Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Weekly Writing Prompts [The Time I Ran Away]
Today's prompt does not have to be about a time a student ran away from home. What about the time they ran away from a problem, a friend, an enemy... or perhaps there was a time they desperately wanted to run away, but didn't...
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
A Must-Read Book for All Educators!
My 5 year old missed the kindergarten cut off by just a few days. She recognized all the letters, shapes and colors, counted to 20, &etc. By all standards she was ready for phonics, basic math, an intro to science... Instead of sending her to preschool, we decided to experiment at home. Our questions were:
- Where is she academically?
- Is she ready to master the kindergarten standards?
Five months into school and we have a reader. She is picking up books and reading them on her own! She is mastering the kindergarten standards! Academically she was ready for kindergarten, yet the age cut off would never have allowed that.
Being in the classroom with 7th and 8th graders where over half of them came to me reading at or below the 4th grade, I became frustrated with the public school system in America. It's failing students. It inhibits potential. We refuse to look to nations with successful educational programs and learn from them, or hire educational professionals experienced in the field of education as our Department of Education leader, or, or, or, or, or...
Teachers recognize the problems and we all feel like our hands are tied. We pour all of our energy into our classroom (including the cash from our own pockets) that it leaves little left at the end of the day. Is it really possible to make a change for the betterment of our students? Where we could actually help our struggling students struggle less? Or challenge our high ability learners? Or reach every student in every lesson, in every classroom across America? Or teach a student where he/she is academically?
When I read Salman Khan's book The One World Schoolhouse: A New Approach to Teaching and Learning these questions were answered! His ideas are unique and inspire creativity. His student-to-teacher interaction, a common sense approach, was exciting. And he takes the life-long learning philosophy to a whole new level. Reading his vision for education inspired me in my own classroom and as a teacher-mom. I saw the faults in the educational system in a whole new light and for once there were answers to these questions for my own classroom, but also gave hope knowing that changes can be made to benefit our future students, including my own young student.
Seriously, educators, read this book and be inspired!
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Weekly Writing Prompts [One Word Prompts]
My computer's tracking pad wigged out and I think I've finally figured out the issue, but until that happened I was unable to write and post anything. The mobile version of blogger is not especially user friendly. Thankfully, I've got it working. Hopefully it lasts until after Christmas. This season is expensive enough as it is!
With that said, one of the things I have scheduled weekly are writing prompts and I'm excited to share the first one: the first set of one word writing prompts.
One word has the ability to jog memory like smells, plus one simple word can blossom into many. What ideas come to mind when you read:
When I read dance, I think of the song we picked for our first dance as a married couple. It isn't the song itself, but the story behind the song I'd tell...
Journey brings so many incredible metaphors to mind! It's so easy to relate it to life.
And as I go down the list, I could easily write about what each word brings to mind. In your own classroom, model writing one of them and then let the students go.
With that said, one of the things I have scheduled weekly are writing prompts and I'm excited to share the first one: the first set of one word writing prompts.
One word has the ability to jog memory like smells, plus one simple word can blossom into many. What ideas come to mind when you read:
When I read dance, I think of the song we picked for our first dance as a married couple. It isn't the song itself, but the story behind the song I'd tell...
Journey brings so many incredible metaphors to mind! It's so easy to relate it to life.
And as I go down the list, I could easily write about what each word brings to mind. In your own classroom, model writing one of them and then let the students go.
Saturday, November 18, 2017
A FREEBIE!
As I lesson plan I appreciate having one template to use as I create. I like having key words and phrases readily available to make it as simple as possible and jog my memory quickly. I struggled to find a format that accomplished that while also using the 4MAT model of teaching, so I decided to create one myself. It was a simple process that I could not wait to share with other teachers who use the same criteria to build a lesson plan.
It's free as a PDF document!
I hope you find as much use out of it as I do.
Follow this link for your FREE download: 4MAT Lesson Plan Template
It's free as a PDF document!
I hope you find as much use out of it as I do.
Follow this link for your FREE download: 4MAT Lesson Plan Template
Friday, November 10, 2017
My Favorite Tool for Writing an Objective Statement
Creating a simple, short statement that illustrates exactly what I want or need to accomplish through a unit or lesson can be the most difficult and challenging in curriculum development. For me the development of each lesson, page by lengthy page, can often times be easier to accomplish than writing a concise sentence to explain all of it.
