time to start again

It's been a long time since I've written. I needed to take a break from everything related to my course...well, that's not true...I continued teaching and using technology, but analyzing it all and being deliberate about using it specifically to record my adventures with it for all of you to read...I didn't want to do that for awhile.

but now it's August and school is right around the corner. In fact, I am going to a two day seminar this week about teaching Kindergarten. I have my grade one class back, but because of the over-enrollment of the K's, the school admin is putting a few of those in my class. I don't know how to teach Kindergarten. I know BC has changed the K curriculum and it is now "play-based", but how will I do that with the grade 1's? Guess I'll find out.

So this year I'll be concentrating on figuring out how to do a K/1 split. I know already that the 1's I have in my class are not as academically bright as last year's, but I also know, with great thanksgiving, that they are not as behaviourally challenging either! Whew! I have a few ESL students in my class this year and so will be looking at learning how to incorporate learning for them.

So I do want to continue learning, reading, and reflecting. Feel free to come along for the ride.

Almost done...but not really

So tonight I had my second to last class. It was online and required us sharing out what we had done with our field studies this past semester. It felt awkward to be talking to a computer and then listening to replies that were typed back. I still like the face to face thing better. But it was good, and this way I could still answer the phone without feeling rude, still have a facebook chat with my son....guess it's the new way of multi-tasking. But...I enjoyed hearing what my classmates have done. I've got some ideas that I'd like to try in my class over the next few months. Who knew of a good way to incorporate math into the morning calendar time? My classmate, that's who. And so I hope to continue with learning and growing, even if my official time of being a graduate student winds down. I listened to a classmate as she talked about the difficulty of getting through to parents with her blog, and yet how it was a successful way to communicate with parents she had never met yet. Fellow teachers are such a wealth of ideas and information, and being a part of this global community is something that I don't want to give up. It's been good to be forced to be a part of it. I will continue.

Reflections

I have spent the majority of my time over the week of my spring break thinking through my learning that I have done since joining the Learning and Teaching with Technology master's diploma course. It's been good to give it such a concentrated effort, not only to leave my April a little freer for birthday parties and things such as full-time teaching, but to take serious time to reflect. I have learned a lot, but as the saying goes "The more I learn, the more I know I have to learn." The more I learn, the more I realize how stupid I really am!

I think I have made huge progress in each of the 5 capacities of the program. The learning curve has been steep and many times I have not wanted to travel this road as it has been hard work. I thought I was joining the "T-Lite" program, a precursor to this course which by reputation was much lighter in the workload than we have encountered. Oftentimes, I would think I was much too old for this. I have had to learn a whole new language and way of doing things.

I have changed as a teacher, as an educator. I used to hold myself as the "keeper of the knowledge" that students needed to learn, but I am learning to see myself rather as a facilitator to the children doing their own exploration of learning. I'm still figuring out how to do this effectively, but rather than deciding how to do it on my own, I am trying to let the children be learners with me on this journey.

The technology, which I thought would be foremost in this program, has been a interesting, and sometimes overwhelming, side dish. I have enjoyed dabbling in twitter, diigo, online PLN's, etc., but the main change has been inside me and my pedagogy. I did not expect this. I had thought I would learn lots of technology (read computer) things to do with my class to enhance the lessons I would plan. Instead, I have been forced to examine what I teach and why I teach it. What would be the best way to engage the learners? What research verification do I have to support it?

I have learned to look at myself as a teacher-inquirer. I reflect, reflect and reflect on those reflections! (inside joke) During a classtime, I think nothing of grabbing my camera to record something that is happening. Later I will remember what it is that I thought was noteworthy and think about it. Let me rephrase that...I will REFLECT on it. I have learned how to ask good questions and then follow a plan to discover the answers.

I am not quite so hesitant to put myself and my ideas out there in the global community. People who post on the world wide web aren't some super brains, (well, some of them probably are, but I'm not referring to them!), but just ordinary folk like me who are trying their best to make education a good thing for the children in their care, JUST LIKE ME! So I will continue to offer my ideas, continue to ramble on about my reading groups, my discipline issues, etc., because somewhere out there, someone else is probably going through the same thing, or has gone through it and now has some good ideas for me.

And now...I am taking a break. See you after the weekend!

Tweets about blogs...

