Love Them? Hate Them?

My students absolutely love these Vidgets.


However, I have run into a few safety problems with the chairs. We went over the rules in the beginning but they subconsciously sit different ways.  They fall out of the them everyday. Ahhh...

SOLUTION: I need to reteach the procedure and expectations.

I have found that the kids are just still one way vs the three options.
The point of the chairs is to allow the student to have movement as they learn. Therefore, they are definitely doing their job.
I tend to lose sight of my goal and just focus on the constant hollow drumming of Nike's on the Widgets that echoes in my room. I was glad that Cassie asked to borrow one to remind me how kids really love and enjoy the chairs.

Creating Goal-Getters In Kindergarten

When I moved from pre-k to kindergarten I set some rather lofty goals for myself and my students.  All based around the concept of growth mindset and goal setting.  I know many people think that’s way too much to ask of a 5 year old but I am here to tell you it’s not!  This goal really came out of my frustration. Just stay with me I'll explain.  Early childhood education has always been my passion.  I feel the sooner a child can start their educational journey the better.  I believe that the future of our students doesn't wait until a testing grade to develop ... no those 4 year old pre-k students are just as important as those students tested by the state.  I have sat in meetings and listened to people regard pre-k and kindergarten as play and disregard the tireless investment teachers and assistants make for kids in those grade levels.  I've worked long nights and early mornings and I am hear to tell you yes we play!  Not in the sense that we are lollygagging around not learning. More in the sense that research shows young children learn through exploration and play thus that is what we do in a very purposeful way. So let me step down from my soapbox and tie this all together.  So when I was offered a kindergarten position I accepted and with that I made a promise to myself and my future students to prove the naysayers wrong.  The buzz word today is growth mindset, blended learning, goal setting etc.  But seldom do you see or hear it being implemented in early childhood.  Challenge accepted!  My students were going to show the world kindergarten students are beyond capable of growth mindset they are where it all begins we were going to set the bar! I started the year by creating simple goal setting binders for each child.  The binders were simple they contained the beginning of the year character survey each child completed with their families, their goal setting conference sheet, and some tabs that would give us room to store some of their work samples if needed.  We also enacted the use of the Class Dojo app.  Not only does the app record behavioral goals and conduct it’s also a way for us to share student work samples and communicate with parents.  All was going swimmingly and then HARVEY!  UGH!  No one enjoyed that guy’s visit.  I was very concerned about the impact this would have on the timeline I had for goal setting.  Honestly at that point I was ready to just say forget it and give it another try the next year but instead we persisted.  The first round of goal setting conferences were very helpful not only to gather information on what the students wanted to accomplish but to also connect with them and just show them that I really believe in them and I care about their desires and interests!  To say they all just poured out their hopes and dreams without any issues would be a lie I still have a few that just stared at me with big doe eyes wanting me to give them the answers.   The thing about goal setting is well I can’t give you the answers that defeats the whole personalized aspect of it.  For those kiddos I had open ended questions that helped to ease their anxiety and help us to develop their plan for their learning journey.  Each student was asked to set one or two academic goals and one social goal.  Interestingly all the academic goals centered on reading and phonics.  Some just wanted to learn all their letters and sounds before they went to first grade.  Others wanted to read and then make movies from what they read.  Some just wanted to learn how to read.  All totally obtainable!  The social goals centered more on making friends, being kind, setting a good example, being good citizens etc.  The one thing to keep in mind when goal setting is to have measureable goals so we were sure to word the goals in a way that was measureable.  Now this is my first time implementing a more elaborate goal setting program so we didn’t set a concrete time line on when it should be achieved.  To me in kindergarten they don’t have a real grasp on time in general so I feel not having a set in stone completion date is fine.  I from there took their goals and aligned them with our TEKS.  I created a graph on the wall titled “Tackling our goals” our room is football themed so this fit perfectly.   The cool thing was even though you can look and see the learning gaps you can look and see what each and every student is accomplishing at their current place.  No time is wasted there is a celebration at all times for our goals.   Each student colored their football player and we labeled it with their name.  It’s so great to see them go and find their name and see where they are and then to hear them discuss this with their friends.  While we are all learning as we go I am really enjoying having a growth mindset learner centered approach in my classroom.  Many times people think that at this age they are not capable of this way of thinking.  My philosophy has always been that children will achieve on the level you believe they can.  We have done so much this year others said wasn't possible for this age group.  So in room B109 at Ridgecrest Elementary we will continue setting goals, accomplishing those goals and setting new ones.  Each and every day is a learning adventure lead by kindergarteners with a growth mindset and a teacher who believes in them! You can follow our learning adventure on my Twitter page follow @notjustcrayons !

Sketching Hunt

Prior to Thanksgiving Break I wanted to give my Calculus AB students something fun and relevant to what we had just learned. I sent them on a scavenger hunt with prizes:

http://infinitesums.com/commentary/2017/sketching-hunt

Trick or Treat Lock Picking

In October my Calculus BC students were begging me to let them trick or treat, I came up with a unique spin to make them work for it:

http://infinitesums.com/commentary/2017/trick-or-treat-lock-picking

Digital Planning

I've migrated my planning methods from paper to iPad. Read how I juggle some relatively simple tools to make it happen:

http://infinitesums.com/commentary/2017/digital-planning

Taking the Dread out of Sub Days with itslearning

Oh, the sub day. That day where you have to do twice as much work to get ready, and get half the work in response. Now, I'm sure some of you have great go-to subs. Even still, you never know what kind of work you are going to get back. So this year I decided to try something a little different.

