Shawna Rothgeb-Bird Assessment, General

Tracking Students’ Progress

If there’s one thing I’m constantly reflecting on, changing, and rethinking, it’s my assessment practices in the classroom. I’m not sure I’ll ever feel like I’ve found a way to track my students’ progress that works for me 100%, but I’m getting close! I’ve spent some time recently chatting with colleagues about how I assess my students, and based on the feedback I’ve gotten from them, I decided I would share my general assessment practices here in case anyone might find them helpful.

My assessment binder has a variety of components: class lists with a bunch of little checkboxes where I track completed work, marks, and so on; class lists with a comment box after each student where I write anecdotal notes about specific tasks; a large table where I keep sticky notes with anecdotal observations throughout the week; other pages I find helpful along the way. I’ll try to address these all specifically in this blog post.

Daily/Ongoing Assessment

I start every day with a discussion or a small task designed to reinforce something my students learned the day before. Discussion questions provide my students with the opportunity to practice their language skills in a relaxed way. Questions range from silly what-if situations to more serious topics like bullying. While my students are discussing the topic, I make notes about their speaking and listening skills on small post-it notes (one per student). These notes not only record students’ strengths and areas of need, but also inform my teaching in the sense that I can target my lessons to common areas of need or errors being made by many students. I try to focus on different students each day so that by the end of the week, I’ve noted something about every student in the class. When I have a moment, the post-its go on a laminated table I have.

The table has a box for each student in my class. Throughout the week, as I write down notes about students, I keep the post-its on the table in my assessment binder. At the end of the week, I transfer those notes into an electronic document for each student. I have one document for each student, which allows me to look back over the year and see my observations for that student all in one place. After I’ve transferred the notes to my computer, I usually shred the post-its. Sometimes the post-its are about specific subjects rather than learning skills or behaviours, and in those cases I may choose to keep them elsewhere rather than my computer files. I have an area of my binder for each subject, so it’s easy to keep the post-its in the appropriate part of the binder when necessary.

Sometimes I have a question or two on the board which I ask students to answer in writing rather than having a discussion. For example, this past week I have been teaching my students about light, so occasionally when they come into the room in the morning I have asked them to answer questions about what we’ve learned. This shows me who is understanding the material, who needs a bit more guidance, who is totally off-base, etc.

Task-Specific Assessment

When I want to keep notes about students’ achievement relating to a specific task, such as a project or presentation, I use a class list with a comment box next to each student’s name. I keep notes on feedback I provide to students, collaboration with peers, etc. in those boxes. This way, when I provide feedback to students, I still have a copy of what I said to them on-hand and can see the whole class at a glance. I keep those sheets divided by subject/strand in my assessment binder. They’re used for reporting and evaluation of student progress in specific subject areas.

Reading Assessment

I do GB+ evaluations (the French equivalent of PM Benchmarks) every two months with my students. These running records get placed in alphabetical order in a section of my assessment binder specifically for them. I like to keep all of the running records from the beginning of the year to the end.

 

Those are the three primary ways in which I track student progress. It works reasonably well, though there are definitely improvements I could make to my system. I find it easy to find information when I need it, which is handy when meeting with students’ families or trying to look back on the feedback I’ve provided to a specific student over the past few months.

One last piece of advice, regardless of what system you use to track student progress: back everything up. Whether you use a paper system, an electronic system, or a combination thereof, make sure you have a copy of your notes somewhere. You never know when something might go awry with your binder, your computer, your files… speaking as someone who has lost a term’s worth of data unexpectedly? Don’t be that person who has to scramble to figure out student marks and comments at the last minute when your hard drive fails!

Mike Beetham Before School Starts, Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Diverse Learning Needs, General, Inspiring Students, Learning About Your Students

Sunshine Calls

When my students arrive into my alternative behaviour classroom in September, so do their parents and families. The family’s beliefs and attitudes about school have been shaping ever since their child became a part of the formal school system. For the  family of my students, that means that most communication from the school has almost certainly been a negative scenario that had unfolded. So when I complete my first call home in September what do you think the response is from the parent who answers the phone? You are right, “Okay what did my child do now?”

