Connecting with Students

June 19, 2014 Erin.Grewar General, Integration, Questioning, Year End Activities

Keeping the Wheels Turning As the Year Winds Down – Detective Stories

Yes, it’s that time of year again – summer vacation on the horizon but before getting there, you must survive the last few weeks of French with the Grade 8s. In case you’re not familiar with that scenario, getting them to do any work can be “a most frustratingly futile experience which sees your heart rate and blood pressure soar.” And that’s putting it politely. Although I agree with Mike about the need to have the students working on something that motivates and engages them, the challenge with seeing your students for one period a day is that there is little continuity at this time of year with it being a time of constant disruptions. What I’ve more or less resorted to by the last two weeks of school is mini activities that span a range of 1 to 3 classes. One that I’ve found they’ve enjoyed is the Murder Mystery activities. There is nothing more enjoyable than seeing your students thinking, debating and collaborating during this time when the most energy they seem to be able to muster is devoted to them repeatedly asking you why you’re still making them do work. Although I started off this post talking about Grade 8s, this is actually an activity that could work with a rannge of grade levels. I found a couple of online sites suited for students which had a variety of mysteries (and even magic tricks as a bonus). Two that were particularly are listed below. I also found the Schoastic website helpful for ideas to develop a whole unit (ideas for next year…) As for finding material in French, I was not overly successful. There was one site Polar FLE that seemed to be fairly good but again as a Core French teacher, you’ll probably find that you will need to translate and adapt the material so that your students can easily follow along. Happy sleuthing!

www.kidsmysterynet.com

www.42explore.com

May 24, 2014May 24, 2014 Mike Beetham Challenging Topics, Classroom Management, General, Learning About Your Students, Mentorship, Student Ownership

Classroom Advisors

Wow, things have certainly changed since I was in school. When I went to school we __________ (fill in the blank with a change you have observed). When I look at the behaviours of my students, the choices they make and day-to-day social interactions in my classroom I filter it through the 54 year old brain of mine. It usually doesn’t make sense or seems silly and a waste of time. There are many times when I can’t make heads or tails of some of the things that my students do. So, what I tried (and found very useful) is to try and understand it through the brain of the age group I am working with. I sit and talk with individual students, small groups or even at times the entire class and have them explain to me the why of what took place. I tell them that through my adult brain it does not make sense and why would anybody do that. This opens up a wealth of opportunities to delve into the world of my students.

It has evolved to the point where my class votes in key students who will represent their needs and interests and those students become the classroom advisers. When ever a decision that requires our entire group’s input is needed, I go to the classroom advisers who then go to their classmates and get their feedback. The advisers then must prepare a summary of the input they received and meet with me as we collectively make the best decision for our group. In other scenarios, they serve as a resource who can explain to me what a student was thinking or why this makes sense to them. The final role these students play is being a peer mediator/mentor as students work their way out of poor decisions they have made. Needless to say, this is a very empowering strategy for both my students and me.

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014 Alison.Board Classroom Management, Inquiry, Learning in a Real Life Context, Year End Activities

Keeping them Engaged…

These last two months of school can be trying for both teachers and students. The students are ready to get outdoors and classroom management is necessary as their social volume seems to increase with each warmer day. People that are not working in education often suggest that I must enjoy these last weeks of school as I anticipate the summer. It is hard to explain how challenging the last two months can be. Teachers feel overwhelmed to complete marking, prepare themselves for the looming task of report writing, as well as make plans for their teaching placement in September! In addition to that, teachers want to feel that they are keeping their students engaged with learning into June, not just keeping them busy.

Here are some suggestions to try out in the last month of school that will actively engage your students, if you haven’t already:

Have students design an original book cover for a book they have read, with a new artistic representation (art, media) and a new summary (language) on the back. When completed, create a gallery walk or a contest for best original design. If completed with another class, you can swap covers to judge.
Allow students to work individually or in small groups to create a dance based on a specific theme, element, or cultural influence. Provide them time each day to work on it (they love this!), then use days in June for each group to present to the rest of the class (or even invite parents in for an Open House event).
Provide students with about 3 poems of different styles to read and reflect on. Allow time for group discussions and sharing of ideas. Create a poetry workshop for a few periods each week. Students can peer review or you can provide feedback. Students select their favourite original poem to read to the class. Or create a Poetry Cafe for parents or other students in the school to attend. Students will enjoy advertising, writing invitations, and preparing beverages for the Cafe!
Take your learning outside! Go on weekly walks in the community and look for connections to your current lessons/activities in Science, Social Studies, or Math. If students ask particular questions, use it a starting point for a mini-inquiry that you can support for the last month in the classroom. Document your walks with photos, written reflections, or drawings.
Find a purpose. Use the last two months to pursue something meaningful in the community that there may not have been time to do over the winter months. Adopt a school garden to care for, clean up in the community, or buddy up with younger/older students and work together.

