Teaching and Learning
Year Three
Return to Blended Learning/Station Rotation
What are you going to do to help you be the most successful with stations this year?
To ensure success this year, I need to revisit and feel comfortable applying station rotation in my class. Therefore, I will explore other first grade classrooms/teachers that have been successful with this and learn from their experiences and tips. I will teach my students the various routines and protocols that they will need. I will model this and the students will practice a lot so we can build a positive classroom community. I will start simple and with familiar concepts so they can feel successful and comfortable with stations.
What routines and procedures will you be introducing to your students to continue to ensure safety?
Although the pandemic is improving, it is still part of our daily lives and many young students are not able to be vaccinated at this point. It is therefore important for me to continue to maintain some social distancing and safety regulations. We will continue to be careful by wearing masks, implementing hand sanitizing and cleaning routines. We will focus on safely moving around the classroom. The desks/tables will be organized in a way that cuts back on crowding. During stations, students will remain at their desks for the independent, technology, and collaborative stations. They can work collaboratively with people near them. For the teacher station, depending on the day, I will move to them or they will get their chairs and a clipboard and move themselves to a designated area.
Holistic Assessment and Student Conferencing
One of the most meaningful outcomes of blended learning is the development of student ownership of learning. Being able to start this in the youngest of grades is so powerful. I keep the conferences brief, we discuss strengths and areas they are proud of. Then we will talk about ways they want to grow and improve in their learning. I will share their accomplishments with STAR, Freckle and Superkid assessments.
Collaborative Staff Cultures
What is great about our staff culture…in a strong collaborative culture teachers exercise creative leadership together and take responsibility for helping all students learn. I feel so blessed to be a part of our staff at St. Catherine’s. At faculty meetings, we are ready to share, listen and learn from each other. We have built trust amongst each other and this guides us throughout our daily struggles and achievements. One of my favorite times is beginning each day in prayer with my colleagues. It sets us up for a positive and successful day.
Blended Learning: Inquiry and Storytelling
I love when I can bring storytelling into my lessons and I believe this is a very engaging concept to use when teaching. One of my favorite books is “When Sophie Gets Angry–Really, Really Angry…”. This is a fun story about emotions and how to channel those emotions. I often use it at the beginning of the school year to do a check in on how students are feeling. I will read the story and discuss what an emotion or feeling is and ways to work through those, if needed. The students will do a draw and write about how they are feeling about the new school year. They will also create play doh faces of their feelings. I will extend this lesson with “anger” scenarios and come up with a plan of action for dealing with the anger.
Global Citizenship
Next school year I hope to implement lessons that incorporate more problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, and communication skills to help students effectively share their ideas and work well with others. This will guide them personally, educationally and in the long run professionally.