Blog – Page 138

February 18, 2015 Tammy Axt Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians

Spring Concert Preparation

Last year, my school had our very first evening concert. It went so well in December that we did it again in May. It was the first time I had ever organized a large evening event and I learned a lot. As I am getting ready to do another concert this spring, I have been reviewing my notes from the previous year to prepare. Below are some of the questions that came up and how we decided to deal with them. Hopefully, this can be a starting point for preparing a concert at your school!

What kind of budget can we have?

My principal suggested that we should stay around a couple hundred dollars. We did one shop early in the process for things like cotton balls or glitter. Closer to the show, we did one more big shop. It was easier for our secretaries to do big shops and hand in one or two receipts instead of multiple small purchases. We did not ask parents for money.

How will we communicate information to parents?

A letter went home introducing the concert and a follow-up letter went home with tickets. A Synervoice call (robocall) was made to homes the day before the ticket information went home. Another Synervoice call was made two days before the concert.

How will we control the crowds and ensure the safety of the students performing?

Benches were placed across the front of the gym to prevent parents from coming too close to the classes performing. The principal made it part of her opening remarks to remind parents to stay behind the benches.

Can we sell food?

We asked permission from our custodial staff before we went ahead with food sales. Once the custodial staff gave us the okay, we bought popcorn, cookies and water from Costco. I also told the custodial staff that all volunteers would assist with the cleanup after the concert. Obviously, the teachers’ first responsibility was to ensure that the students were safely picked up by their parents, but after the students were all gone, everyone helped with the cleanup.

How can we deal with people who show up without tickets?

The directive from my principal was to just let it go. We had a couple of people show up without tickets so plan for a few extra spaces in the gym. We didn’t want the evening to be about anything except celebrating the students so we didn’t make a big deal about it.

Can we give high school students volunteer hours for helping us?

Yes!

What time is the dress rehearsal?

We ended up having two different dress rehearsals. (I would do more with a kindergarten performance). I tried my best to move classes around so that no one lost their planning time and I invited the classes that were supposed to have phys ed during this time so that the gym teachers didn’t get displaced.

Will there be dinner for volunteers?

Yes, pizza and salad were provided.

Will we have access to walkie talkies?

We used the walkie talkies on the night of the performance to communicate with each other.

How do we photocopy communication about the concert?

Anything photocopying for the show was done using the office code.

Should we prepare a video recording for sale?

We opted not to have anyone videotape the concert to sell to parents. Most people carry video recorders in their phone and had the ability to record the performance.

How will we do the drop off and pick up of students?

The kids were dropped off and went directly to their classroom. The parents picked up their children from their classroom at the end of the concert.

Can we have an extracurricular club to help with the preparation of the concert?

Yes, the club was a fun group of older kids who helped with everything from decorating and costumes, to holding the doors and helping to collect the tickets. They were amazing.

How long will the concert be?

After putting two classes together to perform, there were 10 performances in total. The concert lasted about one hour.

February 16, 2015February 17, 2015 Alison.Board Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Equity, Learning in a Real Life Context

Technology and Social Media for Communication

For years I have maintained a class website. I found as parents became more tech-savvy, they enjoyed seeing the photos of student learning and reading about what was happening in the classroom. This seemed more timely, environmental and cost-effective than a monthly newsletter (as I was in a community that all parents had access to a personal computer). It also allowed parents the option to log on to the site at any our to find information or revisit an earlier post. Websites allow for documentation of the learning and growth of students.

This year I wanted to try Twitter. It was a new learning curve for me, but I could see the benefits of its immediacy. So last fall I started a Twitter account for our grade 6/7 classroom and invited parents and students to follow. Students created a logo contest in the class and selected a piece of student art to represent our account. I have found many benefits to Twitter instead of a classroom website. They include:

Timeliness – I usually take a photo and send a message once a day from my classroom. It is so quick and simple from my smartphone that my posts are more frequent than logging into a website and writing a post for a class website.
Focused – I find that my tweets are focused and meaningful. For example, I select a specific moment during math or science and take a photo that makes the learning visible. When I would write posts for my website, I often felt overwhelmed in covering all the subjects and providing enough detail.
Connections/Information/Networking – Sending tweets and using hashtags from our classroom has created dialogue with other educators, students, and interest groups, that would not be possible through a website. For example, my class was excited to be retweeted by Bird Studies Canada when we shared a photo of one of our students feeding a chickadee from his hand. This introduced us to information about the Great Backyard Bird Count, an accessible activity that interested students could learn more about. It also initiated an environmental leaders project to make and maintain bird feeders at our school.
Reflection/Assessment – As a daily activity, tweeting from the classroom provides me with a purpose to capture learning and document it. I am then able to review my tweets weekly and reflect on the highlights or areas of need as assessment for learning.
Social Media Etiquette – Tweeting with my students allows for authentic discussions about how to conduct ourselves with appropriate image use. We also review our messages and discuss what they can convey.
Accessibility – Although my school is recognized as higher needs due to lower family incomes, some students have access to smartphones that they can use in the classroom with our Bring Your Own Device program. Others can share the iPads and netbooks that are available to our class.
Engagement – Each month, more students get their own account or encourage their parents and become excited about our classroom tweets that are retweeted by the Principal or the board to an even wider audience. We have participated in tweet chats with other classes, using a visual display of the tweets so the whole class can be involved in the discussion.

I have found Twitter to be an effective tool for increasing engagement and communication. I can use it to feature student voice and reach a community larger than our classroom or school. It also informs my own practice as I follow educational posts to inspire me!

February 16, 2015February 17, 2015 Alison.Board Building Inclusion, Learning About Your Students, Making a Difference Through Education, Wellness

Wellness in the Classroom

Wellness is an important focus for our grade 6/7 classroom and is also a hot topic school and board wide. It encompasses so much of what we do and who we are that it can be difficult to create a specific lesson for “wellness.” In The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning book, it states, “Getting to know your students is a big part of your success as a teacher” (p 34). This is an important message, as it encourages teachers to be responsive to the specific needs and interests of their current students and not apply generic strategies or lessons.

I recently read a suggestion that a leader should learn and know at least 10 things about a person. This would be a good tool for teachers to use if getting to know the individual needs and interests of their students is challenging for them. A simple notebook with a list under each student name can be filled in as a teacher gets to know new students. I know that for some students I would easily have a list of 20 facts, while there are a few that I would struggle to get 10 for! The Class Database activity (p 39) could be easily modified with questions that involve students’ needs and interests around wellness, to gather some initial data on your students. I have also used a Multiple Intelligence quiz to determine preferences for students and used them (music, nature) throughout the year to guide my plans and make my lessons or activities more inclusive, especially when some students are feeling less confident with content or skill development.

Leading up to Bell Let’s Talk day, we viewed the commercials on YouTube and worked in groups to discuss the effective use of language and its influence on attitude and acceptance. During a language activity with the book, The Man With the Violin, students recognized the sadness of the child and made similar connections from their own experiences of being rushed through their day. We went for a class walk to a nearby park with no activity planned, but to enjoy whatever we noticed. Students were excited to Tweet about their own understanding of wellness using the Bell Let’s Talk #, making suggestions that were accessible and real for them such as “write in a journal” or “talk to an adult”. They are currently making lists of what inspires them and what brightens their day. These activities and discussions continue to be integrated through subjects like language, health, art, music, and science.

February 15, 2015February 17, 2015 Beverly Papove Building Inclusion, General

The Power of Show and Tell

There is a table in my classroom that is called La table de découvertes (Discovery Table). On it you can find things that I have collected with my family, mostly when my own children were young; there are some seashells, plenty of rocks, 2 bird’s nests, a small log gnawed and shaped by beavers, snake skin molt, a stick covered in tracks made by an insect infestation under the bark, feathers, and pine cones. It is a corner of the classroom where students can visit and touch, marvel and wonder. And it is because of La table de découvertes that Show and Tell (La présentation) has made a comeback in my classroom this year. It wasn’t in my daily plans or my Long Range Plans, but because of its success, I will now be sure to include it every year.