Enjoy!

April 7, 2014 Erin.Grewar General, Literacy

Six Word Memoirs – How Much Can Be Said With So Little

There’s not a whole lot of positive things to be said about French à la carte, but something I have learned to appreciate this year is going into the different classrooms and seeing what other teachers are doing. My colleague, who is the Homeroom teacher of one of my French classes, is phenomenal on many fronts. Most of all, her depth of analysis and critical thinking means that her assignments are always creative and engaging, so much so that I find I’m almost wanting to do them myself.

The other week, she showed me the latest. As part of her memoir unit, she had her students communicate the essence of their lives and characters into six word memoirs. Some of the examples she provided them with were the following:

“Author of so many unwritten books.”

“Yes, I still have Superman sheets…”

“Was a painting, now a mural.”

“My rise to fame went unnoticed.”

“Smart girl wants love, gets dog.”

It was fascinating to see what the students were able to come up with themselves. Submitting a draft of their top six, it was amazing actually to see how they were able to incorporate wit, perspective and feeling into their descriptions. Most intriguing was matching up the words with the student and the insight it provided into their character. Finally, it was really interesting to see how effective they were as writers. They were much better at it than me. The right six words are not easy to come by – try it yourself…

March 24, 2014March 24, 2014 Mike Beetham Diverse Learning Needs, General, Learning in a Real Life Context

Context – That Makes Sense

Please turn to page 134 in your Mathematics text and complete questions 1 -5. Students comply with smiling faces, complete the work, take up the solutions and then move on. Next day when you revisit a topic, it almost seems like they had forgotten everything that had been done the previous day. This is not a rare occurrence in classrooms of all ages. Research clearly points out how important the role of emotion is in learning. One of the most critical tools for a teacher is the strategy of context. I always ask myself prior to developing a unit of study what would this concept or skill look like in the everyday life of my students. That helps me frame the context for the learning task.

When I am able to make connections to the everyday lives of my students and the focus of instruction in the classroom I find that the learning is more likely to be consolidated and accessed by the student in future related tasks. Here is an example of how I used context in February. I took my class to camp for 3 days. Prior to going to camp we had to look at what the total costs would be per person as well as for the group. The level of engagement was extremely high as they explored a real life task that required them to access prior mathematical knowledge. While at camp they took photographs and filmed a specific activity they took part in. When we returned to school we did a recount of our experience that was to be shared with their families. It was some of the best writing they had done all year and it allowed me to see a transfer of the skills we had been working on since September. There was no reluctance, no hesitation as the task was real for them.

February 10, 2014 Mike Beetham Classroom Layouts, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning in a Real Life Context

The Power of the Outdoors

A traditional classroom is seen as a room with four fixed walls, desks, books, manipulatives, educational supplies etc… Imagine the enthusiasm running through your students as they scoop, lift and observe the life in that small stream or the piece of art coming to life as they sit and sketch the wonderful scenery that surrounds them from nature’s canvass in the fall. Nature and the natural wonders of the world opens up options to both the students and the teacher as they ask questions and experience the process of discovering how the world around them works.

Outdoor education is more than just visiting a local conservation area or board run program. Outdoor education is making use of the local parks, school yard playgrounds, school gardens or any natural area that is connected to the lives of your students. Developing an awareness of their environment and just how precious their day-to-day lifestyle habits are must be experienced and not just observed or researched. Over the many years of my career I have learned just how powerful the outdoors can be as witnessed in the level of engagement and the quality of the work produced by my students. You belong outdoors!

February 8, 2014February 10, 2014 Mike Beetham Before School Starts, Classroom Management, First Week Reflections, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Students as Teachers

What’s For Lunch?

One of the best team building activities and diagnostic tools that I use is eating lunch with my students during the first month of school. During this precious time, I am able to discover so much about the uniqueness of each and every one of my students as people and students. Bonus content comes in the form of what I learn about the social climate of the classroom (and school). Over the course of a week I make sure that I move around the room and sit in a variety of groupings to ensure that I have 1:1 contact with every student.

Of course the reciprocal scenario also unfolds as I am able to reveal myself as a real person right before their eyes. I soon am not just their teacher! It is that critical beginning where I am able to send them the message they are important, they are special and that together we will accomplish great things and overcome challenging struggles.

