Teacher Response to Student Needs

This week, the reading assignment was in Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom chapter 4. This book, is seriously incredible. I would love to meet the author one day- it would be such an honor. The reason I enjoyed this chapter is because it gives 100% responsibility to the teacher to develop and maintain the environment in the classroom. It is our responsibility to instill a sense of achievement into our students. When they believe in themselves, and we believe in them, they can seriously accomplish anything.

"The classroom environment includes both the physical and affective attributes that individually and  cumulatively establish the tone or atmosphere in which teaching and learning will take place." (Tomlinson, 37)  This means that before school even starts, before we meet our kids, and before amy lessons are taught, the visual atmosphere will contribute to learning success or failure. That is something to really consider as we are setting up our new classrooms next summer.

I really can't do this chapter justice- it really is better off being read by a prospective teacher.

The second part of the reading assignment was to read pages 120-160. These pages consisted of ideas to help the teacher differentiate. I will share a few of my favorites:

• Interactive Notes (or KWL charts)
• Learning Menus
• Think-Tac-Toe

These learning strategies aid the student in regulating, and choosing their own learning progress. My goal is to use the Learning Menus idea in the field, or during student teaching.

Target Time

Last week, I had the opportunity to go to a community council meeting at Manila Elementary School. The community council's job is to distribute funds, and maintain the functionality of the school, with primarily the students interests in mind. In this particular meeting they were discussing the school wide plans to improve end-of-year test scores to meet and accomplish the new common core standards. They did away with their typical 'flex-time.' Flex time was when students became proficient in a certain lesson, they were able to participate in a "fun" but non-academic activity. The students who did not meet the passing standards were re-taught the lesson. Students loved flex-time because they were permitted to play, and do non-typical school activities. But this summer, after the new common core standards were released, the school felt like they were wasting too much time with flex-time. They decided to re-vamp their schedule. Now, every Tuesday-Friday the grade participates in target time, where the students are divided up into 3 groups. Frustrational, independent, and exceeding. The frustrational group works with the teachers and they are being re-taught the material. The independent students continue to practice the skill on their own, while the exceeding students are doing an enrichment activity. The enrichment activity is academically based, and helps broaden the students learning. This use of target time differentiates for students on many levels, and meets their needs as learners. If my school that I am teaching at does not have a similar system, I hope to incorporate it into my own room.

My Vision- Mrs. Reynolds' ALL-STARS!

The reading this past week was very moving. Dr. Peterson wasn't joking when she said that the book Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom would change our lives. For some time now, I have been contemplating my vision for my classroom. After much thought over the past few semesters, I will share with you my goals and mainly my vision for my classroom. I hope I can portray in words what I feel in my heart, and see in my head.

I grew up around a lot of sports, mainly team sports. As I have become who I am today, I realize that a lot of my philosophies stem from my experiences on a team, and on a field. Not everyone has the opportunity to play sports, or be part of a team. My goal is the change that. My classroom will be a team. At the beginning of the year, we will uncover the team name- the ALL-STARS! We will have t-shirts made with our team name on them, in the color that the students choose. The students will wear our team "uniforms" on a select day of the week. I will be their coach. They can call me Mrs. Reynolds, or Coach; whichever they would like. Most teachers have something similar to the below picture in their classrooms:

I would have something similar, but I would like it to say "Reading Practice" or "Math Practice," etc. I want to do this because often the students who do have experience playing sports, enjoy going to practice because it helps them with their game. Instead of tests, we will have games. They will still be what we define as test, but in my opinion, doing it like this will really help the students recognize that as they practice, they will be better and better in order to "ace" the test. When we take important tests or have "a big game," students will wear their shirts. I hope you don't misunderstand me and think that I only want students to prepare for the test. My goal and hope is that by taking the pressure of of them and having a laid back feel, the students will learn to love different subjects and be willing to "practice" outside of the classroom of their own free will and choice, because like playing sports, learning is FUN! However, I am a firm believer in "perfect practice makes perfect play." This doesn't mean I will assign oobers of homework. Rather, I will demand perfection from my students and instill the desire in them to want to turn in perfect work. by doing this, my goal is to have a "three strikes, your out" policy. I believe that students learn best when they are able to recognize their mistakes, and then fix them. So I will allow students to turn in their work the first time for a "home-run"and bonus points if it is done perfectly. If not, they will be allowed a second, and a third re-do. After that, their mistakes will count against their grade. Of course there will be a time limit allowed, to keep the word feasible for myself.