In September, a student asked if she could bring in something for the Discovery Table. She was very excited because she had some shells she wanted to share with the class. The student presented the shells, broken and whole, which she had found on a beach while on holiday. Every student wanted to see and touch the shells as if they had never seen such things before. They asked her which was her favourite, and she told them why they were special to her. This was our first Présentation.
Initially, it was this one student who wanted to share her treasures with the class. Soon she was bringing in something every day until her mother began to be concerned that perhaps it was creating a problem.

After all, among the many items this student brought in, there was a small cupboard filled with origami stars; two small carved statues from a hot country (she wasn’t sure which one), and a zip lock bag of her cat’s orange fur. Everything was presented in detail, accurate or not, and everyone watched and listened and asked appropriate questions afterwards. I was able to tell the mother that everyone was always interested in what her daughter brought to school.

After a few weeks, eventually other students, even the quietest ones, started coming up to me, asking if they could present something to the class. Students would bring in special items from home or simply find cool rocks in the school yard and want to present them because they had a funny shape or a shiny spot on them (Rocks are a big deal in our classroom).

Now our presentations are a regular event at the end of most days, with a few flexible guidelines. This is what works for us:
1) 15 minutes for Show and Tell.
2) 3 students present within that time period. This allows time for each child to speak in as much detail as they like about what they are showing and to pass around their items. The audience also doesn’t have time to lose interest.
3) Some days we present while sitting in a circle on the floor; other days students sit at their desks while the presenter stands in front of a small table where they can display their items.
4) Limit the follow-up question period to 3 questions or comments.

What I love about Show and Tell is that it is a student lead activity that is easy to facilitate. It gives students a true sense of agency as they talk like an expert in front of their peers about something that may or may not be in our Grade 3 curriculum – like sharks or cat fur – and have an audience that is actively listening and genuinely interested in what a presenter is showing and talking about. It is also an opportunity for students to be seen in a leadership role by their peers and to get a boost to their self-esteem.

Since the primary focus in French Immersion education is oral communication, Show and Tell is a clear choice as an activity that allows for a student to “acquire a strong oral foundation in the French language and focus on communicating in French” (Ontario Curriculum, French as a Second Language). The value of developing public speaking skills can also not be overlooked, as it takes great courage at any age, to ‘hold the floor’ and talk in front of one’s peers. As stated in the Language curriculum, students are encouraged to, “communicate – that is, read, listen, view, speak, write, and represent – effectively and with confidence”. Although some students may not have the confidence to volunteer, I haven’t made a schedule indicating the days when everyone is obliged to bring something to talk about. Instead, I have quietly asked a few students if they would like to bring in something to share with the class. It may take a few days or weeks before they are ready, but, following the example of the students who have gone before, everyone who has brought something in does a fine job presenting and fielding questions.

Finally, the benefits of Show and Tell go beyond the presenter to include all students in the audience. These students learn to practice listening actively and respectfully during presentations as well as how to follow up with pertinent questions. Probably the best thing of all, however, is that there is no evaluation of Show and Tell. While I do evaluate Book Talk presentations or projects with outlines and rubrics, I feel that the dynamic, impromptu nature of Show and Tell would be ruined if there were grades placed on the students’ performance, and it would no longer be a wonderful, relaxed way to finish the school day where oral presentation skills are practiced, treasures are shared, and students lead the show.

February 10, 2015February 10, 2015 Kelly.McLaughlin General, Students as Teachers

A class full of teachers

It is now February and our class environment is finally starting to settle in. I recently wrote a quote for my class to help us remember a very important rule, that when one person is trying to lead everyone else should be listening. The quote I wrote was “Knowing when to listen is just as powerful as knowing when to lead”. That way, when any student is trying to quiet the whole room, it reminds them that only the person trying to take charge should be in charge of that for the moment.

My class is fully run by the students as they start the day with a current event and end the day with leading the agenda session as well as leading a session of “big ups” which are compliments personalized to students around the room. The students during their presentations have to gain control of the class on their own as well as students teach math lessons using the app “educreations”. Students also can choose their own learning for our daily five activities.

