Reflect and Transform

As a teacher we are constantly writing lesson plans, crafting ideas and making plans for our students.  We sometimes think of this as the most important aspect of our teaching, but what we don't realize is that reflecting back on how our lesson was, analyzing what went well and what didn't and also realizing how our students performed is the most important part of our teaching experience.  With the opportunity that I had to work in a 1st grade classroom for nearly 13 weeks, I was presented with the experience to teach and reflect on the work that I presented.  As much as writing a reflection can be a pain and afterthought, having the ability to review how you presented the information and if it was successful is something that it is important to partake in.  Throughout my experiences with research within the classroom and also personal experiences in my classroom, my ideas and philosophies have been transformed and added on to within my education career.  While you have your main ideas and thoughts about how you teach, constant ideas and changes within the education world will allow you to transform these ideas to fit the mold of your classroom.

My main philosophy as a teacher is the idea that every student has the ability to learn and it is our responsibility to find those ways of learning.  Throughout my practicum experience and the learning that I have received in the classroom, I can see now that my philosophies will always be catered around the same idea, but will be changed and twisted throughout my various experiences.  As I grow as an educator I can see that making connections and building rapport with my students is something that will provide a room full of learning.  By building rapport I will be able to see the various ways of learning that a student may need, because I know them more than just as a student.  I can also see that learning is more than just providing answers, writing essays, reading a story and finishing a book report, learning is every where in the classroom.  Its on the walls, its in small reading groups its in the student's minds.  This is something to not take for granted or become too overwhelmed when you realize that you haven't assessed your students enough or that the state tests are coming up.  Your students have the capability to always be learning, as long as you create an environment that pursues these ideas.  It is always important to establish a positive learning environment that the students understand the rules, establish the expectations and have the ability to be who they are at any point in the day.  By establishing this type of classroom, you will provide the most optimal learning opportunities every single day.

As an educator, we need to be constantly reflecting on our ideas, lessons, and day to day activities so that we can see how to move forward.  It's just as any athlete, musician, artist, etc. reviews the work that they have provided so that the next game, concert, and gallery can be better than before.  This same thought can be brought out with teachers.  We aren't expected to be perfect the first time, or at all for that matter, but reflecting and thinking about ways that we can improve learning for our students is the type of teacher that I wan't my students to have.

Technology Transformation

As we sit in our classrooms the forever constant, take out a pencil and paper will soon be changed to talk out your iPad or laptop.  Teachers are being asked and directed to change from the classic models of educating to integrating technology throughout every aspect of your school day.  From SMARTBoards to tablets, schools are now moving from a computer lab to one-to-one systems.  While some can find that many of these ideas are innovative and will put us one step ahead in our math and reading developments, some of us teachers cringe at the idea of reading from an eReader.  How does a student truly become motivated without having a physical book in there hand?  Will we even teach the ideas and fundamentals of writing in our future classrooms?  These are all questions and concerns that many teachers in the 21st century are realizing throughout these past couple of years.  Now-a-days a 21st century learner can develop proficiency and fluency with the tools of technology, create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts while attending to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments (National Education Association).  One of the biggest ideas that I struggle with is the fact that we have a responsibility to use education throughout our classroom, but how can we do it effectively.  With this questioning in mind, I was curious enough to research my own ideas about using technology within my classroom through a Pinterest board.  These ideas allowed me to research what apps are effective, how can I incorporate tablets and various strategies to use a SMARTBoard with various subjects in the classroom.  Many links, blogs and websites provided a variety of resources that were actually meaningful for a elementary classroom, but the real test is how do we effectively incorporate this into our every day curriculum?

"Technology in the classroom, its not a matter of 'if,' its a matter of 'when' and 'how,'"  stated by Alice Armstrong in her Illinois School Board Journal.  The ideas generated from this article are a great resource to realize that we are not just bringing in new materials to use, we are creating new ways of teaching our students.  Essentially we are reviewing our old ways and reflecting on methods that we have been taught and practiced with and turn them around to accommodate to the ever growing world of technology.  The change is prevalent and can be seen throughout many schools across the U.S., but the most important question becomes, is this change good?  With my own personal experiences I believe that technology can and should be incorporated throughout our classrooms, there just need to be expectations established and positive and effective uses for the students.  One of the ways I plan to incorporate games and activities from computers or iPads are doing my own research as a teacher to find activities that are learning involved and motivating for the students.  Many resources that I have discovered throughout Pinterest have allowed me to research blogs and reviews that provide realistic approaches to specific activities and why they work or don't work throughout classrooms.  This is something that is very important as a teacher because if you are supplying a portion of time out of your classroom to allow a student to play a game or activity, it needs to be learning filled and have a purpose.   After you have discovered the positive and impacting ways of using various forms of technology throughout parts of your school day, it then comes to the ideas of how much technology may be too much?

