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#Post#: 39--------------------------------------------------
Re: November 12th PD
DIR By: Deborah Mark
Date: November 12, 2018, 4:05 pm
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Response to Part B Responsive Classroom: 2 shared practices and
plans to utilize them tomorrow
1. Logical Consequences: There are a few students in the 7th
grade who call out during class, and in doing so, are eager to
comment or tell a story that is often a digression from the
lesson. I realize that this is not 'disobedience' that comes
from a lack of engagement - in fact, they are following the
lesson but their lack of self-control or impulse control causes
disruption. I am eager to initiate a non-punitive response to
set clear limits while appreciating their knowledge and
enthusiasm and desire to be heard. I will arrange to speak to
each student, one-on-one to help them with a plan to improve
themselves in this regard.
2. Interactive Learning Structures: In Social Studies, in
addition to videos, which students enjoy, but are often not
'interactive', I am always seeking tools to engage the students
so that that the subject matter is understandable and fun while
making a deep, positive impression. Songs with clever lyrics are
useful, and students remember these and ask to see/hear them
again, even at the end of the year. In addition, this week I am
adding a play ( a 4-page script) about the Mayflower Compact
that has parts for all the students to act out in class,
#Post#: 40--------------------------------------------------
Re: November 12th PD
DIR By: awollman_yrsrh
Date: November 12, 2018, 4:15 pm
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The two ideas I intend to focus on are Brain Breaks and Teacher
Language.
Brain Breaks
Usually in my computer class, students are on the computer most
of the time. However, in a recent class to the sixth grade, I
spent the entire time teaching and lost the class by the end of
it, despite use of techniques to increase engagement. Next time,
I might try to break things up more or have student practice
something in the middle.
Teacher Language
As I go around the class observing student projects, some of my
compliments are phrased around me (e.g. "I like the unicorn you
drew."). I plan to keep this in mind and be sure to phrase it
about encouraging wanted behaviors and curricular goals (e.g.
"Wow! You figured out on your own how to design your own
sprite!").
#Post#: 41--------------------------------------------------
Re: November 12th PD
DIR By: cgordimer
Date: November 12, 2018, 5:16 pm
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Hi, I'm responding to Eliana Marcus's feedback to Baila
Grunwald. There is a great book that I read to my students
about perfectionism. It is called "Beatrice the Girl who never
made Mistakes". There is also a book called "Incredible Oops".
The girls generally respond well to books. I also had a journal
prompt the next day in response to the story: Making mistakes is
great because.... The girls really came up with great answers.
Also, when I make mistakes in class, which I often do, I tell
the girls, "Sorry, girls, I'm not Beatrice." I also make a big
deal when girls erase something and fix up their answers. I
might say something like, "Look at how hard so and so is
working, she is erasing something she worked hard on, because
she really wants to do her work right."
#Post#: 42--------------------------------------------------
Re: November 12th PD
DIR By: cgordimer
Date: November 12, 2018, 5:22 pm
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Part A: The Fundamentals writing curriculum taught me that
everyone can be a writer if they are given the proper tools to
write. To me, the most vital component to the student's writing
is the the individual conferencing. To help with management
during this time, other students are busy with their about their
author pages, cover page, illustrations and dedication pages.
Classical music is also played simultaneously. Also, this year
I created my own writing folder with my own written examples
detailing how I applied that day's lesson. Doing this has
created much more clarity for my students as to that lesson's
expectations. The illustrated writing folder has also been used
often as a tool for more writing ideas. Often, when students
are stuck, and can't think of something to write, they are
asked to refer to their writing folders to help think of some
ideas.
Part B: Morning and afternoon meetings sound nice, but because
we don't have the luxury of full day, I think they aren't too
practical to implement. I don't know if any of you agree or
disagree. As for quiet time, last year, I implemented something
called RAP (read any place, but not on tables or desks). This
was an extremely calming activity, but this year I'd like to add
a drawing and puzzle option. So far, my students have been
reacting positively to it.
As per social-emotional development, I'm seeing that when
students aren't showing basic courtesy to others and
responsibility for their personal and classroom items then
academic learning suffers. It's annoying to me when there is so
much that I want to teach, but can't, because my students are
lacking basic executive function skills to complete their tasks.
To help with this, I am trying to use reading material that
teaches these skills in a child friendly way (Julia Cook and
others). At the end of each story, we can share ideas of how we
can apply these skills practically in our classroom. I also
would use these ideas as writing topics during daily journal (
for example, keeping our classroom neat is important
because..... , I can be a better friend by ..............,
interrupting is rude because......, etc.). I would also model,
and have students model appropriate behavior. I would also
positively reinforce behavior that demonstrates appropriate
classroom behavior. This will take time, but academic learning
can't really take place otherwise, unfortunately. Brain breaks
are also great, but those may need to wait until other basic
skills have become second nature. One skill and procedure at a
time.
#Post#: 43--------------------------------------------------
Re: November 12th PD
DIR By: AlizaS
Date: November 12, 2018, 6:05 pm
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Part A) Like Ariel, I am looking forward to getting our Grab N'
Go math additions for 6th grade. The workshop with Maureen was
really great, though- I can't wait to introduce the "Math Talk"
baskets. I think they will be really great for my girls!
Specifically the dice and the drawing the word problem ideas.
