Blog – Page 167

May 2, 2012May 7, 2012 Alison.Board Building Inclusion, Diverse Learning Needs, Planning, Resources

Say, Show, and Do

In my Grade 1 and 2 classroom, it feels like we have been focused on writing for many months. Writing narratives and reports, using graphic organizers, and editing drafts into published pieces. The children have been “saying” and “showing” a lot, and as their energy is rising with the warmer weather, I think it is a good time for some “doing.”

A couple of weeks ago, our class was invited to watch a Grade 3 class present The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest. It just happened that we were enthralled with reading a book about saving trees too, Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa. When we returned to our class to discuss the play we had watched, the children were inspired to create their own based on the book about Wangari. I realized that taking the opportunity to watch the Grade 3s perform was beneficial as they modelled for the Grade 1 and 2 class how a non-professional play looks.

Our current big idea is “How has the world changed?” with a focus on structures and movement (Science curriculum for Grade 1 and 2). The book, Wangari’s Trees of Peace is a text that lends itself to many other big ideas such as environmentalism, women’s rights, education, and world peace. When we read the book together for the first time, the students also saw its connection with the idea of hope, which was the inquiry question we started with back in September.

This project has revitalized our classroom. We wrote the story into a script format, dividing most of the story into parts that will be read by four narrators. Then we added a few lines for the characters. We discussed the scenes in the story and decided on three scenes. Children readily volunteered for parts in the play, to paint the background images, to create costumes, and to change the sets between acts. During our inquiry periods, I look around the classroom and see some of the children working on draft versions of the background settings, while others sit in pairs or groups practicing their lines and discussing the various roles.

Today, the narrators and actors read their parts in front of the class for the first time. I couldn’t help but notice how attentive the rest of the class was, as I thought their attention at the carpet was previously waning. They offered suggestions to the readers or actors and represented themselves as a community of learners. This play project emerged at just the right time in the year, when the children are comfortable enough with each other to take risks with acting and ready for a new challenge.

I am not sure how long it will take us to prepare for a presentation of the play, as I am learning along with the children. We plan to invite their parents and definitely the Grade 3 class that inspired us!

May 1, 2012 Samantha.Perrin Classroom Management, Learning About Your Students, Occasional Teaching

Using Positive Reinforcement for Persistent Misbehaviours

Recently I taught as a daily occasional teacher in a special education, mostly behavioural classroom. This was my first experience with the kind of group of students where correcting misbehaviours and classroom management was critical to getting through the day safely and working to complete the regular teacher’s goals for the day. As a daily occasional teacher, I felt some apprehension knowing that an already challenging class could be even more challenging for a new teacher that is out of their familiar routine, but was prepared to face the challenge to the best of my abilities.

One thing that I noticed upon entering the classroom, was that the teacher had laid out a daily behaviour log for each student. It was broken down into time blocks (corresponding with entry, class periods, recess, lunch and exit) and it included a rubric consisting of levels 1-4 (which corresponded with expected behaviours for each level). When going over this student information, I recalled reading in Chapter 4 in the Heart and Art of teaching about positive consequences – reinforcing positive behaviour that is consistent with creating a learning focused classroom environment. I decided that I would begin with this approach to set a positive tone to the day.

When the students entered in a less than orderly fashion, I commended two students for their ‘Level 3 ½’ entry, and mentioned that their classroom teacher would be pleased to learn of this when I make my notes at the end of the day. I saw a smile as one student was particularly pleased that I had noticed. The other students overheard, and while some students chose to continue with their off-task behaviour, a few others took their cue and directed their behaviour towards positive praise. In commending those two students, I also gained two helpers who were inclined to assist me in the classroom routines (i.e., getting out the nametags, advising me who should not be taking washroom trips together etc.).

If you take look at the Venn Diagram on page 59 of Heart and Art (Students Who Rock, Students Who Are Deciding, Students Presenting Challenges) , I would say that the class demographic was made up of ‘students who are deciding (on their behaviour), and students who ‘presented challenges’. With positive reinforcement, I think I was able to encourage a few of the ‘students who were deciding’ to be a little more helpful and focussed, and in this I feel that I averted some additional behavioural challenges that could have existed.

While it was a challenging day, I found that approaching the students initially with kindness and praise sent them a message that I knew what was expected of them, and that I would follow through with the regular classroom culture of behaviour tracking, reward and consequences. While not all students in the class ‘bought in’, I do feel that using a positive-reinforcement approach increased the potential of the students wanting to be successful, and decreased the ‘us Vs. supply teacher’ mentality that some students can develop. This is an approach that I think many teachers already use in their classrooms, but I hope that it serves as encouragement for occasional teachers to employ in any challenging classroom environment.

