Teach for Mastery

As a follow up to our STAR training, please enjoy this TED Talk and share in the comments an ah-ha or take away that you have after watching! Everyone who comments will be entered in a drawing to win a teacher prize! 

Summer, Summer, Summer Time...

 

Summer break is days away!! I hope that each of you have plans to rest and relax, travel, do home projects, read non-school related books, see movies, dance, visit the beach, spend time with family, etc. Your rest is important to recover from the stressors of a rigorous school year!

For some of you, your team has planned a summer planning (trade) day. I figured I might share some tips and blog posts about planning just in case you'd like to have some resources...I know, I know, I'm off topic of relaxing, haha. But you know that I love to make sure you are prepared with resources. :)

Suggestions:

-When planning for science and social studies...
     1. Create a Focus Calendar over the summer based on standards
         (Use the IFG and grade level standards for assistance).
     2. Start your Pacing Guide for Quarter One or Month One and
         then adjust during the school year, and continue pacing each
         quarter or month.

-When planning for reading and math...
     1. Review the county's IFG pacing, and see where adjustments
         would be helpful.
     2. Create a Focus Calendar using your grade level standards and
         the IFG.

Did you Know?

-Next year, we most likely will be moving away from the CPT template and moving towards common lesson plans. Start brainstorming important lesson plan components and take a look at the template I shared via email.


Helpful Blog Posts:

5 Ways to Learn Through Writing Lesson Plans
https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2014/01/28/power-of-planning/


Keep Calm and Pretend It's On the Lesson Plan
http://elementaryorganization.blogspot.com/2012/08/keep-calm-and-pretend-its-on-lesson-plan.html


Pacing Guides (high school level, but still great tips)
http://www.eatwriteteach.com/2013/07/pacing-guides.html  and her video How to Plan a Full-Year Curriculum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTeLiTbiMjA   


Tips for Curriculum Planning
http://www.cfclassroom.com/2013/07/CurriculumMaps.html     

End of Year Reflection Blog Post:
http://teachingtoinspire.com/2017/05/end-of-year-reflection-for-teachers.html

Happy planning and relaxing!! 

National Poetry Month and Financial Literacy Month

How did we get to April already??

Every April, I join the morning announcements crew to share a daily poem with our students. Students get to enjoy these poems, but also are seeing fluency, rhythm, and tone modeled at the same time. How do you model these reading skills in your classroom? Are you interested in engaging students through poetry activities this month? Did you know that there is a poetry section of books in the Teacher Area in the Media center?? Amy can direct you to the correct area if you're interested...See below for some poetry activity options:

25 Great Ideas for Teaching Poetry:
http://minds-in-bloom.com/25-great-ideas-teaching-poetry/

Poetry Across the Curriculum:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/poetry-across-curriculum-brett-vogelsinger

Poetry Creation Station:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/231583605817311935/

April is also Financial Literacy Month! The USF College of Education Stavros Center has created quick resources for you to use throughout the month. They created Money in a Minute (should take only 1 minute), which are daily images with economic/financial literacy questions aligned to K-5 standards. Each week they will post the next round of activities! Find the link below.

http://sunnymoney.weebly.com

 

 

Anyone who shares how they are celebrating Poetry or Financial Literacy in their classroom in a comment will be entered to win a Target gift card at the end of the month!

 

 

STEM and Reading PDs Follow Up

 

Thank you to everyone for attending the STEM and Reading PDs last week! Below you will find some additional resources and videos to assist you in implementing the strategies in your classroom.

 

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As you are working towards increasing or finding the time to fit independent reading into your blocks, check out some of the anchor charts, conferring documents, and videos below to assist you!

 

Independent Reading: Shopping for Books

 

 

 

Guided Reading Small Group: Conferring with Students (video)

 

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STEM can assist you in teaching the scientific method to your students, and can be done with everyday materials!

 

 

 

 

 

Setting the Stage for STEM (blog post)

http://teachoutsidethebox.com/2016/06/setting-stage-stem-beginning-school-year/

 

Storybook STEM: Bringing STEM and Literacy Together (blog post)

http://teachoutsidethebox.com/2016/11/bringing-stem-literacy-together/

 

 

 

 

Engagement PD Follow Up

Shout out to everyone for being fully engaged in November's Increasing Student Engagement PD!

I loved watching you develop your critical eye and using a rubric to peek into a first grade math lesson, hearing reflection on your practice taking place, and seeing all of your enthusiastically share your thoughts on the article "The Icing or the Cake?" in our Jigsaw activity.

Is engagement the icing or the cake?

According to ISNP teachers...

 

"Student engagement is both. The students must know the purpose (cake) foundation of activity -- why we are doing this -- and when this happens, they perform authentically (icing)!"

 

"Yes, it (the icing) is the only reason to eat the cake!"

 

"Student engagement is the icing. The very best feeling is when you can see the students engaged in the lessons."

 

"Cake! Without engagement, there is no learning."

 

"I think it's the cake - or at least one of its ingredients...Students can't learn if they're not engaged."

 

"Cake! If students aren't engaged, you aren't reaching them."

Based on the Google Forms Exit Ticket, I will be scheduling times to plan and model engagement strategies...for now, take a look at some of the videos and resources below!

 

 

 

Ways to Keep them ENGAGED...

1. Use an Engagement Strategy:

--Circle Chats: http://www.gottoteach.com/2014/08/circle-chats-cooperative-learning.html

--Using Think Pair Share (video below)

2. Avoid excessive use of worksheets, and offer CHOICE:

Tired of making copies? Do students rush through their worksheet? Use a learning menu instead! Menus allow for students to have choice in how they present their learning. By allowing students to choose the type of product, they are then more engaged and take ownership of their learning (providing artifacts of their learning process). Sample menu packets are in your mailboxes. See below for other options.

 -- Choice Board Blog: http://www.the-creative-classroom.com/2016/09/the-choice-of-engagement.html



Remember, even the highly engaged classroom will have multiple levels of engagement. The goal is to get a majority of students to be actively engaged. Please reach out to me if you need any ideas, etc. I will be observing during the month of December using the pink Engagement Rubric you received at the PD, and I will provide you with specific feedback once I've popped into your classroom.

How do you keep your students engaged?

Coach Corner: Week of 9.5.16

Thank you all for being willing to navigate through the growing pains of the new common planning model with me. I am here to partner with each of you and to see that you all “WIN”. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions, concerns, or even to invite me into your room to participate, co-teach, or observe. I love being in classrooms with you and the students!!

 

Currently, my focus is on instructional planning and devising an intervention plan as I seek advice from all of you. I am so grateful that you all allow me to be a part of your teams…

 

Next week, I will be off campus at a Coach meeting on Monday, but then I will be common planning with all primary teams, and intermediate teams we will be creating our first USA Test Prep benchmark together.

 

Happy Weekend!

 

 

Article Study Follow Up...

Below is a link to the article that we discussed this Wednesday on classroom management techniques. If you scroll through the article, you can watch the videos that go with each section on the topics that we discussed. Thank you for your reflection and suggestions!!

http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol11/1115-vilen.aspx