The Art of Digital Storytelling

     Storytelling is a wonderful way to teach, learn, pass down ideas from generation to generation, and to create fun and excitement. As a teacher, I use storytelling to introduce new concepts or reinforce old ones, hoping that the story will become imprinted on my students' minds so that they will remember it for later use. 

     Whenever I share with my students and begin with... "I have a story to tell you...," suddenly all of my students become quiet and intent listeners. My stories tend to be about my cats Bella and Toby, or my dog Jack doing mischievous things to one another while they think I am not looking. Like the time that Toby decided to "hurl his elephant body up the cat ramp to steal Bella's treats!" I showed my students a picture of the innocent orange, fluffy cat named Toby and they were instantly captured by the green sparkle in his eyes. Then one day I showed a video of Toby climbing the ramp for fodder for a quick write. Poor Toby was the unfortunate victim of childlike jokes and laughter as they wrote about his adventures.

     The pictures and the video of Toby brought the writing alive for my students, and it made me think of incorporating technology into the storytelling itself. I did a search of a variety of digital storytelling tools and ended up choosing www.storybird.com because I wanted my students to be inspired by pictures and to create their stories, much like they were inspired by the videos and photos of Toby. Storybird has a free version of the tool and contains very beautiful layouts and images, it is also easy to use. 

     

      To learn the tool I created my own digital storybook called "Jack's Eyes," which incorporated artistic pictures of all different types of animals, including a dog representing my own dog-Jack. I found the tool very easy to use, once I picked the images I wanted, all I had to do was to choose the layout and drag the image onto the page. The story I wrote was a familiar one to me as I take my dog for long walks on our farm regularly. On these walks Jack is playful, fun, but perhaps a little bit scary (although well meaning) as he engages with the creature world around him. These were the moments that inspired me to write this story, Jack's Eyes.

    I shared the story with my class and they read it with me, all while enjoying the images and the play with language. Since they were very familiar with my Jack stories, they listened intently and oohed, ahed, and chuckled along with the story, knowing how true to my little doggy's nature the digital storybook was. From the story I asked recall, sequencing, and figurative language questions, to which my students eagerly responded. The story was fun and the fact that I created it made it that much more special.

    

     The potential challenges of digital storytelling is that the technology has the potential to outweigh the quality of the writing. In other words, students could end up spending their time painstakingly changing the color or the font of their writing, instead of making sure their writing is engaging to the reader. I have encountered these types of issues before while working on our online digital portfolios. Students have very brief writing, structural issues, or full of grammar errors, and yet they are worrying about the visual effects. The technology of digital storytelling should enhance the quality of the writing, not detract from it.

    

     In conclusion, I learned a lot from working with this technology. I think the biggest learning was how easy the tool is to use. However, the greatest takeaway is how digital storytelling can help writing come alive for even my most reluctant writers; with images to inspire words struggling students can find their voice. I can't wait to introduce my students to this technology and to see what their imaginations create! 

For more information access my presentation on Digital Storytelling here: Digital Storytelling Prezi

     

Learning Network Plan

Overview

This year we had a new technology teacher and she was very creative in her instruction. It was helpful that she was familiar with the third grade curriculum, having taught third grade for many years. My learning network plan includes the third grade team which consists of four teachers and the technology teacher. Our learning network meets once a week with the goal of effectively integrating technology into our curriculum. During 2015 all third grade students were given chrome books for in school and at home use. While the primary purpose of the chrome books was to administer the standardized tests, we were excited about using them for other purposes as well. Although there was some communication to parents about when and what the chrome books could be used for, there was no training offered to teachers on how to use them. Since there was a learning curve we decided to develop a plan that involved three phases: phase 1 included getting comfortable with the chrome books, phase 2 included researching and using technology to improve reading levels, phase 3 included creating online portfolios of student work and developing a plan to integrate technology into the curriculum for next year.

Phase 1:

During phase 1, we met and discussed how we could incorporate the chrome books into our classrooms. We created a list of online resources that we approved and some of these sites included: SUMDOG, ENVISION MATH, GOOGLE DRIVE, GOOGLE CLASSROOM, AND SPELLING CITY. 

Initially, we were very excited to use technology and we were looking for ways to include it into all of our lessons. For example, we typically do Rocket Math for practice of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, so we added the game SUMDOG. Students enjoyed using this technology because they could play against each other and compete. Recently, there was an online competition for the entire county and our third grade classrooms placed in the top three! Also, for math we gave all of our students access to their math information online through the online math site. 