May 1, 2012May 1, 2012 Carmen.Oliveira Professional Learning and Growth, Resources

Professional Learning: an AHA! Moment

How many of us have sat through professional learning meetings, in-services, workshops, and lunch-and-learns and went back to our classrooms feeling inspired and motivated to take some risks in our practice to better our learning and consequently, that of our students? The answer: all of us.

On the other hand, how many of us have left the workshops and meetings and questioned the relevance of what we “learned” as it connects to our teaching, wondered why we were strongly encouraged to participate in the first place, or felt confused and frustrated with respect to how the PD could possibly help us meet our learning needs and those of our students? The answer: all of us.

I recently had the pleasure of attending a PD session that really got me thinking about the difference between professional development and professional learning. It was one of the most beneficial experiences I’ve had as a teacher because it really expanded my understanding of professional learning and challenged me to rethink my role as a teacher and leader in my school. I’ve come to see it as a way to build the capacity of ALL educators in our schools based not only on the needs of the students but that of the teachers as well. I’ve found that not all professional learning builds a dynamic culture in schools that fosters collective responsibility among educators and we, as teachers, need to question what, why, and how we are learning just as we do with our students.

If you’re interested in exploring how continuous professional learning can expand and refine teaching and increase results for students, a great place to start are the resources created by Learning Forward (the National Staff Development Council based in the USA) and the Leadership Development Unit at TDSB.

Resources:

Becoming a Learning School by Joellen Killion and Patricia Roy www.learningforward.org

Toronto District School Board Leadership Development Unit

April 26, 2012 Erin.Grewar Assessment, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning in a Real Life Context, Professional Learning and Growth

Communicative Approach – On y parle!

In my recent blog, I commented on the latest approach ripping through the world of Core French like an F5 tornado. In all honesty, it might not be all that avant-garde since many of you are probably already covering some of the basics. What makes the communicative approach interesting to both students and teachers alike is that it is quite practical and offers kids an opportunity to actually speak French. I say “actually” because having students speak in French can sometimes seems achingly futile when, once dialogue scripts are removed, they seem not to be able to say much of anything. However, based on some suggestions from the workshop I attended and feedback from my students, we came up with a summative task that was quite successful for all.

For the past month, we had been working on a music-related theme and focusing largely on the grammatical concepts of adverbs, making comparisons and opinion-based statements. For our speaking assessment then, I proposed 3 options for having them create a natural, authentic dialogue between two/more people discussing their musical tastes:

(A) meeting in a music store
(B) calling in to a radio station and debating between two newly released songs
(C) scenario of their choice.

After handing them all a sample dialogue, I had them find and highlight the grammatical concepts (e.g., find and underline all the adverbs) to draw their attention to familiar elements. I find that always handing out an exemplar is fundamental in establishing your expectations and getting them to use vocabulary and language structures taught in class instead of ending up with a bad Google translation. What I did a little differently after that was ask the class what could be incorporated to make the dialogue sound more realistic and authentic. At that point, we brainstormed a bunch of expressions and inserted them appropriately and by the end, had come up with a great conversation.

Lastly, here are two suggestions that I have also found to greatly improve the quality of work (to be used also with written assignments). Make sure to continuously reference anchor charts posted around the room which for me, included how to structure a comparison, adverbs that add meaning, phrases related to expressing an opinion and brainstormed vocabulary. Finally, as a daily shared speaking activity, have four to five students answer various questions orally that could relate to the dialogue to get them accustomed to spontaneously speaking in French. Take a sample level 3 answer, write it on the board, and then modeling the use of anchor charts, insert expressions to demonstrate how to construct a level 4 reply. By the time of the dialogue, students will feel more at ease with the vocabulary/pronunciation and they will independently be able to add more complexity to their speaking. Bonne chance!

April 22, 2012May 11, 2012 Roz.Geridis Classroom Management, Occasional Teaching, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources

Working with or as an Occasional Teacher

When thinking about occasional teacher planning many questions could go through one’s thinking process (what do I leave, how much, what do I bring?). If you are an occasional teacher you need to be able to teach for the time you are in the class with plans or not. If you are a contract teacher, you want the occasional to teach what you would do even if you were there. I just finished having a student teacher in my classroom and as her practicum was coming close to an end, the conversation of occasional teaching came up. She wanted to know how I decided what to leave for an occasional and how much but also what she should expect as an occasional teacher. Below is a summary of what I shared with her:

Planning for an occasional teacher

1) Make sure you leave a current seating plan.

