The Art of Teaching

Lately, I have been returning to the belief that teaching is an art. Particularly in today's society when so many new demands are being added to education, I find a "recipe," even a good one, cannot be used too often. Sure, we have procedures and routines that continue throughout the year, and that is a good thing. However, my teaching practice and what my students need from me is an ever-changing work in progress.

Since we began relying so much on testing, I am much more intentional in my teaching and much more accountable for basic things that every student must learn. However, because I also want to differentiate, I am still bringing multiple extension activities to my classroom. There is no way everyone can be given the same three or four part lesson everyday.  Finally, the academic basic education and testing focus ignores the multiplying number of students who need a responsive, caring environment. The "recipe" approach is at best a tasteless dish that does not bring inspiration for new efforts and lasting memories that stay with you for the rest of your life.

I want to create things that my students and I love! Learning with an everlasting taste for more; more math, more history, more stories. What worked well last year, last month or last week is going to be different from what will work well in the future. This is the challenge.

Groupthink

I read an interesting article in the New York Times yesterday. I would be interested to know what other people think:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?src=me&ref=general

The New Year Is Going Great!

Wow! The kids came back from break ready to learn, and we are having a great time. Our second Native American Dinner was awesome. Lorene (our fabulous) cleaner and her friend came to our dinner dressed in their authentic rendezvous clothes and spoke to the class. We had many parents and family members join us, and they were nice enough to help clean up, bead shirts and face paint. Today we even tried playing lacrosse in the snow!

We have survived learning long division, and the kids are making some beautiful pieces of artwork using rotations, translations and reflections. Plus, some of the kids are doing some really great stuff in algebra club. Differentiation is going perfectly, but I'm glad I'm not stuck doing the research project I planned last year. I like how class flows. Our setups and activities are flexible.

A couple of kids who really struggled with class behavior during the first semester are doing really well in class (we're still working on hallways and recess). I enjoy the excitement and positive attitudes of the kids in fourth grade. I also enjoy working with the new teachers who are always teaching me new things and have so much enthusiasm and humor. However, it's going to be a bummer when we lose one of my favorite staff members (to retirement) in March.

'Tis the Season

       Merry Christmas! What a wonderful, wonderful time of the year! On the 23^rd, we went to a wedding! It was so beautiful. Cathy, Phil’s sister, walked down a winding, dark wood staircase with her dad and met the groom in front of a large fireplace decorated with white candles, Christmas boughs and a star. All the guests stood around the bride and groom. It was so romantic for Phil and me that I could not help tearing up just a little bit. It was elegant and cozy, relaxed and lovely.

       The next day at noon, we all met for brunch at a restaurant overlooking Lake Geneva on a sparkling sunny day. Then, we came home and enjoyed a relaxing Christmas Eve around our own tall Christmas tree and cozy fire on Cascade Mountain. Now, we are on our way to Whitecap Ski Resort, listening to Christmas carols and watching the snow get deeper throughout the North Woods. Tonight we will meet our friends, Kyle and Jill, for dinner, and then we’ll watch the Packers as we build our traditional gingerbread house. In the morning, it’s time for skiing.

       This year I seem to be enjoying Christmas more and more even though I am doing less and less. Perhaps, it is precisely because we did so little that we are enjoying it so much. The wedding, the reception, the brunch and the vacation were all planned by others. We never even got around to putting up stockings or ornaments on the tree. I just put bows on all the presents for family and friends. The girls each received a new blow dryer wrapped in blankets under the tree. Cathy’s wedding gift was bought, wrapped and shipped from my laptop computer. My students received stamped paper bags containing a calculator, ornament and candy. The closest we came to watching a Christmas movie was laughing at the holiday episode of our favorite TV show, The Middle, on DVD. Phil and I are sure that the writers of that show have installed a hidden camera in our house just to get new material.

Update On Math Goals

Okay, we finished Unit 4. Next week we will finish Unit 5. I think we have found a very productive way of differentiating math instruction. I think there may be better ways with different classes, but this year, at this time, I feel very good about what we are doing.


Each day begins with some “interactive whiteboard” work. Sometimes it’s review and sometimes it’s new, but it always lets me discover where students' misconceptions are popping up. Next, I try to use manipulatives or a computer image, a movie or something fun to teach the lesson.

