Tina.Ginglo – Page 2

April 12, 2012April 13, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Building Inclusion, Resources

Bringing Personal Excitement and Passion to the Classroom-Outdoor Education

In the first chapter of The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning, four themes of success were shared. These themes were compiled from teachers’ stories about what contributes to their success in the classroom. I had the opportunity to observe one of those themes, the passion for teaching, first hand when I watched my teacher candidate bring a plants and soils unit to life for my third grade students. Eve is passionate about environmental education, stewardship and education for sustainability. I encouraged her to bring her excitement, background knowledge, and experiences into our classroom. And did she ever! It’s spring and Eve made sure to make the most of the mild March weather. The days are longer, warmer and colour is starting to dot our landscapes. It is a perfect time to get reacquainted with the outdoor classroom. However, as Eve effectively demonstrated, outdoor classroom expectations must be established before learning can occur. Eve reminded me of three important tips to consider before taking students outdoors to learn:

Tip #1- Establish classroom boundaries– Mark out the boundaries of your outdoor classroom with visible landmarks. For example, you might say, you are not to go beyond those three oak trees in the field and you must stay on this side of the soccer field. Hold out your arm and trace the area of the outdoor classroom with your finger. Make sure that your students are able to tell you what the outdoor classroom boundaries are before you start an activity.

Tip #2- Establish a meeting place where students know to return to when it is time to regroup. Our students knew to meet in front of the playscape in our schoolyard.

Tip #3- Establish a signal for regrouping- Eve chose the signal, “chicadee-dee-dee.” Students knew that when they heard the “chickadee-dee-dee” call, it was time to stop what they were doing and regroup at our predetermined meeting place.

There were many times during her four-week practicum when the students were a tad loud, silly, and full of energy. At times like these some of us may decide to take away a planned outdoor activity as a consequence for unsettled behavior, but not Eve. Committed to her beliefs about teaching and learning, Eve would argue that if students seem unsettled inside, it is the perfect time to continue the learning in our “outdoor classroom” and she was right! Engagement rose to a new level each time we took the students outside to learn. Some of these outdoor activities included making mud bricks out of soil, water and wood chips, measuring the diameter of tree trunks for the fabric tree banners students created to wrap around our school’s trees, and digging dirt to explore the different types of soil in our school yard.

Eve believes that, “We must show students not what they can take from the land, but what they can learn from it.” I believe she did an extraordinary job establishing this enduring understanding in our class.

If you are interested in outdoor education and environmental education these resources may be of interest to you:

The link included below is an article that talks about how students’ capacity to learn increases when they are taken outside. This article notes how nature can help children pay attention, motivate them to learn and improve classroom behaviour and scores on standardized tests.
http://www.childrenandnature.org/blog/2010/10/07/outdoor-education-and-play-benefit-all-education/

You may want to visit the website for The Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario. They are hosting a conference in September!

Ministry Resources-
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teachers/enviroed/publications.html

Shaping Our Future, Shaping Our Schools: Environmental Education in Ontario Schools

March 28, 2012March 28, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Assessment, Diverse Learning Needs

Let’s not Forget Stations

Stations are one way to differentiate learning to meet different learners’ needs. Stations can be a lot of work to prepare, but I am always pleased with the level of engagement and the pace of the learning when students learn through stations. I don’t do stations nearly as often as I should, but lately I have put my planning into a higher gear!

Two weeks ago I planned stations for students to explore symmetry. I decided to use stations after my formal assessments revealed that my grade 3 students were still struggling with symmetry. I thought I had done a good job reviewing and teaching symmetry. The students completed the exercises in our math textbook and they students successfully and independently completed all extra practice black line masters with ease. Then I decided to give my students some symmetry questions from past EQAO assessments. To my surprise, they didn’t do that well with the questions. They were able to identify lines of symmetry, but they were not able to apply their understanding of symmetry by completing symmetrical shapes. So I decided to give the students more opportunities to explore symmetry through a variety of stations. At one station, students were to look through magazines and find examples of symmetry. In another, they were given half of a symmetrical picture and they had to use a mirror to complete the other half. I had a symmetry game using attribute blocks at another station, plus a few others. As the kids rotated through the stations, I was able to walk around and observe the students as they gained more experience and practice with symmetry. I did not need to correct any behaviours or redirect any students back to learning….and best of all, students had fun! I should also note that I also asked my students’ visual arts teacher to review symmetry through art activities as well. I will bring out the EQAO questions again, but I am sure that they will be better with the application questions.

