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Samantha.Perrin Building Inclusion, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students

Slowing Down and Creating Goals

“Go Slow, Go Deep” – Tina’s words have been resonating in my head since I read her last post and over the past couple of weeks. I find myself repeating them to myself daily in response to everything from delivering my lessons in math, teaching the students how to sustain reading effectively during independent reading time, to working through our class agreements and routines.

After reading those words, I found myself reflecting on how intently I work to developing class lessons, routines and climate, and how there are always times when a few students don’t seem to transfer the learning from the class lesson to their individual work or conduct.  It can be frustrating trying to figure out why the students are missing it: Was it because I am moving through the lesson too quickly? Were the expectations clear?  Was it because Jimmy was squirming too much in front of Tommy?   Maybe I’m not engaging them… or is it the material?

Then I remember  the words … Go Slow, Go Deep…

After some reflection, I remembered that in order to go deep with my students, what they are doing has to be meaningful to them (even when the subject area isn’t every students interest), and that time needs to be given to hook the students into what they are learning and reflect on what they are supposed to be getting out of a certain activity or lessons  (their learning goal). I usually draw upon student interests to make my lessons fun but not all students are passionate about all areas of the curriculum all of the time, and rather than spend all my time scouring the internet for more fun teaching ideas, I need to find a sustainable way for the students to buy in, and go deep:

Inspired by  Jim’s inclusion activity about developing Goals/Strengths/Beliefs ( Heart And Art of Teaching and Learning, p.36), I adapted the activity to have students communicate their learning goals for several learning tasks and we have begun this for a number of activities and subject areas.

Before and during lessons I  have started to include time for developing goals with my students for what I hope them to learn by the end of the lesson and I have the students share what they  think the final outcome should look like. Sometimes that means that a lesson that was originally intended to take one period will now take two, or even be spread out over the week. These goals are communicated on the whiteboard or chart paper for the students’ reference and so that the students can begin to self-regulate more.  I hope that by putting in the extra teaching time now,  by mid-year the students will be in the habit of viewing  their lessons as a  ‘goal’ with a defined outcome that they want to achieve.

I hope that by taking more time to developing goals with the students, it won’t matter as much that Jimmy was particularly squirmy one day or that Ari was counting the ceiling tiles instead of paying attention to  what a Level 4 Journal entry looks like. It will matter less  because our goals will be visible, available and referred to regularly and eventually (hopefully) it will sink in.  One of my  goals for this year is to continue taking the time to make goals with my students so that they may  develop it as a habit that is internalized, routine and oriented towards success.

 

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Sangeeta.McAuley Building Inclusion, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Learning About Your Students

Making Connections with Family

Thinking about Carmen’s experiences at her “Meet the Teacher” night reinforces for me how important it is to connect with the families of our students.

Building inclusion goes beyond what we do in our classrooms and if we are going to connect with family members, using less jargon and the words of our students can make a difference.

When our “Meet the Teacher” night came, I asked my students, “What would you like to share with your families about our classroom?” and the answers started pouring in. Not surprisingly, there was very little emphasis on curriculum!!! They wanted to share what they had helped to create: our reading corner, the desk setup, how they can earn class points and so on.

So, I took all their ideas and made a checklist, which they could access when they came in with their families. It was so exciting to observe my students bringing their families into their world at school. It also gave me an opportunity to observe the relationships they have with parents, siblings and grandparents. Once the “tour” was done, then I could chat with family members and answer any questions they had.

Each family left with handouts of the topics we would be covering throughout the year (which still tend to be a bit of an overdose on jargon) so to balance this out, I also send home newsletters with questions that family members can ask my students about what they are learning (see section below). We call it an “Ask-Me” letter and my students helped me develop the questions for their families.

Writing Personal Stories – Ask me…

-what is a seed story and a watermelon story?

-what is the difference between storytelling and telling a story?

-how am I writing the lead to my story?

Problem-solving in Math – Ask me…

-what are some ways you can solve a problem?

-what is one strategies that has worked for me?