Then, students do some “practice” problems. Sometimes, I just walk around and check, sometimes they work with partners, sometimes they check their own work, sometimes I check it. The immediate feedback is important. Otherwise, kids sometimes just write any old answer.

Next, is the differentiation. Students have always had differentiated basic facts test. Some kids are working on multiplying 5’s and one is already through division of 9’s. Students also have group work, work based on MAP RIT score, enrichment packets, games on the ipad and our website, and opportunities to work with me and other adults individually or in small groups.

Finally, our after school “Algebra” Club is a lot different than last year. Only three students are truly working on “algebra,” nine or ten are working on pre-algebra packets and four or five are working in grade four study link workbooks. I have learned that my fourth graders this year really cannot teach themselves like my sixth graders could last year. The only one who can really do that is the only third grader who is in our club. However, everyone is working and learning.

Reading Based on Interest

During the months of October and November, I read a lot of books related to the 1960's. Years ago, I bought the book Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch. Back then, I don't know if I ever read the whole book, but this time when I read it cover to cover, I was truly astounded by how amazing Martin Luther King, Jr. was as a leader and religious person. Then, I started rereading some books on the Vietnam War, and I downloaded Pillars of Fire by Taylor Branch and Conversations With Jacqueline Kennedy. The last book was unique because it contained audio, video and written transcripts. However, I was very disappointed by Jackie Kennedy's broad stereotyping of so many groups of people.

After a short diversion for a book club with Phil (we read an awful book with a great title, When Elves Attack), I am back to reading a historical fiction book related to my 1960's theme, 11/22/63. Wow! It's been a long time since I read a book by Stephen King, but that man can really write an interesting story. So far, so good.

One of the great things about the iPad is that you can download free samples of books. I have probably downloaded 10 or 12 samples. Sometimes I buy the book, and sometimes I don't, but it sure makes choosing new books to read a fun experience.

Math Goals

Goal: Within each week's math lessons, I would like to differentiate instruction into at least three levels.

Activities

1. Use class website to differentiate instructional assessment materials based on MAP scores.

2. Utilize Part 3 of Everyday Math Lessons.

3. Provide additional after school enrichment and in class small group remediation.

Assessment

1. MAP Data

2. Computer quiz results

3. Unit Tests

4. Reflections (after each unit)

5. Student self-assessments

Halloween

    Tonight I finished hanging tombstones from the ceiling of my classroom. Each students wrote a description of a haunted house on one side, and the other side of the tombstone contains a silly, rhyming epitaph. They are pretty funny! All the kids (including my own two daughters) are talking about their Halloween costumes and trick-or-treating. We have been reading spooky stories in class, and now we're finally starting mysteries. The Fall Festival is a wild and exciting event at school, and I'm getting excited about a trip to Chicago after Teachers' Convention for a little adult Halloween fun!

Hey, Mateys!

I am so happy that we were able to have a fantastic Pirate Day last week. It was so much fun to integrate a celebration into our language arts, social studies and read aloud lessons. The students were SOOOO into it! The costumes and food were amazing, and one of my students made handmade treasure maps for each class member and a treasure box filled with pirate-related trinkets and toys. Another student brought in a huge wooden "treasure" chest filled with pirate items including some things signed by that famous fictional pirate Jack Sparrow (aka Johnny Depp). Oh! How I have missed students who take a theme and run with it to create something new and wonderful!

My standards-based research from last year has improved my lessons and assessment in math classes. I haven't done too much with my green, yellow and red light lesson ideas, but I have differentiated a lot within lessons. We completed the first math unit, and I am happy to report that my students love math and were very successful. The students focused on mindset, attendance and practice.

Right now, I feel excited like I did two years ago with my 3rd/4th grade class. Part of it is just going back to basics: I've tried for so long to be a team player, spend less time at school and up those test scores that I have strayed from what (I think) made me a good teacher. This year, I am really putting my time into making exciting lessons and activities, helping every student find success and fun in the classroom, and remembering that in the end I need to have my final self-assessment outweigh the feedback I get from my peers and bosses.