Last week, my teacher candidate planned stations for the plants and soils unit she is teaching. At one station, students were planting tomato seeds. At another, they were making a dip out of refried beans, corn, coriander, lime and cumin (each ingredient represented a different component of healthy soil); at another station students were observing red wigglers (worms!) and labeling the different parts of the worm!

Feedback from parents has been impressive. A number of parents commented on how happy and excited their child was about their learning. Let’s not forget about stations when planning to meet the different learning styles and interests of our students!

February 14, 2012February 14, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Building Inclusion, Planning, Resources

Accountable Talk

I agree with Sangeeta, there is nothing like a room buzzing with students…talking!!! I don’t think that you can have a collaborative engaging learning environment without a little noise.

Frank Serafini has written a number of books about developing engaging reading programs (e.g., The Reading Workshop, Lessons In Comprehension) and he is often invited to speak at large literacy conferences. In one of his sessions he said, half in jest, that when we read a great book, we don’t get excited and rush to make a diorama. Rather, we want to talk about the book! We must allow and plan for productive accountable talk in our classrooms.

One strategy that is popular in my class is called, Paired Verbal Fluency. I picked up this strategy years ago when I attended a Bruce Wellman workshop series. He also includes this strategy in his book with Laura Lipton, Pathways to Understanding: Patterns and Practices in the Learning Focused Classroom (ISBN 0-9665022-0-5). This strategy is great for getting students verbally active before, during and after learning. I often use it to activate prior knowledge, to review concepts already learned, before the learning continues. It is also a great strategy for consolidation. For example, the other day I used it to review what students learned from our study of the Underground Railroad.

The directions are rather simple.

Students work in partners. Partners decide who will be person A and which partner will be person B.
I present the topic that is going to be discussed. For example, “What is the Underground Railroad and why is it an important part of our history?”
When I say, “Go,” person A speaks. Person A begins to answer the question. Person B listens carefully, but does not add to the discussion. Person A speaks for 60 seconds.
When I say, “Switch,” it is person B’s turn to speak. Person B should not repeat anything that person A shared. Person B is simply building on A’s answer. Person B speaks for 60 seconds.
The process continues for another round or two, but for each round, the time is decreased by 20 seconds. For example, person A will now continue to build on to person B’s response, being careful not to repeat anything B said, but this time, A will only speak for 40 seconds.

Students enjoy this strategy. It teaches them to listen to each other. Other effective strategies for fostering accountable-talk include the Give-One, Get One strategy and the Walk Around Survey. These strategies also have the added benefit of getting the students moving around the room as well as talking. Other strategies can be found in the Ministry of Education’s A Guide to Effective Literacy Instruction Grades 4-6 – Volume One, 2006. You can find this document at eworkshop.on.ca.

January 20, 2012January 20, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Diverse Learning Needs, Planning, Resources

Drama and Dance Resource

Report Cards are fast approaching and I can’t help hear some teachers comment that they need to teach and assess drama and dance ASAP! For those who are not comfortable teaching drama or dance or for those who do not have much experience or access to drama and dance resources, it can be a challenge to plan regular lessons that integrate as well as explicitly teach students drama and dance concepts and skills. I have many “go-to” drama and dance resources that I refer to regularly to assist me with my planning. One particular favourite is the Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators (CODE) website. Under the Resource tab you can search for K-12 drama and dance lessons and units. You will find videos of teachers modeling the strategies as well as BLMs that you can print and copy. Some of the lessons are marked “Members Only.” Membership is 50.00/year, but I think there is a discount for first year teachers. What I like best about the site is that there are always new resources added and I really appreciate the dance/movement lesson plans! Feeling Artsy? Have a look:)

January 16, 2012January 16, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Assessment

An Integrated Unit- A Chair for Baby Bear

The culminating task for our unit on strong and stable structures was the highlight of my first four months back in the classroom. My colleague and friend, Catherine Little, who is currently teaching science at York University at the Faculty of Education, generously offered her time and expertise by facilitating the launch of this culminating task with my third grade students.

Catherine launched the task by first reading the picture book, A Chair for Baby Bear (2004) by Kaye Umansky and illustrated by Chris Fisher (Barron’s Educational Series, ISBN-13: 978-0764157899). In this story, after Goldilocks breaks Baby Bear’s chair and flees the bear’s cottage, Baby Bear goes to town with Papa Bear shopping for a new chair. In town, Baby Bear was unable to find a chair that was “just right” for him. Catherine stopped at this point in the book, and presented the task to my class. They were to make a chair for Baby Bear using only newspaper and masking tape!

