Blog Posts

figurative language speed dating - july 2017

As I develop curriculum and look for ways to engage my students in their reading development, I’m constantly seeking out authentic skill opportunities. Many times the reading skills that we teach are in isolation, they’re practiced through a passage or multiple shared readings. However, it’s essential that we are taking these skills one step further so that our students understand the essential values these skills have.

We build a strong reading community in my classroom and my students are constantly reading what they are motivated and interested in reading. Choice is huge and I try to follow in the footsteps of Donalyn Miller and her 40 book reading challenge. (I would highly recommend The Book Whisperer) Since all of my students are not reading the same text, I have to get creative!

The application of skills is essential so I utilized what my students are currently reading. One of the ways I did that this past year was figurative language speed dating–it was quite the hit!

I placed my students in two rows with their “good fit books” and post it notes. I gave them a few minutes to read a page from their current text with their partner and look for examples of figurative language. They wrote down the example on their post it notes. They went back and forth until I said switch.

Not only were these students identifying figurative language and then also explaining how it aided the text, but they were also being exposed to texts their peers were interested in and that’s a match made in heaven!

After two minutes, one of the rows would rotate to the next student and the process would start again. It’s important to do things for a smaller amount of time even if students aren’t finished to keep them on their toes!

Halfway through I made some adjustments and had students sit side by side like they were on a bus instead of across from each other. This helped all students see the shared text and kept them focused. We even sang the wheels on the bus to transition to the next group and I would yell “beep beep!” to let them know it was time to transition. You might think it sounds corny but my 6th graders were SO into it. If you sell it with enthusiasm, amazing things can happen!

Now you might be thinking, “Okay, so where’s the worksheet? Where’s the grading? Accountability?” That’s the thing–it’s an experience. A simple authentic experience where students recognize that what we’re learning in class is happening inside of their books. If I’ve prepared my students enough, they’ll recognize and be able to interpret the figurative language in the text. This also has to do with trust. Trusting my own teaching abilities and trusting the abilities of my students.

Sure, they’ll take a few quizzes and a unit test to make sure they’re on the right path but not every lesson needs to be graded. Sometimes, students just need space to have authentic reading experiences. That’s what it’s all about!

blood, guts, and author skypes - july 2017

I am always on the hunt for engaging books to add to my classroom library. There is nothing like seeing a student who can’t put down their book! One of my goals this school year was to create a strong reading community and to ensure every single student found a book that kept them wanting more.

Last summer I read A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. It was hilarious, gory, suspenseful, creative, and kept me on the edge of my seat! I knew that this was something I needed to read with my students! It did not disappoint as a read aloud and I found that all of my readers (even the ones who have a hard time keeping with a book) never wanted it to end.

Gidwitz has a great balance between extremely violent and utterly hilarious. For example, if a character gets their head cut off, it magically is put back together in the next page. So if you’re worried that it’s too violent for your students, I would still give it a preview first because it balances quite well.

You know you found a great book when students are asking for more! I did a little research on author skype opportunities and sure enough, Adam’s publicist got right back to me and helped me schedule a skype with Adam himself!! My students were thrilled and came up with hundreds of questions to ask him. We took time to research about him and his books, and debated about which questions were the best. It’s these authentic learning opportunities that truly engage students.

If you’re ever wondering who to choose for an author skype, please choose Adam Gidwitz! He was fantastic with my students. He told us about himself, let my students ask tons of questions, inspired them, and was extremely authentic. A big message from him was to just write. Write whatever you want! We forget about the freedom of writing when we’re trying to juggle standards and state testing, but he truly inspired my kids to just write.

We skyped with him in the morning and you know what we did the rest of the day? We just wrote! My kids were filled with so much excitement and inspiration that so much creativity just poured out of them for the rest of the day and I loosened my reigns!

Another added bonus: it was free! I just needed to promote his other titles which, of course, I was already doing! We worked with a local bookstore to get his titles for my students and he even autographed them.

Giving students the opportunity to interact with authors allows a truly global community to come together. Learning extends beyond the four walls of our classroom and students realize that reading and learning is not confined to a school. These are the moments that truly count!

TEDxyouth - june 2017

Hello! I know it’s felt like forever since I’ve jumped onto the blog. The school year just got away from me and we were too busy having fun! I’ll make sure to recap some of my favorite moments and lessons from this school year.

Over the past year, I’ve been busy preparing for our first local TEDxYouth event. When I heard that others were thinking about bringing this event to our community I was hooked. I love to support opportunities that empower youth and give kids a platform to truly shine. Also, my sixth grade students create their own TED talks each spring and it was a great extension to what was already taking place in my classroom.

