation, using inflection, and so forth.  It has been beneficial, because the students collaborate well with each other and most strive for their best in the eyes of their peers.  One reminder I always give them is...fluency is not speed, it is decoding accuracy and comprehension. Read like you would want to be read to!

The Search for Understanding-The Case For the Constructivist Classroom

After reading this article, the key concepts made most sense to me in a before, during and after teaching format. There were many strong points that I would like to ensure I look at in those three different development and implementation stages of my teaching. First and foremost, I'd like to look at the "before" teaching stage. While utilizing the UbD approach to developing units, it's important to incorporate:

1. Problems of Relevance (meaningful and relative to students understanding)
2. Primary Concepts: Less is More, the idea that students take control of their own learning, the teacher uses "Big Ideas" to run the learning plan
3. Learning plans that seek and value student's point of view
4. Curriculum that can be adapted and adjusted to fit each students needs
5. Learning Plans and Unit development should include time for questioning, experimenting and facilitation. 
6. Cognitive Language: classify, analyze, predict, create

While implementing the learning plan it is important that students continue to be guided by the 1) primary concepts relative to their understanding. 2) Learning plans should be guided by "student" conversation rather that teacher directed talking. Cognitive language should be used to develop understand . One way to think of this concept is to ask what students know, instead of telling them what to know. 3) As discussed earlier, in the UbD  development, time for experimenting with materials such as manipulatives are beneficial, because it is interactive and physical. 4) Another piece to be carried out during the learning plan is the use of formative and summative assessment to guided the learning plan and give the teacher an idea of each students understanding on the topic. 

And finally, after the learning plan, the assessments given can be looked at and curriculum can be adapted to meet each students needs as the teacher continues through the unit. More time might need to be given  for students to meet the benchmarks for any given primary concept, but through the reading, I've found it to be important to continually think of creating an leaning environment that is focused the constructivist concepts. 

To read the book for yourself:

Title: In Search For Understanding: The Case for the Constructivist Classroom by Jacqueline Greenon- Brooks and Martin Brooks

The 5 to 2 Instructional Strategy

I've been using a new instructional strategy in my classroom over the past couple of weeks that is labeled " The 5 to 2." With this strategy, the is idea revolves around lessening the amount of your talking time as a teacher and  open up the door for more conversation amongst your students. I know that I, at times, can tend to use my role as a teacher to talk too much at times in front of my class, and with this strategy, I've been able to keep my verbal lessons down to 5 minute chucks at a time. After the 5 minutes are up, the students then have 2 minutes to share or teach the new information to a classmate or group.  It is very comparable to a " think, pair, share" set up. 

Overall, it has been best I'm implemented during our reading or math blocks. The students have used whiteboards, actions, or small presentations to review the 5 minute discussion by me.   The strategy is effective, because it allows the student not only to be a listener, but also a facilitator and teacher. Their retention rate for information has shown an increase, and it allows them time to move and collaborate with their peers. I am sure there are many other benefits that will come out of this learning strategy and I am encouraged to continue to try it out in new settings.

Pulling away from the traditional and Moving into the Constructive!

This past week, I was encouraged through my masters program to change a few minor things in my classroom routine. These minor adjustments were the product of an article we just read out of the book "Creating and Sustaining a Constructivist Classroom," by B. A. Marlowe  &  M. L. Page. One area I wanted to work on was my student/teacher role. To often, I feel like I am a knowledge dispenser. If my students ask me a question about a topic, I tend to tell them the answer. But, in the correct setting, that pattern needs to change. I want my students to be responsible for finding their own knowledge on topics they have questions on. 

So, this past week, I had the opportunity to put my plans into action. We were studying space with our reading series and one student had a question about whether or not the sun was a planet. The old "me" would have said, "No, it is a star." The new me, took a moment and asked, "where could we find an answer to this question?" We decided that the plethora of space books on our reading table must have some answers for us! So, we set off on a knowledge hunt. 

About 5 minutes later, another student shouted out that the sun was indeed a STAR! We found this statement in about 5 more books before we stopped searching. In the end, this turned into a great lesson on proving facts, searching out your questions, and topics regarding various space questions. The students felt responsible for their work and I fel like a facilitator instead of a knowledge dispenser. These are the lessons that we strive for as teachers. 

I hope to continue giving my students the opportunity to search out their own answers and conclusions, instead of relying on me for mine. 

