instructional strategies

April 1, 2012April 2, 2012 Alison.Board Assessment, Diverse Learning Needs, General, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources

Big Ideas as Themes

I enjoyed reading Sangeeta’s blog and the meaningful themes that her students are learning about in her classroom. When she says, “there are some conflicting opinions about the use of themes in teaching” it is more likely the use of themes that lack relevance, scope, and purpose, such as a theme devoted entirely to apples or penguins. The themes that Sangeeta have chosen are meaningful to her students and it is evident that she has selected them as the needs of her students have emerged throughout the year.

In my Grade 1 and 2 class we are learning the curriculum using similar themes, though we call them big ideas. These big ideas are umbrellas for the various subjects and strands that we are working on. The big idea provides a lens to consider our world. I used a question format for the students, asking them “What is hope?” at the beginning of the 2 month inquiry, then again at the end.

Here are my reflections on the first big idea that we embarked on back in September:

By recording the children’s responses I could see that the children had similar ideas of hope as wanting or wishing, such as “I hope I get a new toy.” Only one comment (made by L.) seemed to differ in that it touched on worry or care for others. The children need an opportunity to consider hope in a deeper context. I looked at the sub-questions developed in connection to the Science and Social Studies curriculum, Why is hope important to our community? How is hope different for other communities around the world? How do the sun, air, and water (as energy/life source) give hope to people in our community and other communities around the world?

I needed to find rich texts to read aloud that would provide the opportunity to discuss the idea of hope in relation to our own community and communities elsewhere in the world.

The following four texts became the foundation for our inquiry that were not in the original long range plan:

Poor Fish (local and global environment)	Listen to the Wind (Korphe, Pakistan)
Lila and the Secret of Rain (Africa)	The Whispering Cloth (Thailand)

In my long range plans, I had outlined the culminating task as a fabric picture, using a variety of textiles to represent their understanding of hope in the context of their local community (grade one) or another community in the world (grade two). Part of our learning included a class trip to the Textile Museum of Canada. This trip provided us with information about the symbolism and purpose of clothing in African cultures. It also gave the students an opportunity to explore textiles, wool, and weaving in a hands-on area.

After our trip to the Museum of Textiles, extended “inquiry time” in the class to pursue topics and interests at various centers, and discussions around our four foundation books, the children started to make their own observations and connections. Integrating the science curriculum for both grades, which included focus on the sun’s energy (grade 1) and the need for air and water (grade 2) contributed to their understanding of the texts. I asked the children again “What is hope?”

M.: To keep the environment clean.

L.: To build a school.

A.: For rain to cool down the land, fill the wells so people will not die.

M.: To live in a new country; to have a home.

K.: To go to school.

The children’s responses are reflecting their understanding of hope in other contexts. I see them making connections between the books that we read. They are also showing interest in locating the various countries that are the settings for the texts. When we were in the computer lab many of the children searched their country of interest on Google Earth. Some students were surprised to see the snow covered mountainous terrain of Korph, Pakistan. What a difference when they compared the region to their own street where they live.

L. takes her chair to work by the map where she is working on locating Korphe, Pakistan and describing its climate.

When it came time for the culminating project, I doubted my decision to rely on the fabric representation for assessment. So, I created a graphic organizer or template for the children to complete first.

Grade 2 student, L.,uses detailed drawings to represent her knowledge when comparing her community with a community in Pakistan. Note the curly lines in the mountains representing the effects of the air as wind in the higher altitude of Korphe.

L.’s fabric representation shows the altitude of the Korphe community, the challenge of the water that was previously crossed using a wire pulley and a box to sit in, as well as the wise man who slipped. Their need for a bridge to connect them to building supplies and resources is more clearly needed before planning for a school.

A Grade 2 student, uses fabric to effectively demonstrate her understanding of the dry African landscape. She has also shown perspective with a home and person in the background on the horizontal line, skills that were explored during instruction of the visual arts curriculum.

At the end of the inquiry, I asked the students if their ideas had changed about hope;

K.: Hope is more about needing something, like a place to live, food or water to survive.

L.: We pretty much have everything we need.

In addition to the observations, recorded conservations, and demonstrations of understanding through their independent works – their final responses to the question “What is hope” showed how much they had learned from the first day we considered this big idea.

