One Thing Leads to Another

As this calendar year ends, I think back on all the growth I have done as an educator.  In years past, my professional development was text-based.  I would read a great book, and then find other books by that same author or mentioned by that author and read some more.  This year, however, more opportunities for growth came from internet networking.  Connecting with like-minded people through Proteacher, Yahoo groups, blogs and Pinterest has led me to more like-minded people at Teachers Pay Teachers, Teacher's Notebook, and You Tube.  My skills have increased exponentially due to the interactive nature of the internet.
So, as the new year dawns, I am taking some time to record how one idea has lead to another over the past five years.
Starting in 2008, Daily 5 led to The CAFE Book, (and many other books about conferring and the reading workshop approach) which led to the Yahoo Group of the same name.  Leading that group was scrapbunny, who introduced me to Whole Brain Teaching.  www.thedailycafe.com led me to the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project which led me to the work of Lucy Culkins in the Writing Workshop.

Interactive Comma Lesson

Click the button to experience and interactive comma adventure!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

'Tis the season for Parent-Teacher Conferences at my school.  Parent-Teacher conferences make any teacher a bit nervous, even veterans like me. We are used to dealing with smaller people all day, not big ones!  What do I say to parent of a struggling child when I may be struggling myself?  What do I say to the parent of a gifted student who wants to do even more?  How do I tackle a conference about an average child?
The first thing I do is to find a focal point.  Do I want to talk about Math?  Reading?  Writing?  Or do I want to talk about study habits?  Participation?  With that focal point in mind, I try to select a single, recent product to focus our discussion. It is much easier to stay focused when you and the parent have something to look at.  Preferably, this product should be something the parent can take home with them.  When choosing a product, choose something you can really talk about in terms of strengths and weaknesses.  We shouldn't just be sharing a score or a number here.  With Math, for example, you could choose an assignment that has both computation and problem-solving and compare the students' skills with each.  With Reading you could choose an assessment that has both multiple choice and short answers to compare how a student answers each type of question.  Or you could also compare literal questions with inferential ones.
This year with my "loopers" I really wanted to focus their use of the Agenda for daily school-home communication.  We did not use an Agenda last year, so this is new to us all.  I had them keep their Agenda at school to be sure I had it for the evening conferences.We paged through to see how it was being used.  Was everyone consistent:  the child with writing down and completing homework and the parents and teachers checking the Agenda?
There is a reason I only have one thing to share.  I want to make sure to leave time for the parent to express any concerns.  I have a pad of paper right next to me to jot down any notes I need.  It is important to leave time for the parents.  Just like you, they may have an agenda of their own.  If you are nervous that you will have extra time on your hands, make sure you have refreshed your bulletin boards with recent student work.  Show the parents other examples of what their child has done and, sometimes even more importantly, what other students are doing.  Like it or not, it's a fact that parents want to know how their child is doing compared to other students.  This gives parents a frame of reference that they often need.

Essential Question

          I've written about posting standards before.  This shot shows my Reading and Writing Standards for the first six weeks of the school year.  The standards in the purple pocket charts are the specific standards for the current unit.  The standards that form a border around the outside are the standards we are working on in every unit all year long.  It's not unusual for teachers to post standards.  I have them in the back of the room by my desk because I think it is more important to me than my students.  I want them most visible to remind me what to teach.  I also post standards when I post my students' work.
          This year, my principal asked if we would post our essential questions for each unit.  For those of you who do not know what essential questions are, they are part of a unit template espoused by the book "Understanding By Design".  A good essential question is a question that inspires curiosity in our students.  It is a question that encourages students to relate what they are learning in school to the larger world.  To be honest, I have always found essential questions to be a bit hokey and gimmicky.  Most sound quite forced.  I have been struggling for the past few weeks trying to think how I could honor my principal's request.
          I am sharing with my students the book "The Writer's Notebook" by Ralph Flectcher.  We are on the chapter he titled "Fierce Wonderings".  This chapter encourages students to write about what moves them- questions that don't have easy answers. That's when I realized that essential questions should help students wonder.  They should drive them to thinking.  That's where our "Wonder Wall" was born.

          Here it is in its first incarnation. I added the words "It's Essential" just so the adults who troop through my room know what they are looking at. :) But for my fifth graders, they are wonders.  There are four "wonders" here:  

• Who decides what the "highest law of the land" is?  (for a history unit on the Birth of a Nation)
• How can I dd more relevant details to my writing (for a Writing unit that includes how to write with a purpose and the English skill of writing with prepositional phrases)
• Can an object be part of more than one class or group?  (for a Math unit on geometry, specifically standards that relate to classifying polygons)
• How are picture book and novel narrative structures different?  (for a Reading unit based on the novel "Running Out of Time", our first novel study of the year) 

          And, yes, I am reading them to my students.  Not for every lesson certainly, but when they're becoming too task-oriented (instead of thinking/learning-oriented) I will gently bring them back with the purpose of the task they are doing.  When we are reviewing a concept, prior to linking it to the next, I will read the wonder and have them ponder it again.  This has worked particularly well with the history wonder, which I purposely designed to need a lot of unpacking:  Who is the who?  What is the highest law in the land?  Who did decide the highest law of the land?  What gave them the right? Did they decide correctly?

 

Error Analysis Boxes... A FREEBIE!

One reason students do not develop strong computational skills is they start making errors and those errors are not corrected early on.  Eventually they will think the wrong way is the right way, just because they got into a bad habit.  Walking around the room and hoping you spot the errors and give enough feedback is not enough practice.  Collecting work at the end of the period and grading it is not enough practice.  I was inspired to come up with an idea to stop that error cycle right in its tracks.  
My idea is called Error Analysis Boxes and you can download the template by clicking on the words.  It is appropriate to use with grades three and up.  Generally, I wouldn't use this with an entire class.  I designed it to work with a small group (say, intervention) that has not mastered a computational skill.  Here's how to use the template:
1.  Select any computation worksheet for any skill you want to teach.  Copy the worksheet and the template on separate pieces of paper, so students will use them side by side.  You will also need to give the students calculators to check their work.
2.  Students calculate the answer to problem one.  When they find the answer, they check it with their calculator.  If they got the answer correct, they make a smiley face in the first error analysis box.
3.  If they got the answer incorrect, they try to figure out why.  Some common computational errors are listed at the bottom of the template.  In the first box they write "I didn't _____________ ."    Then they write "Next time, I will _______________ ."  and fill in a computation strategy.  Again, useful strategies are listed on the template.
4.  Continue completing each problem in the same way.  As I "work the room" and observe the students, if I see the same error pattern (for example, they are always writing "I didn't regroup."), I encourage them to dig deeper.
Most students found out it was the little things they were forgetting.  Seeing that right in front of them in the error analysis boxes was priceless.
If you like this idea and want to see how I followed up with another just as clever, check out my  Common Core Differentiated Math Activities on Teacher Pay Teachers.

Me on the Web:

current class website:  http://www.4mrsjones.weebly.com

former class website:  www.4mrsjones.110mb.com

podcasts:  http://frommrsjones.podbean.com

Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/c4jones

You Tube Channel:  mrsc4jones 

The Wonders of Mastery Connect

I just discovered a company/website that tracks student mastery of Common Core standards.  It's quick and easy and best of all FREE!  Here is my review created with Jing.  Just click on the screenshot below.