I want to have a daily meeting with every student- meaning that they will each be assigned a number. When it is that number of the month, (March 9, September 17 etc,) they will have a meeting with me. In these 5-10 minute meetings we will discuss their progress of the month, what they like, dislike, how they feel they are doing, and set goals. This allows every student to meet with me once a month and set new academic goals and have personalized time for me to listen to them, and anything they have to say. When they are chosen to be "student of the week," they will be the class "MVP" for the week.

When we all do well, we celebrate as a team. When we struggle, we struggle as a team. A team is only as strong as their weakest teammate. My goal in this philosophy is to have students see the purpose and importance of each other. By establishing a classroom community, we will achieve optimal learning. Every day, before we go home, we will have our "team cheer" that we will develop during morning meeting. The details and the kinks in my vision are still pending, and working themselves out as I continue to visualize of my classroom.

Welcome to Mrs. Reynolds classroom and remember, you are an All-Star!

Differentiation at its Finest.

KSL- Teacher CHANGES a life

The above link takes you to a news article posted a few days ago by KSL. This teacher is the primary example of differentiation. She didn't find the need to address the entire class on hygiene issues, that would only embarrass the young girl in front of her classmates. Rather, she took some extra time to show this little girl how to take care of herself NOT during class; essentially, "Off the clock".

We need to remember that we are not only teaching young minds academically, but we are helping them succeed in life in general. A high-five to this teacher, for sure.

What Differentiation is NOT...

(adapted from: http://www.learnquebec.ca/en/content/professional_development/media_literacy/documents/What_It_Is_NOT.pdf)

individualized instruction:
There is no way a teacher EVER has time for this. Remember, small groups is okay. Flexibility is also the key. The teacher needs to provide variety and choice.

chaotic:
Everything needs to be done in order and with purpose. Don't have too many activities happening simultaneously that it is too hard to monitor and control.

“dumbing down” the curriculum:
Rather, work within the students ZPD to develop instruction. Not only should differentiation be occuring with struggling students, but also accelerated students.

A different approach...

As I have said before, my goal as a classroom teacher is to change the world, one child at a time. Recently while wasting my time on Pinterest, I came across the most useful pin. Click here to go to the blog that I stumbled upon. In this blog, a teacher talks about her experience using stability balls in her classroom in lieu of chairs. You might be thinking, "WHAT?! THIS WOMAN IS CRAZY!!"
I know, I thought the same thing. But in all seriousness, take a break from reading this post, and go to her blog. Finish reading this after reading hers. In the meantime, I will post some pictures of classroom who have used this as well.

Now after reading her post, you see that the first thing she did was establish rules. She made it very clear that when a student misbehaved with their ball, they had to sit in a chair (which to her class was punishment.)

After doing extensive studying and research on this topic, I have decided that I want to include these in my classroom. However, I have decided to wait until my second year as a teacher to do so. Here is why:

• I need to save money to get these balls
• I need to establish myself as a manager of a classroom

As much as I want to give these a whirl next year in my classroom, I don't want to appear as a fresh graduate who is nieve and with a warped sense of reality as to how my class will behave. Everyone at the school will think I am a lunatic. After I am a confident in my management style, I will incorporate these into my classroom as a  2nd or even 3rd year teacher. I plan on observing classrooms who use these, interview teachers who have used them, and interview parents to receive their opinions on the topic as well.

 

This is my favorite picture: 

What a perfect transition when you have a few minutes to spare before lunch!

Your school does away with P.E.? NO PROBELM! You have your own equipment. 

Please feel free to comment any questions or concerns. I am happy to answer/address them. :)

Change the life of a child...and you change the world

Often times, people ask me why I want to be a teacher. I want to change the world. I want to encourage students to dream, dream, dream! I want to inspire students to follow their dreams and engrain into them that they can do anything they want to do. I want to make my classroom different than anything that has ever been done before. I want to stand out so every day my students can tell themselves, "Mrs. Reynolds believes in me, and so I can believe in myself." If you change the life of a child, you can change the world.