-what is “working backwards” or “guess and check”?

 

Ideally, I hope to have them design the next newsletter, but for now, it’s a start!!!

 

 

 

Photo of Carmen Oliveira
Carmen.Oliveira Building Inclusion, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Learning About Your Students

Getting to Know Your Students Is the Best Time You Will Ever Spend

We just had our school’s “Meet the Teacher” night and the feedback from the parents in my classroom proved that, without a doubt, the best time spent during the first month is in getting to know my students.  I was astounded at the fact that most parents felt like they already knew me.  They commented on how their child went home and told them all about our fantastic conversations during our morning community circle and couldn’t wait to be the “Rockstar of the Week.”  This month I’ve really focused on and enjoyed creating meaningful opportunities to get students to open up and share who they are with our classroom community.

The following are some examples of how we get to know each other:

1. Each student has a Daily Journal.  After they come in, they write a “Reflection Question” in their journal and spend the first 10-15 minutes writing down their thoughts.  This is a powerful self-reflection exercise that I have started in my own life and felt the difference it makes on every level: personal, professional, spiritual, etc.  We then start our morning by sitting in a community circle and volunteering our ideas and opinions.  You can literally feel the good energy permeate in our classroom!  I have attached some examples of Reflection Questions.

2. We have a “Rockstar of the Week” bulletin board.  Each week, a student is chosen to fill us in on who they are!  It involves writing about what’s most important to them in life (we read “The Important Book” as a pre-lesson), sharing their favourite books, music, movies, etc., and putting up pictures that can give us a window into their life.  During the week, students must ask the Rockstar about any fact or picture they’d like to find out more about.  At the end of the week, we have an oral quiz on the Rockstar for points that go to the groups that answer the questions correctly. This is a blast and the Rockstar runs the show!

In a letter to their parents this week, one of my students wrote something that brought tears to my eyes and affirmed why I love teaching.  He wrote, This year, I have an amazing teacher.  She really cares about us and says our classroom is our home for the day.  I like that because that’s how it feels.” And that’s why I love my job!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

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Erin.Grewar Building Inclusion, First Week Reflections, Learning About Your Students

Building Inclusion through Oral Communication Activities

In the Core French classroom, building inclusion is a must. Students will only feel comfortable participating in an environment of tolerance, security and where they are not afraid of risk. In this type of atmosphere, creativity flourishes and learning French becomes interactive and a more authentic experience. I usually start with simple short dialogues involving greetings and exchanging information (ex. telephone numbers and emails). What makes the outcome so positive is that students infuse their skits with current expressions and it is simple enough that everyone can be successful.

Getting all levels of students to participate is also facilitated when you  have visible prompts for those who need more support. Likewise, I also make sure to always to include and model ideas for level 4 extensions using compound sentences with parce que, mais and alors.

Having read through the book, I found several suggestions which would lend themselves perfectly to encouraging inclusiveness through speaking activities. In particular, I thought I would try Carmen’s “Friend Venns” where kids exchange likes and dislikes. Also Shernett’s “Ten Things About Me” incorporated into inside/outside circles would be the perfect and always welcome kinesthetic activity!

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Alison.Board Building Inclusion, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Learning About Your Students

Becoming One

 

In just a few weeks, I can see our group of grade one and two students grow as a community. Evidence is in the way they are aware of other’s likes and dislikes, recognize when someone in missing from the group, and readily offer assistance to one other. Like Samantha, I wanted to gather some information about the students to keep on file. In my first newsletter I requested email addresses to set up parents on automatic updates from the class website. I also asked parents the following:

What delights your child?  What makes your child uncomfortable? What goals do you have for your child?

The responses were brief, but insightful. It not only gave me some information about my students, but the priorities and perspectives of the student’s parents/families. In addition to the information requests, I also used Aaron’s suggestion of an All About Me Bag in “The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning” (p 45). The children were provided with a paper bag. They brought back their bags filled with five items that they felt best represented themselves. The children were thrilled to share their All About Me bags at the community circle and waited with anticipation to learn more about their classmates with each presentation. To the children’s surprise, there were many areas of common interest that were revealed, which resulted in new friendships that extended to recess and the playground.

