Edcamp Connect

Educators, are you looking for something to jump start your professional learning this summer, or maybe something a little out of the ordinary? This Monday, July 7, from 8:30-3:30 we will host the first ever EdcampConnect at Gadsden City High School. Attalla City, Gadsden City, and Etowah County school systems are working together to create this exciting, free UNconference, complete with free breakfast and lunch and door prizes! We would love for you to come and join us for a day of professional networking and learning. Register soon: There are only two spots left on Eventbrite and 10 spots on STI PD.

For more information, follow us on twitter @EdCampConnect and Facebook. We'll be live tweeting all day using the hashtag #edcampconnect.

The Attack of Testuall

Once upon a time in a kingdom far away there was a small, country school. This school was a happy place, filled with smiling children, teachers, parents, and administrators. Everyone looked forward to the time they'd spend together at the school because they did great things every day. They sang songs and read stories. They solved problems together and learned about the world around them. They had kickball tournaments and chatted over lunch.

Although the school was a happy place, there was a terrible problem. In a cave nearby there lived a fierce dragon named Testuall. He lived off of other people's fear and stress. His entire existence was based upon sowing the seeds of anxiety. Testuall only came out once each year--during state testing. But whenever he visited the school Testuall tried his best to turn the happy little place into a den of negativity.

One day he soared right into the building and warned the teachers that he was going to cause trouble. He wanted them to be nervous, and they were, but they armed themselves and prepared for battle. They attended planning sessions and training meetings. They assured the students of their readiness, and prepared all the necessary materials. Everyone was ready.

Then the test day arrived. Just as he'd promised, Testuall tried to ruin the school's peaceful atmosphere by wreaking havoc with their new computerized testing system. The administrator stayed calm, ensuring the teachers that they would be victorious over Testuall. The teachers swooped in to reassure the children and ward off further attacks from the dragon.

"Error Code!" Testuall cried out as the first group of students logged in to test, but the mighty testing proctors were ready for his advances. Armed with error code fixes and phone numbers to call in help, they quickly thwarted Testuall's attempts. Over and over, Testuall attacked. He issued a Java update 10 minutes before testing would begin, but the teachers rallied together and updated the lab in record time. He tried cutting the power to the computers, but the savvy teachers solved that problem with a battery back-up and a phone call. Testuall even tried numerous connectivity errors, but still the teachers prevailed. Through it all, the students remained calm and collected, knowing that their teachers would eventually slay the evil dragon Testuall.

As the students finished testing for the day the teachers turned their attention to the beast, intending to end his antics for good, only to see him fleeing the school building like a scared mouse. "Chase him! We can't allow him to get away!" shouted a proctor. But it was too late. Testuall was zooming through the air back to his cave. But as he flew, he turned his head and bellowed, "I'll be back!"

The people of the school knew that Testuall would be back, but they were no longer worried about him. They had prevailed against him this day and knew that the next attack would be even easier to win. Victory was theirs!

2014-2015 Planner Calendar

Just a quick post to introduce my latest creation: Printable 2014-2015 Planner Calendar. This is part of a larger teacher binder product I'm working on. I absolutely love the colors and think they'll be calming to look at on those hectic days when I practically have to live by my calendar! I can't wait to get started using this.

Check back soon for the completed binder.

Making Connections Lesson Freebie

As I'm in a new position now, I don't have my own classroom anymore. However, I still like to be in classrooms as much as possible, so I was very grateful to have the opportunity to try out a lesson in some second grade classrooms a few weeks ago. It was a great success, so I wanted to share it in case anyone out there could use it.

This is a modified version of the Connect lesson found in How to Teach Thinking Skills Within the Common Core.

Teaching kids to make connections can be complex. The purpose of the lesson was to help children make connections between the texts they'd read during the week and the weekly essential question. I started off by bringing in a beach bag with several related items inside such as a towel, sunscreen, goggles, and arm floats. Grouping students, I had them partner talk about each item as I revealed it. We took turns sharing what the partners said to one another. At the end of the activity, I had students look at all of the items and try to decide how they are connected to one another. The students jotted down their thoughts on the back of the graphic organizer I provided. 