I like to think that I am only there to guide the students through the explanation of projects and lessons and then for extra help in some scenarios. The students are becoming so independent even though they are only in grade six. The class is so student centred that you can feel the leadership daily at such alarming levels. I am so proud to be able to call myself their teacher as I feel like I am learning more than I am teaching. It is such an amazing experience having your students teach you something rather than the other way around. I honestly believe that after seeing this and knowing that this type of teaching is possible, that student centred learning is the only way to teach.

February 6, 2015February 7, 2015 Lisa.Taylor Assessment, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, General, Planning, Report Cards

Updating the IEP

With the end of Term 1, comes the IEP review and update process. While the intention is that the IEP is regularly reviewed and updated, many IEPs lay stagnant all term and are dusted off at reporting time to be updated. Teachers are excellent at setting goals, supporting goals, working with children to achieve goals, and even revising and modifying goals along the way. We often slip up in the record keeping portion of the process. How many times have we called the parent of a student on an IEP to talk about how they are doing, what they can be working on at home to support progress, etc., and not logged it in the IEP contact record? I often forgot to include that until it was IEP review time and then I would grab my communication binder and update. It is so important to keep the IEP up-to-date always. If you set a goal for a student to be able to count up to 50 and notice that they can count to 60, that goal needs to be changed on the IEP immediately! The whole point of the IEP is to have goals that are attainable, but not too easy. The hope is that we will push the student beyond their current ability level to extend their knowledge, hopefully closing the gap between where they are currently working, and the level their class is working at.

When recording communication, goals, assessments, accommodations, etc. on the IEP, I find it helpful to include as much detail as possible. Many IEP engines have drop-down menus, check boxes, etc. This might not always provide you with everything you need to paint an accurate picture of the student. Don’t be afraid to use the “other” box and explain. If you are doing something that is “outside of the box” for a student and it is working, document it!

We like to think that those students will be at our school forever and so will we, but that is not always the case. Unfortunately, families move, teachers move, people get ill, things happen. If you are suddenly not able to be at school, it is important that those records are up-to-date. Last year, I became ill and was quite abruptly sent home from work to await surgery. I was given next to no notice that I was not going to be at work, and the duration was undetermined. In the time that I was gone, two of my students moved. Had I not had their records up-to-date, I would have had to come in off of my sick leave (which might have jeopardized my leave) to collect up my data to update their records. Keeping things thorough and detailed also means your colleagues who have the student in the future know what things have been done for the student, what works, where the strengths are, etc., without having to track down previous teachers. With Lay-Offs, School Surplus, Transfers, etc., the staff in a school can change pretty rapidly. That document might be he only thing left in the school that really knows a student by the end of the staffing process in a given year.

There are lots of sites that will help with writing goals, scaffolding to ensure goals are progressing toward a larger goal, etc. It is often easy to get the IEP completed once you sit down and get to work. It is feeling the urgency and the importance that the document holds that really motivates a teacher to keep the IEP updated on paper, not just in their daily planning.

February 4, 2015February 12, 2015 Mike Beetham Before School Starts, Challenging Topics, Wellness

Term 2 For You

Report cards are in the final stages, IEP’s being developed, interviews upcoming and we still continue on with our long term academic plans. Term 2 is now underway and it seems that our daily workload has doubled as we try to fit all of the above items in. This is a critical time to also put into place a plan for your personal wellness. How will you balance all of the professional demands you are faced with and still make time for yourself?

This is a time of year where stress levels rise and as teachers we tend to put our professional obligations above all else, even if that is detrimental to our health. We will tell ourselves that the March Break is not that far away or I can rest up in summer or, or, or etc… It is essential that as we move into the very demanding time of year that we also plan for our own social and emotional wellness. For each individual that will look very different. For myself I have developed a practice of when something is added to my daily workload (like report card writing) I take away one item to make time for that. So this year I have delayed doing our annual class play until after the break where it will be a much better fit for me both professionally and personally. In addition I have booked every Sunday morning to go out either cross country skiing or snowshoeing with a close friend. By having other people part of my commitment I am now more obligated to follow-up on it as it is more than myself I am letting down. Personal wellness and lifestyle balance should be a part of every teacher’s yearly planning.