The students had to apply everything they learned about strong and stable structures to create a chair that was just right for Baby Bear. The knew they were successful when they placed a stuffed toy bear on their chair. If their chair were stable, the stuffed bear and the chair would not fall down!

After the students reflected on the process and self assessed their designs, they wrote a procedure or recount for “Professor Catherine” to share with other third grade students she will visit. The students were so proud of their chair. They were focused and I was able to assess what they learned about strong and stable structures, not by giving them a unit test on the topic, but by observing students build their chair, conferencing with them and by reading their self assessments and procedural writing. This is what I love most about teaching and learning!

January 16, 2012January 16, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Assessment, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students

The Whole Child

As a third grade teacher, I sometimes get caught up and distracted by the fast approaching EQAO assessment. Our school doesn’t fair very well in the EQAO world and there is a lot of talk about getting the students ready. One way our school is preparing students for the assessment is by providing them practice runs at previous EQAO questions. As Sangeeta mentioned in a previous post, I also worry about the amount of pen and paper tasks our students complete. Don’t get me wrong, knowing how to read and write are VERY important skills that must be acquired, but there are many ways to learn how to read, THINK and write, technology being one.

As we neared the end of the calendar year, I allowed myself to forget about EQAO and teach the way I taught when I taught grades 4 and 5 and kindergarten! Even though my students receive their music and art instruction from other teachers, I decided to include it in my program as well. Visual literacy, music, drama, art, movement, design and technology were springboards for incredible thinking and prompted the most meaningful and well crafted writing I have assessed so far this year! More importantly, the level of engagement in my class springboard as I observed students focus and participate in ways I was not able to observe when I did not integrate the arts in my teaching.

I know this! Why do I allow myself to get caught up in the EQAO frenzy? Don’t get me wrong. I actually like the EQAO assessment and take the responsibility of teaching STUDENTS the Ontario curriculum very seriously— but sometimes I think we get turned around and teach the CURRICULUM to students. I think there is a difference. My goal for 2012, is to make sure I teach to the WHOLE CHILD everyday and allow students to explore the curriculum in different ways before bringing out the pen and paper:)

November 17, 2011November 17, 2011 Tina.Ginglo Learning in a Real Life Context, Mentorship, Professional Learning and Growth

The Power of Co Teaching

I have heard about the power of co teaching for some time now, but I have only had the opportunity to experience co teaching first hand in recent weeks. I am sold! Co teaching mathematics with my teaching partner and Family of Schools Math Coach challenges me and engages me in authentic context based professional learning. For those who are not familiar with co teaching, co teaching is not synonymous with team teaching. In team teaching, the students basically have two teachers teaching them a lesson. Each teacher takes a turn leading a specific part of the lesson. When co teaching, one teacher is the Lead Teacher and the other is the Co-teacher. The Lead Teacher teaches all parts of the lesson and the co-teacher is the “kid watcher” as well as “teacher watcher”. For example, today I was the co teacher for a third grade number sense lesson. In addition to paying close attention to the strategies my students were using to solve an addition word problem that required them to add two large numbers, I was also paying close attention to the probing questions the Lead Teacher asked the students.

Valuable learning occurs at a number of levels. First, I value the opportunity to observe my students closely, recording every noteworthy observation, what challenged them, student “aha” moments, and evidence of understanding or confusion. I am free to concentrate fully on my formative assessment. On another level, I am also gathering data on the questions and instructional strategies the Lead Teacher used while teaching the lesson. During the debrief (which usually occurs during lunch or a common planning time) we first focus on what the students were doing. We assess the problem we presented to students, analyze the different types of responses students provided and we determine where we are going to go next. For example today, we concluded that our students are ready to move on to adding and subtracting larger numbers. We also noticed that many students use place value algorithms to solve addition math problems, but they don’t understand why they are “carrying a 1 over.” We decide that we need to review grouping and tens and ones with my class.

After we have decided on our next instructional steps. We then reflect on the Lead Teacher’s instruction. How were the questions? Is there a different way we could ask students a particular question? How might we phrase questions in our next lesson? On the days that I am part of a co teaching experience, I leave for home feeling confident about where I am headed in my math instruction and committed to following through on the next steps that were collaboratively planned. For the next co teaching lesson, teaching roles will be reversed and I will be the Lead Teacher.

My teaching partner and I both value this professional learning and instructional strategy. We are now looking for creative timetabling ways to make co teaching part of our literacy program as well. If you have an opportunity to participate in a co teaching experience, I strongly encourage you to go for it!