As we approach the questions of how to incorporate technology into the every day classroom, some classrooms and schools have already began their investigation on a flipped classroom.  For some of you who may not know what this idea entitles, the basic run down involves the students listening and watching lectures at home and then the teacher providing supplemental work and activities in school.  The classroom is essentially flipped where the teaching is done at home and activities are provided at school.  This entitles technology and provided wifi for every student and also for the student to have the ability to listen to these lectures at home.  I believe that it can be successful in some situations, but as a teacher I feel as if I am only doing half of my job.  As an educator I believe that it is my responsibility to provide information and teach my students with a purpose and a goal.  By allowing students to look at a robot or a lecture on the computer and to hold them responsible for taking in all of that information is a scary idea.  While it may be successful in some situations, I believe that teaching and working can be done both at school to provide the best learning.

In looking at all of the technology that many schools are supplementing into their curriculum, I can see the constant battle between just using technology because your administration tells you to, and using technology as an effective means of learning.  This will be a difficult battle to overcome as an educator, but with great research and knowing your students, it can also be a very positive and successful way of learning in your classroom.

Thinking Together, Working Together

"We conveniently forget that children's ability to use language as a tool for thinking on their own has its origins in thinking together."  There are times as teachers when we focus too much on what we need to say and teach to our students.  With a demanding curriculum and standards to accomplish within a short amount of time, we are constantly thinking about how we need to provide the information to our students and they need to take that information in and process it.  Have we ever thought to take a step back and allow our students to take over our conversations and discussions?  From large group instruction to small reading groups, the power of allowing students to take lead in questions, comments, answers, etc. can be very powerful.  While it is still important that you provide "talking points" that allow students to remain on the subject of discussion, we will allow that gradual release of responsibility onto our students.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the idea of an "instructional conversation," it provides a consistent dialogue between the teacher and classmates in which the teacher provides talking points but allows students to challenge, question, comment, answer, etc., in hope that it provides a conversation between the students.  This may seem like a difficult idea to grasp, or even allow in your classroom, but the benefits and results that this type of teaching provides more of an impact when it is done correctly.

One of the most important ideas to grasp from this type of dialogue is that "the collective intelligence of a group is not particularly related to the average, or maximum, intelligence of individuals' in the group," as discussed in Johnston's Opening Minds.  Many teachers find it very difficult to allow their students to take over a conversation based on a variety of reasons.  One of the main reasons is that your students will not be able to provide the type of information and reasoning that you want your students to understand.  Although it is nearly impossible to have all of your students on the same academic level as one another, the intelligence of the group is not based on who the particular individuals are its based on the conversations that your students can produce.  "Individual minds are nurtured in the conversations-the interactive thinking-of the community" (Johnston).  There are many instances in which the students can provide information and talking that the teacher can not create and that is when this type of teaching becomes powerful.  It not only provides constant engagement from all of your students, but it allows for  students, who may not always talk in class, a way to contribute without being called on by a teacher.  "Studies also show a an increase in: comprehension, reasoning ability, expressive language, creative thinking, etc" (Johnston).

There are many important benefits that come with releasing more responsibility upon the students, and one of the greatest accomplishments is seeing the lightbulb light up in your students mind when they are  really engaged within a discussion.  From performing my own instructional conversation within a small reading group, I saw many important comments and questions that arose from a group of 1st graders.  Yes I said 1st graders.  Even though it seems as if conversations and dialogues are only possible with later grades and with a more engaging text, I have realized that a younger elementary classroom also has the capability of performing an instructional conversation, as long as you adapt to the appropriate age group.  By providing important talking points about a specific reading that you are working on, it allows for the students to express their opinions, make a connection with their own life, and even ask questions about things that they may not understand.  It was empowering to allow the students to talk over the group and really lead their own discussions about a topic.  It is important to realize that as long as you are able to differentiate your lesson to the appropriate subject and age level, an instructional conversation can really provide many learning moments.