January 31, 2015February 2, 2015 Shawna Rothgeb-Bird General, Professional Learning and Growth

Working With a Mentor

As a new hire, all Ontario teachers participate in the provincial New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP). While the specific details of NTIP vary from board to board, one common component is working with a mentor teacher to develop your professional skills.

I was fortunate to go through NTIP in a school where I had already completed a Long Term Occasional assignment. I knew the staff, and as such I had developed great working relationships with many teachers in the school. Before my principal could even ask me who I would be interested in working with, I had discussed the idea with a colleague – my teaching partner from the year before. We knew we had similar teaching styles but different strengths, so it was as much an opportunity for her to learn from me as vice versa.

In my board, we are given three release days to be divided between the NTIP teacher and his/her mentor as they choose. These days can be used for time outside the classroom for planning, time observing either the NTIP teacher or the mentor in the classroom, attending professional development opportunities, etc. It was really nice to have it be so open and undefined because it allowed us to decide what my priorities were and how we would address them.

We started with a very general question: “What am I good at?” This question would give us a starting point for discussion. My mentor had already come up with a few things areas in which she felt I was strong. I added a few more, though it was an incredibly difficult question for me to answer because I was so new. It was really beneficial to see what she considered my strengths because I hadn’t yet had a TPA, so I had never heard someone talk about my teaching skills from an outside perspective. Many of my strengths were things I had already decided were priorities.

The next question, perhaps predictably, was, “What do I want to improve?” While it’s easy to criticize your own teaching style and come up with a list several pages long, I tried to really focus on a few things I felt were particular areas of need for me. It wasn’t going to be possible to touch on all of them with our limited time, so together we decided on one thing that we could work on together. For us, that was assessment. Together we planned a unit for my class and a unit for hers, with the plan being to work together to assess students before starting the unit and again at the end. For all of the assessment during the unit, we would be flying solo (because realistically, that happens on such a daily basis that it would be impossible to do together).

We never had a chance to finish our units together because of a family emergency, but to be perfectly honest, the planning and discussion was beneficial all on its own. Just by having a frank conversation about our strengths and needs and by planning units together, I learned more in two days than I had thought I would. I’m not certain that our discussion would have been as meaningful or helpful had we not been familiar with one another already. My mentor already knew a considerable amount about my teaching style, my strengths, and my areas of need – so we were able to dive into professional discourse and develop a plan.

I suppose my point with all of this (disjointed though it may be) is to strongly encourage you to find a mentor with whom you can work in an open, candid manner. Be realistic about your expectations: you won’t be able to address everything you want to address. Most of all, have fun learning from one another!

January 30, 2015February 12, 2015 Tammy Axt Classroom Management, General

Managing a three-ring circus

Classroom management can be challenging at times but add in 30 instruments, noise and tons of movement and you could have a three-ring circus. Some of the extra challenges that planning time teachers have to face are the constant transition of classes, teaching hundreds of students and managing a multitude of materials. With a little forethought, planning and well-trained students, managing a planning time subject can be a dream instead of a nightmare!

First of all, make your expectations of behaviour very clear and transparent. I also make my expectations short, catchy and to the point. Right now we are doing a bucket drumming unit, so I take 10 seconds in the hallway before the students enter to say “If you play before I say….” and the students respond with “Then I’ll take your sticks away”. The students know what is expected of their behaviour before they even walk in the room. Furthermore, follow through on what you have said. If anyone even plays a little bit I walk over to them and just hold out my hand. I do not stop giving instructions and I don’t give the student a hard time. If he or she looks confused I point to the sign posted in the class. I hold onto the sticks for the first five minutes of class. Once I have taken one pair of sticks on the first day, the students usually remember the rule. It is impossible to talk over instruments, especially drums, so I stick to this rule in every class. I briefly review the expectations of behaviour almost every class.