So...as I continue to work on my final portfolio, I explored more blogs, tweets, etc. to see what other people are saying about things I'm learning. I came across a tweet from Tom Whitby where he refers people to his blog post "To blog or not to blog". I enjoyed the entry, but more so the comments after. In particular, I resonated with one response from a teacher who is starting to blog reluctantly. What got me was Tom's response to this teacher, which stated in my edited format.... "Never hesitate to offer your professional opinion. You are working day to day with children. You have been educated as to methods and Pedagogy. You are an expert in education with experience. Never doubt your expertise. ... Blog with confidence, but be reflective and flexible. That is what being an educator is about, Relevance...."

So here I am...blogging about my work as a teacher. Blogging to engage in this cycle of reflection and action. I don't think I have too many followers, and that's okay. If someone does stumble upon my blog, they can rest assured that I am just another educator trying to do my best in my situation with my students. And if by chance a parent stumbles on my blog, hopefully they will appreciate my attempts to articulate what I am trying to do in the classroom with his/her child. In fact, I would love to have parents interact with me on this level, as well as the daily, "How was ...insert child's name...'s day?"

And another tweet pointed me to another blog by Maurice Elias (via Edutopia) entitled "What's the Secret to Effective Classroom Management? According to her research (David Brookes in "The Social Animal"), a classroom that is productive, engaging and well-managed is a class where children have a strong positive relationship with their teacher, and vice-versa. When a classroom is based on trust, students are able to pursue goals of higher learning, not just getting the right answer. "Learning is work of the head and work of the heart."

Hmm, that makes me pause. With the classroom management issues I've been having in my room this year, I often find it easiest to slip into my authoritarian mode and make the kids want to obey me because they're too frightened to find out what would happen if they didn't. And yet, that doesn't bring out the best in the students or in myself, even though it feels better for a little while. How can I make sure that the students are doing their best? How can I encourage this trust factor? Is my struggle with reading groups developing this trust? The last few times of doing it, I am starting to feel that way. They are learning to work independently and productively for an extended period of time. Hopefully that's because they are working to please not only me, but also themselves. They are trusting. Another quote I find very relevant for my class .. "Those concerned about classroom management must simultaneously be concerned about student learning. Both thrive only when there are trusting, respectful, caring relationships between students and teachers. When the latter are in place, rules will be effective and the majority of students will be engaged learners."

I love this whole new world that twitter, blogs, PLN's, etc has opened up for me. And what I'm also enjoying is taking these discussions and putting them out there where other people than educator's are, ie facebook. (See previous blog)

till next time.

Today's Reading Group Experience-- POSITIVE!

Two major things made reading groups today an even better experience. One, I'm sad to say, was the absence of 5 students, 4 of which are some of my more active and off-task students, AND...I had help today. An EA was able to be in my group all day because her student wasn't there today. So today's experience was REALLY good. Whew. That's the first time I've felt like that. I was able to work with my small groups, some of which were significantly smaller because of the absentees.

Once again, I was very clear with each student about what they were to do during the independent study time. Maybe this is just getting easier because they are starting to get used to it. I certainly hope so.

My advanced group went with the EA. I gave her the book they were studying, which is a high interest non-fiction text about space stations. They read the book, discussed and filled in a chart related to the space stations described.

My group 2 had finished a KWL chart last week when I let them look at a book about Rivers. Today, we discussed the table of contents and learned that we can look at the chapter titles and read only what we wanted to. So, we read those chapters that related to the questions we were wondering about.

Group 3 kids today were much calmer, due to the absense of 2 students who are so very boistrous. They were so confident in their reading and sight word drill. It was fun to be with them today.

Group 4 kids were only half there. They are the lowest group and I was so happy to be able to spend it with just the two that were there. I was able to listen to each one read, do a further lesson on the sight words and introduce two more: yes and no. They quite enjoyed it and are getting so very confident in their reading.

I even had time to take some pictures of the students as they worked without my direct supervision on paired hangman games using the word wall words, reading independently and doing a phonics worksheet about long vowel sounds.

Now my question is, how can I repeat that, even with all the students there? How can I continue to foster this environment of independence, quieter work and focus?

Reading Groups....a way that works in my room

As I've said before, my class is a behavioral challenge. Fully half of the children have some significant issues that seem to be manifested in a negative way within the classroom atmosphere. So..how can I do small group work with a few students and let the others be?? So far it's been tough. I've given them work to do, and for a few minutes at least, they've been able to do it. But after that it seems to disintegrate rapidly and my small group work is more often interupted by me having to get up and exert some discipline with a child or two or three at a time. So...what to do?

