Classroom setup
Sangeeta.McAuley Building Inclusion, Celebrating Success, Classroom Layouts, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Resources

What’s Working

There is nothing like the gift of time. I so look forward to long weekends, not just because I can spend extra time with my family, or catch up on sleep, but also because it gives me time to reflect. I made a few changes in my classroom after March Break and it seemed like the right time to consider what’s working and perhaps not working, and how to make it work. That’s the beauty of teaching…change can happen at any time!

1) The desk arrangement in my classroom seemed to offer less space for movement, so I moved groups of desks together on an angle.

It still somehow feels like too many students at one table grouping…and sometimes group work can be challenging. This one I will have to re-think, perhaps making smaller groups and varying the sizes based on my students.

2) The table basket materials at each grouping often seemed disorganized, and I realized I had assumed that because my last set of Grade 4 students had been relatively organized and independent, this year would be similar. An unfair assumption on my part, given how unique each group can be! Therefore, I tried to add a list to these baskets so students could put materials back in the appropriate spot, thereby allowing them to access what they need.

This idea seems to work when the student assigned to table monitor checks the baskets throughout the day. I’m noticing my students are spending less time getting prepared and more time on actual tasks.

3) Many years ago, I noticed that the amount of unfinished work in different places made it difficult for me to know when my class needed “finish up” time. So, I hung hoops over each table grouping and when students were not finished, they would hang it on the hoop and return to it when they had time. It also helped me to see who might be struggling to complete work and when accommodations might be helpful.

This year, I’ve asked students to put their work on one particular hoop, so that they do not need to search several locations for their unfinished work. I find this method also more helpful for me, so I can support students who have unfinished work at each table grouping.

4) Many of my students seem to have self-esteem issues and it’s hard for them to reflect on what they are doing well. I’ve tried a variety of ideas over the year and most recently, we’ve added this “go-to people” list so that they can feel they have expertise and the ability to help others.

This idea is one I have to followup on and possibly add to, given that some students will not be able to share their expertise in a classroom setting (e.g., swimming)!

5) The last idea I wanted to revisit was reducing anchor charts to frames that can be used at the tables as a reference. This idea has been helpful for some of my students and I hope to continue using it for art activities as well.

 

The best part is, I have to spend less time trying to find places to hang chart paper! Next, I want to take the papers out of these frames and put them in a book that students can continue to refer to later, if they wish.

Now that I have completed my long weekend reflections, it’s time to head back to eating chocolates…

 

 

Photo of Erin G
Erin.Grewar Diverse Learning Needs, Planning

Effective Planning for Core French – From Scratch

Effective Planning for Core French – From Scratch

Core French is an interesting subject to teach that is full of…paradoxes so to speak. Interestingly enough, I’ve never seen any other subject area where the resources are so painstakingly developed. In some, there is a detailed breakdown by the minute of each lesson accompanied by an actual teacher script (Allez à la page 2 de votre livre. Quel est le titre du chapitre?) A little surreal actually. One would think that teaching core French would be the easiest thing in the world; your lessons are all planned out, no shortage of worksheets and someone has even thought out exactly what you’re supposed to say and when. How then to explain the digression of The Young and the Restless into Fear Factor? Well, it’s easy to write a one-sided script but not so easy to gage how the other party might respond. The most common problems for Core French teachers are a lethal cocktail of zero motivation and disruptive behaviour both of which feed into the other. Personally what saved me from successive agonizing 42 minute periods (time and time again) were well-crafted lesson plans and activities. The magic formula? Engaged students don’t misbehave. Does this mean you have to do more than open your book to the prepared scripted lesson of the day? Yes. Does this require a lot of effort on your part? Yes, countless hours. Is it really worth it? Most definitely. What follows are some ideas around
1) Students need to be able to relate to what you’re trying to teach them. That’s why bypassing the unit on Microbes (an actual unit in a popular resource) could save both your students and yourself alike. Instead focus on themes that reflect their actual interests.
2) Stay on top of current trends in everything (music, sports, tv/movies, etc)! No need to overdo it, but be aware of what your students are interested in.
3) Personalize your worksheets/assignments with names of your students and current info. In doing so, you will have tricked them into actually reading through the entire text.
4) Be very creative in terms of the concepts of your assignments. Use the curriculum as your base and integrate the concepts into something fun. An example for the passé composé would be to recount a week in the life of Beyoncé and include all the gossipy tidbits in the descriptions of her activities. Similarly for the future proche, they could write an assignment around winning the lottery and describing how they would spend their fortune.
5) Give them lots of support in terms of exemplars, reference sheets and anchor charts. Always make sure you have given them all the necessary tools to be able to work independently (without relying on Google translate).
6) Use the publishers resources as a guide but be prepared to redesign materials to suit the needs and level of your students.
7) Allow your students to make it as simple as they might need to or as complex as they are able.
8) Have fun in the process and think of it as a future investment. A lot of work up front but beneficial in both the short and long term.