Just as it takes time to build relationships with your students, so does it take time and effort to connect with families. This is especially true for families of students who have struggled in school or have had difficulty adjusting to school and classroom expectations. For me this starts with an onslaught of ‘Sunshine Calls’. A Sunshine Call is a strategy that I use to gain the confidence of my families by showing that I care about their child, I believe in their child and will balance the type of information that comes home and not dwell on the negative (attribute based approach).

The best analogy I can use to explain the benefits of this strategy is to compare it to banking. The more positive deposits that I put into my account (compliments, sunshine calls) the stronger that balance will be. When I do have to make a withdrawal (call home about a negative scenario) my positive balance will hold me over and the relationship will remain stable and the family will be more likely to support me knowing that it must be concerning for Mr. B. to be calling home about it.

What is exciting for me, is when my students start to understand and realize that their best efforts and positive changes will be shared often and ongoing with their family. I start by asking them if they would like me to cimagesall home and tell their parents about some positive scenario that took place that day. They 100% of the time say an astounding yes. As they come to realize this is a regular part of our classroom, they begin to ask me to call their family and let them know about their math work or reading. That is the time that I know why I will always look to see the glass as half full.

Will Gourley Celebrating Success, Challenging Topics, General, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers

Batting 300 – Swinging for the fences pt 2

This is the second post in my word series in spirit of circling the bases of baseball and education. I’m back at the plate to take another swing. Click here for an instant ‘read’play of my first at bat.

It’s the 7th inning, and your back at the plate, again. So far you have popped out to short stop, struck out looking, and are starting to regret getting out of bed today because you are sitting on 2 strikes already for this at bat; and the pitcher is feeling pretty smug about setting you down for the third time in a row.

photo by jcclark74 CC0
photo by jcclark74 CC0

You shake off the crowd noise and focus on the pitcher itching to make you look bad, again. Here it comes. The moment that defines you, validates you, and proves to the watching world, and yourself, that you deserve to be here. Your focus is Zen like. You want to hit one out of the park so badly, and leave the doubters gawking in awestruck wonder of your talent, and requisite, albeit, controversial bat-flip.

Here’s the pitch! Muscles tensed, eyes trained to the ball, hips and hands executing the swing in a fraction of a second, and in your mind play the immortal words of Jerry Howarth, “There she goes!” But the sound you hear is more of a thunk! You make contact, and the ball leaves the bat with barely enough force to escape the infield. Somehow, you are on base with a blooper, and after 2 failed attempts to get on base, you take what you can get. Time to make the most of it.

The classroom, like the baseball diamond, is where learning gets ugly and messy. Mistakes are going to be made, and that’s ok. Thoughts of perfection on every play only lead to frustration and disappointment. They are also unrealistic and can come at the detriment of the learner/player.

In baseball, like education, the goal is to get better every day. Results may often not be a result of what was planned or prepared for, but they allow us immediate feedback to keep our heads in the game. Do we quit when things are not going our way? Of course not. A perfect lesson in education, like a home run in baseball or pitching a perfect game, may be moonshot goals that should not keep us from swinging for the fences anyway.

Funny how life is like that too. The sweetest victories usually come after the most difficult times. As long as we are willing to be learning we are capable of achieving something. Success will look different from day to day. Are we preparing our students to stay in the games, step up to the plate, and take their swings? How we prepare our students will make all the difference. This comes through coaching, practice, resilience, and confidence. There is only one way to make this happen and it comes from believing in our students.

In a sport loaded with statistics, it is easy to glean relevant information about everything in baseball. Did you know that the last person to hit 400 was Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox. It was in 1941 and few players ever since have even come close to attaining, what is arguably, the most illusive achievement in professional baseball. Education has been known to keep stats too. Between government standardized tests, and need for assessment metrics from JK to infinity in the classroom, there is no shortage of data. But what of it? Are we using the data to its fullest? Are there better ways to measure success in the classroom like Sabremetrics I mentioned in my first post?

Baseball Player by Paul Brennan little paul - Public Domain
Baseball Player by Paul Brennan little paul – Public Domain

Imagine that since 1941, not a single player has been able to hit the baseball 4 times out of every 10 at bats. That’s a 40% success rate! What if we looked at our students that way. Would any of them be in the hall of fame with a success rate like Ted Williams? What would are world look like if our students were lauded for their swings and misses as much as their hits?