September was full of new beginnings. At times I questioned whether we were accomplishing enough, such as the curriculum. As Tina discussed in her blog entry, I needed reminders to “go slow.” So as I planned our reading and writing, I tried to incorporate our community-building activities. Two read-alouds that the children adored and were able to easily connect to regarding self-esteem and inclusion, were: One by Kathryn Otoshi and The OK Book by Amy K Rosenthal. These books provided us with rich literature for our reading and writing program, while supporting our  discussions on community.

 

 

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Tina.Ginglo Building Inclusion, First Week Reflections

Go Slow, Go Deep

Like Roz and Sangeeta, I have returned to the classroom after working for seven years in a number of board and faculty professional learning positions. I found the work I did outside the classroom rewarding.  I was privileged to be a guest in 100s of teachers’ classrooms where I was inspired and motivated by the creative, purposeful learning opportunities these teachers planned for their students.   As I planned for my return to the classroom, I couldn’t wait to put many of these new strategies and routines in place.  I wanted to dive right in and start everything right away!

In the later part of our first week back at school, I received an email from a new teacher I taught in pre-service.  She was excited to let me know about her new teaching position and to share her long range planning ideas with me.  At the end of her email, this former student wrote, “ I remember what you always told us, go slow, go deep.”    Well, did I feel foolish! I was just “schooled” by my own principles!  My enthusiasm clouded my thinking.  If I want my students to truly grasp the strategies and routines I want to put in place, I needed to slow down and delve deep into a few skills and strategies rather than skim the surface of many.

Also, it is important that we first consider our students.  We need to discover their strengths, and how they feel about themselves as learners.  Only then can we align the best strategies with the right kind of learner.     I have used many of the strategies and activities in Heart and Art to help build community in our classroom and learn about the individual learners in our class.   I provided students with opportunities to share their feelings and ideas through oral activities, the arts and written responses. One of my favorite activities was the goals and strengths t-chart that Jim shared in the Heart and Art book.   After modeling my own t-chart that included my personal, social and academic goals and strengths, and my personal beliefs about “life”,  I had the students complete their own t-chart.  Once completed, students then shared their t-charts with each other. The students learned that they have similar skills that needed work such as being tidier at home!  They also discovered that they all cherish their family and that friendship is important. I  learned that all of my grade 3 students want to be successful at school and want to be accepted by their peers.

I have to thank Rose for her email.  Daily 5, literature circles, and all the other great programming ideas will be established in time, but for now,  I will continue to go slow to grow, and remember that depth is better than breadth.

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Sangeeta.McAuley Classroom Layouts, Classroom Management, Diverse Learning Needs, First Week Reflections, General, Professional Learning and Growth

Choice in the learning environment

Returning to the classroom after working at a central level for 6 years has been an awesome experience so far…I feel like a beginning teacher all over again!

One of the interesting questions that I thought about when planning my first week had to do with choice: how do we know when to involve our students in decision-making and which decisions need to be more teacher-driven?

So, I set out to experiment on the first day of school, by letting my Grade 4 students determine which configuration would work best for the classroom desks. I knew this experiment would tell me a lot about my students, such as their problem-solving skills and how they worked together with their classmates.

It was a new feeling for me, always having had student desks already set up for the first day!

To prepare, I came up with some conditions:

-certain areas were to remain as they were (e.g., the reading corner, the conference area, my desk)

-each group had to present their model and the thinking behind it

-the desks were to be arranged in groups, but the number at each group could vary (e.g., there could be some groups of 6 and some groups of 3)

-they would need to include a space where students could go to work quietly on their own, if needed

-when we add to the room (e.g., new students, a SMARTBOARD, etc.), we may need to revisit the plan

After sharing these conditions on a chart with my class, they organized themselves into groups and set off to plan! It was exciting to see how each group had their own unique style. One group  first calculated how many students we had and thus, how groupings could work. Two other groups drew in the conditions first, then planned from there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would I do this again? Absolutely!