Well, on Thursday, I tried a slightly different tactic and it seemed to work. I basically had an individual plan for each student and was very clear on the work each person was expected to do with the time when I wasn't working with them. It took a long time before I was able to start my small group times. I wanted to make sure each child was focused on a specific task. And then, I was able to work with each group for about 10 minutes each. It wasn't long, and I did have to occasionally remind the others of what they were supposed to do, but for the most part, I felt like it was the most productive time of small guided readed groups.

Oh...and the reading groups themselves were fun. Each group is manifesting more confidence and enjoyment of the time in their groups than they did at the beginning.

So...we'll see whether it works again tomorrow. Here's hoping!

well...this is interesting. Facebook wins the discussion debate!

I found a great link on a fellow educator's blog. I watched the video, thought it was wonderful and decided to share it, too. So where would I reach the most people? No one seems to read my blog, so I did a little experiment. I posted the link on my facebook page. And within hours, I had people (educators and parents and grandparents) commenting, discussing and reposting it on their facebook pages. It's going viral. I'm trying to follow the discussion on their pages and it's interesting. I'm learning a lot more from following this then following any of the educator's blogs. I believe that in this age, we need to do a better job of reaching the parents and asking their opinions. They are concerned, if the responses are any indication, of what kind of education we are offering their children. Why can't schools acknowledge and reward their students for their specialties? Why is school just catering to people who will enter university? Why is that the "highest" level track? When I went to high school (or so many years ago), there weren't many options. We did have a woodworking and home economics electives, but basically there were two tracks: university entrance and the other. There was a definite hierarchy. I'm not sure much has changed...
Personally, I have noticed this with my children. All 4 of them found academics easier than the average student, but what they really wanted to do, what really inspired them, was the creative arts...music, drama, dance. And yet, I find myself wanting to encourage them to pursue "real" jobs, jobs that will be secure and financially viable. I'm too much of an old school educator. So I'm trying...

21st Century Learning

1. Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
2. Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
3. Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
4. Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
5. Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
6. Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments

The above list is from the NCTE definition of skills that 21st learners need. So how do we need to teach? How am I helping my students to become proficient at these?

The first one makes me laugh and mad. My experience with technology for students in the district I am currently teaching in has not been positive. I have only had one semester of positive use out of the 4 that I have been working on this program. So, no...I haven't been able to help my students become proficient with the computer. This year, I can't even teach my kids to log on, as the laptops don't seem to connect to the internet very well in my room.

To build relationships and collaborate across cultures this year is not even really possible in my own classroom as I have a fairly homogeneous class. There is only one aboriginal student and one student from another culture, but both are very "Canadian." So I try to work on the concept of collaboration. In my class, that means showing respect and listening to others...both very difficult to achieve in my room. But we are working on it.

We haven't done any sharing and designing of information to share with the global community as a class. I, however, have built up a website to keep in contact with parents. This has taken on a slightly "global" perspective, as I have a father who does not get to see his child often as a member of our website. I was also able to communicate with one child who was gone for an extended period of time. I filmed our class singing "Happy Birthday" to her even when she was far away at her grandmother's home. This grandma is still a member of our website so that she can continue to touch base with her grandchild.

Analyze, synthesize....are my students in grade one even capable of this? What are some pre-skills I should be teaching them? Same with critiquing. And, seeing as they haven't had the opportunity to create anything online, they also haven't had the opportunity to critique other's work.

The ethical aspect of an online culture is something I have addressed more with the parents as we have talked about what websites/games are appropriate or not for their child. Surprisingly (duh!) the one child that used to yell about murdering all of us and how he was going to do it, has since quit that language since his parents no longer allow him to play violent video games.

Anyways, I feel hopeless at times. These children are in the digital age and experience it in their own homes (at least some of them), but without the opportunities to use it at school, I feel my hands are tied in showing them, leading them, having them using the technology in globally cooperative ways.

Looking back...at my participation in Learning Communities

So this week we're supposed to look back and see what our growth has been in relation to capacity one in our program: "participate in and help develop learning communities to support your teaching practice."

Because of the technology woes at the school where I was when we were doing our first inquiry, I felt I had no option but to tackle this one head on. I dove into the virtual world of professional learning communities, as well as being intentional with my face to face ones. I joined a few educator's wikis, followed some blogs, listened in on conversations about education online and participated in a mentorship program within my district. I did a comparison between the two types of PLC's and was pleased to note that I was learning from both. I enjoyed the big pictures I saw with the online research, and used lots of practical ideas from my face to face meetings. Both were valuable to me.