To some, it gets worse. In the modern era, if a player is able to hit the ball 3 times out of 10 over lengthy career he too has a good chance of being enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame*. That’s by being successful only 30%. This got me thinking. How are you celebrating the success of your students? Are you finding them stressing over their last at bat(test result, essay, project)? Are they able to learn each time they come to the plate and take a swing without losing confidence when they get out?

In her incredible TED Talk Every kid needs a champion Rita Pierson shared how important it was to celebrate success in learning, even if it was a failure by all standards. I often lose track of this myself and need to take stock of the little victories that happen in the process. As teachers, if we are greeting students heading back to the dugout after an out with disappointment or derision then we are missing a chance to build confidence in them, and a chance to help reflect and prepare for what needs to happen for success next time.

If we can share this with our learners then success is possibly only a few innings away. In this way we can encourage and equip students to be ready for when their turns in the batting order come around again.

*Canada has its own completely different Baseball Hall of Fame.

Tisha Nelson General, Inspiring Teachers, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Making a Difference Through Education

Teaching the Language of Power

Most of the learning I’ve experienced as an elementary school student is a blur. There are few moments, however, that stand out as pivotal and that have helped shape my experiences as an educator today. One of such moments was grade 7. It was in grade 7 that I learned the word mediocre. Before then, I had never encountered this word and once introduced, it was truly a powerful moment for me. In learning this word I was given language to express an idea that I didn’t even know had existed. This is the power of language and this is why I fell in love with words. My fascination with the ways in which words can be intentionally nuanced to convey ideas with such lyrical intensity fascinates me; not only because of the creative ways in which ideas can be constructed, but also because it is a tool for granting access to discourses that without them one would remain silenced. I experienced the power of language but also that language was power. This experience brought me to my journey of engaging my students in the politics of language and exploring ways I could grant them access to platforms of thinking simply by equipping them with the language of power.

More than mere vocabulary boosters, words of the day or word studies, when introduced in meaningful contexts, can not only enrich student vocabularies, but can also give volume to their voices as thinkers, activists and world changers. My journey toward empowering learners with the language of power began in my first year of teaching. It was a grade two class and I was terrified. I had no idea what to do or how to go about it. It seemed like all the learning from my formal teacher education went out the door as soon as the students walked in. I realized I was in trouble when I would speak to my students only to receive blank stares. What I wrestled with was whether or not to make what I was saying more child-friendly or to simply bring the children up to speed and create many teachable moments with the words that I used. The result was the latter and we began an anchor chart entitled “Ms. Nelson’s Fancy-Schmancy Words” where when students stopped me mid-sentence to seek understanding of a specific word I used and it would be added to the list along with its definition and the sentence in which it was used. Now, 7 years later, the anchor charts have evolved into a word wall in which students are constantly identifying not only new words that I used but also introducing ones of their own and adding words they find in the literature they read or listened to on a daily basis. The love for words became contagious and the thirst for learning new ones was intrinsic.

Students were then invited to use words, or the language of power, as tools in exerting voice to an authentic audience. Students were empowered by words when they interviewed all 5 Mayoral Candidates in the 2015 Mayoral Election. Students wrote speeches and presented them as great orators in front of invited community members that included the local crossing guard, a church pastor and family and friends. Students raised awareness by writing blogs about the impact of their social identities and shared these sentiments with the school community. Their words spoke to issues of social justice and coloured the imagination with distinct imagery, was a power to be wielded in the pens and voices of elementary school students.

IMG_0600

Word wall from my Grade 5/6 class: sabotage, aesthetics, logistics, schema, implications profound, trajectory, embrace, chronological, deconstruct, procrastinate, intimidated

 

 

Tisha Nelson Challenging Topics, Diverse Learning Needs, English As Second Language (ESL), English Language Learners (ELLs), General, Making a Difference Through Education, Math, Questioning, self reflection, Social Justice

Is Math Neutral?

The notion of neutrality speaks to the experience of being impartial or unbiased. It speaks to the absence of asserting value, power or privilege over another or the act of being impartial, unprejudiced and nonpartisan in nature. There are many areas of teaching and learning where the existence of prevailing politics is named and sometimes challenged: Whose stories do we include in the social studies/history curricula? What literature is considered to be the cannon? What art forms are considered cultured? But when educators think about the tapestry of math education, this notion of it being neutral tends to be widely agreed upon because of the perceived objectivity and absolutism that characterizes the ideas that are explored. But I wonder…is math really neutral?