I have provided a link to Johnston's Opening Minds book that provides many examples and also ideas for leading instructional conversations within the classroom.

http://www.amazon.com/Opening-Minds-Using-Language-Change/dp/1571108165

Writing to Learn for the Rest of Your Life

From a very young age, we learn as writers how to stroke a different symbol to portray what you are meaning onto paper and to make sure that your letters aren’t too tall or too short.  We can categorize the basics of writing as a young student as simple as neat handwriting, spelled correctly and makes sense.  As we develop as writers, we put more effort into the words that we are trying to speak. We develop our own voice that is as powerful written, rather than spoken and we can achieve this level through different strategies such as similes, metaphors and our ideas.  To some writing comes naturally and becomes an escape route for their thoughts, and to others the struggle to even get a pen down on paper is their constant battle.  As an educator it is our goal to have our students develop different strategies and resources to get their point across on paper.  Johnston discusses, “With all of the pressure we feel today as teachers to raise test scores and get students to meet standards, its all too easy to forget to communicate how much we care about them as young people and as writers.”  When we have taught our students and given them all of the tools they need to be a successful writer, we can see that some students will continue to struggle with their ideas and lack motivation to even begin writing.  Where do we draw the line in failing a student based on the product of the writing, and not on the process?  This is something that many teachers constantly struggle with in many aspects of school and not just writing.  What constitutes a piece of writing as an “A?”  Yet again this ties back into my entire notion that I have discussed throughout the semester on knowing your students and making that extra effort to help a student learn, because everyone has that capability. 

In my recent attempt at assessing my students, I was faced with a challenge in deciding how to grade my students.  A rubric seemed like the most logical choice, that conveys a point system and the amount of points that a student receives tells you whether they are an “A” or a “D” student.  To be fair to my students, I created a rubric that consisted of grading based on ideas and tasks that they have been learning throughout their time spent with me.  The different factors included discussions about 2 or more characters, the setting, main ideas and spelling, punctuation and legibility.  I was very happy at the rubric that I produced, but when it came time to actually sit down and place my rubrics on my right and their writing on my left, I found it difficult to give bad grades to students I knew that tried hard.  I found myself giving more points to students who put in more effort and have improved their writing throughout the weeks.  After taking a look at my students work and looking at my rubrics, I knew something was wrong.  I completely disregarded the actual context of the rubric that I created, and was grading my students on who they were as writers, the improvement that I have seen, and if they wrote up to the standard that I knew they could.  All I could think was, what is the point of even having a rubric if I feel confident in this type of grading?  This is where it becomes your decision as a teacher on what route you are going to take when it comes to assessment.  While it is inevitable that we can stray completely away from assessing our students and putting a grade on their work, there are many different ways to grade our students based on who they are individually, as opposed to constantly comparing each student to their classmates.

As discussed throughout “Assessing Writers,” by Johnston, we receive a preview of a teacher who truly cared about the students growing as writers, as opposed to having all exceptional grades in the grade book.  One of my favorite ideas about his book is the discussion and emphasis on conferencing with your students.  As stated by Lucy Calkins, “We teach the writer, not the writing.”  This fits perfectly with my teaching beliefs when I say that every student has the ability to learn because when you take the time to individually talk to every one of your students, you are not only understanding their needs, but you are getting to know that student a little bit better.  If we take note of all of the needs of your students, you will be able to reach not just a few students but your entire class.  As Johnston states, “There isn’t one writing process that guarantees success for all writers and through every day assessment a teacher learns about students as initiators of writing…when a teacher gets to know a student she also imagines what kind of a writer she wants that student to be in a few months.”  The idea of writing about “what the student does and then to write what you can do to help that student” really puts into perspective that every student needs something different and it is our job to find a way to address that need.  With that being known, we already have a start on our assessments with our students.  If we know what we have taught our students and what we expect them to know and do, making a rubric should be simple and same with assessment. 

Assessing is something that we as teachers dread because it is difficult to put a grade onto something that may be so different from someone else’s.  Even though we cant get out of assessing our students, we can find ways to truly address how are students are as writers that will satisfy parents and administration but it will also help our students to learn what they need to work on.  As Johnston said, “The point of teaching writing, ultimately, is to help students become lifelong writers.”