Eventually, we figured out how to setup a google classroom site to post messages and assignments. Then we taught our students how to access the classroom and to login for assignments, writing prompts, and video clips. For example, during our science/social studies block we had our students research whale hunting in Japan. They had to watch a video clip posted to their classroom, read an article on Time For Kids, answer a question that was posted to the classroom site, and present their findings to the class. After we finished this project we posted all of our findings on our bulletin boards and created an online poll to determine how many people were for or against whale hunting.

Some of our learnings during phase 1 of implementing technology in the classroom was that it was better to do less and go deeper. In other words, instead of flooding the students with too many technology activities to choose one or two of them and create them to be meaningful activities that are tied to our program and curriculum. Overall, phase 1 was exciting for both teachers and students; we got to include technology to enhance our program in ways that we were not able to do in the past and we got over the learning curve of understanding how the computers worked.

Phase 2:

During phase 2, we examined various online reading tools to enhance our reading program. We decided to learn and implement two sites: Raz Kids and the affiliated site Learning A to Z. Raz Kids seemed to be a great technology to allow students to read at their own pace and be held accountable to their reading through online assessments and recorded readings, as well as retelling the story. The program contains a variety of reports that can be reviewed and monitored for student progress. The reports also contain alerts about areas that students are having difficulty with. For example, it may say student A has missed the last five questions on story plot. These reports are particularly helpful because you can get a very good idea of problem areas at a quick glance and students can work independently while you work with a small group or a one on one conference. 

We decided to use the Learning A to Z site for teaching specific reading skills or strategies. For example, if a student is struggling with short vowel sounds, we could easily find books and activities that would contextualize these skills and use them in a guided reading group. In this way, Learning A to Z was more of a teacher reference tool, where we can print out different resources to use in our teaching. This is different from Raz-Kids which is much more student directed and teacher monitored.

Phase 3:

Phase 3 of our learning network is still ongoing. During the year
we saved our students writing and kept it in a folder. During our learning network meeting we discussed creating an online portfolio where students can share their work with others online. We created a google portfolio site for each student and began adding their work to the site Google Site. Our student online portfolios are still in progress, but they have been created and students have created a welcome page and uploaded at least two documents to their site. The next step will be to scan in some of their printed work to include in the online portfolio. In this respect, we can also scan in work from other content areas, such as art or spanish. Including other content areas in the portfolio would give a well rounded perspective of each child and also create a feeling of pride in the student's work. The portfolio is intended to be ongoing, so in future years students can create pages that relate to different grade levels. 

Our team is also planning on how to incorporate technology into our program for the upcoming year. We have requested a grant for money to purchase Raz-Kids reading program for the entire school. Additionally, since we have already begun to utilize it, we are going to teach other grade levels how to use the program. We believe that incorporating Raz-Kids into the reading program brings more accountability and transparency to the reading that occurs at home, as well as in the classroom, which in turn would help drive instruction.

Next year, we would like to include more student driven technological activities. For example, create some project based learning such as a web quest for topics such as the Lenape Indians. Our plans are to create a web quest that has students learn all about the culture of the Lenape, such as what kinds of food they ate, what types of homes they lived in, and what kinds of transportation they used. Students can then use digital storytelling to share what they have learned. In conclusion, our learning network will continue to look for ways to add technology to the classroom, while continuing to have conversations about what is working well or not working; technology can be a valuable enhancement to student learning and engagement.

Music and Fluency

Teaching Fluency through Music

                Two years ago I taught second grade in a very low socioeconomic school district; more than sixty percent of my students were receiving either free or reduced lunch. In my graduate courses I was already learning the impact of poverty on children in terms of mastering language and learning how to read and write. Children living in these impoverished areas are more likely to leave school each day only to return home to an empty house. Parents of many of my students worked two or three jobs in order to scrape by, therefore the social structure of parents reinforcing learning at home was insufficient or completely absent.

                Language acquisition happens in young children rapidly, especially in environments where children are listening to conversation and experiencing social interaction between peers and adults. In other words, the foundation of literacy begins with conversations and children talking. I was overwhelmed the year I taught second grade to find a way to help my struggling readers and writers somehow get back on track; many of my students were two to three years behind grade level. Although the task at hand seemed daunting, I was determined to find a way to help connect to my students and improve their oral reading fluency, as well as their comprehension.

                I tried many strategies to help my students with reading, such as putting students in “just right books,” having them work in guided reading groups, building up their site words through the use of flashcards and apps on the classroom iPads, and providing them with fluency passages to practice numerous times while reading it aloud to others. All of these strategies were worthy efforts; however, the one strategy that was the most effective with my students that year was building fluency through lyrics of songs.