“Math is about numbers. Surely it is neutral.”
This year, in supporting English Language Learners in math, I have learned many new Mandarin and Cantonese words from my students. More specifically, I’ve learned the inherent ways that Chinese characters are written to nurture a conceptual understanding of quantity. For example, the number eleven is written 十一 which means “ten-one” or can be understood as “ten plus one”. Similarly, the number twenty is written 二十 which could be understood as “two tens” or “two times ten”. Finally, the number thirty-three is written 三十三 Which could be understood as “three ten and three” or “three times ten plus three”. The fact that the word for the number eleven, when represented in English, has no relationship to the the concept of quantity speaks to the way numbers are represented are not neutral. This discrepancy in language representation speaks to the biased nature numbers are conceptualized through language. Thus proving an inherent bias in the ways in which numbers are conceptualized and number sense is acquired. Similarly, the bias toward English representation of numbers can limit the conceptual understanding of languages that represent numbers in a more conceptually friendly way.

“Math is about problem solving. Every has the capacity to solve problems.”
Consider the following problem: Brandon travels to the city using the subway. Each car seats 30 travelers. How many people might be on the subway if there are 10 cars? What background knowledge might students need to have in order to understand the context yet a alone respond the the problem mathematically? While the problems we pose to our learners may involve numbers that can be calculated and manipulated in flexible ways, the context, when coming from particular experiences, can deny access to the learning that needs to be achieved. In other words, if the context from which we invite students to explore math concepts can be carefully crafted in order for our learners to be able to relate to the ideas, they can also be unintentionally crafted in ways that could limit students access. In this way, contexts are never neutral because they come from a particular place of knowing or experiences that not all students have access to.

So there you have it. I’ve explored two very simple ways bias is experienced in math discourse. The presence of even one form of bias discredits the neutrality of math. If math, a lens for viewing the worlds through numbers, shapes and patterns, can be ladened with bias and politics, what else about the schooling experience share this similar trait?

Will Gourley Constant Learning, General, Inspiring Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Math, Resilience

Keep swinging for the fences

photo by jcclark74 CC0
photo by jcclark74 CC0

Spring is definitely here, perhaps this is not so evident in our temperamental weather, but by the fact that baseball season is back. In honour of that I wanted to share some connections to how being a student of the game is like learning in the classroom.

I look at baseball as a sport for all ages and genders. Everyone can play. In some ways, a baseball diamond could be the ultimate classroom with so much going on at anyone time in the stands, in the dugout, and on the field.

Baseball is a game of scenarios. There are constant situations to be thought through in every game and there are statistics kept from little league to the major leagues. Just think of all the other Math skills at play in the concession stands, ticket offices, and accounting/payroll departments. Math is an important part of baseball.

Baseball is a game of Physics. How a ball rotates from the pitchers hand towards home plate determines its trajectory. The angle and bat speed at which a player makes contact with a ball determines its flight duration and distance. Major League Baseball measures everything possible on the field that happens in a game, including ball rotation, pitch velocity, swing(bat speed), and field area covered in a program called Sabremetrics. I wrote this TED Ed lesson called Future of the game: Baseball latest statistical revolution to show how it is used.

Weather plays a role here too. Forecasts determine whether games can be squeezed in or postponed. Data from on-field temperature, and prevailing winds gets noted too. Imagine the engineering required to design the perfect outdoor ball park because no two seem to ever have the same design.

Baseball can be altered and adapted to suit the level of all its players. There is Kickball(soccer baseball), marshmallow baseball(played with a tennis racket and a bag of marshmallows), and Rounders. Some might even prefer the game of Cricket as it may be more familiar to their students than baseball. All of these adaptations have similar fundamentals and transferable skills.