Secondly, the arts are amazing as there are many opportunities for sharing performances. Groups or pairs are often presenting their creations so audience behaviour is something that needs to be explicitly taught and reviewed. I refer to some of the symbols above to help students do their best work. Strategic grouping and seating can also go a long way in preventing problems. I put a big focus on group work at the beginning of the year so that activities in my class can run more smoothly.

Another tip is to make your materials accessible to students. In the hallway, I quickly tell the students what instruments to take out or what materials will be needed that day. I will either assign a few students to be in charge of taking out the materials or everyone will get their own as they enter. Materials should be in a clearly labeled location and at a height that students can access. Since I only have the students for 40 minutes twice a week I need to maximize the time in which students are engaged in fun music activities. This also speeds up transition time which is where some of our students get themselves into trouble.

I’ve realized after a few years of teaching that good classroom management is 95 percent about planning. If you are well-planned you will often have fewer management problems to deal with. I was walking down the hall the other day past our drama/dance room and the teacher had put the outline of a giant mitten on the floor. Even I was intrigued. What were they using this mitten for? I know if I am that interested, every kid who walks in this classroom will be doing the same. I also know that the students in French class are doing crazy fashion shows and in music they are talking about music that is important to them. Planning engaging activities will keep students on track.

Finally, You can implement a reward system in a planning time subject. Our French teacher has a straight forward and simple system that is very effective in encouraging the students to do their best. She divides the students in groups and they work towards rewards.

January 30, 2015February 2, 2015 Beverly Papove Building Inclusion, General

Celebrate Fabulousness

In my grade 3 French Immersion class, the following is something we do to help everyone feel special on St. Valentine’s Day. You need a few days to complete the activity, depending on the number of students in your class and how fast they work.

The idea is to make an “I am Fabulous” book. I like to use, « Je suis fabuleuse – une histoire vrai de (nom d’élève) » (I am Fabulous – the true story about (student’s name) for the book’s title. Each student writes the opening page of the book telling why they think they are fabulous, then they do the same thing for all their classmates. As a bonus, I send home a page for the parents to complete about their own child, and I also fill one out for each student. The pages are all collected and compiled so each student will receive their own ‘true story’ on Valentine’s Day and read about their Fabulousness/Fabulocité (words invented for this activity…).

To get ready, I make a chart to help students keep track of who they have written about and have them start by writing something about themselves.

Example/

Name/ Nom	Fabulousness / Fabulocité	Example/ Exemple
Me	I can do difficult things on my skis	I can do flips with no hands
Alison	She is an inventor	She invented a game called Oidar
Benjamin	He loves music	He likes to bring in CDs for the class to enjoy and we like them, too

After the students have written about themselves, I read a few samples to help create categories of fabulousness. On chart paper, in a web graphic organizer with the word Fabulousness/Fabulocité written in the middle, students see themes or categories emerge, such as; sports, kindness, perseverance, generosity, imagination, etc. You could also do categories following Bloom’s Taxonomy of Multiple Intelligences. In grade 3 language, this could be simplified to the terms Math Smart, Nature Smart, People Smart, Body Smart, Music Smart, Logic Smart, Self Smart and Logic Smart. Creating categories helps students avoid repetition and guides them to think about their classmates and themselves in many more ways.

A strategy I use to help students learn to express their opinion and justify it, is something called “Les 3 Ps” (Je PENSE… PARCE QUE… PAR EXEMPLE…). You can use a template for the students to complete as in a cloze activity, write it on the board so students can copy it and complete it in their own handwriting, or have them type out a few a day on the computer. There are probably a million other ways to do this more quickly and conveniently, however, once they get going, it does go remarkably fast. Students use the ideas they generate in the chart graphic organizer to fill in the blanks and complete these sentences.

Example/

Je pense que ______________ est fabuleux/fabuleuse, parce que ____________. Par exemple, ___________________________________________.

In English, it could look something like this;

I think that __________________________is fabulous because ________________ . For example, ___________________________________________ .

For the cover of the book, students are invited to bring in a photo of themselves or they can draw their portrait if they choose. For the pages inside, students are encouraged to illustrate their message to their classmates to help decorate the book and make it more special.

Although it takes a little planning and organization, creating the book is a nice activity to help remind students of the talents they each have.