March 28, 2012March 28, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Assessment, Diverse Learning Needs

Let’s not Forget Stations

Stations are one way to differentiate learning to meet different learners’ needs. Stations can be a lot of work to prepare, but I am always pleased with the level of engagement and the pace of the learning when students learn through stations. I don’t do stations nearly as often as I should, but lately I have put my planning into a higher gear!

Two weeks ago I planned stations for students to explore symmetry. I decided to use stations after my formal assessments revealed that my grade 3 students were still struggling with symmetry. I thought I had done a good job reviewing and teaching symmetry. The students completed the exercises in our math textbook and they students successfully and independently completed all extra practice black line masters with ease. Then I decided to give my students some symmetry questions from past EQAO assessments. To my surprise, they didn’t do that well with the questions. They were able to identify lines of symmetry, but they were not able to apply their understanding of symmetry by completing symmetrical shapes. So I decided to give the students more opportunities to explore symmetry through a variety of stations. At one station, students were to look through magazines and find examples of symmetry. In another, they were given half of a symmetrical picture and they had to use a mirror to complete the other half. I had a symmetry game using attribute blocks at another station, plus a few others. As the kids rotated through the stations, I was able to walk around and observe the students as they gained more experience and practice with symmetry. I did not need to correct any behaviours or redirect any students back to learning….and best of all, students had fun! I should also note that I also asked my students’ visual arts teacher to review symmetry through art activities as well. I will bring out the EQAO questions again, but I am sure that they will be better with the application questions.

Last week, my teacher candidate planned stations for the plants and soils unit she is teaching. At one station, students were planting tomato seeds. At another, they were making a dip out of refried beans, corn, coriander, lime and cumin (each ingredient represented a different component of healthy soil); at another station students were observing red wigglers (worms!) and labeling the different parts of the worm!

Feedback from parents has been impressive. A number of parents commented on how happy and excited their child was about their learning. Let’s not forget about stations when planning to meet the different learning styles and interests of our students!

March 21, 2012 Erin.Grewar Learning in a Real Life Context, Professional Learning and Growth

Communicating (OMG) in French – A New Approach

I know that it can be a real struggle to get your students to communicate in French. Although initially enthusiastic in grade 4, by the time they hit grades 7 and 8, they are reluctant at best. I recently went to a workshop regarding the communicative approach which made me evaluate (apart from being forced to during the course of the session with those reflection activities) my current teaching practices. It’s always rewarding and energizing to be presented with a challenge and new ideas to try out. For those of you who might not have had the chance to attend any PD on the new philosophy rocking the world of FSL, I thought I’d sum up a few things to take into consideration when planning your next oral activity.

choose a reasonable task that reflects student interests and abilities
prepare students thoroughly by planning a progression of short activities that incorporate increasing degrees of communication
with your students, establish a list of expressions that they will need to use during the activity and have it displayed for reference
MAKE them communicate in French but in a way that is meaningful and authentic

Now that you hopefully have some food for thought, I’ll update you in my future blogs as to which activities I’ve created and tried out. In the meantime, loosen up, collaborate with your students for some ideas, be creative and have fun!

March 9, 2012March 10, 2012 Roz.Geridis Communication with Parents and Guardians, Diverse Learning Needs, Resources, Use of Technology

Addressing Student Needs

After returning to the classroom, I have been introduced to a wonderful computer program which supports student learning. Read and Write Gold is a computer program which is used to help student read and write. Anything on the computer can be used with this program (Internet sites, email, scanned reading selections, electronic books/resources). If you teach for the Toronto District School Board all students have access to the program through every school and the program can be downloaded on a home computer for free. Other boards may offer the same support, please check with your administration.

Read and Write Gold is a text to speech, easy to use toolbar which sits on top of any open Windows application (it also works with MAC computers). Not only is it great to help organize information for students with learning disabilities, students without learning disabilities like the structure of the program. To give you a quick overview of the program: the students highlight a selection to have read to them. The speed, passage, volume and voice of the reading selection is determined by the user. The students can also highlight important information using 4 different colours. The program will sort the colour coded highlights and merge (into fact folder) all highlighted information onto a word document. The program even sites the sources for the students.