As time went on, and my inquiries changed and my position changed, I have also been able to expand my participation in the online community. I have taken part in discussions with teachers I have never met, both in topics I have raised and in other conversations that I have happened upon. I joined twitter and was able to gain some valuable information about creativity as I focused on that one term. It was at this point that I also found places where people gave very practical advice to try in my classroom the next day. I am still using some of those ideas.

So what have I learned about participating in learning communities? I've learned that I just have to look and participate and I will find something worthwhile. I've learned that such communities can be invaluable to my own teaching as I reflect and ponder my own strategies and look for new ones. When I offer up my own ideas, I first take the time to think about whether it really is something good and why it works for me. Then I can share it with others. PLC's can be very practical ways to improve my own work in my classroom. I must continue this. :)

Reading Groups today

Today was a good day. I think the difference is that I had one group out of the room with another teacher who comes to work with my more advanced group. Then, with clear expectations for behaviour, the other children were able to work quietly. It also made a difference that the first group I had today were much quieter than last week. I think that's because I had kicked some kids out last time for being too noisy. They didn't want that again. So we did a lesson which the kids enjoyed. This group 3 seems to be getting the most out of this time. Maybe it's because their growth right now is the most noticeable. They are successful every time...every one of them. Group 4, the lowest group, seems the most disjointed. I think that's because there's one boy in there that just doesn't get it. He can't even read "a" or "I". I think he's going to be keeping the other kids back. So what do I do? Do I keep going and moving on, or do I slow it down so maybe, just maybe, he'll eventually get it? But isn't that detrimental to the other kids? I already had a parent from the group wonder how come her boy is coming home with books this low again.
I had one boy in my group 2 who hadn't done any of the reading work I had expected the group would do, so when they came to report to me and spend a few minutes working with me at the end of our time today, he had nothing to show. What should I do? I reprimanded him, but didn't know what kind of punishment, if any, to hand out.
My advanced group came back one at a time as they finished their work with the other teacher. For the most part, they were able to refocus on another task as they came back.

Research and Me

So, in preparation for my final portfolio due at the end of this semester, we are supposed to be looking at our growth in the 5 capacities of the program. The first one we're examing is "draw on educational theories, research and philosophies to inform your use of technologies to support teaching and learning."

The four inquiries I have embarked on are:
Fall 2009 : developing a PLC for myself
Winter 2010: developing my leadership in the area of technology in my school
Fall 2010: overcoming my fear of creativity
Winter 2011: small reading groups for developing reading and improved behaviour.

When I look at my baseline portfolio, my self-analysis on this capacity is quite lacking. Actually embarrassingly so... I thought research was going to professional development opportunities and incorporating a reading program that our school initiated. During my first inquiry, most of the research I relied on was articles given to us as a class. I made them fit with my learning statements.
My attitude towards research started to change with my second inquiry where I actually looked for articles on leadership and technology in schools. It affected what I did and how I approached the whole topic.
But it was with my third inquiry that I really felt like the research I did PRIOR to starting my inquiry made the most significant difference for my inquiry. I didn't do the research to prove my point, but rather to let it guide my inquiry. I gained definitions of creativity (and what it wasn't), got ideas about how to develop it in children, etc. Then as I did my inquiry, I was able to use and reflect on these ideas.
And for this latest inquiry, I'm starting from some basic points I've learned from doing research. Others have proven that a combination of repeated reading and listening makes for the best growth in fluency....Okay, then, that's where I'll start. :)

Reading Groups...some success today!

I felt like today was a very successful attempt at doing reading groups...both successful in that the children were served adequately at their own reading level...and the behaviour was quite good throughout the hour. One of the keys of both is that I lay out very clearly to the children my expectations of their behaviour and what they will be doing.

So...this is how it went down...

10:30 gathered the children on the carpet and told them which children were going where today and what they would be doing.

At 10:45: My upper level readers, who I simply called group 1, went with the district literacy specialist as they have for the last few months. (That also takes away 4 of my behaviour children!) Group 2 went with the EA I was blessed to have in my room today. They read a book together a couple of times, with discussion in between, and then did an AR quiz on that book individually. Group 3 came with me for a guided reading lesson (using Primary Success materials). Group 4 started with writing words they recognized from around the room down on white boards.

At 11:00 I switched groups 3 and 4. Group 3 worked on worksheets that came with the guided reading lesson and Group 4 came with me where we worked on sight words and I started them on an individual ring of sight words. They were very excited about these words and also loved sharing the words they knew with me from off their white boards. Group 2 children came back and began to do their individual quizzes on the computer with the EA closely supervising. Children who weren't doing a quiz were given the choice of some fun worksheets (crossword puzzles, word search or colouring) or to read another book on their own.

