Open House

At my current school, there is a pattern. Back to School night, because it is at the beginning of the school year, tends to be teacher directed. Open House is more kid driven. Here is what we did:

First, we worked as a class to make this video:

The students suggested the titles, and picked the music, and the pictures are from photos that many of them took.
tour guide Next, we made up a list of things to show parents. Student were then expected to take their parents on a tour through the class.

I documented things with pictures, and set up a mini studio with my laptop to have students and visitors leave messages using My Chingo online voicemail

Sample Unit

Not all curriculum comes from a textbook. I work in a district with no science text, but my students (fifth graders) are tested on this subject by the state. I have a number of resources (workbooks, science kits, online resources), but I have to bring it all together into a coherent whole.

Here is what I did on the Water Cycle and Weather as part of an Earth Science unit:

Earth Science Unit Planner First, I created a planner with objectives and the instructional tools I would use.

Water Cycle Organizer Next, I created this graphic organizer in Inspiration to guide my discussions with students and provide study notes at the end of the unit.

And this slideshow introduces concepts to students, and is kept online for them to review:

In addition, students viewed content based “cartoons” on BrainPop (which include quizzes at the end of each show), reading and worksheets, and hands on experiments.

Sample Lesson

I use the curriculum and text provided by my school district, but my instructional goals are to follow the state standards, which the texts alone do not always meet. This means that I supplement the texts by asking more deeper questions. I also pay attention to the feedback I’m getting from my students (blank stares, blank work pages, puzzled looks, poor test scores), and adjust my teaching.

But how do I teach? What does a typical lesson look like? It varies, but here is an example:

Introduction of the weekly selection from Open Court
(click on graphics to see full size version)

Preview the week’s spelling words with a pretest. Correct and discuss the sound/spelling pattern.
spelling

Word Knowledge done from a PowerPoint projected for the class to see.
wordknowledge

Vocabulary, also from a PowerPoint. I highlight the clues in the sample sentences by underlining the projected text on the whiteboard.
vocabulary

Background taken from the teacher’s edition, but I often add my own information, including pictures and maps. This is also on PowerPoint.
background

Two part organizer that ties their experience/prior knowledge to the story being taught. They fill out the first part of the organizer (the left column) answering questions from their own experience.
organizer

Clues, Problems, Wonderings:
CPW
Students browse the selection, then fill in at least three clues, and two wonderings, plus any problem words they run across. I have them do this on a paper organizer. I circulate, and type in the problem words, with definitions into the projected organizer. I then take student responses by table group on the Clues and Wonderings. We will review what we came up with on Thursday after we have completed the selection.

This is the preview process I go through each week with Open Court stories. The last 40-45 minutes of my language arts block is spent on what Open Court calls workshop time, and is also called independent work time, or centers. The students work in their table groups on worksheets (which they do together), activities, group projects, or on computers. I either do pull-outs, or circulate the room to check and help students. I make this time three to four days a week to ensure that they are not just listening to me lecture, or doing silent seat work. My goal is to have them work together, and learn from each other and increase engagement.

Here is a screencast of a similar lesson (warning, turn down the sound, I was using my instructional voice with a mic):

Building a Positive Classroom Environment

Much of my work in this area is built on personal relationships that I build with, and between my students. While technology assists me with this, it is grounded in relationships that are built face-to-face.

First, I always work to have clear expectations and guidelines. These rules and procedures are taught explicitly to the students.  Here are slide shows that are part of that instruction. My first week of class is spent going through the rules and procedures, discussing them, finishing up with a Jeopardy style quiz on what they’ve learned. I also use this page to orient new students to my classroom.

Next, I teach character education explicitly.  Our morning writing is based on a word-of-the-week, so we can discuss what good behavior and character look like, and why they are important. This year, our campus has started using Second Step, to improve students behaviors. This program gives students explicit instruction in how to deal with anger, frustration, etc.

Last, I hold weekly class meetings to assist with conflict resolution. This gives students the opportunity to participate in their own problem solving and be part of a democratic process. I have incorporated the “compliments” portion of the meetings in the class website (look at the lower right column). 

My students are not perfect, but many conflicts have been averted and we our classroom focus is on learning.

Podcasting to build literacy

I began podcasting because I enjoyed listening to podcasts myself, and found them an interesting medium. When I began podcasting, I thought it would mostly inspire my “talkers”, the boys and girls in the class who have leadership skills, but aren’t always sure how to make the best use of them. These students do enjoy podcasting, but the surprise I had was seeing how many of my quiet students found their voices with podcasting. I keep an archive of the podcasts I do with my class. There are basically two types of podcasts, the weekly ones, which go out over the phone via ConnectEd to parents to let them know what is happening in our class. The other podcasts are the weekly discussions of our Open Court selection. My students have done an excellent job this year of tying themes, and events from our stories to their own experience, and the experience of their classmates. Quite frankly, they have humbled me.

The process for implementing this in my classroom:

  1. I began by doing the first class podcast myself with my son reading the script (so the students could see it was possible)
  2. Next, I then wrote the scripts and had students read from it.
  3. Currently, I give students an outline, and have them write the script. Another groups of students are the newsreaders.
  4. I hope to have them coming up with the topics in the future.

Group writing projects and wikis

The third unit of Open Court has the theme of Heritage, and focuses on culture. Many of the students have lived their home culture, but at their age they may not have thought about it much, and not in an analytical way. I had the students get in homogenous groupings of 3-4 on a wiki to answer some basic questions about their own homes and families. Then the answers were grouped together for each ethnic group in the class. The final results were put up as blog posts, and the class then commented on each others’ work and cultures. This let them learn about their culutre, and then share it with their classmates, making it a more authentic experience for everyone involved.

Technology in ELD Instruction

I have an ELD exchange class with mostly Intermediate level ELLs, and EOs who are below grade-level (some are receiving speech and language services).  I have started to use Avenues Level F with students. I try to have have a culminating activity at the end of each two weeks for the class. I try to take activities that are given from the text, but extend them into cyberspace.  If there is a play or radio play, we do a podcast. If there is artwork, I post it on the website. I have worked from words (having them write a script from an outline) to speech, and from pictures (self-portraits) to written words and speech, so that students have an opportunity to fully express themselves.

Professional Experience – 2007

For help navigating this site, here is a screencast on how to get around.

I have used technology in my classroom since I began teaching, and it has been a critical part of my instruction in the last two years. The links section will take you to my current class website/blog, and the previous website I used for my class. All of my use of technology is based in two goals: the activities are directly related to core instruction in my classroom; and the activities give students an opportunity to authentically demonstrate their mastery of what was taught. Examples can be found here, or by clicking on the Examples category in the right sidebar.

Here is a copy of my current resume.

Professional Skills – 2007

• Knowledge of and experience making grade-level standards engaging and accessible for a wide variety of students
• Ability to integrate technology meaningfully into instruction
• Willingness and ability to supplement or add to core instructional materials to improve instruction, and better align to grade-level standards
• Ability to maintain control of classroom, and to motivate my students to assist me with this task.
• Experience with a variety of students including students at grade-level, ELLs, and behaviorally challenged students.

My philosophy of education…

I believe that students need to experience, and create to truly learn a new concept or idea, but I have also had the experience of seeing students struggle to understand how to do this. It is my position as an educator to provide a structure and instruction so they can make the connections needed to understand what they are learning, and be able to use that knowledge effectively. To get this done, I do the following in my classroom:

• Establish clear rules and procedures for my classroom to make it a safe learning environment for all students
• Have a clear focus on standards based instruction
• Use a variety of technologies and resources to engage students while teaching standards.