You can check out the program at: http://www.pdfaloud.com/media/12742/Read%20Write%2010%20Gold%20Beginners%20Guide.pdf

I have used the program with my students for their research projects. In order to support the students with learning how to use the program, our school held an evening learning session for parents to learn how to use Read and Write Gold. At first, it wasn’t about the research, the assignment was about learning how to use the program. The students have a better understanding of gathering research and compiling it for a paper or presentation.

February 22, 2012February 23, 2012 Carmen.Oliveira Assessment, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth

Success Criteria: Let’s Accomplish Our Learning Goal

I remember sitting in a workshop last year where we were challenged to look deeper at the learning goals we set for our students and how we should co-create the success criteria in order to ensure that students understand how to achieve the goal or expectations set out for a particular unit/strand. I also remember wondering whether it would be worth it to put in the time and effort to fully implement this latest strategy/tool in my own classroom with all the additional initiatives I was taking on with respect to my professional learning. I decided to learn as much as possible about using learning goals and success criteria in my teaching and assessment practices.

Today, I can honestly say it is one of the best learning experiences I’ve had in my career thus far. In many respects, it has changed the way my students understand what they are learning, why they are learning specific concepts/skills, and how they can demonstrate what they know.

Everyday I share a learning goal with my class and how that concept/skill will help them in a real life context. Within each unit of study or topic we focus on, I create the learning goal by using the curriculum expectations and, together with my students, we co-create the success criteria to achieve the learning goal by using mentor texts, level 3 and 4 responses, etc. Students know the importance of using the success criteria to edit, revise, and share their knowledge and understanding in a clear and concise way.

We have a saying I took from Maya Angelou: “When you know better, you do better.” When students know what is expected and how they can achieve the learning goal, they have a better chance of succeeding and progressing further.

How I share learning goals and reflection questions with students each day

Students know what they are learning each day

A student uses the success criteria to revise and edit his writing

Students use success criteria to peer edit by adding descriptive feedback

Students use the descriptive feedback from their peers to work on their final draft

February 14, 2012February 14, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Building Inclusion, Planning, Resources

Accountable Talk

I agree with Sangeeta, there is nothing like a room buzzing with students…talking!!! I don’t think that you can have a collaborative engaging learning environment without a little noise.

Frank Serafini has written a number of books about developing engaging reading programs (e.g., The Reading Workshop, Lessons In Comprehension) and he is often invited to speak at large literacy conferences. In one of his sessions he said, half in jest, that when we read a great book, we don’t get excited and rush to make a diorama. Rather, we want to talk about the book! We must allow and plan for productive accountable talk in our classrooms.

One strategy that is popular in my class is called, Paired Verbal Fluency. I picked up this strategy years ago when I attended a Bruce Wellman workshop series. He also includes this strategy in his book with Laura Lipton, Pathways to Understanding: Patterns and Practices in the Learning Focused Classroom (ISBN 0-9665022-0-5). This strategy is great for getting students verbally active before, during and after learning. I often use it to activate prior knowledge, to review concepts already learned, before the learning continues. It is also a great strategy for consolidation. For example, the other day I used it to review what students learned from our study of the Underground Railroad.

The directions are rather simple.

Students work in partners. Partners decide who will be person A and which partner will be person B.
I present the topic that is going to be discussed. For example, “What is the Underground Railroad and why is it an important part of our history?”
When I say, “Go,” person A speaks. Person A begins to answer the question. Person B listens carefully, but does not add to the discussion. Person A speaks for 60 seconds.
When I say, “Switch,” it is person B’s turn to speak. Person B should not repeat anything that person A shared. Person B is simply building on A’s answer. Person B speaks for 60 seconds.
The process continues for another round or two, but for each round, the time is decreased by 20 seconds. For example, person A will now continue to build on to person B’s response, being careful not to repeat anything B said, but this time, A will only speak for 40 seconds.

Students enjoy this strategy. It teaches them to listen to each other. Other effective strategies for fostering accountable-talk include the Give-One, Get One strategy and the Walk Around Survey. These strategies also have the added benefit of getting the students moving around the room as well as talking. Other strategies can be found in the Ministry of Education’s A Guide to Effective Literacy Instruction Grades 4-6 – Volume One, 2006. You can find this document at eworkshop.on.ca.

