Technology for Technology's Sake?

Are we using technology for technology's sake?

I ask myself this question often, especially as a teacher in a 1:1 learning environment. Striking the balance of using the technology in a meaningful way while teaching and guiding students effectively can be a challenge. I often stop to ask myself if the technology is truly necessary to enhance the learning experience for my students.

This past week, my students wrote a short research paper. (In case you were wondering, this covers common core standard W.6.7: Conduct short research projects to answer a question drawing on several sources.) To help students organize their research, we used tabbed folders with library pockets stuck inside to hold their research that was written on good old-fashioned index cards.

(Our pretty green research folders.)

"I can't believe you are not using technology for this project," one of my colleagues commented.

But my students were using technology. They were using their Chromebooks to access a webquest, which was guiding the research process. Students were accessing different web resources and taking notes on their findings. Students were also using technology to publish their final paper, which they shared with their classmates. Finally, students will be using all of this wonderful research to collaborate on a multimedia project that answers our guiding question.

Here's the thing. It's not about the technology. It's about teaching students to think, to ask questions, to organize their thoughts, to make revisions, to write. Could we have found a way to do all of the pre-writing, planning and note-taking using some web tools? Definitely. Would that make the experience any better for my students? I am not so sure.

When I asked students if they liked using the note card system for their research, the majority of my students said that they preferred doing research this way. One student even told me she thought it was fun and that she felt "more organized and prepared."

As many school districts embark on their own 1:1 journey, I think it is important for teachers to ask themselves, "Am I using technology for technology's sake?" We need to remember that it is not always necessary to use technology 100% of the time. A hybrid approach to using technology along with effective pedagogy is our ultimate goal as teachers, facilitators and guides in a 1:1 learning environment.

Stationary Stations

Literacy centers (or literacy stations, as I like to call them) are a fantastic way for students to practice various reading and writing skills as they rotate through different activities. In many elementary school classrooms, students can often be seen moving in and out of literacy centers when they are not meeting with their teacher for guided reading instruction.  Students themselves recognize how fun it is to participate in the different activities, which also provide important opportunities for students to work collaboratively with each other. Even though I teach middle school students, I decided that literacy stations had wonderful potential with my sixth grade students. Because of our 1:1 Chromebook pilot, however, my bigger challenge was finding a way for students to utilize the power of the technology while still experiencing the different literacy activities.

This week, I set up a handful of stations for my students to practice various reading and writing skills, using a shared Google doc as a guiding document that would encourage collaboration between students. One keenly aware student pointed out that even though I set up "stations," she did not technically need to rotate or move throughout the classroom anymore since all the activities were either web-based or recorded using Google Docs. She declared them "Stationary Stations." 

The more I watched students participate in the Stationary Stations, the more enthusiastic I became about the possibilities of these types of activities in a 1:1 learning environment. The stations were all challenging and meaningful, which kept students engaged throughout class time. Even more exciting to me was the quality of work that the students were producing since they were able to collaborate with each other and practice the skills that we have been focusing on in class. Maybe even more importantly, I was able to provide immediate feedback to my students as I kept tabs on their Google Docs and circulated the room to check in with each group of students frequently. 

Below are the activities and web applications that I used with my students, each of them aligned to the Common Core State Standards. 

1. Timeline Creator

Task: Create a timeline to analyze chronologically structured text. (RI.6.3)

Review: Students were able to create a timeline without any trouble and save it as a PDF to their Google drive. The saved timeline will be used as a reference when students are asked to analyze the events within the text. This site is very user-friendly and students can easily save whatever timeline they create. I highly recommend it!

2. Draw.io

Task: Create a flowchart to analyze a section of text to see how it fits into the overall structure of a text. (RI.6.5)

Review: Draw.io builds very simple diagrams online that can automatically be saved to Google Drive. Two big thumbs up!

3. Rory's Story Cubes

Task: Write a narrative while incorporating figurative language into the story. (RL.6.3, L.6.5)

Review: Story Cubes were loaned to me by a student who was just dying to try them out in class! The students loved the challenge of writing a story collaboratively on Google Docs using all nine story cubes and then incorporating the types figurative language that we've been studying this year. These awesome sets of story cubes are perfect for classrooms, road trips or moms who may need to entertain a family before mealtime!