November 4, 2011November 4, 2011 Tina.Ginglo Wellness

Sleep

Like Roz, since September, I have been up really late most nights planning, organizing, assessing, and trying to keep up with board and school initiatives. Most nights, I go to bed t feeling good about the engaging activities I have planned for my students. Then the alarm rings 5 – 6 hours later…

I find myself driving to school feeling beat. What a terrible way to start a day. I have come to realize that my great lessons turn out to be “not so great” when I can’t get myself out of second gear all day long. I have decided to pack it in earlier most nights. I may go to bed a little less planned, but I am getting 8 hours sleep. Now, more often than not, my lessons turn out the way they were planned because I have more energy to move and think…and most importantly, I enjoy my students and their abundant energy so much more!

October 13, 2011October 17, 2011 Tina.Ginglo Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians

Tweeting To Families

Although I am well aware of the concerns and dangers of participating in web based social media sites with students, social media platforms such as Edmodo.com and Ning.com are quickly becoming powerful classroom tools. I am excited about these web based social media platforms and the potential they have for engaging students with curriculum and providing them with 21^st century literacy skills. Over the summer months, I looked into ways social media has been used safely to build community and collaboration in business and education.

Now that I am a parent myself, more than ever, I appreciate the importance of home and school communication. I thought that I might try a social media platform to support my connection and foster relationships with families. With my principal’s permission, I am now Tweeting to my students’ families!

My principal had a few concerns about Internet safety, which I respectfully considered when setting up this Twitter account. First, I have set my Twitter account so I must approve my followers. Since I have most of my parents’ email addresses, it is easy for me to identify whether or not a request to follow is coming from one of my families. Secondly, I set it so that followers cannot comment on my Tweets. Unfortunately, this limits the potential this social media tool has for building community, but hopefully it will help keep parents in the loop and help me to establish trust and rapport with my families. Finally, I don’t identify my school, my teaching assignment or students’ names in my tweets.

I have 18 students in my class. To date, I only have two followers, but hey, that’s okay. I have two parents who I touch base with on an almost daily basis about things such as homework reminders and positive events that took place during the day. It will be interesting to see if more parents begin to follow as the year progresses.

To learn more about ETFO’s Advice to Members re: Social Media, please click here.

October 4, 2011October 4, 2011 Tina.Ginglo Classroom Management, Diverse Learning Needs

Break Cards

At times last month, it was a challenge to manage some of the behaviours demonstrated in my classroom. I have some students who have difficulty focusing and completing tasks even when I have supported their learning with modifications and/or accommodations. Each evening I would drive home trying to think of a new plan for settling these students so they are not disturbing lessons and the other students’ learning. Through conversations with resource teachers, research and trial and error, I think I have found a keeper! At least it seems to be working in our classroom community…so far:)

It was recommended that I provide “break cards” to the students in my class who struggle with staying on task. These students would start the morning with 2-3 break cards and they would be able to hand me a break card whenever they wanted to take a break from their assigned activities. At first I didn’t like the idea. What about the other students in the class who work hard and stay focused throughout the day? Shouldn’t they deserve break cards as well? Of course they do! So I decided to provide “break cards” for everyone!

I feel that breaks should be earned. At my discretion, I give break cards to students throughout the morning and again in the afternoon. My decision to provide break cards varies from student to student. I know that 10 minutes of sustained learning for some students is equivalent to 20 or 30 minutes for other students. Each break card provides students with 10 minutes of “free time” in the classroom. But, to avoid the possibility of students wandering aimlessly during their break and disturbing others, the breaks must be spent at one of the centers set up throughout our classroom. I try to have a center for most learning styles. For example, since we are doing strong and stable structures in science, I have set up a Lego table, for the kinesthetic learner. I have music and books on tape for the auditory and musical learner, of course there are the two computers in my classroom, and my favourite, a cut and paste centre (which I call the arts and crafts table…after all this is grade 3!).

I am encouraging students to use their break cards wisely. Some students choose to use their break card immediately. Others choose to save their cards until they have 20 or 30 minutes saved up. I am thinking that I am going to have to create a new “rule” that students can only use 2 break cards in any given time. Also, I need to create a planning board with pocket cards for the centers to avoid the arguments that arise when more than 2 people want access to the computers during their break.

We have only been using break cards for a short time. Perhaps the novelty will wear off in time. One way or another, I will check in and let you know if this strategy was sustainable in a few weeks from now:)