I had the opportunity to be part of the curation committee, and we worked through almost a hundred applications from amazing youth. We had a few rounds and finally settled on our final 12. We worked on editing their scripts, holding coaching sessions for their talks, and providing feedback as they prepared for the big day.

I loved working with these students. They were passionate, driven, enthusiastic, and most importantly, had extremely essential messages to share with our community. We had speakers who spoke about bigotry, body image, suicide, sustainability, volunteerism, alzheimer’s research, and a student who shared about her rare neurological condition called synesthesia (look that up right now!!).

As we got closer to the event I was so honored to be asked to be the emcee. I loved having the opportunity to introduce each speaker, and get our audience excited about these students. It was an absolute blast bringing these speakers to our community. There were phenomenal!

If you’re interested in taking a look at TED talks with your students, I would highly recommend Laura Randazzo’s graphic organizer. In my classroom, we watch a variety or student TED talks and some adult ones when it connects to our curriculum. I try to stay mostly to kid or young adult talks because I want my students to see themselves in these students. I want them to know they can do this too!

Keep an eye out for local TEDx or TEDxYouth events near you! I would highly recommend supporting these programs that truly push our thinking and make a positive impact in our communities.

social studies board games - march 2017

I’m dropping in quickly to share some free resources for our interactive Ellis Island board game projects! In Social Studies, we’ve been studying immigration in the early 1900s (which has been truly an interesting parallel to our recent current events). Students learned about what pushed families out of their countries and what pulled them towards the United States during this time. We also discussed the great potato famine and what the trip over to the U.S. was like.

After spending a lot of time exploring the fabulous Scholastic Ellis Island Interactive Tour online, (if you haven’t seen this fabulous resource click HERE) the students were given the task of creating a board game based on the information we’ve discussed so far. They had to categorize factual evidence into positive or negative things that could happen to immigrants as they traveled to America as well as the process at Ellis Island. This came in handy for their board games because these positive or negative situations either sent players forward or backwards on their board games.

Every year my students LOVE this project because they can use their creativity, collaborate with their peers, and apply the knowledge they’ve been learning to an interactive game! It’s always a blast rotating through the games and each year I’m blown away by my students’ innovative ideas to make their games super complicated!!

You can view the project rubric and graphic organizer my students use for this project. Think about adapting the board game project for another unit of study if you don’t teach immigration! Any kind of human experience that has positive and negative situations would do!

spy lab! - december 2016

Our spy lab this week was a fabulous hit! It was truly the epitome of my philosophy on teaching: high engagement & high expectations. I’ve never seen students so excited, motivated, and dedicated to their work! The spy lab was set up for two days and at the end of each class my students organized themselves to applaud and yell “thank you!”. Really?! I’ve never had sixth graders applaud after working their tails off! It made me realize that yes, we must take that extra step to truly ignite a passion for learning. Students appreciate being pushed as long as they’re in an environment that cares and motivates them. The inspiration from this spy lab came from Hope King, a phenomenal teacher at The Ron Clark Academy. You can read all about her set up for spy headquarters here!

In this part of the school year we’re looking at summarizing nonfiction texts. Earlier in the school year we learned about nonfiction text structures so this spy lab was a perfect way to refresh their memories on text structures and also kick off our summarizing unit. I started the week with a read aloud, The Dark Game: True Spy Stories from Invisible Ink to CIA Moles. I was surprised by how engaged they were with this nonfiction read aloud! They were truly hooked! Then I chose five other spies throughout the book that they had to read outside of class. They had to come prepared by Thursday with the reading completed and a knowledge of what their chapter’s text structure was. To be honest, this reading is challenging. It’s a high level text but that didn’t stop me from assigning it to my students. You see, because my students were extremely invested in the content, they rose to the occasion to tackle this nonfiction text. They pulled out dictionaries, asked me clarifying questions, and reread the text until they fully comprehended what they were reading.

I also set some anticipation for our spy lab day. I didn’t tell them what they were doing, just that they needed the text ready to go. I also said they should bring a hat to wear. This totally got their attention! A hat for reading class? But why? Just wait and see! Reminding them to bring a hat in and to have a countdown builds up the suspense.