Learning For the Rest of Your Life

"Your not writing to answer this test question, your writing to learn for the rest of your life!" (Wolf)  Many teachers these days are caught in the hype of getting through every inch of curriculum, perfecting every lesson plan, getting the highest scores on the state test and pleasing the district to make sure from losing your job.  But while we are getting caught up with all of this, it becomes apparent and very evident that we have given up on the idea of teaching our students ideas because of the knowledge that they need to know, not the facts that they need to know in order to pass a state test.  The buzz words of the last few years have been commonly known as "teaching to the test," in which teachers are so concerned about their students scoring in a certain percentile, that they forget to think, are my students even really learning this?  If you look at the test today, you may even wonder the importance of your students passing a certain portion of a test that seems irrelevant to the knowledge to help them succeed. This is where many teachers get caught up in the notion of making sure their pile of students passes a certain number to get a certain percentage so that a certain someone up in the ranks can tell them that they all passed and can move on.  But what does this even really mean?  Its easy to label a student based on a test score in reading and math, but does that label really describe who that person is as a student?  This is why I find it extremely important for teachers to teach TRUE to the test, as discussed throughout Wolf's article.  It provides a blend of authentic teachers and important theories to teach by when it comes to standardized testing in writing.  This stays true to my philosophies as an educator and as a long life learner, in which every student is capable of learning and their are many, many different ways of providing that learning to a student.

If we are looking at the standardized testing portion of writing, we can see that it isn't such a concrete area to grade.  While there is no multiple choice or one right answer, it provides more of an opportunity for students to creatively express who they are and their own voice.  But some way, some how the states are able to place a student in a certain percentile of achieving or failing based on a strict rubric that calls for no creativity or voice.  While teachers are under a lot of pressure to create high achieving students, even the most creative and innovative teacher can be strung up in making sure there students are prepared for the test by providing similar rubrics from the tests and having them practice.  While this seems almost like some form of cheating, it seems to be the only way that students can pass or provide good scores.  But is this the only way?  As discussed throughout Wolf's article, there are many other ways to involve the standardized tests throughout your curriculum, without basically putting the test right in front of their face.  The examples provided by veteran teachers provides practice, standardized curriculum, and all the other components that many teachers use for standardized test taking, but in a creative and innovative way that allows students to go beyond a rubric.  I believe using these ideas across our entire curriculum, not just for writing, will provide with not only a positive test score but actual LEARNING.  Because thats what teachers are paid for, right?  Whether it be using social studies to write in an essay format about the pilgrims or computing a story problem in math, there are many different ways that teachers can "teach" to the test, that provide satisfactory results.

In looking at the different ways that we see teachers within the classroom today, it is important for you to stay true to your beliefs and what you feel is best for your students.  As discussed throughout previous blog posts, your student's needs are what is most important for you as a teacher, not some test score that you receive two times a year from a computer robot.  It becomes a question of not only how can you increase your test score results, but how can you actual teach these students the material that they wont spit out on a test and forget the next day.  I believe that every teacher is capable of producing a classroom that can be successful in all of these areas, and those are the teachers that are willing to put in the most work and dedication to their students.  Stay true to who you are as an educator and your beliefs and you will truly teach to the test.

I have placed the Wolf article below:

https://icon.uiowa.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2336925&tId=3168752

Not All Responsibility is on the Teacher

As you walk into a classroom many times you will hear the statement, "Now students raise your hand when you have found out the answer."  Or you will see the classic procedure of the teacher modeling a few problems here and there and then proceed to have their students complete similar problems or strategies.  Have we ever taken a step outside of our bodies and realized, maybe these students aren't thinking the same way that we are?  Are some of these students thinking of something so brilliant but are restrained from the idea because of the constant motions that we go through every single day in the classroom.  Every day teachers are so concerned with getting through what they need to, to say they have achieved and taught so much of this portion of the curriculum.  When is it time to take a step back and realize there are different ways of teaching other than lecture and assessment.  One of the many different strategies available to use with our students are Think Alouds.  To give a little background for those of you who may not know what this entails exactly, it consists of a gradual release of responsibility onto the students.  AHH!! I know what your thinking...what do you mean giving more responsibility to the students?  I need to make sure that they understand the material!  To your amazement, you will see, more than not, the amazing things that your students are capable of using their brains for and how important it is to allow them to take responsibility for their own learning.  I conducted a think aloud of my own with a group of first graders, in which the focus was to work on their predicting skills.  Lets take a look into what was accomplished.