I am always looking for suggestions. If you have any ideas for literacy stations for middle school students, please comment below! Thanks for checking in. 

It's Not about the Device

As a culminating project for my students' self-selected lit circles, they all made book trailers using iMovie on the iPads that we borrowed from our LMC. Someone asked me, "Why didn't you have the students use their Chromebooks for the final project?" Interesting question. While yes, we are in the midst of a 1:1 Chromebook pilot, that does not mean that Chromebooks will work for us 100% of the time.

Think about yourself for a minute. How many devices do you use on a weekly, daily, maybe even hourly basis? For me, I use a laptop or Chromebook for lots of web-based applications, an iPad for larger projects that require multimedia apps, and an iPhone for just about everything else. If I were limited to using just a Chromebook, I'd be without a camera, photo album, day planner, ...the list could go on! So, how can we limit our kids to just one device?

The fact is that 1:1 is not about which device. It's about having a device. In today's classroom environment, the chosen device, whichever it is for the moment, should foster the four C's of 21st century learning: creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration. For my students' book trailer projects, they worked creatively and collaboratively using iPads, yet a lot of their planning and critical thinking was done using a Chromebook. And when it came time to communicate their final projects with each other, the device was obsolete, thanks to Google Drive and YouTube.

As you can see below, iPads are a powerful tool for the students to create their own book trailers. I think you will be impressed by the performances of these sixth grade students!

Handing Over the Reins

Several weeks ago, I blogged about the magic of lit circles and how motivating this strategy can be for middle school readers. To stay faithful to the lit circle model, my students have selected their own books for our next round of lit circles.  With the help of my school librarian, my students learned about six different books from which to choose. Students filled out a Google form with their book preference, and then I was able to sort my trusty spreadsheet to create the lit circle groups.

Because the books were student-selected, I decided that the students also needed to pace out the reading for themselves. We need to hand over the reins to the kids in our classrooms more often anyway, and I figured this was a perfect opportunity for students to practice their self-directed learning skills. I provided a pacing calendar with designated lit circle meeting days, but my students had to work together in their groups to reach a consensus on their pacing schedule. The activity of going through a book and pacing out the reading was, by far, the BEST problem-solving and team-building activity for kids that I have ever witnessed!

Here is a short video of a group of students discussing how much they planned to read in between lit circle meetings:

Here is a link to the document that the students were all using to pace out their reading between each lit circle. (I used Doctopus to share the pacing calendar with each group.)

I love the ownership that this experience has given the students. After they finished pacing, the students also began a group blog to post their reflections and lit circle jobs instead of using a folder with paper handouts. Students are eager to get started and I am equally as excited to watch the process!

Reshaping the Language Arts Classroom

With all of the crazy weather we've been having this winter, my students have practically forgotten what it feels like to be in school for a full week! As I reflect on the teaching and learning that has been taking place in my classroom, I see more and more how the 1:1 devices can truly elevate the learning experience for students. Most of my current lessons and activities in the areas of reading, writing and language study were impossible before going 1:1. To capture these shifts, here is a little taste of how the Chromebooks have reshaped my language arts classroom.

Reading

This week, students read a passage and came to class ready for a discussion, but the 1:1 devices played a large role in how I incorporated each student into the activity. I used a discussion strategy known as Socratic Circle, where students in an inner circle discussed the text, while the outside circle observed the discussion. Instead of students passively watching the discussion, all participants in the outside circles held their own discussion using a real-time backchanneling site called Todaysmeet.com. Todaysmeet also provides a transcript, so after the discussion, students could reflect on what ideas were discussed and how actively each student participated. Today's students cannot take a back seat in class; the technology gives a voice to all.


Writing
A recent writing assignment asked students to create a graphic narrative either by hand or on a comic-creator website of their choosing. After students reviewed the CCSS for narrative writing, we worked together to develop a set of criteria to include in their creation. In just one assignment, students reviewed narrative writing elements, found a way to produce the assignment, and then began publishing their work to their blogs for feedback from peers and outside observers. Take a look at Emma's blog for an example of her graphic narrative. Today's students write for a greater audience and they want their work to be worthy of the public's eye.