Wednesday evening I set up our spy lab. It took me about an hour or so to set up! All you need is white string and black lights. I used four black lights since I have a fairly large room and placed them at the various tables my students would be sitting in. I tied five extremely long pieces of white yarn together and anchored them to a central location on the wall, then I took each piece and tied the end around a table, extra chair, or cabinet door. The more pieces of string the better! I didn’t even use up one roll of yarn so there will be plenty! I also took some extra time to blackout my classroom windows and doors with black bulletin board paper. Afterwards, I set up all the materials students needed at their table spots. That’s it!

When students arrived Thursday morning, they were positioned outside the room and not allowed to enter until their clearances were completed. I used a free fingerprint app on my phone to take all of their fingerprints. While students were waiting to be scanned, I had them create an agent name on a name tag. They LOVED this idea and continued to refer to each other by their agent names throughout the day! I was Agent Z and loved dressing in character because it set the tone that we were someplace completely different.

Once in the spy lab, students worked in teams to complete their secret mission. The U.S. files were hacked and all spy profiles were missing. Their first task was to answer a few questions about their spy to establish understanding. Afterwards, they cracked a code to determine if their text structure was correct. This was definitely a fun part! Students were really challenged with this one and I was proud of them for pushing through and using their problem solving skills! After the code was broken, I gave them an X on their hand in invisible ink (highlighter against the black light!) so they could move onto their next task. This included creating a graphic organizer of their text and then finally completing the spy profile with the top five facts about their spy!

Finally, throughout our time together in the spy lab we also had background music! It helped to set an engaging tone! The Matrix music is a great way to set the stage.

jenga in the classroom - september 2016

Each year I forget how time consuming it is to get ready for back to school! My apologies for being MIA from posting. I love the “honeymoon” phase of back to school. Excitement is in the air and kids love to get in the groove of the teaching style in my classroom. Recently I posted a photo on instagram of my students playing “nonfiction text feature jenga” which had a lot of people wondering, how does it work?

Jenga in the classroom is an idea that came from Hope King, a fabulous teacher at the Ron Clark Academy. I love how versatile this game is because you can literally use it for any subject. She has a great version of “giant jenga” and you can watch her tutorial here!

Since I didn’t have a lot of time (or resources) to prepare jenga in my classroom, I found four mini jenga sets at the dollar tree (called tumble towers). For this mini version, I recommend students use a pencil instead of their finger because the pieces are quite tiny! I haven’t had a chance to color code them yet but I didn’t need that for this week’s activity.

Here’s how we used jenga to identify nonfiction text features:

1. I downloaded free nonfiction text feature task cards here from Teachers Pay Teachers. I made four sets and laminated them. These are great! The multiple choice format was perfect for the game.

2. Students were divided into four groups and given a whiteboard, marker, and jenga set.

3. I modeled for students how to play the game: One student turns over the task card and everyone in the group has to write down the answer (a,b,c, or d) on their whiteboard. The picker asks what everyone got and they must all agree before that student pulls a jenga piece. This made for great discussions, debates, and conversations! Sometimes a group was split on their opinions and that gave me a better idea of how well I instructed them and it allowed me to meet with smaller sets of students for their particular needs.

4. The game continues with the next student pulling a task card, the group writing down what they think is the correct answer, sharing, and then pulling. If the jenga set gets knocked down, they just build it back up and keep going!

What I love about this game is that it is simple, little prep, and the students absolutely love it! I look forward to seeking out new ways throughout the school year to use the game in all of my subjects. Let me know how you’re using jenga in the classroom!

engage & empower your students - july 2016

Imagine speaking in front of your classmates and teachers with an excitement, passion, and enthusiasm you never knew you had before. Also, imagine spending two months planning, researching, and creating a project on a topic that is of particular interest to you. This past year, I adopted a fantastic project into my Reading class called 20Time, and it was one of the best parts of our year.

20Time (also called genius hour) is a student driven project, dedicated to self inquiry and passion. When students take ownership of their learning, fantastic things fall into place. The goal is to give 20% of class time to this project throughout the year. Since I follow a pretty strict curriculum in my district, I brought this project into my class after state testing was finished.

Towards the end of the year you need to change things up, surprise students, and push them even harder. Usually the end of the year becomes a waste of time, teachers get lazy and students follow suit. However, my students’ best work happened at the end of the school year because they were driven and self motivated to do their best work at a much higher standard I never required before.

We started our unit by analyzing TED talks given by kids similar to their age. We analyzed their topics, why that was interesting to them, what they did to engage the audience, and how they used ethos, logos, and pathos. Throughout our two months we watched and analyzed a TED talk every week to give us fresh ideas and inspiration for our own projects. It was amazing to see them watch children their own age doing amazing things, thinking in unique way, and it communicated to them that they could do this too! Here’s a link to the first TED talk we watched. Also, here is the worksheet we used to analyze the TED talks.