January 29, 2012January 30, 2012 Roz.Geridis Assessment, Building Inclusion, Classroom Management, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Diverse Learning Needs, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth

Engaging students in Visual Arts

Over the last 2 weeks, my class have been working on this wonderful visual art activity which is also connected to grade 6 aboriginal studies. We began by studying the art work of Norval Morrisseau, an Aboriginal Canadian artist (books are available at the public library). Morrisseau’s style is characterized by thick black outlines and bright colors. I shared with the boys the plan for this project was for everyone to complete their own version, then we would do body images of 1/3 of the class which will end up being painted on the Junior Stairway walls.

The boys were very excited about this project and I really tried to encourage their interest and ownership of the art work. As a class, we moved along for the boys to use an overhead and trace their head, hands, or feet to complete their own versions of Morrisseau themed pictures. The boys then had a lesson on drawing the shapes inside their images (guiding them to leave enough room for their black line). Primary colours were used to colour the inside of the shapes and the background was in secondary colours. Using only 2 overheads for the whole class, this stage of project took a little longer than a whole afternoon.

At the end of the first day, we had a discussion as to what the images of the boys would portray. The next day, the boys were asked to bring in items which reflect them in a sport type of way; for example, scooters, hockey equipment, soccer balls, swimming goggles. The boys selected the images to represent themselves as a class. They selected swimming, cart wheel, hockey, soccer, mountain climbing, and baseball. We were planning on adding someone reading and a second image but time was an issue which didn’t allow our plan to fully work out. Using the overhead, in groups of three, the boys then traced their image on life size paper. As others were tracing, the first group would then cut out their image. After lunch, we were able to finish off full body tracing for the rest of the groups and began (the groups completed the cutting) adding the shapes within their image. This aspect of the project needed to be reviewed with the class a few times. The first lesson was on the personal image, the second mini lesson was to remind them of what to do to begin on the larger image, the third mini lesson was to go through their larger image and fine tune their shapes. This took us a full day.

The next day, we taped up all body images on the stairwell walls. Looking to see which image should go where. This was an adult only decision. Once image placement was decided, the boys then traced their image on the wall. After every image was traced on the wall, some boys began painting the background colours while on the opposite side of the wall other boys were tracing their shapes in their image. This process took another full day. Each wall needed two coats and a day to dry between coats.

The fourth and fifth day, the boys were painting the shapes in each image (in groups of three) and then the black line last. We also needed time for touch ups. At the end of it, the boys were able to add their own signature to a wall which will be there for years to come. We are also painting some thank yous on a wall as all the paint used was donated by a local paint store.

The project took a total of five days and I really would recommend to get it completed in a chunk of time. The interest was there and interruption to your regular programming is not much. It was a week of limited program which was a great time to get to know and have some fun with your students. Remember, this is a visual arts project and it is connected to aboriginal studies. I have assessments for both curriculum areas. To adjust it for any grade, if your school walls are already colourful, you can do something very similiar and use the life size paper to paint and hang on the hallway walls. Also, use visual art as your first curriculum area and find a second curriculum area to connect it to, whether it is social studies or math.

Included are some pictures to help you visualize the project. It was a project completed with a parent (who is also an artist). While she was working in the stairway with the boys, I was in class keeping them on track. The first few days, there was plenty of work to keep the boys busy but by mid day on the fourth day on, the boys had less to do on the art project. That being said, behaviour was amazing!!!! I guess the boys thought if they didn’t manage in class, I couldn’t send them in the hall. Which is a pattern in our class. I definitely had support for this project (administration, artist, and Educational Assistant in the afternoon). I also sent out a letter to the parents informing them of the pending project, the boys working with Latex paint, and dirty clothes coming home (with a tear off signature return). I also asked for volunteers to come in a week later to help paint the final protective coating. I have many teacher and parent volunteers. The boys feel a sense of pride, ownership, and community to their school!