Grammar 
My days of teaching grammar at the board and handing out worksheets are over. Thanks to 1:1 Chromebooks and a website called NoRedInk.com, students practice grammar skills at their own pace and then take quizzes which are graded immediately to provide instant feedback to the students. My favorite features of this program include a student customized profile so that sentences are tailored to the individual interests of each student, a color-coded progress screen that shows areas requiring the most practice, and most importantly, it is absolutely free! Students love the program and many keep practicing just to try to beat their score. Today's students see the relationship between practice and performance, finding motivation from within.

This is such an exciting time in education as we transform teaching and learning in our classrooms!  Ever since putting devices into the hands of each learner, the level of engagement and motivation is unparalleled. If we continue to push the bar and reshape the way in which we teach our students, today's students will be ready for an unknown future that is full of possibilities.

Reflecting on Then and Now

My students have had their Chromebooks for nine days. Although they were already accustomed to using the Chromebooks in my classroom, somehow it has become an entirely different experience since going 1:1. Now the device is theirs.

In the first couple of days, all students wanted to do on the Chromebooks were the same two activities: customize the wallpaper and play online games. So, after a little bit of thought, I decided to let them. I figured they needed to get it out of their system.

After a few more days had passed, the Chromebooks were no longer viewed as a shiny new toy. Students started coming to my class asking if I would post homework through a site called Teacher.io, which integrates with an app appropriately name "myhomeworkapp." Usually teachers beg students to use an assignment notebook, so I got a kick out of listening to the students beg me to use the app with them. I love how organically this all occurred, but I knew my students needed to begin viewing their device as more than just a homework organizer.

By the end of this week, something changed. The learning began outshining the device, because the device was helping students participate in activities that were previously impossible. I've even overheard students recall the days before we went 1:1, and they recognize how different their learning experience has become.

As I reflect on today's classroom as compared to my years of teaching before 1:1, it fascinates me to see how much has changed.

My students used to write in journals with a one-person audience, today they blog for the world.
My students used to collaborate by crowding around one computer screen, today they collaborate using online tools such as Diigo and Google docs.
My students used to brainstorm by raising their hands until I called on them and wrote their ideas on the board, today they collaborate in real-time on sites like Padlet and everyone is involved.
My students used to take paper and pencil assessments that sat in a filing cabinet once they were graded, today every assessment is given online so that I access student data at any time.
My students used to watch videos as a full class while furiously scribbling notes, today they watch videos online at their own pace, stopping whenever necessary to take down something of importance.

Amazing how much can change with one little device and this is only the beginning. If you are using 1:1 devices with your students, what changes are you noticing in your classroom?

How Should We Grade Our Students?

As the grading period comes to a close, I am faced with the challenge of entering grades into report cards. What makes this process particularly challenging for me has a lot to do with the fact that we are still using a traditional grading tool in my district, where we assign letter grades to students to demonstrate their performance in each class. While this grading tool works well for many teachers, it is not very meaningful once educators begin delivering a standards-based education to students.

I have a couple of choices when it comes to student grades:

• Option A: I can give a grade showing whether or not students have mastered the learning targets being taught.  Keep in mind that mastery of most of these targets is not expected until the end of the school year, so earlier in the year, the grades may look alarmingly low to students and parents.
• Option B: I can give students higher grades, and then explain that the grade is a reflection of student performance at that particular point in the school year, and expectations for students will continue to rise. Essentially, Optional B is saying that earning an A later in the school year is harder to do than earning an A earlier in the school year.

Here's the problem with both options...what do these grades even mean!?  So, Johnny got an A and Susie got a B this quarter. Great. What can Johnny do that Susie can't do? 

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer about how this should be handled. I want to accurately report what my students can or cannot do at a particular point in the school year, but right now, I am stuck assigning a series of point values that are automatically calculated into a percentage value which then gets converted into a letter grade of A, B, C, D or F.  