Alison.Board Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Inquiry, Learning in a Real Life Context

Science in Play-Based Learning

Science in a Kindergarten classroom looks like many different things. There are learning centres such as the sand or water table, where children are using free exploration and where teachers are guiding specific experiments. There are also inquiry projects that may last a day or a few months that evolve with the children’s interests and are continued with the educators’ guidance. I would like to share an inquiry that has evolved in our classroom this winter.

 

It all started with a fish. The children found a piece of ice on the pavement in the schoolyard. They noticed right away that it was formed in the shape of a fish. One of the children carried it in his arms as we lined up to go back into the school. My first reaction was to tell them to leave it outside, then I realized this could be the beginning of something bigger – an inquiry on ice and possibly how it melts into water – that the children could observe and discover.

 

 

 

 

So, the children were thrilled and brought it into the classroom. We put it in the empty water table container. Before we left for home, I asked the children to predict, “What do you think is going to happen to the ice fish?” Here are some of their responses after a brief discussion:

  • It will melt in spring.
  • It will melt in one hundred days.
  • It will melt if we put it in the refrigerator.
  • It will melt by tomorrow.

The next morning when I entered the classroom, my teaching partner asked me if I had looked at the ice fish. I hadn’t, and figured I already knew what to expect, a container of water. When I looked, I was surprised to not only find the water from the melted ice fish, but an imprint. This was a surprise for me, something I couldn’t have planned for. We were excited to share the finding with the children when they arrived.

 

 

 

 

 

The children were excited to see the shape of the fish made from the sediment in the ice. They instantly realized that it was left from when the ice fish melted. That day, the children observed the dirt and some made drawings. As a group, we discussed the possibilities and the children decided it was the dirt from the snow that had sunk to the bottom of the container.

 

 

 

This inquiry led to more experiments with snow. We talked about the difference between liquids and solids. Through our discussions we wanted to make snow melt faster. The children made suggestions on how to make the snow melt faster and we tried them through various experiments. We set some snow under a lamp in our classroom, and it took all day to melt. We also tried adding cold water and hot water (with adult assistance) to the snow. The students discovered the effects of water and compared these to the conditions outside.
This inquiry has led us to learn more about water…
peer-to-peer book recommendations
Katie Pryde Diverse Learning Needs, Literacy

Reading Suggestions

I have often heard about teachers doing Peer to Peer Book Recommendations (see picture below)in their classrooms, however, I have never heard of doing Student-Teacher Book Recommendations. While reading the Guide to Effective Instruction in Literacy K-Grade 3, I read a section that touched on the idea of having book recommedations in the classroom, and I thought this was a wonderful idea!

1) Peer to Peer Book Recommendations: This is an opportunity for students to recommend books that they have read to other students in the classroom. This is a wonderful idea for many different reasons. Most students will recommend books that they have enjoyed, and that they hope another student would like based on the characters, or plot. This will help students read books that are interesting, as well as show them that the other students in the classroom truly know them if they recommend the book based on the knowledge of the students’s likes/interests; it’s a great way of showing that each student cares about one another and has paid attention to eachothers’ likes and dislikes.

2) Student to Teacher Book Recommendations: This is an opportunity for students to recommend books to teachers, which can be used for novel studies, read alouds, shared or guided reading. This is a wonderful way for teachers to ensure that they are using books in their classroom that are of interest and of relevance to their students based on their interests, culture and reading levels. Of course, teachers will have to evaluate and look at the reading levels to ensure they are appropriate for readers if using as a novel study or guided reading piece, but I think this is a wonderful idea for ensuring students are interested in the reading material which will help instill a true love of reading for all students. This can very easily be done by the teacher, but creating a suggestion-type box where students can write down their book recommendations for the teacher.

* The picture above was provided by www.scholastic.ca

Photo of Sangeeta McCauley
Sangeeta.McAuley Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Use of Technology

Kings of Writing

Last year, when it was time to sign up for extracurricular activities, I chose to run a junior Boys’ Writing club.

Sometimes I find writing such a challenge for students. They struggle with how to make it “look right” and when I explain that spelling and neatness do not have to be the main foci, they can find it hard to believe. How is it possible that writing can be effective when there are misspelled words or words crossed out on the page?

