Kelly.McLaughlin Inspiring Students, Students as Teachers

Student leadership

As the basketball season is coming to a close for certain age groups, it is nice to reflect on all the individuals that help things run so smoothly. Students from the past and present come together to help make things work. My grade nines came to help ref/scorekeep and some grade eights helped to ref as well.

This year rather than coach the grade 4/5/6 team myself, I had asked two grade eight students to do so. They helped to select the players as well as they run each practice and then lead each game. It is amazing to watch them turn into young adults and so great to watch the grade fours, fives and sixes look up to these two coaches. They hang off of every word they say and really appreciated them being there for them. I was so proud to see all that those grade eights offered their players and how they inspired them to play better.

Today I co-ran a soccer tournament in our school board. My players that won last year came out to ref today along with some other old students. It was awesome to see them running things and helping inspire the younger players to referee in the future. I loved the fact that they were willing to give back to their old school as well as come out even when they had all their volunteer hours already. The kids loved seeing the old students and really appreciated them being there.

When I first started teaching, coaching meant so much to me as it still does. But when you let others help out, especially the students, it feels much better knowing that one day, they may the ones in your shoes. They may be the future coaches and isn’t that all part of the main reason we teach, to inspire future leaders? I love that my current students are already the leaders I had hoped they would turn in to.

Kelly.McLaughlin General

Venngage: new and useful online program

While visiting Hillfield private school the other day with the grade eight students at my school, I came across many different grade eight presentation displays. We went to learn more about ways to help the environment and after hearing an excellent WE presentation, we were able to explore the grade eight presentations. They all worked on various topics such as the liquid in ice packs, growing habitats for various plants, stereotyping, etc. There were over 50 topics and they were all made on these beautiful display posters. I had to ask the students where they had designed these posters since they looked beyond professional. They had used a program called venngage. A nearby teacher said they if you want them poster size you need to print them with an outside company such as kinkos but if you want them just your standard size of paper then you can print them off any computer.

After leaving that conference, I went online right away to check out the program. There are many things you can do with it that will not cost you any money at all. Some more exciting features such as saving your work to a PDF would involve you paying the monthly costs. After playing around with the program I discovered exciting features such as adding bar graphs to the document, pie graphs, text and various professional looking icons that make the page stand out.

I taught my grade four/five class how to use this program to display their recent data management project results. I will attach a few photos of their finished work. It took them less than an hour and it was a neat and organized way for them to display their results for their final data project. An awesome program worth checking out!

Photo 1 (1) Photo 2

Kelly.McLaughlin General

Music project

Hello all,

I thought I would share about the music project my students have been working on lately. They were asked to remix a holiday song in preparation for the holiday assembly. This post is mostly to share how incredible children are 🙂

My students had no boundaries for this project and here are some of the directions my students have taken this project:

  • creating their own song on garageband with holiday rap lyrics
  • using a music writing software called musescore to write a combination of four songs creating a holiday spin on all of them
  • creating their own beat on garageband and playing a pre-existing song to an incredible sped up tempo
  • using boomwhackers and bells to recreate holiday songs
  • using the drum kit to create a beat to little drummer boy while having a singer on top of that beat

It’s incredible to see how children can take something as simple as “remix and song” and find many ways to incorporate their own ideas and talents. I think that you can do this with any project and asking students to try to go above and beyond often inspires them to do more. This was a question my principal spoke to me about, asking students to self reflect on what inspires them to go above and beyond? Also, why do they select that option when given it rather than just always trying to go above and beyond. I invite others to try out this music task for any project really but keeping the expectation simple often invites students to go crazy with it! Obviously my rubric was detailed but the expectations were clear and had lots of room for imagination. I hope to post some of the final projects on this blog!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Kelly.McLaughlin Celebrating Success, Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Diverse Learning Needs, Inspiring Teachers, Learning About Your Students, Making a Difference Through Education, Mental Health, Mentorship, Mindfulness, Professional Learning and Growth, Questioning, Resources, Wellness, wellness

Book group

A colleague of mine started a book club for educators in our school. We read the book “The boy who was raised as a dog” which takes you on the journey of various stories from the child psychiatrist, Bruce D. Perry. The book group involved seven to eight educators discussing the assigned chapters we had read for the week. I highly recommend this read for any teachers who have ever struggled with a “challenging” student. The book details the accounts of many children Perry encountered whose traumatic past altered their future. The book teaches all teachers to have a compassion that is so necessary for these traumatized children.