So, when Susie gets 8 points on a 10-point rubric showing mastery of certain skills while others still need development, Susie's grade gets calculated into an 80%, which is a B- to most people. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could just report that "Susie is progressing at an appropriate rate for a 6th grade student and is still developing the skills taught in class. She has shown mastery of  __________ and will continue to work on __________ as the year progresses." 

As I wait for a standards-based grading tool to make its appearance in my district (which I suspect will happen in the very near future), I have decided to pilot a standards-based report card in addition to using the report card already in place.  Although it is a lot of extra work, I want to be as transparent as possible about student performance in my class.  

What do you think? Are you in favor of keeping traditional grades or ditching them? Share your thoughts!

The Magic of Lit Circles

Years ago, I was brainwashed into believing that whole class novel study could not effectively teach literature to a group of students at various reading levels. I distinctly remember being told by a trusted colleague that I would never reach all of my learners by teaching the same book to an entire class of students. Even though I was skeptical of her words, I chose to believe her.

As I became a more seasoned teacher, I used short stories and passages from our grade level anthology to teach reading skills to my students.  I added poems, song lyrics, and nonfiction articles into the mix while differentiating instruction for the various learners in my classroom. Still, I refused to read an actual novel with my class. "They are reading books independently outside of class," I would convince myself. "Surely that is enough reading practice." But deep down, I knew that it was impossible to guarantee that all of my students were actually reading literature on their own.

Then one day, I had an interesting conversation with a mother or three children, all of whom graduated from my school. I told her about my views on why I do not teach novels in class and she said, "I loved it when my children read books in school because sometimes it was the only way to get them to read."

I often remember that parent, and I am grateful for her honesty. She truly helped me see the forest through the trees.

Once I was finally ready to attempt a novel study with my students, I decided to use a strategy known as literature circles. Lit circles are essentially mini book clubs where students are responsible for reading a book and meeting in small groups on a regular basis to discuss the reading.  In addition, students take turns completing specific lit circle roles which are shared during lit circle meetings to enhance the discussions about the book. Typically literature circles are not composed of teacher-selected groups of students all reading the same title, but since my intention of lit circles was purely to motivate all of my student to read the selected book, I did it anyway.

It did not take long for me to see how powerful lit circles can be in the classroom, even when students are all reading the same teacher-selected book. Maybe it was the book I chose. Maybe it was peer-pressure. Whatever the reason, lit circles got all of my students to read the book. How could I tell? Just listening to the depth of discussion taking place in the lit circles throughout my classroom was evidence enough to prove that everyone had been reading the book. Hallelujah!

Reading can be a very social experience, and lit circles truly helped me get all of my students to enjoy reading and discussing literature. Moving forward, I would like to redesign some of the lit circles roles to support the literature skills outlined by the Common Core State Standards. Next quarter, my students will also be participating in a 1:1 Chromebook pilot program, and they are very eager to use the new devices to complete all lit circle roles in a paperless fashion. Please check back soon to hear about our progress!

Image Credit

Chromebooks are Coming

Guess what I just got today???

Chromebooks are coming to our team the first week in January. All students will have a device to use in and outside of school. There is so much in store for our students during second semester. We cannot wait!

The ART of Teaching?

Just this week, I stumbled upon a quote in an article that did not sit well with me.

"I . . . believe that teaching is a skill, not an art, and that, as with any skill, people get better at it with analysis and practice."

I have never thought of teaching as a skill.  In fact, I believe my credentials actually say "Master of Art in Education" and not "Master of Skill in Education." 

Whenever I describe my profession, I tell people that teaching is an art. We often think of art as the work produced by an artist to express thought and beauty, but art is also a "skill acquired by experience, study, or observation." (Merriam-Webster) 

I do not disagree that teaching is built upon skill, but in my opinion, it is not one single skill. Teaching is a set of many, many skills, with so many facets and angles that a teacher will spend her entire career practicing, examining and transforming her craft. Teachers must be creative, inventive, and imaginative - carefully cultivating individual human lives. Is that not as beautiful as the work of an artist that hangs upon a wall? Charged with the preeminent responsibility of engaging and inspiring dozens of young, developing minds, how can teaching NOT be considered an art? 