This was the perfect segue into talking about what it actually means to make a connection. I provided this graphic as an explanation. We discussed how when we make connections we JOIN ideas together:

Next, we started to use the front side of the graphic organizer. 

I used an ActivInspire flipchart that I made to guide the lesson, but I've converted it to a PowerPoint to include in this freebie (because of image terms of use). I had students jot down what they knew about the essential question (which was about the environment). We took one text at a time and talked about ways that it fit with the essential question, jotting down our notes in the square sections of the graphic organizer. Finally, the students observed the similarities between the texts and the question and jotted a statement about how they were all connected. 

I had done a lesson very similar to this in upper grades previously and was curious as to how it would work with second grade. It went very well! The students understood the JOIN acronym and had no trouble connecting their texts. 

If you'd like the materials and the lesson plan I used, you can grab them for free here in my TPT store. If you use them, please drop me a comment and let me know how it worked for you!

At Least Use the Correct Terminology

Warning...Political rant to follow:

Appalling and sad. That's all I can manage to think right now after reading Sen. Scott Beason's bill, SB443. I take issue with many things in the bill, but will only tackle one in this post. The terms 'curriculum' and 'standards' are not interchangeable. In my opinion, this incorrect use of terminology is meant to confuse the issue. In SB443 he proposes local school systems be able to "...opt out of the Common Core curriculum..." (emphasis added) Common Core is not curriculum. Common Core is a set of standards. Here is the difference:

Standards-- goals that students are supposed to meet. Things that students should be able to do and understand.

• Example: Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm. [5-NBT5] This is a fifth grade math standard. It and any other Alabama standards are available to the public here. 

Curriculum-- the method and resources used to help students achieve required standards. Curriculum refers to teaching materials such as text books, the sequence of instruction, and the delivery of instruction. 

• Local school districts already have control over the curriculum. With input from teachers, parents, and other stakeholders, the districts review curriculum materials and decide together on which ones to purchase. 

Think of the standards as the finish line of a run and curriculum as the actual running route. I may set a goal (my standard) to run five miles. There are multiple starting points and routes that I could take to reach my goal. My running buddies and I usually decide together which route we will take, and sometimes we even change our minds mid-run. The route I take may be different from someone else's route. We may even run at different speeds or stop to walk. That's okay as long as we reach our standard (goal) of five miles. 

These terms are two completely different things. If we are to have a conversation about a subject, we need to have a shared vocabulary and understand what the terms we speak and write mean. Common standards ensure that Alabama's children will be prepared to compete  locally, nationally, and globally for jobs. Our graduates will be as ready for college and a career as students from any other state. 

Senator Beason, I'm asking you to please use the educational terminology correctly. I invite you to visit classrooms and see what our students are doing (curriculum) each day. Our local systems are already deciding how best to educate our students to meet the goals (standards) our state has set.

Readers, currently this bill is still pending committee action. I'm asking you to contact your senators and ask them to stop this bill while it is still in committee before it gets to the floor. We can't allow this for our students. 

Seuss-Tastic Writing and a Freebie

What would it be like if Thing One and Thing Two came to visit a classroom of second graders? The 7-8 year olds I taught today had some very interesting things to suggest! After talking to their teacher last week, I designed a writing lesson to go along with Read Across America week and taught in her classroom today. It was so much fun getting to see the students share ideas, talk to one another, and make connections from the story The Cat in the Hat to their own writing.

Here's how it went:
The goal was to teach students that we can look at the way an author organizes his/her text and use that same structure in our own writing. We were focusing on sequence (CC.W.2.3) for our text structure and used The Cat in the Hat as our anchor text. As we read and looked at the pictures we talked about what the author did (not just what he said). He introduced characters, told us where they were, and set up a problem and solution.  I jotted these ideas on the Promethean flipchart I made:

 Next, we talked about the story elements and the sequence of events in our model text:

Then I gave students a copy of this organizer and we looked at our prompt. Students did lots of talking to partners and with table groups about possibilities for the story. We worked on the planning process together.

I gave students the writing paper and we wrote the beginning of the piece together. (Note to self: Second graders don't write as fast as I do. It's okay to slow down.) We focused on looking back at how our mentor text began and we used that as an example for writing our own beginning. I also modeled looking back at my organizer when it came time to write the middle and ending. And of course, we had to color the Things and add pictures to the stories when they finished writing!