2) Leave tips and notes about your students but remember to be professional as sometimes notes are left in the room for kids to see. Only phrase things in a positive language, leave strategies to help the occasional connect with your students, and 1 or 2 students who the occasional can ask questions about the routine.

3) Leave as much information about your class as possible but remember all information will not always be read. Don’t forget to highlight the allergies in the class and if epi-pens are used (if so, where the epi-pens are stored).

4) Leave lessons which your students will be able to complete. Usually, I still leave my lesson (as if I am there), I make sure I am prepared to complete an assessment for learning when I immediately return. The reason for this is the classroom teacher understands how each student learns, the comfort is there for the student to ask questions and clarify misunderstandings. Also, sometimes occasional teachers don’t have enough background information to connect the lesson for the students, students sometimes behave differently with occasional teachers and lessons are taught differently; the full lesson might not have been taught. I can’t tell you how many times I have returned to my class with a note stating the effort was made but the redirection of behaviour took up too much class time. That being said, I make sure lessons are connected to the curriculum but sometimes I may need to do something different than following my unit plan. It sometimes helps to make the occasional teacher’s day a little more fun.

5) Schedules – leave them in the supply folder. All resource, yard duty, classroom schedules need to be available for an occasional to view.

6) If you need items for a science experiment or art lesson, leave items out or in one location and share the location of items with the occasional teacher.

Working as an Occasional Teacher

1) Arrive as early as possible to give yourself time to review notes and lessons left by the classroom teacher.

2) Be familiar with the grade curriculum (if possible).

3) Try to connect with the neighbour teacher and ask any questions you may have.

4) Have a Language, Math, Science lesson in your bag, as a back up. On very few occasions you may walk into a classroom which has no lessons available for the day. If you have a lesson for each of these subjects, you can fill the day. Based on the grade, have some addition, subtraction, multiplication, division review fun sheets in order for the kids to complete (begin with asking the students to complete any 5, then to pick another 2, and so on). If no photocopier is available, write the questions on the board or display them on the smartboard and have the students record the questions and answers in their math workbooks. For Science or Language, you can have a story book related to the environment. “Where the Forest Meets the Sea”by Jeannie Baker or “The Lorax”by Dr. Suess are two great examples which can begin discussion on environmental issues, based on a situation you give them have the students develop different endings. Another Science activity might be a recycle sort — go through the classroom garbage bin (bring plastic gloves) and sort out what can be recycled or put in a compost. Again, there are many story books you can tie this theme to. For Language, you can use the newspaper and have the students discuss an article you feel is age appropriate. You can also have the kids write down 3 truths and a lie about themselves — then each student presents the 4 statements to the class. The class has to guess which is the lie. The students really enjoy this activity and it does take up an hour and sometimes even more (if the class size is bigger). Please don’t forget about your diversity of learners and adjust your lessons as needed.

5) Don’t forget about yard duty.

6) Try to deal with classroom behaviour in the class. But of course, if safety of yourself or other students is/are at risk, make sure you immediately contact the administration. Having a little reward planned for the end of the day helps students to look forward to something. Making the connection by saying hello/good morning to every student as they enter helps to start off the day well.

7) Say good bye to the administration and thank you to the office assistant(s).

8) Most of all…enjoy the day!

April 18, 2012 Erin.Grewar Assessment, Classroom Management, Diverse Learning Needs

Response to Tina’s Idea of Stations – a Great Teaching Tool

I was really excited to see Tina’s blog on using stations as a teaching tool. I echo that when I’ve used them, the students have been engaged, on-task and really enjoyed the variety of learning experiences offered to them. I also agree that they are a lot of work to set up but the end result is definitely rewarding.

Stations are valuable because they can be used for all levels of assessment – diagnostic, formative and summative and also are ideal for differentiated instruction. Depending on how often you use them, it can definitely be worth the investment of time and money.

In Core French, it would be interesting to have a listening station and related activities especially if you had access to a wireless portable lab. Even reading stations could be a really creative way to focus on different types of texts and useful strategies. In fact, as long as you have gone to the trouble of setting them up, stations don’t have to just be used for one day but could even last for a week-long investigation/activity.