What do you think? Is teaching a skill? An art? Both? 

Discuss.

1:1 Chromebooks Coming this January

I am very excited to announce that my students will be participating in a 1:1 Chromebook pilot this January! Teachers from all over my district submitted Innovation Grants to bring the 1:1 pilot into their classrooms. Thanks to our incredibly supportive Board of Education, along with the leadership of our administration who truly values transformational learning and teaching, the grants will become a reality to all who submitted. There are not enough words for me to express how privileged, honored, and inspired I feel to be part of this important initiative.

Below is the video that my team submitted as a part of our Innovation Grant.  We look forward to sharing our experiences with others as we learn how 1:1 implementation impacts the learning taking place in our classrooms. Feel free to stop by to follow our journey right here at FaustFacts!

The Backchannel Debate

My class is in the midst of narrative writing. As they embark on the writing process, I felt a responsibility to expose my students to actual authors who write fiction on a regular basis. The professionals would be a wonderful resource for my budding authors!

I called upon some local talent in our community to share their expertise with my class.  I found three authors who agreed to come to my classroom to share their experiences with students and answer their questions. As I prepared for our visiting authors, I began thinking about ways to get each of my students engaged during their visits. I wanted to ensure that each student was an active participant, rather than a passive listener.

Thinking about my own experiences at workshops and conferences, I started considering the power of a tool like Twitter and how backchanneling is a way to encourage participating from the audience. A format such as TodaysMeet was my first choice to use with students, but that website is currently blocked in my district. Twitter was my second choice, but my students are under the age of 13, so that wasn't an option either. I was faced with a situation that required some creative problem-solving.

What I ultimately came up with turned out to be the perfect solution for my 6th grade students. I decided to create a "Tweet Form" using Google Forms, which had data validation enabled to restrict the number of characters students entered to 140 characters or less. I embedded the form onto my Google Site in one column, while the form's responses were embedded into the opposite column. This created a "chat room" feel for my class. Using individual Chromebooks, students participated by sharing their thoughts, questions and feedback about what they were learning during the authors' presentations. Before we began, I reminded students that all of the "tweets" were permanently documented since student usernames were collected each time the Google Form was submitted. Sneaky, right?

Critics will say that the students are not necessarily paying attention if they are on a computer throughout a presentation. This may be true. But who's to say that they are paying attention throughout an entire presentation when they're not on a computer. I'll tell you this much...I am really good at looking like I'm paying attention while my brain is on a mental vacation, and guess what? So are our kids! The one thing I can say is that the evidence on my Google Tweet Form showed engagement, enthusiasm and participation. Everyone was involved! Yes, they may have missed a few things while typing out their "Tweet," but so do adults. With practice, the students will improve at quickly developing concise Tweets during presentations, and their participation will take the learning to an entirely new level.

What do you think? Would you consider letting your students backchannel during a class presentation?

Tasting Our Way to Descriptive Writing

One of the Common Core sub-standards for sixth grade narrative writing states, "Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to convey experiences and events." (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3d) Teaching descriptive writing can be challenging, but giving students a meaningful experience can help them find their creative voice.

To help my students practice using sensory language, I decided to give them a hands-on experience that would elicit their senses and allow them to practice writing descriptively. I picked up a tub of these "Soft Puffs" at my local drug store, which was a perfect treat for all of my students with allergies since the candy is nut/dairy/gluten-free. The product boasts, "a surprise whenever you grab one!" I liked the idea that students did not know which flavor they were getting for our sensory experiment. This forced students to slow down and call upon all of their senses to help their brains determine what it was that they were actually experiencing.

As students began selecting their piece of candy, I encouraged them to carefully observe the candy's color and smell of the aroma, before they ultimately tasted the flavor. Such a creative learning activity deserved an equally as creative format to demonstrate understanding, so students were given the task of showcasing their sensory language in the form of a Glog using Glogster.

From our Mystery Candy Experiment, students connected their experience to their writing in the form of sensory language using strong adjectives, metaphors, similes, and analogies. What a fun and delicious way to get kids writing descriptively!