I had to miss school a few weeks ago, and my students really needed a work day to revise their essays. Here's the problem: I teach high school seniors. And as we know in high school, work day = free day. So I wanted to hold them accountable, as well as actually have a way to immediately check their work.

I left them an assignment itslearning, asking them to write a brief summary of what they did that day, ask any questions they still have, and to attach a photo of their work. This photo allowed me to ensure they actually worked, but also allowed them to take their essays home to continue revising.

The result? I was able to visualize the work they did through the photos (revising is a messy process!) and I was able to prepare answers for some of their specific questions. The added perk was being able to hold them accountable for their work that day. Below are a few sample responses

To be totally honest, the sub was about 25 minutes late but it was great because I was able to finish my chemistry lab and my calculus study guide. I'll probably ask for help with revisions later. But is it okay for me to change my thesis statement? I don't think I can support it with the evidence I have and my knowledge of the book. 
***Honestly, I include this one both because it made me laugh and also because she had a legitimate question

Today I reread my essay about a million times, to try and figure out how to add commentary. I decided to take out a few lines of summary. I rearranged the conclusion to try and transfer the commentary to the rest of the page. I am still unsure if what I'm changing is adding value to my paper. 

During class, J and I highlighted each other's commentary and plot summary and discussed how we think the other person could best improve their essay from an outsider's perspective. After looking over my essay with J, I decided my essay needs more specific text references and less commentary.

Before I worked on actually rewriting my essay, I highlighted my theme, plot summary, and commentary in different colors. Then I began from the beginning of the essay by rewriting my thesis statement to make it apply to the world in a broader way. I then rewrote the intro to include more information about the time period...I still don't believe my intro is strong or flows very well, so I'll probably go back at the end and rewrite it again. I think my second paragraph is stronger than my first, so I decided to focus on the first page. I noticed I had less commentary on the first page than the second, so when I was rewriting I focused more on that. I also took into consideration how often I repeated words like we'd discussed in class, but that was after I repeated the word "education" multiple times...Sigh. I ran out of  time after that, because trying to figure out how to rewrite the thesis and claim statement, plus adding more commentary made my brain hurt. 

Okay, so some of these responses made me laugh a bit. Many were basic summaries (which is exactly what I asked for, mind you). But some, like the ones shared above, surprised me by explaining their thought process. That was awesome! I think I might include something that prompts more students to do that in the future, making it more of a reflective piece than a summarizing piece. I truly loved seeing their thinking.

All in all? I'd do this assignment again. First, it was EASY to prepare. This was probably the simplest sub lesson I've ever prepared. Second, it was effective. I would possibly even do it on a day that I didn't have a sub, because high school students love an excuse to type on their phones. Honestly, they probably typed their summary on their phones faster than they would have hand-written a response. It felt informal as well, which I think was necessary for this to work. Lastly, (and just as a humorous side note), a few weeks after I posted the assignment, I got an email from ed tech asking if they could use it as an example of an itslearning assignment. I was embarrassed to tell her it was for a sub day - and yet, that seemed to make it all the better! The simplicity and the effectiveness made it a perfect example of how itslearning can be used with ease :)

And now, I no longer fear the sub day; instead, I'm drinking all the itslearning kool-aid and embracing some new ideas.

Nearpod with Rational Numbers = Success

Even whispering "rational numbers" gave me shivers! This is the first unit our students in 7th grade learn in Spring Branch ISD and I can vouch how difficult it can be.  The first part that makes it challenging is how students haven't reviewed adding and subtracting with rational numbers for a whole year, since it was taught in 5th grade.  The second part of the challenge is how any and every word problem shown to students has more than two steps and can be solved in numerous ways! 

 Reflecting on past years I can say whole class teaching in which I am standing in the front of the room did not work; I repeat IT DID NOT WORK. Solely giving students technology without a purposeful meaning also did not work; I repeat TECHNOLOGY WITHOUT A PURPOSE DID NOT WORK. Thoughtful reflections challenged me to think of other solutions. 

Challenge accepted and as a fourth year teacher I can now say I have seen success! 

My solution

There is a free version of nearpod that includes everything I used with my first unit so it has been tried, student approved, and now recommended.
CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW ONE OF MY LESSONS

Nearpod made my instruction engaging because students were actively participating rather than copying notes. You can see every student had choice in their video selection. Every student had their "Book of Knowledge" (interactive student notebook) out and was deciding what was important to write down as examples and notes. Through out the lesson I included videos, collaboration tools, open ended questions, quizzes, and a few more things.

My favorite the DRAW IT tool: It allowed me as a math teacher to see students work instantly as it was submitted. I didn't just receive data from multiple choice questions; I saw steps!

 

I could catch mistakes my students were doing immediately; instead of cringing when I saw these mistakes on exit tickets or worse in their test booklets. 

All in all I am beyond happy that I tried Nearpod because our scores for our first unit test increased 12 percent!!! Happy dance time!!! We definitely have room for improvement but all I can say to that is 

because nothing can stop me now!!!