There is one tool that helps me begin this process: my Bloom's Taxonomy wheel (you can find one here for $8.95).
It provides specific language for the level of skill I'm trying to get my students to accomplish. In my unit or lesson I begin my asking whether I'm trying to introduce a concept or if I want my students to master it? Do I want my students to reach a basic level of knowledge and then show comprehension? Or do I want them to go as far as analyzing and evaluating? How I answer these questions will give me specific language to use. For example, if I wanted my students to analyze a portion of literature in order to compare it to a current event in the news I would refer to the Analysis section of my wheel. There I will find specific language that relates to this specific skill. There are also questioning prompts and suggestions for the teacher. All three are super helpful in developing this Overall Objective statement.
I would highly suggest this tool for any teacher in curriculum and assessment development. It challenges me to think about higher level thinking and questioning for each lesson that reveals what they know while also challenging them to become independent thinkers.
The revised edition given in the above link looks a little bit different than my ten year old wheel and I'm seriously debating on upgrading. There are a lot of helpful hints for a teachers quick reference. I find that this guide increases my level of curriculum and assessment and I can imagine all that the new one has to offer!
There is one tool that helps me begin this process: my Bloom's Taxonomy wheel (you can find one here for $8.95).
It provides specific language for the level of skill I'm trying to get my students to accomplish. In my unit or lesson I begin my asking whether I'm trying to introduce a concept or if I want my students to master it? Do I want my students to reach a basic level of knowledge and then show comprehension? Or do I want them to go as far as analyzing and evaluating? How I answer these questions will give me specific language to use. For example, if I wanted my students to analyze a portion of literature in order to compare it to a current event in the news I would refer to the Analysis section of my wheel. There I will find specific language that relates to this specific skill. There are also questioning prompts and suggestions for the teacher. All three are super helpful in developing this Overall Objective statement.
I would highly suggest this tool for any teacher in curriculum and assessment development. It challenges me to think about higher level thinking and questioning for each lesson that reveals what they know while also challenging them to become independent thinkers.
The revised edition given in the above link looks a little bit different than my ten year old wheel and I'm seriously debating on upgrading. There are a lot of helpful hints for a teachers quick reference. I find that this guide increases my level of curriculum and assessment and I can imagine all that the new one has to offer!
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Two Books that Helped Me Understand Struggling Secondary Readers
When I taught at a Title 1 school, over half of my 7th graders entered junior high reading below grade level. There were many challenges my first year there. First and foremost the junior high reading program was brand spanking new, with no curriculum. As a first year teacher, I was also responsible for writing it. I poured over experienced teacher's expertise and immediately put it to use. The results were unmistakable as students went from nonreaders to readers, from struggling without tools to realizing that the struggle was normal with tools to help them through the struggle, from uncertain to confident....
There were 3 specific pieces these books helped address: fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. The "Vocabulary Gap" was clearly a problem in my classroom. One of the most helpful pieces of my college education was learning that children from lower-income families typically begin school with a much lower vocabulary than that of their privileged peers. Parenting styles and home life were the unfortunate factors for the majority of my struggling readers; for example, many of them had no memory of mom or dad reading to them as a child. It is a proven fact that these differences begin to surface before a child is even 2 years old! So the struggle begins early.
By the time children are school age, students from working-class families have heard a whopping 15 million more words than a student in a lower income situation. Many students from my small community are still entering school not ready to learn. As a result, teachers are playing catch up from the beginning. Students begin school behind and teachers play this "making-small-strides-while-taking-two-steps-backwards" game every single year. It's a frustrating, vicious cycle that has not gone away. I know we are not alone.
With that said...
Many of my students were stuck at a 4th grade level and had lost all desire to advance. When the struggle to read lasts for any length of time, most students become frustrated and quit. Especially 12 to 13 year olds whose struggle to read, even out loud, was a source of embarrassment from the beginning. Acting out and pretending not to care became their way of covering up their sense of shame. School was hated because their inability to read affected each and every class. Their first day of school, as text books were piled in their lockers (textbooks they knew they couldn't read), was a stressful beginning to their final years of required education. They were overwhelmed because they did not understand that good readers struggle and they did not have the tools to help themselves when the struggle became overwhelming. I truly felt the weight of what lay ahead and these books eased much of my anxiety. It wasn't until reading them that I really began to understand how to help. I found that these two books were my saving grace as I unraveled the difficulties these struggling readers faced and taught them to love books and literature.