Thanks to Lexie for allowing me to share her beautiful Glog!

A True Student-Led Discussion

Last week, I spent some time getting to know the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching, which is the default model for evaluating teachers in the state in which I teach.  Beginning this year, my district will be using the Danielson Framework to evaluate teachers, and even though I am not on the evaluation cycle this year, I still feel that it is my responsibility to get comfortable with this valuable tool.

The Danielson's framework has four domains of teaching responsibilities including planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction and professional responsibilities. I dove right into Domain 3 (Instruction) to see where I felt I could make some improvements in my teaching practice.  I had an "Aha!" moment when I investigated component 3b which is "Questioning and Discussion," and read what the Danielson Framework suggests.

"Some teachers confuse discussion with explanation of content; as important as that is, it’s not discussion. Rather, in a true discussion, a teacher poses a question and invites all students’ views to be heard, enabling students to engage in discussion directly with one another, not always mediated by the teacher." - The Framework for Teaching Evaluation Instrument 2011 Edition by Charlotte Danielson

That first part was me. I often said those exact words: "Yesterday we discussed..." But the truth is that we never discussed anything. I would talk, my students would respond, and that was that.  After reading the critical attributes of a distinguished teacher in this particular component of the Danielson Framework, I realized that my students were not having discussions at all, and I needed to make a change immediately.

I decided to begin with one of my classes that was already participating in literature circles.  The students had been practicing their discussion skills in a small group setting, so I simply asked students to apply their experience from the discussions in their literature circles and bring it to the large group.

"Today, let's try to have a discussion about how to improve our literature circles," I explained. "Don't worry about raising your hands. You know what is expected in order to have a meaningful discussion. Listen to each other. Take turns talking. Respond thoughtfully. Let's see how it goes."

What I witnessed was amazing. The students truly discussed how to have effective literature circles. They talked about what works and what doesn't. They shared strategies, gave suggestions, and offered ideas for improvement.  They listed to each other and responded back respectfully, and I was not mediating at all. It was exactly what my students had been missing.

After observing a true student-led discussion, I am eager to find more opportunities like this one where I can hand over the reins to my students, letting them lead discussions and make decisions about their own learning. Danielson's model shows teachers that to be a truly student-centered classroom, it is the students who must own the learning and not the teacher.

If you are familiar with Danielson's model, please share what are you doing to help students take a central role in the discussions being held in your classroom. How are you putting the learning in your students' hands?

Bringing Elementary Ways into the Middle School Classroom

I am an elementary teacher at heart.  Before teaching middle school, I spent nearly ten years at the elementary level, which gave me my foundation in best practice. There are so many powerful things that elementary teachers naturally do in their classrooms each and every day.  This post is in celebration of elementary teachers, with the hopes that a few middle school teachers out there will bring some of the elementary ways into their classrooms.

Here are three of my favorite elementary teaching practices and why I think they would work brilliantly in middle school too!

Flexible Grouping - One of the many wonderful things about elementary teachers is how they naturally differentiate instruction in the classroom so that they can reach a range of learners in all subject areas. Teachers at the elementary level achieve differentiation by working with small groups of students all the time. Small groups can and do work at the middle school level too! Personally, I use the information that I gather through pre- and formative assessments to learn exactly which students need help with which skill. Once I have this information, I group students into homogeneous groups so that I can help meet students' individual needs.  Using the 30 minutes per week that I have set aside for independent reading time, I can pull together small groups to work on various skills. Grouping students not only gives teachers the ability to help those who are struggling, it also gives students amazing self-confidence when they are given the extra time and attention that they need to be successful.  

Re-teaching - Elementary teachers know that it takes students different amounts of time to master new concepts and skills, so they often back up and re-teach their students. In my opinion, re-teaching should happen far more at the middle school level. Oftentimes middle school teachers are plowing through their content, keeping all of their classes together, but we leave kids behind that way.  I have found that exit slips or quick check-ins (informal assessment/quizzes) let me know when I need to stop and back up so that the majority of the students have the foundation that they need to move forward.  What about those outliers who aren't "getting it?" Think about pulling them into a small group as mentioned above.  