One of the best parts for me was seeing what topics students were interested in, pressing them harder on these topics to go deeper, and seeing what their end choice was. Some students were interested in foreign language and learned French, German, or Chinese. Other students were business minded and created a business plan for a future bakery, a shoe line to pitch to a company, and a fashion line from recycled materials. Technology was also a hot topic as some students created their own video game, vlogs, and websites with html coding. I had a student take a five day vow of silence and reflect on that process, another student beat a basketball world record, and another who mastered the art of juggling. One of my favorite topics came from a student who made a petition to put a traffic light in his neighborhood because of the numerous accidents occurring. The topics and interests were diverse just like my students!

A few weeks into our project, students prepared a 60 sec. Pitch to their classmates, Shark Tank style. This was a great way to get their feet wet talking in front of the class, using a few of the strategies we learned in TED talks, and synthesizing all of their information together. They also dressed up to look the part!

After all of their projects were completed throughout the two months, we ended our time with the summative assessment: the TED talk! I made official TED Presenter conference badges and students were required to look the part. The last three full days of school were our presentations and it was a great way to keep students engaged when all they wanted to think about is summer! Students were required to speak about their process and what they learned from this project for 3-5 minutes, with a small note card that could only have 25 words. Nothing could be in sentence form. This was a CHALLENGE! It forced students to look at the audience, use the skills they learned from watching model TED Talks, and truly engage with their classmates. Honestly, I did not know what to expect. I would crumble under that pressure as a sixth grader. In the end, I was absolutely blown away by their confidence, their ability to keep their audience on their toes, their creativity, and their overall passion for this project. I saw my kids come alive like never before!

Most importantly, I learned so much from my students during this process. There were topics and ideas I never thought about before and they brought them alive in a way that truly made it engaging. We need more of this in education. Our students learn from us, yes, but they have brilliant ideas that we must take advantage of. The empowerment that can occur during this process is unlimited and I am thrilled to incorporate these ideas even more this coming year.

For all 20Time materials including rubrics, exit tickets, and project descriptions, click here.

the need for growth & grit: a commentary -june 2016

What happens when your future is already planned out for you? What occurs when we’re told our learning takes place in a box, in this small finite place where IQ and ability has predetermined our destiny? What happens? What happens is children function as pawns in a game, as players in a chess match moved through an endless cycle of memorization, tests, and results. Education becomes boring. It becomes lifeless and growth is nowhere in sight. However, a new wave of educational philosophy is drifting into the horizon as more and more educators are aligning themselves with a growth mindset: the belief that intelligence it not a fixed entity, but a process that develops and improves.

As I dive deeper into the understanding of this philosophy, I must take into account my own experiences in learning and teaching. As an elementary student, I struggled. I was constantly placed in the “low group” and was knocked down by failure after failure. During middle school and high school I got by but never truly shined academically. It wasn’t until my freshman year of college that a professor stopped me in my tracks, looked me in the eye, pointed to a paper I wrote, and said, “I know you can do better than this”. This. This was always my mode of operation, my way of meeting requirements and passing through. But now someone knew I had something better in me. It was a challenge, a fire that lit inside my belly that wanted to prove to myself that yes, I could do better, and yes, I have what it takes.

This tiny voice is what some researchers are calling “grit”. It is passion and perseverance for long-term goals. It’s “living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint” (Duckworth 2013). Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth’s research team looked at success in many different contexts. They researched West Point Military Academy cadets, National Spelling Bee contestants, rookie teachers working in tough neighborhoods, and salespeople. Throughout all of these contexts there was only one predictor of success. “And it wasn’t social intelligence. It wasn’t good looks, physical health, and it wasn’t IQ. It was grit” (Duckworth, 2013). Additionally, during a study done in Chicago public schools, Duckworth (2013) noticed that grittier kids were more likely to graduate even when matched to characteristics such as family income, standardized achievement test scores, and how safe kids felt at school. So, what does grit mean for us?

Although research has not revealed the exact way to teach and learn grit as a noncognitive skill in students, there are studies that show how teachers are creating an environment where attitude and self-perceptions are critical in the learning process. In Paul Tough’s (2016) article titled, “How Kids Learn Resilience” in The Atlantic, he highlights a study done which showcases the time spent between teacher and student and the results on student behavior. He writes, “somehow these teachers were able to convey deep messages–perhaps implicitly or even subliminally–about belonging, connection, ability, and opportunity. And somehow those messages had a profound impact on students’ psychology, and thus on their behavior” (Tough 2016). It is with this importance that we must remember the impact teachers have on students. These noncognitive abilities play a huge role in success and growth.