We discussed many things during our meetings each week. We started discussing the chapters but the conversations always had a way of covering anything and everything. The meetings helped me go into each day with an open mind and a compassion for a child’s situation that I did not have before. You rarely think of the reason someone behaves “badly” or defiantly. We may just assume that that is the way that child is. Many of us may have not stopped to think of the reason for that action. Realistically, we all have a lot on our plates that day and we may be thinking of a quick way to discipline the child. The book helped our book group members to think of ways to help these children in class so that they may have a successful future outside of it.

Today was our last meeting and we took the last twenty minutes to reflect on our love for teaching. How amazing of a feeling it is when you have that moment in the classroom (or outside) when you just get that feeling of “this is the most incredible job on earth!” We all discussed moments we have felt like that and how incredibly lucky we are to be teachers. The book group was a great way to celebrate and to continue our love for learning. If anyone would like more information about this book, please let me know. The book could change your entire outlook on those “tough” situations, reminding us never to give up on a child or to jump to negative conclusions especially when we do not know their entire situation.

Kelly.McLaughlin Assessment, Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Communication Tools, Feedback, Resources, Technology in school, Use of Technology

An easy to use student friendly assessment tool

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After meeting my new NTIP mentor the other day, she introduced us new instrumental music teachers to an app called “iDoceo”. I had used this before but had never really gotten into it. Since hearing about it again recently, I have become so attached to it.

iDoceo allows you to assess students quickly on the go on your ipad. The app is free in the HWDSB catalogue and maybe in other boards as well. When commenting on the process or product of a certain student, you can use icons, recordings, comments or other notes. These icons are easy to use and you can copy and paste them. You can then add them to another student’s column with an easy double tap. For instrumental music teachers, this is helpful because you can add a small recording to your student’s file so that you can listen to it again if you missed it the first time.

Students can also always view their marks and I use the icons to record these marks. So if a student wants to see how he/she is doing with “attitude/behaviour/self control” he will view his name and see what icon is beside it. The options are a green smiley for always/level four, a yellow smiley for usually/level 3, an orange smiley for sometimes/level two and a red frown for rarely/level 1. Students have a quick and visual way to view their process or product marks in class. Of course during performances I will still use a rubric for them to take home but for everyday efforts, this app is amazing! I always have students coming up to me asking to view their marks. They are eagerly searching for those green happy faces.

I love the app so much that I have brought it into my 4/5 split class. I use it for their learning skills so especially while they are working in a group, I record their efforts for the day.

I think that children love to know how they are doing and something as simple as a coloured happy face is an easy check for them. Of course it is hard for me to always remember to keep the iPad in my hand but over time I will certainly get used to it.

iDoceo-available on ipads. Check it out!

Kelly.McLaughlin Curriculum Planning, Professional Learning and Growth, self reflection, Start of the year, The Arts

A new year…three new assignments

Hello all,

It has been a busy start to this new year of teaching! I am now a permanent teacher after 3 years of amazing LTO placements at my school in Ancaster. I have moved on now to teach a new subject, instrumental music. This involved numerous music lessons over the summer, making sure I knew the ins and outs of each instrument. I was very excited to receive this job as I have such a huge passion for music, even though I have never explored the instrumental side of it.

Starting the year up was not as bad as I had thought because the LTO in the class before me had done an incredible job of organizing the room and making sure the school has all the necessary instruments and equipment. Getting the room decorated and organized was so exciting because for the first time, the room was mine and not someone’s that I was taking care of for them! The thrill of your first permanent placement is more than I could have ever hoped for.

The first few classes of music were interesting because although I would have loved to get right into letting the kids choose their instruments, I know I had to start with the basics. Having a mentor would have been helpful during this time because I had little to no clue where to start. I had to recall things previous teachers had done that I had worked with in the past as well as I had asked people at Long and McQuade for some helpful hints.

Now that October has come, my students have now selected their instruments and yesterday was our first day actually playing them! How cool it is to have purposeful noise in a classroom. All those years where I was so focused on students working quietly have now come to an end. The noise was incredible. Even some squeaks that I heard that were a little hard on the ears were exciting to hear because for someone, that was their first official squeak on the first instrument they have ever played. It will be such an exciting journey and I am so thankful it has just begun.

I was also offered a second permanent job as a librarian so now I have that to juggle into my weekly schedule. I am also teaching a 4/5 split this year. The planning has not been too hard so far but it is hard to think about the one job when you are in the one school without having your mind wander off to thinking about the other school.

I know this is the year where having a 0.4 permanent is necessary to make the next step into a 1.0 permanent world, so I am grateful for the opportunity. Some days my head is swimming with ideas for a wide variety of things but having a Staples day planner has been essential to keeping all my thoughts down on a page somewhere.

That is all I have to share for now! I am so excited for this year and it has already gone by so fast. I just hope I have time to do everything the kids and I want to accomplish this year.