Parent Communication - My elementary teacher friends communicate with parents in a variety of ways such as sending newsletters through email, keeping a class blog, or updating their class website religiously. Parents seem to always know what is happening in the elementary classroom.  When kids go off to middle school, the attitude is often that students need to be responsible for communicating with parents about what is happening in school. Why is that? Don't parents of middle schoolers still deserve to know what is happening in their child's classrooms? There are lots of ways to communicate with parents is this day and age, thanks to social networking and other web-based tools.  (Read my post about my favorite way to communicate with parents through the app Remind101.)  If we want parents to be our partners, I think the communication needs to be maintained even when students reach middle school. 

There you have it. Three ways to bring a little elementary into the middle school classroom.  Kids are kids, no matter what their grade level in school. If you are a middle school teacher and you have never taught at the elementary level, ask if your administrators would allow you to visit a neighboring elementary school for a few hours some day. You'll be amazed at what they do and how good it is for kids! 

If you have experience as an elementary school teacher, please share some elementary practices that you feel would be beneficial in a middle school classroom.

Great Teachers Wear Orange

Teaching is hard. It's incredibly rewarding and fulfilling and exciting, but it is downright hard. Sometimes it is also hard to stay positive. As teachers, we want so badly to be the best that we can be, but teaching today is remarkably challenging. On top of our work in the classroom, there's planning, assessing, grading, and meetings. It's just. so. hard.

BUT...

I want to stay positive, and I believe it is my choice. Although teaching will never be easy, I can choose to hold my head up high and be proud of what I do each day because I love what I do. I love being a teacher. So today, along with many of my amazing colleagues, we decided to show our commitment to our work, to our students, and to each other by wearing the color orange.

Why orange, you ask?


Orange stands for enthusiasm - something teachers must show to motivate, encourage and engage their students.

Orange stands for warmth - something teachers must spread to let students know that they have a heart, they are human and they care.

Orange stands for energy - something teachers must embody to share their positivity and passion with others.

Orange stands for success - something for which teachers continually strive to ensure that all students are learning and growing.


Orange stands for what all great teachers stand for.  If you agree, perhaps you will stand with us and wear orange too.

Jot Dots - A New Approach to Summarizing

As a 6th grade language arts teacher, one of the learning targets that I am responsible for teaching my students from the ELA literature strand of the Common Core states, "provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments." (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.2 ) To introduce summaries for narrative text, I began by having students read picture books which allowed students to practice essential reading skills in a non-threatening way.

Easy enough, I figured. I offered students a graphic organizer with a very popular summarization strategy known as the 5 W's + 1 H. Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? 

It was an epic fail, as the kids say.  

One of the reasons the students struggled with their picture book summaries was because their topic sentence had a very narrow focus.  They would begin the summary with the "who" of the story, but that did not help them introduce the main idea of the story at all.  Luckily, my wonderful literacy coach mentioned a strategy to me called "Jot Dots" taken from the Write Tools.  I must say that after teaching it to my students, I am hooked!

The strategy begins by asking students to "Name it, Verb it, Give the Big Idea." Essentially, this is a formula for building a strong topic sentence. They name the book, choose an active verb and then write the big idea or theme for the story. (See the presentation below for a specific example of what this looks like for students.) What a simple, yet effective way to begin a summary! It was a hit with all of my classes when they realized how easily they could generate a well-written, focused topic sentence for their summaries.  

Next, I had the class write five "Jot Dots" which were notes of five words or less about the sequence of events in the story. Students practiced writing their Jot Dots so that they could organize the rest of the summary that would follow their topic sentence. Again, success!  Everyone had a plan of what they were going to write about, which built the students' confidence.  

Finally, students stretched the Jot Dots out into individual sentences so that they could elaborate upon each idea. Before long, the students had beautifully written summaries without breaking a sweat. The difference between using the 5 W's + 1 H and the Jot Dots was night and day!  
Below is the presentation that I used with my class.  If you teach summarizing, I urge you to try out this approach with your students.  I was blown away and I am sure you will be too!