Baseball is a team sport. No one can play all of the positions at once. It requires collaboration. Everyone plays a role whether in the field or waiting to bat. Baseball is a thinking game. Many of the lessons of life come from playing it. I mentioned Math and Physics before, but there are other areas that come in to play here too;

  1. Emotional- Players can get caught up by a moment, or when a mistake gets made. This can lead to other mistakes if focus required to make the next play. Baseball teaches its players to keep their minds on the game. It also shows students that mistakes are going to happen. How they recover from them is an important part of the game/lesson.
  2. Mental – With all of the statistics kept in baseball it is important for players to know what to do with the information. Processing on the fly and responding just like in the classroom comes from preparation aka practice. Players and students alike prepare for games/tests receiving coaching/instruction and next steps for improvement.
    Steve Hovley negative feedback
  3. Feedback – Whether playing baseball or learning in the classroom there is always feedback. Some is positive and some is negative. This can depend on something as simple as mindset, timing, and delivery. With students the risk of being kicked off the team is never on the table. There are no minor leagues in education. Teachers are in the room to help all of their students make contact with the ball and circle the bases with their learning. Regardless of the type of feedback teachers and coaches are there to instruct, identify talents, and encourage their students.
  4. When a player strikes out, there will be another chance to bat. When a player walks a batter or misses a throw, there will be another chance coming their way soon. The lesson is always be thinking and practising for the next opportunity whether it is in the classroom or on the field.

So as the players take to the field for the next umpteen months take some time to share this incredible game in your classroom. Take time to enjoy the Science, Math and chance to develop life strong habits of resilience and teamwork.

Will Gourley Anti-bullying, Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, General

Cancer, pink shirts, and why I hate Jell-O

cancer

Cancer is a ruthless disease. It knows no boundaries, respects no ideologies or cultures, and disrupts the lives of everyone affected by it. Cancer has a twin in education. It’s bullying.

Recently, I was creating some TED Ed lessons about bullying(in its various forms –The Cyber Bullying Virus and Bully Dance). This got me thinking about the following question;

What makes bullying so virulent that it can evade, morph, and destroy generation after generation?

What if we looked at bullying like it was a medical epidemic? If we called it a disease, which it truly is, would it be treated more seriously? Could it then be given the same attention and urgency as HIV/Aids, Ebola, and Cancer are in the medical world?

Or have we built up our immunity to the existence of bullying in our schools that says if it is not happening to us?  Like cancer, bullying is serious. Its symptoms leave lives in havoc along its path.

Yet, for all of the attention(meetings, resources, legislation), research, assemblies, and instructional time invested into eradicating bullying across multiple lifetimes it has not disappeared. With fingers pointing in all directions it is time we all look to our youth to solve the problem of bullying because the adults have made a mess out of it.

Remember back in 2014 when school trustees, all adults, managed to create a working environment so toxic that the police needed to be called in to deal with the troubles. My students asked why the adults couldn’t get along? I couldn’t answer it with anything other than bullying.

How do we justify this behaviour to a media savvy student body when those in positions of leadership are modeling “do as I say, not as I do” by their actions?

The course of treatment for the cancer of bullying is simple. Let students lead.

Students possess limitless energy, potential, and ideas so why not equip, empower, and get out of their way to do great things? A powerful example of a student led initiative to stop bullying is Pink T-Shirt Day. It started in 2007 at a Nova Scotia high school where a grade 12 student defended a grade 9 be being bullied because of the colour of his shirt. It has since become celebrated as a national day of awareness, with schools across the country holding stand up to bullying by wearing pink events.

PinkShirtDay

One of the reasons Pink T-Shirt Day is such a success comes from students leading the way. It has now fostered other wear pink events to fight bullying, homophobia, and transphobia. My school will be participating in its 2nd Day of Pink of 2016 on April 13th. At its core, pink shirt day is a way for everyone to stand together in order to focus on everything that unites us. I feel more student led events like this would set a positive and lasting example for people who have struggled with bullying at all levels of education from classroom to committee.

When students are allowed to lead they naturally rise to the task. Want proof? Look at the impact that Ryan’s Well, Free the Children, and Me to We have made on our world. Each amazing initiative inspired by a student.

Think about how you can encourage your students to be agents of change and social good in the fight against bullying in your school. I would love to hear if your school participates in Day of Pink activities. Tag me here or on Twitter @willgourley.

p.s.

I had Jell-O in the title because I was looking for a silly focus point in the title. There is an explanation of my true dislike for Jell-O at …why I hate Jell-O on escheweducationalist.wordpress.com.

Beverly Papove General

Learning to share habitat

The week before March Break we scheduled a workshop with the Scientist in the School program. Our presentation was for a kindergarten workshop on habitat called, “There’s No Place Like Home.” It was a great way to engage the students so close to a holiday, and a wonderful lead up to Earth Hour which our school participated in during the last afternoon before the break.