When I think back to the time my academic world was jolted, I will always remember the simple phrase my professor told me. It is something that I strive to say to each of my sixth grade students. However, it is more than a simple phrase. It’s an attitude, it’s a philosophy, and it’s a mindset. I know that each of my students are capable of far much more than this. High expectations and a commitment to growth instead of achievement has to be a focus in education or we will shut down the future of our next generation. Although education can be messy, it can be beautiful. When you see the light bulb go on and a smile drift onto a student’s face who has struggled for so long, it is all worth it. Let’s get gritty.

Grit TED Talk

Resilience Article

References

Briceno, E. (2012) “The power of belief-mindset and success”. TEDX Manhattan Beach Talk. http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Social-Media-Changing-Learning

Duckworth, A. L. (2013) “Grit: The power of passion and perseverance”. TED Education Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_ and_perseverance?language=en#t-706766

Tough, P. (2016) “How kids learn resilience”. The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ archive/2016/06/how-kids-really-succeed/480744/

the ten finger woo - june 2016

Looking for ways to get your students engaged? One of the routines I absolutely love for participation and creating a culture of respect and rapport is the wonderful 10-finger woo.

When students answer a question correctly, have a thoughtful question, or make a valid connection, we love giving 10 finger woos. There are a few reasons why I love 10 finger woos:

1. Who wouldn’t want all eyes and hands pointing at them to celebrate wonderful contributions to our classroom? This is a way to truly celebrate your students as a community!

2. My students have no down time using this technique. They are constantly engaged in discussion because at any moment they might have to give a 10 finger woo to a classmate.

3. Movement is everything. Every few minutes students need movement (I need movement too!). Giving 10 finger woos keeps their brains activated, their heart pumping, and their focus ready.

Here’s the little trick for compliance in 10 finger woos. Some sixth graders think they’re too cool or too tired sometimes. You know what? We do it over and over again until I get 100% participation. Sometimes I feel like a drill sergeant but they get the point in no time. Keep your expectations high and students will fall into place.

To change up the 10-finger woo, we also give “snap-crackle-pops”. It is my goal this year to come up with even more so my students are always surprised. Click below to play!

On the flip-side, when students are struggling, get an answer incorrect, or fumble through their words, our class is ready to pick them up, dust them off, and move on. We do this by saying “It’s cool” and throw our hands in that student’s direction. I say it first, and others follow. However, there have been many times when my students initiate it (even towards me!) which creates a fantastic community that says it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s part of our learning process! It’s cool, so let’s move on.

the framework of whole brain teaching - june, 2016

As a sixth grade teacher in an elementary school I teach ELA and Social Studies. In each of my classes every day I have a specific skill I want my students to master. One of the strategies I use to focus on these skills is Whole Brain Teaching. It is an engaging approach that uses kinesthetic learning to help students remember a concept. Whole Brain Teaching has been around for a good number of years and they have a complete system dedicated to the Whole Brain Teaching way.

I must say upfront that I do not follow Whole Brain Teaching religiously. I take pieces of this method for my teaching style and my students. I started by researching youtube videos online of other classrooms and how they implement Whole Brain Teaching. Once I finished my research, I implemented it in my classroom and made it work! What I took from this method is the use of hand motions, repetition, and students teaching each other.

What is the benefit of this strategy?

We move fast in my classroom. Whole Brain Teaching keeps my students engaged, keeps them on their toes, and allows them to critically think through a concept by teaching someone else. Teaching someone else in an authentic way is one of the highest levels of showing understanding. I force my students to teach each other every day.

Even if they fumble through the process the first day, by the end of our week they are masters. I also have many inclusion and learning support students in my class. The use of motions is extremely helpful for these students. If they are working in guided practice or independent practice and find themselves stuck, I can simply show a motion and they are back on track.

Where does this take place?

When I teach a specific skill we always go to the back carpet. You might be thinking that sixth graders do not belong on a carpet. Oh, but they do! Every 15 minutes we change locations in the room to keep our energy levels up. By creating this space at the back carpet, I am closer to them, can see everything that is going on, and it makes for a special time where they expect what I’m saying is important.

If you’re interested in learning the basics of Whole Brain Teaching, check out the following post that will lay out the verbal and physical cues I use with my students!