When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers
Beers introduced the idea of read-alouds, or think-alouds, for secondary readers. When you teach a concept, show your students what it looks like in reading by thinking out loud as you encounter text that is applicable to the skill introduced. For example, as we read Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar, we focused on making connections and as I read it out loud I would stop and tell my students about the connections I was making as I read. I really hammered it in with this particular book. We worked on other skills as we read, but I wanted to this concept to be mastered. Teaching them about making connections was not good enough, they needed to hear how a reader did it.
She also illustrated this idea with a SEE your thinking activity called Syntax Surgery, because merely hearing a teacher think through a text was not good enough. They not only need to hear our thinking out loud, but they also need to see it.
I also appreciated her assessment to determine whether or not a reader was struggling. She had many great points and this one in particular stuck with me: a gifted reader or a struggling reader will encounter a text at some point and time in their lives that give difficulty. It isn't that a reader will struggle, because we all struggle at some time in our lives, it's what we do with that struggle!
She had fantastic before, during and after reading strategies that were easily put to use, rubrics, graphic organizers, how to set up your classroom suggestions, incentive ideas, and an especially helpful chapter on vocabulary.
Rather than introducing 20 words to junior high students each week, she suggested to think small. 5-10 is plenty. I began with 2 and went from there. I wanted the students to know vocabulary words like the back of their hand. Plus they learned synonyms to the words, which also introduced words they had never heard before. Her reasoning for doing so was more than convincing; all because she experimented with a group of teachers and a long vocabulary list. All the teachers agreed that it wasn't just the difficulty of the list, but the amount that overwhelmed them. It was this real-life activity that convinced me more than anything else.
Beers gave real-life examples throughout her book. She began each chapter with a letter to one of her students - where she failed and how she wish she would've fixed it. It was her years of experience, her experiments, and the results of her time in the classroom that had me utterly convinced her methods were worth trying.
I Read It, But I Don't Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers by Cris Tovani
It was In Tovani's book where I learned the most helpful strategy for struggling readers: "the fix it" strategy. I also applied the "sticky note" strategy to my classroom, but it was the fix-it tips that were extremely helpful for my struggling readers.
It took that idea that Kylene Beers had about the struggle not being the issue and gave my students concepts to try while they struggled. So if they struggled with a text I was able to ask, Did you reread the text? Did you find and define words you did not know? Did you use print conventions? Did you ask questions about a confusing sentence or phrase? Did you adjust your reading rate?
They had a list of strategies to apply to their reading when they were stuck or confused; strategies we were practicing during the read-aloud/think-aloud time. And it worked wondrously!
These are two books I recommend for any secondary teacher in any subject area. If you assign any book, any chapter in a text book, any reading assignments what-so-ever, you need to know why your students struggle with the text and then how to help them. Add these to your professional reading list ASAP!
There were 3 specific pieces these books helped address: fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. The "Vocabulary Gap" was clearly a problem in my classroom. One of the most helpful pieces of my college education was learning that children from lower-income families typically begin school with a much lower vocabulary than that of their privileged peers. Parenting styles and home life were the unfortunate factors for the majority of my struggling readers; for example, many of them had no memory of mom or dad reading to them as a child. It is a proven fact that these differences begin to surface before a child is even 2 years old! So the struggle begins early.
By the time children are school age, students from working-class families have heard a whopping 15 million more words than a student in a lower income situation. Many students from my small community are still entering school not ready to learn. As a result, teachers are playing catch up from the beginning. Students begin school behind and teachers play this "making-small-strides-while-taking-two-steps-backwards" game every single year. It's a frustrating, vicious cycle that has not gone away. I know we are not alone.
With that said...