For any teacher new to a school you must always balance this with the need to connect and become a part of the professional team at your site. The critical concept is that this is a planned event with a specific target outcome and can’t just be left to happen haphazardly.

January 23, 2014January 27, 2014 Mike Beetham Before School Starts, Classroom Management, General, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Student Ownership, Students as Teachers

When Does A Classroom Agreement, Become A Classroom Agreement?

I have been using the concept of the group collectively coming up with the behaviour and work standards they would like to live with for their time together as a team for over a decade. But on one fateful day in the winter of 2013 I was able to be a part of an experience that was a profound learning opportunity for me. Students have always enjoyed and valued being asked about the type of classroom they want to create. They have generated ideas, held dialogue on their and other’s ideas, compromised and come to an agreement in which they sign and live by. At that point the class moves forward and the journey begins.

This year we went through the same process I had for many years and came up with a wonderful classroom agreement that everyone was proud of. As always, about a month into the year I purposely broke the classroom agreement and needed to be held accountable for my actions just like everyone else who signed the agreement. That usually means that I have to go through the problem solving model we use, take ownership for my choices and deal with the appropriate consequences for my actions. Needless to say, there is never a shortage of students who are willing to give up their free time to monitor their teacher as he sits in a detention. Thus the lesson passed on is that this agreement is truly for everyone in the room and not just for students. What made this year different was how my students reacted to it. They were completely silent and unsure of what to say or do when I put myself in the solution zone. A follow-up debrief revealed that teachers have always said that they were part of the agreement, but usually just said sorry when they did something wrong and moved on. They had never been held accountable as the students are. This experience provided me with me a lot to think about!

January 11, 2014January 11, 2014 Erin.Grewar General, Learning in a Real Life Context, Resources, Use of Technology

Current Francophone Musical Artists – 10 “Must Know” Musicians

When disscussing current Francophone musicians with Grade 8s, I’ve found it challenging to hone in on those that would appeal to 14 year olds who are somewhat reluctant to buy into anything outside of the mainstream top 40 charts. When it comes to music, their musical tastes seem to be quite ingrained. Seldom is there much flexibility between the rock and rap genres let alone new linguistic frontiers. Given the sheer volume of what’s out there, it can be difficult to identify what’s good, what’s appropriate and what’s appealing. Consulting the current charts was not very useful since there was not a great deal of difference between what was also popular here. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find an easy answer to my query when I happened upon the website girlsguidetoparis.com (see link below) and found an entry entitled “10 French Singers You Should Know” that covered a range of genres and was accompanied by an informative blurb about each individual/group (direct links were also provided).

According to the “girls”, the list included the following: Coeur de Pirate, Shy’m, Benjamin Biolay, Camille, Christophe Mae, ZAZ, Ben l’Oncle Soul, BB Brunes, -M-, et Sexion d’Assaut. I’ve checked out a few of them and so far, I think they would potentially be okay. I plan on screening a couple segments of some of the videos and have the students write reviews of the songs (a task we’ve been doing already in accordance with their selections). Other ideas might be to design some web-based reading activities around biographical info, upcoming concerts, reviews, etc. As indicated by the title, the webiste itself would be appealing to girls in particular and woud offer some interesting off-shoot activities (think “voyage virtuel”)…

http://girlsguidetoparis.com/archives/10-french-singers-you-should-know/

January 7, 2014January 7, 2014 Mike Beetham Anti-bullying, Building Inclusion, Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Student Ownership, Students as Teachers

A Great Classroom Is Created When…

I had to share this with someone, so I felt this blog was the best way. At a recent class meeting we all sat down and started to talk about what makes a classroom great. This topic generated a myriad of ideas, discussion and debate. I am sharing with you the final product that came from this amazing group of students.

– when everyone works as a team

– you celebrate when people do something right

– every student is a success

– tell the teacher how you care for them and they will tell you the same way

– teachers teach us how to share, cooperate and work as a team

– we have fitness in the morning

– we do different kinds of things like planting

– you don’t give too many chances

– you take the time to get to know each other

– don’t be too easy, don’t be too hard

– we set goals

– when students can be taught and entertained at the same time

– teachers discipline

– you take risks with each other

– students and teacher communicate to each other

– we give lots of smiles

– students are allowed to teach teachers

– students are allowed to learn from their mistakes

Needless to say, my students have once again taught me how valuable an asset to our classroom they are. Their collective voice has demonstrated the power of our class motto ‘Together Everyone Achieves More Success’. I hope you can read my happiness and pride!