January 20, 2012January 20, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Diverse Learning Needs, Planning, Resources

Drama and Dance Resource

Report Cards are fast approaching and I can’t help hear some teachers comment that they need to teach and assess drama and dance ASAP! For those who are not comfortable teaching drama or dance or for those who do not have much experience or access to drama and dance resources, it can be a challenge to plan regular lessons that integrate as well as explicitly teach students drama and dance concepts and skills. I have many “go-to” drama and dance resources that I refer to regularly to assist me with my planning. One particular favourite is the Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators (CODE) website. Under the Resource tab you can search for K-12 drama and dance lessons and units. You will find videos of teachers modeling the strategies as well as BLMs that you can print and copy. Some of the lessons are marked “Members Only.” Membership is 50.00/year, but I think there is a discount for first year teachers. What I like best about the site is that there are always new resources added and I really appreciate the dance/movement lesson plans! Feeling Artsy? Have a look:)

January 19, 2012 Erin.Grewar Diverse Learning Needs

Salon du livre – Celebrating French Projects

Oftentimes, French teachers have a difficult time motivating their students when it comes to expending effort on their work. Not to generalize (but I will nonetheless), enthusiastic students tend to put forth a high degree of effort no matter what the subject while those who are not put even less into their French assignments. Engaging the creativity, motivation and enthusiasm of students is no doubt a French teacher’s greatest challenge.

Take heart! The expression that higher levels of achievement are the result of higher expectations also holds true for Core French. With each summative assignment, I always make sure to provide students with the opportunity to maximize their efforts (and end up dragging the less enthusiastic ones along for the ride). To do so, I ensure four things.

1) The project is both engaging and allows for individual expression.

2) The students have concrete and visual examples to refer to.

3) The appropriate supplies (cardstock, various colours of papers, markers, pencil crayons, paints) are all available for them to use and the proper amount of class time is allocated.

4) They have an opportunity to showcase their work to a larger audience.

For the last point, there are many different options available. The one that I’m undertaking currently with my grade 8 classes is something I call “Le salon du livre” and is the culmination of a “novel study” (albeit a very short one).

Having read the Galaxie reader “Le secret” together as a class, students were asked to reinterpret the story in some way (new cover design / summary /reviews, portfolio of one the main characters, rewrite an alternate ending) and be able to visually exhibit their work at the “Salon”. With their classmates, they are divided into small groups where they orally present their project and the following day, I assemble the assignments from all the classes and give the students the opportunity to see and review everyone’s projects.

On this day, I have selected students who have been nominated by their groups to come to another class for an “author’s visit” where they read a selection of their work. We finish off the event by having refreshments (usually croissants and juice) and taking the opportunity to relax, enjoy and celebrate each other’s company and hard efforts. I find that this kind of event ups the ante and even my most reluctant students rise to the occasion.

January 16, 2012January 16, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Assessment

An Integrated Unit- A Chair for Baby Bear

The culminating task for our unit on strong and stable structures was the highlight of my first four months back in the classroom. My colleague and friend, Catherine Little, who is currently teaching science at York University at the Faculty of Education, generously offered her time and expertise by facilitating the launch of this culminating task with my third grade students.

Catherine launched the task by first reading the picture book, A Chair for Baby Bear (2004) by Kaye Umansky and illustrated by Chris Fisher (Barron’s Educational Series, ISBN-13: 978-0764157899). In this story, after Goldilocks breaks Baby Bear’s chair and flees the bear’s cottage, Baby Bear goes to town with Papa Bear shopping for a new chair. In town, Baby Bear was unable to find a chair that was “just right” for him. Catherine stopped at this point in the book, and presented the task to my class. They were to make a chair for Baby Bear using only newspaper and masking tape!

The students had to apply everything they learned about strong and stable structures to create a chair that was just right for Baby Bear. The knew they were successful when they placed a stuffed toy bear on their chair. If their chair were stable, the stuffed bear and the chair would not fall down!

After the students reflected on the process and self assessed their designs, they wrote a procedure or recount for “Professor Catherine” to share with other third grade students she will visit. The students were so proud of their chair. They were focused and I was able to assess what they learned about strong and stable structures, not by giving them a unit test on the topic, but by observing students build their chair, conferencing with them and by reading their self assessments and procedural writing. This is what I love most about teaching and learning!