During the workshop, the students rotated through centres facilitated by parent volunteers and the program presenter. In the well-organized and engaging centres, they learned about animals in salt versus freshwater habitat; they learned about animals that dig tunnels and animals that live in, on and under trees; they also learned how beavers create habitat when they dam a waterway. All in all, it was a great afternoon of hands-on learning which the students thoroughly enjoyed.

When we got back to the classroom, I created the opportunity for the students to paint a mural of animal habitat as a follow up to the workshop. On a blackboard placed at eye level for the students, I painted the slope of a hill which lead to a body of water. To encourage the placement of a beaver dam, I painted two water levels, to simulate before and after a dam. Then I invited students to come and paint animals in their habitat.

They painted birds in trees on the hill, worms and ‘bunnies’ in tunnels under the hill, and fish, ducks, and turtles in the water. Someone painted the beaver dam and added a moose on the shallow water side having a drink. Throughout the day, students would ask if they could add an animal and its habitat, and so the mural was quite full and detailed by the time we left for outdoor play at the end of the day.

The following day, I sat with some students at the art table. I had with me a pile of card stock cut in half lengthwise (about 4.5” x 11”). On one of the cards, I drew a long broken line down the middle of the length of the card, put some masking tape on the back, and handed it to one of the students, asking them if they could find a spot to put a section of road in the habitat mural. I asked them what happens when a road is built but there is water or a valley along the way. That’s when they realized they had to build a bridge with the cardstock over the water and the beaver dam. As the road and bridge were being built, I asked if anyone wanted to draw, colour and cut out cars and trucks to put on the road. Then I asked if houses and buildings could be drawn up the same way. Soon the mural was full of roads with cars, buildings, a bridge, a car factory, stop signs and traffic lights.

When it was done, I gathered the students to have a seat in front of the mural. I asked them what had happened to our habitat mural. Here is some of what they said:

“Cars came.”

“The habitat got covered up.”

“Their habitat is under the road and it’s not really good.”

“The road’s right above the bunny tunnel and they can’t get out.”
 “If animals try to get up on the road, they could get killed.”

“Maybe some workers that cut down the trees might not know that a robin was in there.”

When I asked, “What should we do?”, the students suggested taking all the roads and buildings out of the habitat, until one little girl asked, “But what about us? We need a place to live, too!” There was a collective murmur of, “Oh yeah…” and several heads nodding in agreement as they realised that there might be a bit of a problem with their initial idea. Rather than getting into a discussion of the enormous conundrum involving population growth, urban development, and habitat destruction, and hoping instead that the lesson would build knowledge and end on a positive note, I reframed my question by asking them if they and their families had ways of living that could help and protect habitat. Many mentioned that they have bird feeders, that they walk to school instead of driving in a car, and that they have a garden and a compost bin. As they continued to list off the many small ways they are engaged in looking after the environment, there was a sense of , “Oh ya! I am a helper not a destroyer,”  which seemed to make everyone feel better.  Later on, when we turned off all the lights, the computer, and the overhead fans for Earth Hour, the students had a new appreciation for participating in yet another way to help out the planet.

Mike Beetham Challenging Topics, General, Inspiring Teachers, Learning in a Real Life Context, Mentorship, Resilience, Wellness

Rebound From Your Mistakes

Perfectionism seems to be a common character trait of teachers in that they expect to be perfect at everything they do. They must have perfect lessons, they have to have perfect classroom displays, they expect perfect interviews and so on and so on. If this level of achievement has not been met they often feel they have let down their students. They may feel guilt or embarrassment and tend to dwell on the negative aspect of the scenario. The reality is we are human and humans make mistakes even if they are teachers.

We are patient with our students. We expect them to make mistakes in their personal learning journey and offer formative feedback that allows them to reflect on their learning and move forward to the desired outcome. If this works with students, it will also work with teachers.

There have been many, many times over the course of my career that I made a mistake. Like when I said something I should have phrased a different way or when my reaction to a classroom situation was not handled in as professional a manner as it could have. Each time a situation occurs that I feel could have been handled a different way I complete a personal reflection that helps me move forward in my practice. All of those not so shining moments, have helped shape my learning and skill set for the present and future.