Many of my students were stuck at a 4th grade level and had lost all desire to advance. When the struggle to read lasts for any length of time, most students become frustrated and quit. Especially 12 to 13 year olds whose struggle to read, even out loud, was a source of embarrassment from the beginning. Acting out and pretending not to care became their way of covering up their sense of shame. School was hated because their inability to read affected each and every class. Their first day of school, as text books were piled in their lockers (textbooks they knew they couldn't read), was a stressful beginning to their final years of required education. They were overwhelmed because they did not understand that good readers struggle and they did not have the tools to help themselves when the struggle became overwhelming. I truly felt the weight of what lay ahead and these books eased much of my anxiety. It wasn't until reading them that I really began to understand how to help. I found that these two books were my saving grace as I unraveled the difficulties these struggling readers faced and taught them to love books and literature.
When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers
Beers introduced the idea of read-alouds, or think-alouds, for secondary readers. When you teach a concept, show your students what it looks like in reading by thinking out loud as you encounter text that is applicable to the skill introduced. For example, as we read Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar, we focused on making connections and as I read it out loud I would stop and tell my students about the connections I was making as I read. I really hammered it in with this particular book. We worked on other skills as we read, but I wanted to this concept to be mastered. Teaching them about making connections was not good enough, they needed to hear how a reader did it.
She also illustrated this idea with a SEE your thinking activity called Syntax Surgery, because merely hearing a teacher think through a text was not good enough. They not only need to hear our thinking out loud, but they also need to see it.
I also appreciated her assessment to determine whether or not a reader was struggling. She had many great points and this one in particular stuck with me: a gifted reader or a struggling reader will encounter a text at some point and time in their lives that give difficulty. It isn't that a reader will struggle, because we all struggle at some time in our lives, it's what we do with that struggle!
She had fantastic before, during and after reading strategies that were easily put to use, rubrics, graphic organizers, how to set up your classroom suggestions, incentive ideas, and an especially helpful chapter on vocabulary.
Rather than introducing 20 words to junior high students each week, she suggested to think small. 5-10 is plenty. I began with 2 and went from there. I wanted the students to know vocabulary words like the back of their hand. Plus they learned synonyms to the words, which also introduced words they had never heard before. Her reasoning for doing so was more than convincing; all because she experimented with a group of teachers and a long vocabulary list. All the teachers agreed that it wasn't just the difficulty of the list, but the amount that overwhelmed them. It was this real-life activity that convinced me more than anything else.
Beers gave real-life examples throughout her book. She began each chapter with a letter to one of her students - where she failed and how she wish she would've fixed it. It was her years of experience, her experiments, and the results of her time in the classroom that had me utterly convinced her methods were worth trying.
I Read It, But I Don't Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers by Cris Tovani
It was In Tovani's book where I learned the most helpful strategy for struggling readers: "the fix it" strategy. I also applied the "sticky note" strategy to my classroom, but it was the fix-it tips that were extremely helpful for my struggling readers.
It took that idea that Kylene Beers had about the struggle not being the issue and gave my students concepts to try while they struggled. So if they struggled with a text I was able to ask, Did you reread the text? Did you find and define words you did not know? Did you use print conventions? Did you ask questions about a confusing sentence or phrase? Did you adjust your reading rate?
They had a list of strategies to apply to their reading when they were stuck or confused; strategies we were practicing during the read-aloud/think-aloud time. And it worked wondrously!
These are two books I recommend for any secondary teacher in any subject area. If you assign any book, any chapter in a text book, any reading assignments what-so-ever, you need to know why your students struggle with the text and then how to help them. Add these to your professional reading list ASAP!
Monday, October 16, 2017
The #1 Feature Every Teacher Should Add to Their Portfolio
As I created my portfolio, readying myself for interviews right out of college, I met with a junior high principal who had one addition suggestion: Professional Reading. She wanted me to show that I believed in the ideal of being a life-long learner, which was first in my philosophy.
How are you continuing your education during your own time?
I didn't hesitate in following her advice. Since the first 5 pages were the one's where administration would probably spend most of their time during an interview, they were the most important. This is the order in my portfolio:
How are you continuing your education during your own time?
I didn't hesitate in following her advice. Since the first 5 pages were the one's where administration would probably spend most of their time during an interview, they were the most important. This is the order in my portfolio:
- Table of Contents
- Resume
- References
- Teaching Philosophy
- Professional Reading
- Classroom Management
- Classroom Environment
- Multicultural Strategies
- Teaching Experience
- Student/Administrator Feedback
I decided to have 10 pieces (and no more) in my portfolio. I did not want to overwhelm administrators with gobs of paperwork, and I wanted to remain focused.