                Reading lyrics to appropriate songs helps students to learn unknown words while the rhythm and musical cadence provide a structure for students to overcome “robot reading.” Robot reading occurs as students read in a word by word fashion that lacks expression, mood, and tone. Robot reading could form as a habitual way of reading, or as a student struggles to decode each and every word. If the reading is extremely choppy and the student reads with long pauses between words, chances are he or she is not going to comprehend the reading at all. Music then becomes a creative and fun way to help children overcome these types of struggles.

                Some tips I learned while using music to help teach oral reading fluency.  Pick out appropriate songs and think about what skill or strategy to focus on for that particular song. For example, you can find songs to teach vowel sounds such as the long or short a. Or you could work on word endings, or initial consonant blends. Whatever you choose to work on, I found it beneficial to have students read the song first before listening. While doing this you can also discuss the meaning of the words and any poetic elements or figurative language the song may contain. Once you have previewed and discussed the lyrics you can begin letting the students listen to the music and to sing along. Be careful that students are not simply just memorizing the song without understanding the words.  Sometimes, I would break down the verses of the song and assign them to different parts of the room. This was a fun challenge and my students always enjoyed determining who did the best job.

                Recently, a teacher in my school was asking me for some things she could do with a seventh grade student she is tutoring one on one with in the middle school. She was asked to focus on oral reading fluency and she was not given any program or guidance as to how to accomplish this goal. After speaking with her about the student and her needs, I realized that I knew this particular girl and had worked with her last year as in class support. I remembered that she enjoyed music and she even had her own “Beats” headphones. I recalled a project she worked on in social studies class where she had to create a song about the American Revolution. I suggested to my colleague that she try music with this student to improve fluency and she took my idea and used in the very next day. Using music lyrics to improve oral reading fluency may not be the first approach used by teachers, however I think this could be an oversight. For many students music can provide the bridge to learning how to read in a way that regular books may end up missing the mark, and it can also be a lot of fun!

Writing Portfolios

On Thursday my school is hosting an Open House for parents and students to come in and take a peek inside their child’s classroom and check out what has been going on in school. I love teaching writing and helping students become more confident and skilled at putting their thoughts onto paper. Since the beginning of the year I have been saving my students writing and accumulating it in a writing portfolio. I enjoyed reading and rereading my students writing and thinking about how they have grown as a writer.

Today my students were given their folders and had the opportunity to reread their work and choose three of their favorite pieces. I gave them each three post-it notes and asked them to order the top three pieces. I also asked them to include a note as to why they chose those pieces. They had to think about their writing and find what they liked about it. If they wanted to leave all their writing in the folder for their parents to see, they could, or only leave in their top three pieces. Either way, all of their writing would be given back to them at the end of the year in the folder. What a wonderful remembrance this would create!  Inside of their folder they also had an unfinished piece of writing, a fractured fairy tale. I explained to them that writers often have several pieces of writing going at the same time, and an unfinished piece. I told them that perhaps they would want to finish this story before the end of the year, and a few students shared with me that they wanted to do just that.

When my students received their folders there was lots of reading, talking, and sharing in the room. One student asked if he could award each of his pieces of writing with a post-it note. Another student marked her number one piece of writing as “My very first essay.” Still there were others who pulled out pieces that were funny and used figurative language creatively, such as metaphors and onomatopoeia. Some students found pieces of writing that were very long, and others noticed some pieces were particularly short and they realized they had been stumped at the time. There was a feeling in the room of being proud of what they had accomplished, and they also realized how much they had improved in writing since the beginning of the year.

I have been working on collecting these pieces of writing since the beginning of the year. To me each one is precious and represents the child who created it. I shared with my students that I hope that they continue to grow their love and skills of writing into fourth grade and beyond; and one day they can look back at the portfolio they created in the third grade and realize what a gift their writing was for all of us.

 

Teaching a Mindful Classroom

     The average adult body is made up of 50 to 65% water (water chemistry in the body). Dr. Masaru Emoto studied the profound effects of prayer on water (messages in water). When the intent of the prayer is pure the water would form a cohesive crystalline structure. This was true whether it was one person praying, or many people. However, the intentions must be pure and true. Thinking about these two points makes me wonder about the power of our thoughts. Western religions, such as Buddhism have led our country to embrace the positive impacts of yoga to creating a healthy mind and body connection. But what about the science of mindfulness, and how could it impact student learning, teaching, and the classroom environment. Dr. Dan Siegel, an interpersonal neurobiologist (website) has written books and given talks extensively on the subject of the mind and the connection to human behavior, as well as relationships. While Dr. Siegel states candidly that there is no widely accepted definition of the mind by any of the branches of science; he defines the mind as an embodied and relational emergent process that regulates the flow of energy.
     Thinking about the mind and being mindful came to me out of the desire to teach my students the value of resilience. Resilience, or GRIT is the ability to recover quickly from difficulty. This is an important skill to teach our students and our children. Today more than ever with the pace of our world, I believe our children will grow up to face challenges, adversity, and problems we would not believe fathomable. Resilience seems to be the one thing we can teach them to deal with these challenges. Vygotsky (1978) theory was that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. As educators and parents we understand well the importance of relationships to a child's development.
    I think the source of teaching our students and children resilience begins with the quality of the relationships we develop. I would like to make the connection between the quality of relationships that we develop with the ability to be mindful. To be mindful, for me, would mean making a conscious effort to be present when someone is speaking with me, to listen actively. This means to stop what I am doing and give the person my full attention. I also think it means taking the time to think about myself and my students each day in reflection. Ten minutes of sitting silently in my thoughts in the morning could make the difference between creating mindfulness in my classroom, or letting the day run away with or without me.