Reading, Working and Going Slow

I am reading a lot of books, slowly organizing my teaching world and trying to remember to go slow! Tomorrow we might even find some time to play Silent Ball in class which is an awesome game for both teachers and students. Last week I felt much more upbeat about teaching. As a result I was inspired to put in some extra hours throwing away things I will (probably) never use, and filing away all the rest.

Making a Difference

Yesterday, I received an email from one of my former students who I taught during the 1987-1988 school year. I could remember him exactly as he was in 8th grade, and now he has sons of his own, one of whom is in middle school!

We as teachers do not always realize the impact we have on our students. This year, for the second time, I was beginning to wonder if all the extra time and money I spend trying to make a difference was worth it. Along with some kind words I have recently received from former parents and students, the email made me feel better than I have in a long time.

My Pocrastination Meeting Has Been Postponed...

For the last eighty minutes.... I have just "wasted all of my time".....

My classroom is a complete disaster, and Open House is three days away! So, why am I not working on  it???? Instead, I am writing on this blog... after I checked out the latest high school football rankings for Portage and a bunch of other schools... after I read the Portage Daily Register...after I wrote some emails... after I basically did anything but the things I should be doing.

Maybe what I really want to know is how come every time I spend precious minutes and sweat (a lot of, I mean way too much of, actually dripping-into-my-eyes-type sweat) cleaning, my classroom just looks messier and messier? This is ridiculous! I cleaned out 26 boxes from our basement at home and brought 18 boxes to school. Now I have unpacked all the boxes of books and nothing looks better (whaa, whaa, boo hoo, do you feel sorry for me, too?). 

Actually, I'm just ranting. It will get done, but I have a feeling it will be done about 3 minutes, 35 seconds before Open House.

P.S. I scored the first BINGO at 8:19 yesterday during our opening inservice. By the end of the morning the only word keeping me from blacking out my entire card was "flexibility." I was the "big" winner so Phil and everyone else (you know who you are) need to pay up!

New School Year!

Today is the first day of "real" school. No more just doin' a little of this and a little of that whenever...or never. This summer was awesome! It was just what I needed to recharge my optimism and enthusiasm for learning and teaching. Tomorrow we'll start planning fourth grade stuff, and hopefully I'll get an opportunity to actually introduce myself to the new teacher I will (be trying to) mentor this year.

I went back and forth about mentoring this year, but in the end, I think I could help someone else get adjusted to Portage. I still remember all the things no one told me when I started here, and all the things I didn't know when I started at a different school last year. Most teachers graduating from college know just as much or more about new teaching methods as I do, and they sure know a lot more about technology than I do! But adjusting to Portage is the one thing I could help someone learn.

Sooooo, I'm going to try and keep a list of the things "no one told me, but I should have known."

1. Get your substitutes set for all the days you will miss for grade level classes BEFORE the start of the year.*

2. Good parking places that aren't off limits.

3. Pick out one or two personal days on the first inservice day. Bring a calendar and addresses to the first inservice.*

4.  Look at other people's websites to get good links (Everyday Math, Smartboard Sites, CoolMath, etc.).

5.  Sign out the computer lab way, way, way ahead of time.

6.  Sign up early for MAP Testing the first time. Sign up late for the next two times.

7.  Watch the questions your students are getting on the MAP test. Adjust curriculum accordingly.

8.  The first 10 questions of the MAP test are much more important than the next 40 questions.

9.  Try to get (or switch with me or other teachers) an early date for lounge, fitness Friday, etc.

10. The importance of volunteers*

11. A good safety patrol fundraiser, community service, points, and the importance of staying eligble

12. The shirts, face painting, posters, Spirit Week, and parade for Homecoming

13. The sixth graders helping out at Halloween

14. School supplies such as glue, paper, colored/subject folders, and dry erase markers*

15. Donations for end-of-the-year field trip and picnic

16. Tips for writing reflections on lesson plans*

17. Snacks, milk, lunch, Book It Pizzas, testing food, soda, refrigerators

18. Xerox printing and paper: Things you should know

19. County fair projects and money

20. Differences at Rusch compared to other Portage Schools

• curriculum
• grading
• parent club
• funds
• technology
• after school
• lunch
• recess

21. Band practice and choir practice times*

22. Schedule and Agenda Lists*

23. Student of the Week Ideas

*First items