Part B)
Academic Competency- I like what Ms. Schlisser said about
commenting on how the writing of the students will help others
(for example: "You used vivid adjectives, imagine how much more
the reader will be able to see in her head now, because of
that!" etc.)
Social Competency- To enhance social competency, I will work on
modeling how to respond to frustrations by not getting upset
when students speak when I am speaking. Bli neder I would like
to think of proactive solutions to prevent students from
speaking out in the middle of class, so that I am not stuck in a
reactive position during the lesson.
#Post#: 44--------------------------------------------------
Re: November 12th PD
DIR By: cgordimer
Date: November 12, 2018, 6:17 pm
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In response to N. Rosensweig, sounds like each of your classes
has a different culture. I would imagine that certain
behaviors, etc. began way before you started teaching them, and
have been ingrained for a while. I'm seeing that each class
that I have observed and taught is different, and what works for
one class, doesn't work for another. Advice that was given to
me was to not fix everything at once, and to try to think of one
thing to implement and focus on the next day. According to
behavior management books, (particularly Paul Jones), it is said
that discipline comes before instruction. Also, kids need to see
that teachers mean business and carry out what they say.
Cultures, especially at this age take a lot of time to undo.
Maybe the eighth graders would want to make to make a class
newspaper. The class can vote for a responsible editor, and you
can ask the class what kind of features or articles they would
want to print. Maybe one person can write an opinion piece,
while another can do interviews or do research on a topic that
the class would find interesting. This will take prep on your
part.
If they are so worried about high school maybe the boys can
research ways they can prepare for an interview. You can cut
print out articles for them about this topic, and they can write
something based on those articles. After this, you can partner
students and have them interview each other with a list of
questions that you researched. After that, they can critique
each other on their responses.
#Post#: 45--------------------------------------------------
Re: November 12th PD
DIR By: Binyamin_Weinreich
Date: November 12, 2018, 7:27 pm
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Part A
The Fundamentals of Writing Workshop helped me most by guiding
me to think of the writing process as a process, rather than as
just the prescribed way of creating a finished piece. Once I can
take a "big picture" view of the process, I can communicate that
to my students, and instead of isolated lessons, we have an
overarching goal that makes everything fit into place. It makes
each lesson and each day of writing more meaningful, even if the
final draft is still far off. I had been thinking of the writing
process as artificially drawn out, but the workshop helped me
see the process itself as integral.
Part B
I do believe that teaching social and emotional skills is as
important as teaching academic skills, but I have struggled to
balance class time between frontal teaching and giving students
a chance to work with each other. In some ways, it's easier to
keep the classroom static and not have to deal with the tension
of interpersonal dramas and struggles between students. Frontal
teaching may mean that maintaining engagement is harder, but it
can mean management is easier. But that shortchanges my students
of valuable opportunities to learn to work with each other and
develop their social skills. Going forward, I'd like to include
more small-group and partner assignments, and to encourage
students to work with various members of the class rather than
the same ones consistently.
I've also been trying to do better at partnering with parents.
I've always felt intimidated by contacting parents, because it
feels like submitting my classroom to be judged (which has more
to do with my own anxieties than anything real). Emailing helps,
and I've been working on reaching out to parents once an issue
becomes significant, rather than a crisis. This was already
hugely helpful for two different issues just last week, and I
hope to do a better job of keeping parents informed as to what's
going on in class so that they can be effective partners in
teaching their children.
#Post#: 46--------------------------------------------------
Re: November 12th PD
DIR By: AlizaS
Date: November 12, 2018, 7:39 pm
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Hi Eliana,
I agree with you that it was super helpful when Ilene went over
the curriculum in detail. What she said about letting them make
their spelling errors struck me as well. Especially because not
giving the correct way of spelling the words seemed to be
counterintuitive to me. I actually didn't catch that part about
"Kid Spell," but I appreciate your mentioning it here- glad that
it really worked for you!
#Post#: 47--------------------------------------------------
Re: November 12th PD
DIR By: Netanel Rosenzweig
Date: November 12, 2018, 7:49 pm
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Hi Avi, I like your idea to give more time for Brain Breaks. I
am also searching to balance between interactive activities and
frontal teaching. So far, I've found that different balances
work for different classes. For my 7th graders they enjoy
working on activities while my 8th graders appreciate frontal
teaching more. So I balance the two grades differently. In a
way, my 8th graders have their brain breaks when I'm teaching
and so prefer me to talk as opposed to them working more. While
my 7th graders need the brain breaks but more infrequent.
#Post#: 48--------------------------------------------------
Re: November 12th PD
DIR By: AlizaS
Date: November 12, 2018, 8:00 pm
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In response to Ms. Mark's comment on Logical Consequences. I
totally hear that- I have one particular girl who speaks- not
maliciously- but more like she doesn't realize that she's
talking over me. It's quite frustrating, and I have to watch
myself from speaking down to her. I want to try to address this
proactively; I think perhaps one thing I can do is pull her over
before class, and perhaps institute some sort of signal that I
can indicate to her (without the rest of the class knowing) that
she is speaking when she shouldn't be. If anyone has any other
ideas for this sort of situation, I would love to hear them!
Also, in regards to your comment on Interactive Learning
Structures, I've found that my students relate really really
well to Escape the Room types of activities. One I actually did
for Constitution Day, and they've been really great. (The two I
have used so far have both been from Teachers Pay Teachers, but
I'm not opposed to making up my own as well!)
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