So, my mission was born. I wanted the Boys’ Writing club to take writing in a different direction and helps students to see that it can be such a powerful tool for communication.

I began with some research. Namely, what were issues at our school that our club could address through writing? How could I use these issues to give writing a purpose?

Here’s what I came up with:

-775 students in our school

-families that are new to Canada

-lunch recess is 55 minutes

-some areas of our playground are closed during winter

-daily problems happen outside that students talk about when they come in after lunch recess

When our club met for the first time, the vision was clear: we could do an advice column to help the students who have problems outside at recess. We made an action plan, the boys committed to attending weekly meetings and I asked them to come up with a name: “Kings of Writing”, they told me.

We discussed how the advice column could work: we would make mailboxes, students from around the school could write letters to the club and we would write responses to these letters. I decided to add one twist. Rather than writing a good copy of these letters, we would record the final responses on an iPad and play these responses over the announcements once a week.

The “Kings” were thrilled. Hearing their responses made them feel like they were doing something worthwhile and I think writing took on a whole other meaning for them.

Here’s a sampling:

kings of writing advice1

kings of writing advice2

kings of writing advice3

This year, I’m doing a version of Kings of Writing that is open to all my students. They collect issues from around the school and we respond to the letters during class time. In some small way, I feel like I’m preparing my class for their generation. Maybe next year, we can do video responses to be played in every classroom!

 

 

Photo of Roz Geridis
Roz.Geridis Building Inclusion, Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Questioning

Wait time

The other day I was reading through Professional Speaking (our OCT magazine). I came across a little piece on wait time and it reminded me of a situation and comment from a colleague last year. I was a model classroom for a combined grade social studies lesson. While I was teaching my lesson, I utilized my wait time with the students throughout my lesson. Upon completion of the lesson, during our debrief session, the Instructional Leader highlighted my wait time. Which developed a fantastic discussion amongst the teachers. Some of the comments were about how long I waited, thought no one was going to answer, how quiet the room was, how proud and surprised many colleagues were about the rich classroom discussion developed due to enough wait time.

Wait time is something which is very important. The first few students who are ready to answer the questions are the students who may not need wait time and are ready to answer most questions. However, by using wait time we allow many students (if not all) an opportunity to process the question and gather information to answer the question. We also know that most students are ready to move on in the lesson and are not left behind still thinking about the question or answer.

A strategy I use to help keep the students focused is I asked the question a second time, the third time I will rephrase the question. Also, sometimes I may need to help activate the prior learning by using some guided questions. Every year I use wait time. Some years I have to wait longer than others but all my students know they need to be engaged and paying attention to the lesson and classroom discussions.

 

 

Photo of Erin G
Erin.Grewar Diverse Learning Needs, Learning in a Real Life Context

Crepes- Tradition Meets Delicious in French Class

Last year I wrote a blog about making crepes in French class as an opportunity for cultural enrichment. Although students really seem to enjoy making and (especially) eating them, it can be an even more interesting experience knowing the history and tradition behind them. Many years ago, I came across a thorough history of the crepe (who knew they dated back to 7000 BC??) and condensed it into manageable paragraphs. To make it more accessible to students, I added a “lexique” of the harder words along the side with a few graphics as a visual aid (please see attached text). In addition to a formal reading assessment of decoding and comprehension, you could also have students draw a historical timeline. In terms of making connections, we had many interesting discussions as a class about similar variations of crepes and what other dishes in their own cultures were also traditionally significant. As with other subjects, French becomes interesting when you can relate it to something larger and that is personally relevant. In that sense, you can get a lot of mileage out of a bit of sugar, flour, eggs and milk.
P.S. Ideally, the crepe activity should coincide with the Mardi Gras celebrations occurring in mid-February. I was swamped and although I had it written, I didn’t get to post it in time. However, crepes are good at any time of the year and especially in the lead up to vacations of any kind when students tend to be unfocused and not as interested as perhaps they should be in the superlative form of adjectives…

Les crêpes-vue historique texte

Alison.Board Diverse Learning Needs, Equity, General, Literacy

Fairness in Kindergarten

Fairness is a hot topic among children in Kindergarten! It is one of the first judgments that you hear as one child confidently points out that something isn’t fair. After reading Carmen’s informative and thought-provoking post about equity, it encouraged me to consider it in the context of the Kindergarten classroom.

I have found that read-alouds about topics such as fairness are a good starting point. The stories are didactic in that they provide characters and scenarios that the children can relate to and support personal connections for the students. The message is conveyed in a less instructional, more entertaining way.