11:15 Group 1 came back and were very eager to start doing their own AR reading and quiz-taking. Group 2 were still taking tests and were also colouring and doing other worksheets. A few of them were also reading more books for the AR. (They are very motivated for ribbons.) Group 3 had finished their worksheets and were now either reading or doing the fun language based work. Group 4 and I were working on putting their rings together (I've got to be more organized next time.) They were very excited about these rings and decorated name tags to put on them.

11:40 Time to clean up and get ready for lunch. I felt good about what had just occured over the past hour. Kids were focused, had their individual times, and reading was done.

Next time I want to invite Group 2 students to record themselves reading so that they can listen to themselves and others in their group reading books. I'm hoping that with some instruction, they will be able to identify what makes a fluent reader and come up with some strategies so that they themselves become fluent.

Group 1 students will work with Mrs. Rapin again.
Group 3 students will do Lesson 26 in guided reading.
Group 4 students will do lesson 2 in guided reading.

Favourite moment today ... from a student who is just starting to take off.... "I can do this 'cause I'm REALLY reading now!" Priceless!

Using Research

It had been a long time since I've had to use research in any sort of way...which maybe says something about my teaching. I hadn't grown or seen the need. The last time I did research for anything was when I was on Mat Leave with my youngest (who is now 9) and taking a "educating exceptional students" online course through UBC. When I think back now, I remember being excited about the research I was doing and the things I was learning. So why did I stop? The only answer I can give now is probably..."I just didn't take the time." For research certainly does take time and effort. It must be focused and carefully digested.

So now that I'm taking this course, I've had to once again engage in research that directly affects my teaching. It's been a huge learning curve for me again as I have found research that challenges my pedagogy, as well as finding research that affirms what I am doing in my class. As I reflect back on my teaching the last few years and focusing directly on the 4 inquiries that I've done/am doing, I find that research has become a valuable tool for me to inform my practice. In my inquiry about leadership in schools, I learned things such as "working within the system." I really enjoyed my creativity inquiry and that has been the first one to really cause changes within my teaching. I now deliberately find times and places for my students to exercise creativity, knowing now that creativity is one of the most important skills to teach and encourage among students. I am looking forward to seeing how this inquiry on reading and small groups will affect my practice.

time to start again

I've taken a break from blogging about my class, but it's time to start again. This term I'm hoping to accomplish two things with one strategy. The strategy? Using small groups for some intentional reading lessons. The accomplishments? First, to improve the reading levels, particularly in fluency and comprehension of my "middle of the road" readers, and secondly, to improve the behaviour in this class. Both are rather lofty goals, I realize, but I need to do it. I have the reputation in my school for having one of the most challenging classes, and they are only in grade 1! A full half, 10 out of 20 students, are a behavioural concern. Unfortunately, I often feel that I'm so busy dealing with those behaviours that the other students' education gets neglected. One of the biggest challenges in this strategy will be being able to concentrate on a small group and having the other students focused enough to stay out of trouble. I have been working on it for a few weeks already and they are slowly getting used to the concept.

Reading and learning to read is a passion of mine. Grade 1 is the best year for this passion to emerge, as every week it seems like a different child is at a breakthrough stage and there is absolutely nothing in teaching that can compare to watching a child's eyes grow big as they realize that it's working! They are really reading for themselves! Gives me the shivers every time.

I have the district early language specialist coming into my class twice a week and working with my advanced readers, which includes 4 of those behavioural concerns children! While she has those children, I have split the other children into 3 groups. Because the group that is finding academics the hardest already has daily intervention in Learning Assistance, I am choosing to concentrate on the middle two groups. I often feel like those are the ones left to their devices the most often, so I want to be intentional about reaching them. With them, I feel like I am not trying to overcome a learning disability, as in the case wth the other children. These kids can learn, but need to have intentional teaching time at their level. So here I am! :)

What are some strategies you have used? Have you been able to incorporate technology? I am hoping to use i-pods for self-recording and some websites for listening to reading. Any other ideas or websites I should check out? A friend is using "Daily 5" and highly recommends it. What do you think? Guided reading?

Let me know. I look forward to hearing from teachers out there who have been able to implement a variant of this plan. What are things to watch out for? What data/documentation should I be collecting?

Thanks!