Prior to conducting my own think aloud, I realized that my students didn't have a lot of prior practice or knowledge of what I wanted to accomplish.  I began with a simple book entitled "Pancakes" by Eric Carle that was engaging and also it went along with the pancake theme that we were working on for that week.  I wanted to focus on a simple type of reading strategy, like predicting, that would be easy to make fun and kind of ween off the responsibility onto my students.  I began with my own predictions on the cover, using a post it note to write "Story about learning how to make pancakes, that takes place on a farm."  I really encouraged the students to use the text and the pictures to help them create a prediction with the story.  Now, the most important portion of this entire think aloud is actually thinking aloud , believe it or not.  Go through the process of why you decided what you did, speak aloud to the students how you came up with the prediction that you did.  I began doing this throughout the first couple of pages.  On page 5, the students were so eager to say what they wanted, I started asking the entire group to brainstorm what they believed would happen on the next page.  We all came to a consensus that entailed, "Momma was gonna make him go get eggs from the chicken coop."  We continued on throughout the next few pages until I stopped asking students what they thought was going to happen next, and they started doing it on their own!  It came to the last portion of the think aloud and the students had taken over all control, even to the point where I wasn't holding the book anymore and they were writing on the post it notes.  The students had taken over, and it was amazing to see their thinking come to life and how excited they were, when their predictions became real parts of the story.

While not all portions of a think aloud can be successful or release a sense of responsibility onto the students, it is important to try and to see how your students process their own type of thinking.  This has to go along with my teaching beliefs in which I have stated throughout my blogs, in which every student has the capability to learn and being able to see how specific students are thinking is a tremendous advantage in keying in who your students are! This also may provide you with an excellent example of a strategy that works for a student who has had difficulty providing answers or skills on paper or in group discussions.  You can also use this strategy to push the thinking of your students, and really drive them to think deeper or further about a subject or topic.  Nearly any type of reading strategy or skill can be shown within a think aloud, and with a gradual release of responsibility onto the students, it can even make your job easier!  I have provided a sample youtube video of a think aloud from a teacher reading a non-fiction story about bugs.  This should provide you with an idea of how this strategy is conducted and the gradual release of responsibility that the students take over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=akGmRgF1jy0

From Blackboards to SmartBoards

"Now class please sit down quietly and take our your iPad's to begin today's lesson."  Wait a minute, did this teacher just say iPads?  What ever happened to the good ol' fashioned hard cover book that had that distinct smell of busy eyes reading across the text.  The 21st century literacy learner has established newer definitions and we can provide gratitude, for these changes, to the ever growing world of technology.  According to the NCTE, National Council of Teachers of English, the 21st century learner need to "gain proficiency with tools of technology, design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes, and create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia text." We are no longer asking our students to be able to read and write on a piece of paper, we are asking them to think deeper and more critically using the tools and sources of technology to become more literate students of America.  With so many schools going from one-to-one in each classroom and completely dispersing the idea of a classic math textbook, it is important to stay "in the know" and understand what all of these changes will mean within your classroom.  This is why I have been set on a journey to use Pinterest, a website full of pinning and bouncing ideas off of other users, to research resources, ideas and tips on teaching literacy in the 21st century.

The idea of having more and more involvement with technology in your classroom can be intimidating for some teachers, especially those who have been in the field for many years.  For some of these teachers, not using technology is no longer an option while many schools are in the race for being the most updated or the most tech savvy.  But what does this all really mean? Just because there is a smart board in your room or that you have an iPad doesn't really mean that you are using these types of devices in the ways that can empower your students understanding of literacy.  There are so many possibilities to enhance the teaching in your classroom, which is why I have begun using my own technological resources in exploring ways to use media literacy throughout our classrooms.  These different methods and lessons of teaching are important for me to understand, as a future educator, because these are the ways of teaching that I am expected to be able to do with my students.  The internet allows us to connect with someone who lives in Thailand from a desk of a small school in Iowa.  The internet allows us to explore any single idea and turn that idea into an experiment or activity.  The internet allows us to go farther than we have ever been able to go before with our teaching, and especially with literacy, allows ours students to explore text in a whole new light.  This is why it is important for me to research and provide information and tools to provide the most effective and efficient ways of educating in the 21st century.

As a constant learner and still a student at the University of Iowa, we have learned that just a basic pen and paper can be enough, but if you want to strive to be the best, you can use the opportunities that technology has provided within your classroom.  I believe that literacy is the most important aspect of schooling today, which is why it is important to stay with the ever changing world around us.  Reading will always be reading, but the way that we read and what we read and how we can help students to read is forever changing, and this is why it is such an exciting time in the world of literacy!  More resources for researching or for helping a specific group of students work on their reading and writing is right at the palm of our hands, and we need to take advantage of that.  I truly believe that allowing our students to become literate with technology and other tools that are on the rise today, will put our generation of students ahead of the game and allow for more learning to be done throughout the classroom.

I am very excited to begin this research project on Pinterest and to be able to share my ideas and "pins" that I have found useful for your classrooms!