The book, Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan, is an example of an engaging story that addresses the idea of fairness not always having to be the same for everyone. It is a story about a girl, Rubina, who is invited to a birthday party. Her mother insists that she brings her little sister, Sana, an embarrassment to Rubina. When it comes time for Sana to get invited to a birthday party, their mother wants to send the youngest sister. Rubina interjects and tells her mother that only Sana was invited and she should go alone, knowing that her sister will have a better experience if their experiences are different. Sana appreciates her sister’s understanding and shows her appreciation with a lollipop.

 

 

 

 

Another book to read aloud for discussion, is Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats. In this story, Peter is upset when he realizes that many of his things are being painted pink for his little sister to use. The highchair is already painted, but he rescues his little chair before it succumbs to pink paint as well. He wants to run away with his special chair, but realizes it is now too small for him to sit in. He returns with the chair and they paint it for his sister. Although, the bigger idea is about acceptance and change, there is also a connection to the idea of fairness. As we grow, expectations change and what was once appropriate may no longer be the case. Things do not remain the same, situations change, and what was considered fair may not remain so.

 

 

 

There are many opportunities to talk about fairness in Kindergarten. Often, the teacher may need to respond to the statement, “Why does he get to do that? It’s not fair.” And the teacher will respond, “Fairness isn’t the same for both of you. It is what he needs right now.”

Newspaper Poetry
Carmen.Oliveira Celebrating Success, Differentiated Instruction, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Planning, Resources

Discovering Our Inner Poet

I love teaching writing.  Let me be more specific.  I loved teaching writing except when it came to poetry.  For some reason, I’ve always managed to bring to life the other writing formats and genres with engaging lessons set upon a backdrop of real world contexts.  The students, for the most part, ate it all up and asked for more.  That is, until  I mentioned we would be exploring poetry.  The good times would come to a screeching halt as their faces reflected what I had also thought of poetry as an elementary student: boring and challenging to understand (how did I know what so-and-so meant by this-and-that?…and who cares?).  So of course, with my determined and stubborn personality, in the past few years I’ve focused on learning how to breathe life into this wonderful writing genre.  It hasn’t always been an ocean of roses but, for the most part, the exploration has led us to a whole new level of appreciation and learning.

We have just completed our poetry unit (which will continue  informally throughout the year) and I can honestly say that the class thoroughly enjoyed it.  I’d like to share with you a few of the activities and resources that made the experience engaging, meaningful, and memorable.

If you haven’t already done so, I strongly encourage you to purchase Classroom Events Through Poetry by Larry Swartz (just purchase any of his books on poetry and drama and you’ll be well on your way to an incredible teaching/learning experience).  It’s a practical and concise book that provides easy and meaningful activities to explore poetry in our classroom and our lives.  We started by looking at poetry in books, researching it on the internet, and sharing it with each other in daily poetry circles.  We created newspaper poems by cutting out words and phrases and ordering them to try and create a themed poem.  We took 2-4 sentences from a favourite poem and created a graffiti wall on our classroom door (the students thought this was very cool!).  We acted out poetry, sang poetry, and shared the lyrics of our favourite songs after listening to them together.  We learned about different structures by having groups of students become “specialists” as they taught the class the structure, gave examples, and had everyone try to create their own.

The culminating task involved creating a poem in the structure of their choice and presenting it at our Poet’s Cocktail Party!  This was no ordinary party!  Invitations were sent out, the poems were displayed all around the classroom, students dressed up, and food was ordered (grapes, cheese, crackers, cupcakes, and grape juice in place of red wine).  As jazz music played, students mingled by reading each others’ poems and discussing their thoughts and opinions.  A few students shared their poems and we snapped our fingers in appreciation of their work (yes, we snapped fingers, not clapped because that’s apparently what poets do).

A few students decided that they wanted to enter the Urban Voices poetry contest and their poems have been sent off.  How special would it be to have a winner come from our class!  Keeping our fingers crossed.

We cut out words and phrases from newspapers and ordered them to create a themed poem.

 

An example of a newspaper poem.

 

An example of a newspaper poem.

 

Students took 2-4 lines from favourite poems and created a graffiti wall on our door.

 

This poem was presented at our poetry cocktail party.
Photo of Carmen Oliveira
Carmen.Oliveira Diverse Learning Needs, Equity, Mentorship, Professional Learning and Growth, Social Justice

Equity Work: Difficult and Transformative

I am currently taking a Mentoring AQ course that is really impacting my understanding of equity in education and how I can work with my colleagues to explore this topic in our teaching practice.  I truly believe that it is necessary for all of us to take a step back and explore equity as it pertains not only to our classrooms, but to our schools, communities, and personal lives as well.  I have decided to share some of my learning and wonderings as I take a closer look at the “Equity Continuum” from OISE’s Centre for Urban Schooling and the TDSB’s Equitable and Inclusive Schools site.