 

Kelly.McLaughlin General

Mathematical Mindsets

At my school, a grade three teacher started a book club where we all chose a math book and we read it and meet every three weeks. The book that at least ten of the teachers chose is called “Mathematical mindsets” by Jo Boaler. This is a must read for all math teachers worldwide. By following her principles and reading her strategies, math can become an exciting subject for all students. I have read the book and I have fallen in love with all of her teachings. The number one thing I have spent my time on is dividing my students into math groups. My students spend half of math class in their math groups and the second half working individually on what they just learnt. The four math groups work the following way:

Organizer- this student keeps the group together and focused, making sure no one talks to people outside the group

Resourcer- this person is the only one that can leave the group to collect things that the group needs

Understander- this person makes sure all ideas are explained and that everyone is happy with them. If you don’t understand, you can ask whoever had the idea.

Includer- makes sure everyone’s ideas are listened to; invite others to make suggestions

The goal is to ask your class low floor/high ceiling questions so that everyone has the chance to reach the fullest levels of mathematical understanding.

I suggest all math teachers pick up this book immediately! I cannot wait to sure more from the book in future posts.

Kelly.McLaughlin Assessment, Celebrating Success, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Standardized testing, Student Ownership, Students as Teachers

Options

My grade five class is almost done their perimeter and area unit. At the close of this unit, I was having trouble deciding what the best option would be, a project or a test. I decided to present both options to the class and then let them select which one they should do.

I then had an issue with letting students who had received an “A” on their reports not do both. I wanted them to challenge themselves by trying both since they had achieved such a high mark on their report card.

Some students reacted very negatively to this thinking they wish they had received a lower mark. I on the other hand, tried to explain to them that since they had such a high mark on their report, they have proven that this unit is not a challenge to them so they should challenge themselves by trying to take on two activities.

It was interesting how many students chose to take the test over the project. I for one, HATE tests and as a child never enjoyed spending time after school studying for them. As a teacher, I dislike giving them as well because they do not offer any creative elements for the child who is writing it. So when some of my students chose the test over the project, I was rather shocked.

I am happy I gave my students the option because I loved seeing students debate over both and then finally arrive on their final choice. I think that when I was in university learning about choices for students, I never really understood the feeling over power it would give my future students. It was amazing seeing them weighing their options and I am happy I was able to give them that feeling.

Kelly.McLaughlin Assessment, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Planning, Students as Teachers, Use of Technology

Student surveys

If you haven’t had your students use google forms, the survey creator on google drive, then you must! Students will have the chance to create online surveys and administer them to anyone they want.

We took our data management project to whole new heights when they created a survey for a certain grade to answer. We were looking at student satisfaction in regards to clubs and teams available at school. The answers were shocking as sometimes 75% of  students in the grade were unhappy with the clubs and teams available to them. My 28 students were divided up among all the grades at school and each group surveyed the grade they chose to survey. We will now look at the results and try to accommodate to add the new teams and clubs to our school.

I also was able to survey my students using the same program, google forms. I asked them about the way I ran the math program, language program and drama program. They were able to check mark all that they enjoyed about each program. Here are the results for the math section:

  1. 11 students enjoy projects
  2. 9 students enjoy group work
  3. 8 enjoy math around the class
  4. 6 enjoy tests
  5. 5 enjoy lessons on the board
  6. 2 enjoy quizzes
  7. 1 student wants to learn taxes

This way, when I do my next math unit, I can plan for maximum student enjoyment. It is important to know how your students want to learn so that you can have the best learning environment possible.

Kelly.McLaughlin Learning in a Real Life Context, Math, Students as Teachers, Use of Technology

Surveys that matter

Today was a very interesting day for learning that took a different direction than I anticipated. We started off talking about ideas for the holiday assembly when I mentioned to my students that I would like them to survey the grade to find out their interest. It seemed unfair to force a grade of students to be involved in an assembly unless they really wanted to. Five of my students surveyed the entire grade about how they wanted to be involved. It was great to see them learning the process of how to create a survey (using google forms) and then administering it to their peers. Twenty minutes later, we created one to see if and how we should decorate the class. This survey was then administered to our class by five other students. It was great to see students talking about percentages and comparing pie graphs in a context that was not even supposed to be a math lesson. Learning can take place in all contexts and it is awesome when it is student led and the teacher just sits back and lets the magic happen. I am letting my students survey the intermediate students to select their music for the next school dance. I am also hoping to survey the school in the near future about extra curricular activities they would like to see in our school. Data management is proving to be an all encompassing area of study and is creating amazing student leadership! Try it out at your own school and see your students become teachers. They loved seeing the results from their survey matter and saw how action took place right away.