Overall, I thought it was a really great experience! Students wrote in sequence and noticed the author's structure and applied it to their own writing. If I had it to do again I think I would do this over a series of days. It took us about an hour, but it really didn't seem to take that long because there were so many elements that were involved...reading, writing, listening, speaking, partner talk, group talk, jotting then sharing...

And here you have it--your reward for reading all the way to the end (or just scrolling). Either way, here are the materials I made to go with the lesson. Enjoy!

A New Journey Begins

A little over a month ago I did something I never dreamed I would do. I left my classroom mid-year to become something called an "Instructional Partner." (In other parts of the country this position may be called Instructional Coach or Reading Coach). I thought that perhaps one day in the distant future I might consider doing this job, but never imagined it would come so quickly.

So what makes a person who has a wonderful class in an amazing school with fabulous coworkers decide to leave? For me, it was the leading of the Holy Spirit. I always pray for direction in life, and felt led to make this move. For several years I've enjoyed working with teachers and providing professional development for them. I get so much joy from being able to help teachers. It's my way of giving back to all of those wonderful educators who have helped me along the way. Plus, I know that by helping out a teacher, I'm impacting countless students!

One thing led to another, and within about a month's time I was the new Instructional Partner at two elementary schools in my system. (This is why my posts have been sporadic lately--I'm still learning my way). One day I was teaching fifth grade. The next day I was the Instructional Partner. And so my journey began. So far I have delivered and attended professional developments, worked the presentation booth for a major school program, greeted sweet little faces in the mornings at car rider duty, set up testing sessions, planned lessons, created instructional materials, and about a hundred other things. I'm learning as I go, and loving it! But what I've enjoyed most is the time I've spent with the teachers and students at my new schools. I hope I will be able to impact them as positively as they are impacting me.

alnbctnetwork: Our Annual Conference

alnbctnetwork: Our Annual Conference: Be sure to mark your calendar for our annual Alabama NBCT Network Conference which will be on January 25, 2014  at Spain Park High School in...

The Book Report Game: Can You Relate?

I recently took my students to see the play Charlie Brown Christmas performed by a local group in our area and was in stitches when they performed this scene:

I found myself making so many connections while I watched, especially with Lucy and her word counting strategy. Oh, how I hated the dreaded book report! I loved to read, but the book report was a necessary evil that I sometimes had to bear. 

I also started thinking about my own students and even my son. I looked around and noticed they didn't quite get it in the same way I did, and it's because they never write book reports. We use AR instead. So I began wondering how this particular scene would have gone if AR tests were substituted instead of a 100 word book report. 

DISCLAIMER: Before you read any further, please note that I am NOT against the Accelerated Reader program, or even the occasional book report. I'm not someone trying to ban any reward program from schools or classrooms. I believe that both can be used successfully in the hands of a skillful, thoughtful, and careful teacher/administrator. I'm just someone who really wonders what IS the best way to motivate readers, while still holding them to a level of accountability? I'm also not trying to overgeneralize. Many of my students love to read and actually love AR and challenge themselves with their own goals. I'm talking primarily about the hard-to-reach readers. 

With that said, I started thinking of all the ways that some students play the AR game (much like the Peanuts gang and our generation did with book reports). 

I imagine they might think or say something like this:

Lucy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, more half point books until I reach my AR goal. Oops I made an 80, now I'll have to read three more to get my average back up!

Charlie Brown: I'm reading all my books, but never seem to have the time to take the tests. I work better under pressure, so maybe I'll just take all my tests at once.

Linus: Oh no! That book I read was way below my level! There aren't any books in the library on my level. Can I take a test on it anyway? 

Schroeder: I read a book by the same author (or watched the movie), so maybe I can try an AR test on this book and see how I do.

If someone rewrote the scene to include some of those lines, I think many students would make more connections. And that makes me sad because I haven't quite got the answer to the question at the heart of the issue:

How do you instill a love of reading, and yet ensure that students actually ARE reading? Can inspiration and accountability co-exist? I think the answer is yes, but I'm not 100% sure I know how to do it effectively with every child. 

Perhaps it's time to pull out The Book Whisperer again and reread it!

Comments? Connections? Suggestions?