OISE Centre for Urban Schooling: http://cus.oise.utoronto.ca/

TDSB Equitable and Inclusive Schools: http://www.tdsb.on.ca/_site/ViewItem.asp?siteid=15&menuid=570&pageid=452

Just some food for thought…

“Fairness does not mean everyone gets the same. Fairness means everyone gets what they   need.”-Rick Riordan, The Red Pyramid

This very simple and yet profound quote set off a critical unit of inquiry around equity in my Grade 6 classroom last year.  Over the span of a few weeks (and subsequently the school year), we explored, discussed, questioned, challenged, and brought to light this important understanding that, in order for everyone to experience success and a strong sense of self, they would not necessarily need to be treated exactly the same.  The best part of this experience was my own journey as I grappled with my previously constructed schema around equity and fairness in all aspects of my life.

I vividly remember coming back after a supply teacher had been in the classroom during this period of inquiry and having my students astonished and fuming at her reaction when a student asked for extra time and a quiet space to complete a task.  She said she had to be fair and that everyone would need to hand it in at the same time.  When the students let her know that fairness is when they have the right to learn the way that is best for them to be successful and in our classroom that means people may need different treatment, she completely disagreed in a manner that undermined what they had come to understand as being “fair.”  Our conversation was lively, to say the least, and their questions were ones I have come to ask many times since then: “How can we get people, especially in education, to think about fairness as a way of everyone getting what they need?” and, “How can we create a positive space where teachers, students, and parents question, challenge, voice their own opinions, and feel that they have the right to self-advocate?”  (Theirs were in kid-friendly language, of course).

After looking at the “Importance of Equity in Education” from the TDSB’s Equitable and Inclusive Schools page as well as the “Equity Continuum” from OISE’s Centre for Urban Schooling, I came to realize that, for me, the reasons that make equity work personally and professionally difficult are the same as those that make it transformative and fundamental if we are to move forward in education.

Whether it be with friends, colleagues, mentees, students, or parents, I find that when a conversation begins to challenge the status quo, challenge stereotypes, or involves having to critically look at ourselves, our beliefs, our expectations, or our practice, discomfort can quickly build up and the outcome takes the form of people shutting down, becoming outwardly upset, and unfortunately not evolving or learning from the experience.  I feel that at the core of this difficulty in equity work is the reality that all of us are complex beings having been influenced on so many levels in so many ways by so many people throughout our lives therefore often making us oblivious to how our own story is projected in what we think, say, and do both personally and professionally.  We seem to jump at the opportunity to try and convince others to take our viewpoint and find it easier to criticize those who do not share our beliefs.  However, looking at and inside ourselves is a whole other story.  Thus, the difficulty lies in welcoming discomfort as we tread the path of looking at equity not only by having others explore it but in also working through it ourselves.

The beauty and transformation in equity work comes about when we all courageously welcome the discomfort that arises in questioning our belief system as it pertains to our own culture and that of our school, classroom, and global community.  When we are willing to question the status quo, challenge stereotypes, critically think about how our experiences and schemas influence our pedagogical practice, hold all students (and anyone connected to education, for that matter) to the highest standards and expectations regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, linguistic competence, etc., we begin to pave a path toward open-mindedness, acceptance, respect, and transformation not only within our personal lives but in our professional practice as well.  When I began to take a deeper look at the Equity Continuum, I came to the realization that, even though I honestly believed I understood equity and had infused it in my teaching, there were so many other layers to it that I had not yet begun to peel back.  In the world we live in today, this may be one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves as educators, parents, leaders and global citizens, “How will we work to ensure that everyone gets what they need to live a dignified life?”

I now know where my focus on equity will take me: unlearning what I have over time come to believe as the truth when it does not support the idea that everyone can be held to the highest standards and expectations regardless of their cultural background, race, gender, socio-economic status, etc.  I’m willing to get my hands dirty as I explore the topics, ideas, beliefs, experiences, and realities that continue to shape my understanding and practice of equity within our education system.

As Will Durant commented, “Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” I chose this quote because it can provoke discomfort by having us admit that we may be ignorant while also noting that the path to discovery is progressive which to me signifies that learning happens when we entertain that which may make us uncomfortable.  Learning is messy business.  That’s what makes it transformative.