The following video is about a man who changed the life of many students. WARNING! This video may make you cry... it was all I could do not to cry in class. I came home, watched it, and cried some more!

In my OWN way, like him, I want to inspire and change lives. I will continue to work on my teaching style and goals to do so.

Why I love this class!

This is only week 2 (third class session tomorrow) and I love this class. In fact, it is my very favorite one. Do you want to know why? Well I will tell you....

I have this dream, and this vision of how I want my classroom to be. I often lay awake at night dreaming of my own classroom and what it will be like. I see a classroom community where everyone is friends. We work as a team, and I am their "coach." We act like a team, and we support each other. There are no negative feelings towards one another and we work to help build each other up. A students confidence and dreams can develop within the walls of my classroom. Where everyone is being challenged within their Zone of Proximal Development, and optimal learning takes place. A classroom where all students thoroughly enjoy coming to school, and learning.

I always thought I was setting my sights too high...that a classroom community like that only existed in the minds of teachers. But so far in this class, I have learned otherwise. It IS possible to have a classroom community like that. How? With morning meeting, and differentiated instruction. Morning meeting will bring the togetherness of the class, and differentiated instruction will being to pass the latter part, where all students are participating in optimal learning experiences.

I eagerly read ahead in the books and look forward to class every Tuesday.

Morning Meeting- Sylvia Style

Sylvia Allen, the principal of Vineyard Elementary came to visit our Differentiation in Instruction class on Tuesday. She spoke about her experience of morning meeting in the classroom. an how it has changed the classroom community. The components of the morning meeting goes like this:

• Class Creed
• Greeting (Monday only)
• Pledge of Allegiance
• Memorization practice
• Class Business
• Goal Setting (monday only)
• Vegetables
• Dessert
• Two literacy terms
• One quote
• News or Current Events
• Share
• Class Cheer (or joke)

Now, you might be asking what all of these things are. Here is the general explanation and examples. The class creed is something that the class participates in and recites together. The creed is something that will help the students step up and consider their potential. 

The greeting is anything that aids the students in getting to know one another and that focuses on eye contact and proper greeting. This helps the students practice proper social interactions that will benefit them in and out of the classroom. Everyone know what the pledge of allegiance is, so I will move on to memorization practice. In this part of the meeting, we recite a passage that we have been working on as a class and individually. There is NO pressure to pass it off, and the class only moves on once EVERYONE has passed it off. Passing it off occurs privately to the teacher. After a few weeks of reciting the passage, usually students don't have a problem passing it off.

During the class business section of the meeting, Goal setting occurs every monday. During this time, the class participates in a short discussion about how they will behave that week, test score goals, etc. This should differ from week to week and from class to class. It is unique! Doing this allows the students to CHOOSE their goals and are more likely to succeed. Vegetables are things that are good for the class like a "math problem of the day" or "science question of the day." It even could include good behaviors noticed or goals achieved. Dessert is really complimenting a few students individually about who was kind, a perfect score, etc. This encourages students to try their best so they can be featured in morning meeting. The purpose of Two literacy terms is to teach without a worksheet! This can be omitted based on grade level.

The Quote can be anything you would like; it gets the students thinking and introduced to a number of different impactful people from society. News and current events is something that scares a lot of teachers. A lot of teachers want to protect their students and not scare them by what is going on in the world. It is better to educate, then to stay in ignorance. Part of being a teacher is not only helping students educationally, but as a member of society. So educate them! Let them know and feel that the classroom is a safe environment.

The Share portion will be discussed in a later post, so STAY TUNED!! And last but not least, Class cheer or joke. This will also come later, so be sure to check back for ideas.

You may be afraid that this will take too much time in your day....but it should only last 15-30 minutes. Morning meeting is something that will completely change the environment of your classroom and will save you so much stress, heartache, and time managing your students. Morning meeting will help your classroom feel like a community and create a safe environment. More examples of morning meeting agendas will be posted soon so stay tuned, and happy teaching!