The added benefit of creating a portfolio is that it prepares you for an interview. It solidifies in your mind what you believe, what your classroom will look like, what experience you've had, and the positive feedback you've received.
Building a portfolio also gave me confidence. There was no doubt in my mind what I envisioned for my students and why, what I learned and how I wanted to apply it, and what I learned from each teaching opportunity or learning experience. I was eager to talk to anyone willing to listen because I was passionate about everything I put in my portfolio. That portfolio outlined who I was as a teacher.
The last point I want to stress is this: adding the professional reading piece was a vital addition because teachers should value the art of teaching and learning from others. (That's our job!) We all have something to gain from each other. Learning from others and incorporating ideas based on their own experience and research was too important to miss. I am still grateful, even 10 years later, for this idea. I have added many books to this list and so many of them (not all of them) have given superb ideas that have transformed my classroom to benefit my students and my children as their teacher-momma.
Add a page for professional reading and attempt, each year, to add a book to your list. Make it ever growing because it reveals that you believe in your profession. Teaching is learning and if you want your students to learn, you better be pretty good at showing that you believe it.
Follow my Pinterest Board: Professional Development!
Follow my Pinterest Board: Professional Development!
Friday, October 13, 2017
Upon My Return, Here's a Reward!
My last entry was in February of 2016 and it was during this time that I began working in our local library. Due to that part time position, I put this aside to focus on my home life and the job I had there. I learned so much about literacy and the people who promote it during my time there.
I was sad it had to end, but it was also necessary. It was time to teach my oldest how to read. She is stuck in the strangest age group for her class. She turned 5 less than a month into Pre-K and she was ready to begin blending letter sounds and memorizing sight words. Thirty days into homeschooling - one of the most difficult decisions we have ever made - I am blown away at her progress. She is already sounding out words, reading her sixth Bob Book, and has fifteen sight words down! She knows her numbers up to 30 and is learning number patterns rather quickly. She thoroughly enjoys the idea of being a scientist as she learns to investigate and ask questions. She is conquering the kindergarten standards and I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to teach her one-on-one where she is academically.
With time at home teaching, I am better able to begin this business again! It seemed logical to celebrate my return with a GIVEAWAY!
The giveaway is offered through Teacher's Notebook. Follow this link: https://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/RafiKey/promotions
In this 4 day unit students will use context clues to determine meaning of words, identify and apply knowledge of literary devices and analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning using works of Edgar Allan Poe (The Tell-Tale Heart and The Raven). It is designed using the 4MAT model where students connect, attend, imagine, inform, practice, extend, refine, and perform. Be prepared to be creeped out while teaching your students how to analyze Poe's stories and poems to better understand just how creepy he intended them to be!
Two winners will be chosen! It begins today, Friday the 13 and ends 7 days from today!
I was sad it had to end, but it was also necessary. It was time to teach my oldest how to read. She is stuck in the strangest age group for her class. She turned 5 less than a month into Pre-K and she was ready to begin blending letter sounds and memorizing sight words. Thirty days into homeschooling - one of the most difficult decisions we have ever made - I am blown away at her progress. She is already sounding out words, reading her sixth Bob Book, and has fifteen sight words down! She knows her numbers up to 30 and is learning number patterns rather quickly. She thoroughly enjoys the idea of being a scientist as she learns to investigate and ask questions. She is conquering the kindergarten standards and I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to teach her one-on-one where she is academically.
With time at home teaching, I am better able to begin this business again! It seemed logical to celebrate my return with a GIVEAWAY!
In this 4 day unit students will use context clues to determine meaning of words, identify and apply knowledge of literary devices and analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning using works of Edgar Allan Poe (The Tell-Tale Heart and The Raven). It is designed using the 4MAT model where students connect, attend, imagine, inform, practice, extend, refine, and perform. Be prepared to be creeped out while teaching your students how to analyze Poe's stories and poems to better understand just how creepy he intended them to be!
Two winners will be chosen! It begins today, Friday the 13 and ends 7 days from today!
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