Teaching Strategies Used

Mike

1. Cooperative Learning-Writer’s Workshop https://docs.google.com/document/d/19Ksnmo QelhdzEWDqhcuA88bQCMOf_7PGV9zHDN4NQX0/edit) http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/pd/instr/alpha.html 2. 5 + 1 (Five Plus One) http://www.beesburg.com/edtools/glossary.html 3. Illustrated Talks http://www.beesburg.com/edtools/glossary.html 4. Story Telling and Retelling (STaR) http://www.beesburg.com/edtools/glossary.html 5. Scavenger Hunt. http://www.isbe.net/common_core/pdf/ela-teach-strat-read- text-k-5.pdf 1.We are currently working on an opinion paper in my classroom. I am going to have students get into groups of 2 and edit their papers. They will need to be aware of our classroom guidelines for group work and will grade themselves with smiley faces based on how many goals they met while working together. This would be a useful strategy, because of students using each other’s feedback to improve their individual writing. 2. This would work best when introducing vocab and spelling patterns. I would have the students use their whiteboards and markers to work with each other towards correct spelling and usage after I had discussed the new concepts. 3. I would use this strategy while completing and art project for mother’s day. The students would only be shown (with pictures) the individual steps for each section of our project while I explained the process. 4. Each week, we use “oral” reading cards with stories that fit our theme. I would read our story, and have students retell it with a group, act it out, and draw the beginning, middle and end of the story by themselves. 5. Students work in small groups collaboratively.I can provide groups with books on the same topic which would be “Space and Planets.” Assign each group a topic and have the team look for words and pictures in the multiple sources that are connected to that topic. Invite groups to share discoveries. Facilitate a discussion around their “I didn’t know that!” discoveries highlighting the similarities and difference in the texts. 1. This worked alright. Self correction and editing is a big topic for students at this age group to swallow and completely understand. Some students are ready for it and some aren't. I would make the process a bit shorter next time. 2. This strategy works well. My kids are used to it because we do a lot of think, pair share in my classroom to get the students moving. I will continue to insert this into my class. 3. As we made our mother’s day cards, I used this strategy. We took baby steps and I only showed my kids what the end project would look like. Most of them were able to make a similar end product based off of pictures and verbal instruction. 4. The students loved this activity. Any chance that they get to act or engage in something in front of the class is special to them. Most are fantastic storytellers. 5. The students spent about 15 minutes, literally, engaged in finding facts about planets and space. All I heard were the murmurs of "ohhs" and "ahhs" from kids finding new information and collaborating on it with another student. I asked them to write down 2 of their most interesting facts at the end.

Reflection Quotes

“It’s hard to look at modern life and see our capacities for reflection or meaning-making.  We don’t use our gifts to be more aware or thoughtful.  We’re driven in the opposite direction.  Things move too fast for us to reflect, demanding tasks give us no time to think, and we barely notice the lack of meaning until forced to stand still by illness, tragedy, or job loss.  But in spite of our hurry, we cannot stop life’s dynamic of self-reference or the human need for meaning. If we want to influence any change, anywhere, we need to work with this powerful process rather than deny its existence.”

Margaret J. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler 

Publishers Inc., 2006) at 147.

This quote reaches me because of the fact that life does get busy and we make a plethora of reasons not to reflect and ponder why things happened the way they did. We too often make the same mistakes again, because we weren't thinking about the steps we could've changed to change our outcomes. It reminds me to take time and make reflecting a priority. 

“The capacity to reflect on one's own strength and weaknesses, to learn from constructive criticism, and to practice critical reflection by monitoring one's own work performance and interpersonal interactions is essential to the ability to learn from experience and is the cornerstone of the journey to becoming a lifelong learner.”

Judith McNamara & Rachel Field, “Designing Reflective Assessment for Workplace Learning in Legal Education” (Paper presented at the ATN Evaluation and Assessment Conference, 29-30 November 2007) online: <http://www.eac2007.qut.edu.au/proceedings/proceedings_ebook.pdf> 87.

This quote makes me think about building character and integrity. It reminds me to slow down a digest what is going in my life both personally and professionally. We can learn so much from other individuals, but we can also learn a lot from ourselves. 

“The word “professional” originally meant someone who makes a “profession of faith” in the midst of a disheartening world. That root meaning became diminished as the centuries rolled by, and today it has all but disappeared. “Professional” now means someone who possesses knowledge and techniques too esoteric for the laity to understand, whose education is proudly proclaimed to be “value free.”

The notion of a “new professional” revives the root meaning of the word. This person can say, “In the midst of the powerful force-field of institutional life, where so much conspires to compromise the core values of my work, I have found firm ground on which to stand—the ground of personal and professional identity and integrity—and from which I can call myself, my colleagues, and my profession back to our true mission.”

Higher education needs to educate people in every field who have ethical autonomy and the courage to act upon it—who possess knowledge, skill, and the highest values of their vocations. Can such an education become a reality? Yes, if we who educate can think and act like the new professionals we need to raise up.”

From Parker Palmer’s The New Professional: The Aims of Education Revisited retrieved 2 February 2010 http://www.changemag.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/November-December%202007/full-new-professional.html

This quote reminds me that reflecting leads to change and change is growth. By reflecting, I can see the differences I make in the lives of others, and I can also see my values and beliefs integrated into my daily routines. 