I could also see them being used as a way to keep the rest of the class productively occupied while affording you the chance to work with a small group of students (that in itself could be one of your stations) and a golden opportunity for differentiated instruction/assessment. I think that if you were to use them on a regular basis, it would also be beneficial and efficient to practice each activity with the whole class beforehand so that, on the chosen day(s), they would know exactly what to do and no long-winded explanation would be necessary.

As a final inspired thought, you could also chose selected students who were trained in advance to run and supervise each station as a leadership opportunity which would free you up to kick back and relax – enjoy an extra large cappuccino and the front section of your morning paper while the class virtually runs itself like a well-oiled machine;).

April 13, 2012April 13, 2012 Samantha.Perrin Diverse Learning Needs, Planning, Resources, Use of Technology

Teaching Music When You’re Not a Music Teacher

I did not have a very extensive musical education as a student. I could tell you that every Good Boy Deserves Fudge: and FACE are some things to remember when you are reading notes. I may not have an extensive musical background, but that’s not to say that I can’t teach music:

I truly do appreciate music. I like a variety of melodies and enjoy paying attention to lyrics, instruments, beats and rhythms of songs, and I believe that discussing an appreciation of music can be educational and fun for students and the teacher. From time to time I incorporate this kind of music appreciation into my classroom, and now that I am daily occasionally teaching, I find it an excellent back pocket idea for instances when I am called into teach Music for the day or when I have some time and need to settle an active class.

I found ‘music appreciation’ to be successful with the students that I was teaching, because they like to sing and they can move to the rhythms. Music has also been shown to improve cognition in younger students: http://alumni.news.yorku.ca/2011/10/27/york-study-verbal-iq/?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign. And let’s be honest, it’s fun to just groove out sometimes.

In my planning, I identify a genre of music (e.g., Jazz), read up on its history, instrumentation etc. and after playing some music for the students, we just discuss it. My I phone is very helpful- I can YouTube some music and Google additional information on it and play it for the students. We talk about how it made us feel and what we liked about it or didn’t like. Later, we learn to sing the song, we analyze the lyrics and research the genre some more through media literacy (e.g., I’ve had the students learn more about Jazz styling by exploring websites like http://pbskids.org/jazz/join_the_jazz_band.html.)

I hope this gives some beginning teachers some inspiration to make the most out of music instruction, even without a formal background in it. Good luck!

April 12, 2012April 13, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Diverse Learning Needs, Planning, Resources

Another good resource for teaching the Arts curriculum

Some time ago I shared a great website resource for drama and dance lessons and units- http://code.on.ca/resource

I have another favourite on line resource created specifically for Ontario teachers.

Learning Through the Arts hosts dance, drama, media arts and visual arts lessons based on the revised Arts curriculum for Ontario teachers. I like that I am able to watch the integrated arts lesson unfold with real students. You can browse by division or by subject. I am going to attempt the third grade animal legends unit in May. I hope you find this resource as useful as I do!

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

April 11, 2012April 11, 2012 Alison.Board Communication with Parents and Guardians, Learning in a Real Life Context, Planning

Excursions

When I taught Kindergarten last year, it was a half-day program. This was challenging for excursions, since we only had a two and half hour window to go somewhere and get back to the school so the children could meet their day-care providers for pick-up. This year, with my Grade 1/2 class, I have enjoyed many class trips. Most of them I organized or booked back in September to support the learning of our “big ideas.” A couple of trips were more spontaneous, like a trip to hear an orchestra, which was organized by the school.

On one of the trips, a parent volunteer that joined us for the day asked, ” Why do some classes in the school have more trips than others?” She thought that the trips were arranged by the school (administration?) for each particular class. This surprised me, but I explained that it was the discretion of the teacher. Years ago, my mentor suggested taking students on a trip once a month. I remembered this, and tried it out this year.

The places we visited were connected to our big ideas. I found the excursions worthwhile as it engaged the students, affirmed our sense of community as we ventured out of the school together, and provided alternative contexts for the students to create new connections and understanding. We visited a variety of facilities ranging from museums to conservation parks, which offered a range of indoor and outdoor experiences appealing to the many learning styles of the students.

Taking photos on the trip is a great way to document the learning. These photos can be shared with parents on a website as a form of communication or presented back to the students to promote more questions and thoughts. I often asked the students the same question when we returned, “What did you notice?” And it always amazed me how this open-ended question elicited observations that I never expected. We then recorded the observations of the students and used them for further investigation or discussion.

Class trips are like family vacations, you may not recall day to day events, but you often remember the big trips with happy memories.

Our class gets a guided tour at the zoo.