I learned that as teachers we cannot underestimate our students’ capabilities. Giving them choice in creating their classroom environment empowered my students and the interest they took in actually moving the desks to reflect the plan we chose was amazing to watch.

The fact that I had written the conditions ahead of time led me to realize my students benefitted from knowing that sometimes when we make choices, there are structures and boundaries we need to work within…

Next up, settting up our reading corner!!!

 

Photo of Carmen Oliveira
Carmen.Oliveira Building Inclusion, First Week Reflections

Coming Together With Our Class Motto

Cooperatively working together to create a set of beliefs and promises shared by a class using a class motto is a powerful experience that serves as a foundation for a positive and meaningful learning environment. Creating a class motto is one of my favourite moments as I look back at my teaching career. Every year, it proves to be a very meaningful activity that always brings the students together and creates a sense of pride from the moment the motto is said as a class.

During our first week, I had the students work in groups and use graffiti as a strategy to write their ideas about what they believe our classroom should look, feel, and sound like. This is an activity from the “Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning” which I have successfully used with my classes every year. Groups then discuss the ideas they brainstormed about their ideal classroom and begin sharing and deciding on the ones they believe are most important.  As a class, we create a list using a graphic organizer and then regroup once more to come up with principles that will bring about the feelings, sounds, and “look” of our dream classroom.  This is how our A-Team Classroom Code of Conduct (the class voted on the title) is created.  As part of their daily reflection question in their journal, students choose which principle is most important to them.  This year the overwhelming choice was “We have a ton of fun exploring and learning.”

Our class motto then comes together using the three or four most important principles from our Class Code of Conduct.   These are voted on by the students.  When it is all said and done, we sit back and proudly read it aloud together.  It is one of those moments in the school year that I most treasure.  Each day, after morning announcements and the national anthem, we repeat our A-Team Class Motto and then dive into having a ton of fun exploring and learning!

The A Team Code of Conduct

A Team Class Motto

 

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Alison.Board Before School Starts, Building Inclusion, Classroom Layouts, First Week Reflections, Learning About Your Students

Starting Anew

Every school year is an opportunity for a new start for all teachers. Whether it is getting to know new students, new staff and teaching partners, or even a new classroom. This September I am experiencing all three, and after the first week of school I am just beginning to reflect on all the change. I am welcoming the renewed energy (after a very relaxing summer) and the challenges that teaching brings.

In the last week of August, I took the time to think about the classroom environment and what changes I could make to create an inviting and inclusive environment for the children and for me. Although it is a Grade one and two class, I want the students to have areas/learning centres that will encourage inquiry and collaboration. So, I started with a new layout that includes a reading corner, an art studio, and a math centre using cozy corners and spaces with shelving along the walls. Then I made two groups of six desks, one group of four desks, and added two round tables (I would have preferred round tables for all the students, but had to improvise with what was available). There is a place for individual book bins and pencil/materials trays for the students to access easily, so they don’t have to keep anything in their desks (allowing for flexible seating throughout the day). On the first day of school, I let the children sit wherever they want and place their “portable” name card at their desired spot. It was interesting to observe that all of the children, except one, kept the same seat all week!

Our first weeks together in Room 3 are important for creating an inclusive space and building our classroom community. We are learning about one another with Tribes activities, such as passing an inflatable globe and sharing “What’s important in my world?” Last week, we read the book One, by Kathryn Otoshi, which recognizes differences and encourages kindness and inclusion (already deemed a favourite by the kids). In their tribes, the children used watercolour paints to demonstrate their own feelings and connections to colour. These paintings are displayed in the classroom to remind us of our own similarities and differences. Otoshi’s book continued to inspire us through the week as we shared personal experiences about feelings at the carpet before writing about them in our Writing Workshop.

Despite a few hiccups for the grade ones learning new routines and adapting to a full day of school (a few tears at lunch time), I think the first week was a good first step for the new school year.