212 Degrees Video:

Wow! What a powerful message in a short amount of time. I think the first thing that comes to mind after watching this video, is that you can always be better than you are right now. Of course, we all need to stop and smell the roses and enjoy our accomplishments, but there is always something more we can improve on. It should be a goal of everyone to strive towards their best at all times. It my classroom, it could be tackling an opportunity to implement a new strategy, listen more, talk less and taking a moment to reflect each day. At home, it means enjoying everything that much more and cherishing the things that are important to me and my family. Instead of making excuses I can make time and relax and enjoy the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPEeEqkEjAQ

BIG ROCKS

I first heard of the BIG ROCK theme a few years back while I was reading through my daily devotional. The quote that followed after the reading was "The greatest possession you have is the 24 hours directly in front of you (...for He has appointed a time for every matter and for every work. Ecclesiastes 3:17). 

At that time, it struck me as something that made total sense. I mean, why shouldn't we look at our life's priorities and fit them into their places early, and build around them. This idea can be compared to its opposite, of becoming consumed with the small speed bumps that can take up our time fast. When it was reiterated during class,  it made me think about what "my" personal, work and life ROCKS truly are. 

As I identified them, I realized that my personality drives me to say "yes" very quickly, and to take various tasks on without truly thinking about how each task will affect my time in one shape or another. I've learned that it is difficult to re-tract a commitment after you've already committed. At times I find myself stretched out too wide and too thin. 

Another realization is that I don't really have a ROCK specifically set aside for me and my time. I guess it can come off as being selfish to want time for yourself to recoup and relax, but I'd like to give myself a break every once and a while. I need to take advantage of the time that I do get, in whatever shape or form it comes in. 

Another reading piece that has helped me to determine whether or not one of my ROCKS should be a priority is another entry from my devotional (God's Little Devotional Book, for Teachers, Honor Books 1999).

       "A speaker was once invited to address a community dinner in an effort to cheer up the people of the town as they faced difficult economic situations. As part of her presentation, she took a large piece of white paper and made a black dot in the center of it. Then she held up and asked the audience, "What do you see?"

One person quickly replied, "A black dot." Others nodded in agreement. 

"Don't you see anything besides the dot?" she asked. 

"No" came the resounding response from the audience. 

The speaker continued, "The most important thing has been overlooked! No one notices the sheet of paper!"

    She then said, "In our business, family, personal, and social lives, we are often distracted by small, dot-like failures and disappointments  There is a tendency to focus on them and to forget the wonderful things around us. The blessings, successes, and joys are far more important than the little black dots that monopolize our attention and energies. Focus on the potential and the goodness all around your problems, and you will become strong and grow."

     -From Glenn Van Ekeren (1998) Words for All Occasions, p. 60-61

By thinking in this way, I feel that I can better identify what I should truly be spending my time on. 

My Personal Reflection with my BD Unit Planning

My Personal Reflection with my BD Unit Planning:

One of the changes I have begun to feel while planning, is a much more consciousnesses effort to implement and focus my lessons around the essential questions and big ideas in my units. Before, my planning seemed to revolve only around the state and national objectives needed to be met. The objectives are part of the building process, but with BD, there are so many more avenues to link up multiple objectives. BD allows me to clearly push students to a broader understanding of how knowledge can mesh together in different areas. 

The Backwards Design planning process has allowed me the chance to broaden my scope and sequence while teaching as well. This process seems to allow the teacher or planner an opportunity to truly analyze on teaching the "whole" student through lessons that always come back to the essential understandings. To me, this can be compared to a less strategic way of planing where each lesson is interdependent and doesn't fluidly connect with past or present lessons. 

I continue to work at identifying and selecting what I feel to be "appropriate" essential questions and understandings, but I feel that with experience and exposure on this topic, I will grow in my planning. 

St. Mary's Spring Conference

This past weekend, we had the great opportunity to meet and converse with our fellow program members from around the area, at our Spring Masters Conference in Minneapolis. The weekend lent us the ability to sit in and listen to various second year learners (as we call them) discuss their action research projects and results. The amount of information presented and the vastness of topics covered were tremendous. Everything from technology in the classroom, to phonemic awareness and literacy in math, to formative assessment were discussed.
    A few presentations stood out to me personally because of my interest in the topics. The two that stood out the most were the formative assessment and the presentation on phonemic awareness strategies in a small group setting. The presenters in both of these settings, seemed polished, confident and knew their material.
          Another enjoyable part of each one of these presentations was the amount of material I felt like I took with me as I left. I enjoyed "getting" something from the meeting, and learning about what worked and what didn't work. Now, I have about 5 folders full of materials from the conference and a "prize" bag with different toys in it to represent some of the formative strategies to use in the classroom. (I can't wait to bring those to school.)

While observing at the conference, I was planning for my future presentation for next May and wrote down a few ideas that I would like to remember:

Do's

• Make a name card for each member of the meeting and jot down names, schools, grades,
• Bring with a list of the questions listed on the forum from attendees, answer questions and put them up on the board to read before hand, so that you can get to everyone, even if you don't have time.
• provide actual resources to use
• Talk about what worked and what didn't work
• Candy
• Food
• Water
• Introductions

DON'TS

• Force people into group work to answer questions
• Talk for too long about yourself
• Ask questions and then answer them before you give attendees a chance to answer
• Stay on topic

Overall, I feel very blessed to have taken part in this unique opportunity!