One of the Keys of Excellence in my classroom is ‘Failure Leads To The Sweet Smell of Success’. This foundational belief teaches my students that mistakes are inevitable and we can examine the error and turn it into a teachable moment so that future scenarios will result in success for all. An added bonus to this is that my students become more of a risk taker as it relates to ability to try new things. I live by this belief and it has helped me become a lifelong learner as well as a risk taker in experimenting with new pedagogical practices.

 

Will Gourley Challenging Topics, Classroom Management, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, General, Modern Learning

Movers and shakers

I might catch a little fire for this title.
And thank you in advance for reading.

Every classroom has them- fidgety student(s). You know the ones who cannot get comfortable to sit still, are unable to focus for longer than 8 seconds (there are statistics for that), and are constantly in motion. Some days you see your classroom is more like a garden filled with hummingbirds flitting, buzzing, and appearing to faff about even when totally engrossed in a task.

Are they learning? Can students learn when their distractedness is a distraction? You’re thinking about your students right now(past and present) aren’t you? I am, and yes like yours are incredible capable learners, each of whom possess a curiosity and creativity that we allow to flourish.

So, how do(did) we manage to harness a student’s abundance of energy without blowing a fuse or short circuiting the individual? For me, working with* a ‘busy’ student, whether officially identified with ADHD or not, requires a deft balance of patience, structure, and at the same time flexibility. Inside of this is an expectation of great things that is mapped out and shared with the help of the individual learner. It is not my agenda that gets carried out. Student voice is crucial in this process. Negotiation skills training is included in the deal.

Do you allow students to doodle? This simple artistic expression allows students a place to focus the fidgety moments onto the paper while freeing their attention to concentrate on the lesson. How about a soft foam squeeze toy? In my class we have several available that are specifically dedicated to any students who might feel a bit of stress or the need to keep their hands occupied. Plus they’re fun to throw around the class as a kinaesthetic activity and to practice Math facts or French verb conjugation.IMG_0164

Doodling and fidget toys seem counter-intuitive to many teachers who were educated annually in the art of rote in row after boring row, but can be great ways to support your busy students. Sadly, the education from the good old days doesn’t always honour the progress of humanity in the 21st Century. Especially, when it keeps referring to what worked or is rooted(stuck) in the last one as the only path to knowledge. In my opinion this is antithetical to the needs of modern learners who, as a result of innovation, technology, and pedagogy find themselves barely coping in some classes while thriving in others. 

My teachers had a kid like that, me. My mom shared, that after some tests and upon the school’s urging our family doctor prescribed some meds which were intended to help channel my “energetic” demeanour. My parents refused. Thanks mom and dad!

Although some of my colleagues might volunteer to renew the prescription for me, I am glad my parents decided not to take the pharmaceutical option. Instead they chose to work with my teachers on implementing strategies which would keep me busy, moving, and engaged.

Do you know how many notes I delivered around the school, erasers I cleaned, or how many times I helped the caretaker sweep? And that was during instructional time. Every recess(2 x 15 mins + 60 mins lunch) was spent running, jumping, climbing, and playing. It was the time outside, in motion, that made the time inside learning tolerable. So it makes me wonder how many others went through, or are going through the same thing as I did?

Without apologies I wish to proclaim and thus forever own my ADHD. In fact I wear it like a badge knowing it was a blessing in my life as a learner and is a gift in my life as an educator. The challenge for learners and educators comes in finding that Goldilocks Zone between perpetual motion and learning progress each year that is just right.

As the researchers note, “in the school setting, the challenge becomes how to create an environment in which creativity is emphasized as a pathway to learning as well as an outcome of learning.” from The Creative Gifts of ADHD by Scott Barry Kaufman in Scientific American

And therein lies one of many Catch-22s in our profession. We have some who have blessed their classrooms for  35 years or more, and others who are just being hired. The gap between youth and experience is not going anywhere? How do we re-invigorate mindsets, open ourselves to greater collaboration, and sharing the wisdom gathered from experience. There is much to gain from having both. Now the challenge is preparing, pairing, and finding some playtime between the two sides.

* I had originally considered using the word ‘handle’ instead of ‘work with’ as I wrote this post. Upon reflection it was wiser to be considerate of the fact that handling a student conjures negative thoughts, whereas working with a student evokes a working opportunity.