Summarizing from Marcie Faust

Remind101: A New Approach to Parent Communication

When I started teaching over 10 years ago, just about every teacher I knew wrote a classroom newsletter that came home in the form of a piece of paper.  I am fairly certain that a good percentage of those newsletters ended up in a crumpled wad of recyclable material at the bottom of most kids’ backpacks.  To ensure that I was reaching my entire audience, I decided to use a smarter and far more revolutionary way of communicating with all of my students’ parents: email.  I mean, what parent doesn’t have an extra 5-10 minutes in their day to read an email lovingly crafted by that brand new, 20-something teacher who wants to tell you every single detail about what is happening during your child’s school day?

Well, I am a parent now myself, and I’ve got news for you…I do not have time to read all of the newsletters that I receive via email.  Because not only do I get newsletters from my kids’ schools - I get them from the religious school, sports teams and enrichment classes too.  Sound familiar?  Of course,  I don’t want to sound ungrateful for the communication.  I am SO grateful.  I just do not have the extra time in my day to read them all!  

Enter Remind101.  Where have you been all of my teaching career!?  This is a brilliant, web-based service with an extremely functional smart-phone app that allows me to text my students' parents, without ever exchanging a phone number.  Now  I can keep the lines of communication open with  bite-sized updates about what is happening in my classroom.  Quick to send - quick to read. Now I can be sure that my message is being read because it's only 140 characters, and even the busiest of people can find the time to read that!

If you are still sending email newsletters, I highly recommend making the switch. Busy parents like me will thank you!  

#ReadyToLearn

Last spring, middle school teachers from our district were introduced to the amazing Jack Berckemeyer, a high energy, hilarious educational consultant who taught our teachers a tremendous amount about student engagement and how to build effective middle school teams.

This year, our school adopted the phrase "Ready To Learn," which we are borrowing from Jack.  The first day of school, our middle school teams shared what it means to be ready to learn with our students, and we are working hard at reinforcing the importance of this phrase each and every day so that it becomes a part of the culture at our school.

Prior to this year's Open House, the 6th grade students and teachers on my team put together a bulletin board inspired by Twitter and our new motto of "Ready To Learn." We gave students cards with pseudo-Twitter handles (@StudentName) and asked them to create tweets (messages of 140 characters or less) to show what it means for students to be #ReadyToLearn.  The responses were awesome and our students loved the idea of getting to tweet, even if it was just on paper.

The feedback I received from students was so overwhelmingly positive as they began generating their tweets that I immediately knew we had to continue using paper tweets with students in the future. Right now I am toying with the idea of students writing Exit Tweets to reflect on what they learned in class as well as writing Celebration Tweets for when something great is happening in class. I am curious to hear of other suggestions, so if you have any ideas of ways we can use "paper tweets" with our students, please leave a comment below.

Implementing the Common Core: Getting Started

This year, with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and a new middle school schedule that reduced language arts classes from 80 minutes down to 60 minutes, I have a lot to cover in a (relatively) short amount of time.  Here are my top three goals for how I plan to implement the Common Core into my teaching this year.

1. Start with the Standards
This year, I must remind myself that my responsibility is not to teach any particular unit, theme, or story.  My responsibility is to teach the standards using the materials that I have available to me.

2. Experiment with Standards-based Assessment
This week, my literacy coach helped me design a pre-assessment to assesses the standards that I plan to teach during the first quarter of the school year.  We wrote questions that align to the common core so that I have some baseline data that I can use to inform my instruction.  I expect that the data will give me rich information about my students so that I can tailor lessons around their specific needs. After I have explicitly taught these standards, I can use the same assessment as a post-assessment to measure growth among my students.

3. Keep Moving Forward
Our kids deserve a standards-based education, and I plan to focus on the future to ensure a quality, meaningful, and effective education for all of my students.  Even though the road will be long, I plan to keep moving forward by staying committed to the changes being made in how we educate today's children.

I am really looking forward to the year ahead. If you are beginning to implement the Common Core into your teaching, what are some of your personal goals?