Your Brain on Spring Break

     My school has a week off for Spring Break this week and that got me thinking about the question of whether time off is helpful or hurtful to student learning. I remembered a few weeks ago as I was taking a long drive, a decision came to me from out of the blue. It was something that I was not even thinking about, or contemplating, I was in fact dealing with a much bigger issue. But there was this big decision that I knew I needed to make, and I just knew it was the right thing to do. Then during this break I spent two days on the couch resting, and thinking, and some more resting and thinking. To an outsider this may seem completely unproductive, lazy, and useless. After two days though, something suddenly occurred to me and it was so crystal clear. We need breaks from the day to day for our mind to allow space to find connections, solve problems, and to be creative.
     We know that kids need breaks in the classroom, so do adults. We can work effectively and productively for a certain period of time, but then we need to take a break, even if it is a quick one. Why should it be so hard to understand that people and kids also need extended breaks, real vacations, and time to recoup and relax? One reason might be because we worry that things won't get done, or we may fall behind on work, or a critical issue will pop up. Whatever the logic or reasoning may be, taking time off to relax and recharge is absolutely necessary and should be taken just as seriously as work itself. Your brain works very hard for you day in and day out, especially with the continuous streams of technology that our brain has to process, such as twitter tweets and Facebook posts. Our brains are on overload.
      According to the NYT article here Press Reset on your Brain the brain works in different modes depending on whether it is actively engaged in a task, or not actively engaged, such as mind wandering, or daydreaming mode. The article suggests that the mind wandering or daydreaming mode allows the brain to make connections it would not have otherwise made, which in turn can lead to solving problems, being creative, finding a cure for a disease, or inventing something new. Huh? I guess that is why I was able to solve some problems while sitting on the couch resting! The brain is a magnificent and beautiful part of the human body. Having some understanding of the way our brains work can help us as teachers support our students by taking the breaks we need to be the best we can be, and allowing our students the downtime they need to process, let their minds wander, and grow. So now as far as Spring Break and my students' learning...will they forget some things that I taught them? They probably will. But will their brains come back reset, recharged, and able to take in new learning? I think so.

Dismissal Observations

    Students need to feel comfortable to take risks, and in order to learn they need to take risks. It's the end of another productive day in my classroom and my students are buzzing with excitement about things happening in our school and in our classroom. I love to listen in on their conversations during these moments, the moments when they don't realize anyone is listening.

    I hear bits and pieces of excitement about math they are learning with my colleague. There is helping and sharing of ideas about how to do certain things on their chrome books. There are questions about what books are being read and explanations of stories that they share with each other. Reminders about bringing certain books home. Laughter about desks being messy and classmates helping each other find materials. There are helpers tidying up our room and getting it ready for the next day. There are students writing and students drawing and some taking the time to get a head start on their homework. All of this until the announcements call them to leave. 

    I love these moments so much even in the chaos of them. From these moments I learn about my students' personalities. I see how caring they are with one another. How they go out of their way to help one another. I learn about their interests. I learn about how they solve problems. But most of all I see how happy they are and how excited they are to learn and be in school. This makes me happy, this makes me very happy. 

Meditation in Schools

I am thinking a lot about the benefits of meditation in the classroom. I have been reading, "The Wise Heart," by Jack Kornfield and learning about the benefits of mindful meditation and the power of noticing the external and internal energies that pass through me on a daily basis, minute by minute, and second by second. I started seeing an improvement in my ability to handle myself in my life, even in difficult situations using some of these strategies I learned from this wonderful book. I then began to wonder how these strategies could also help my students inside and outside of the classroom.

Last week the Sunday paper featured a huge article on the CEO of Aetna, Mark Bertolini, and his incorporation of meditation and yoga into the company. Forbes recently also posted a spread on his thoughts and philosophies about mindful meditation and how they are helping people to decrease healthcare costs and improve performance. Check out his video here...CEO of Aetna is into meditation

After I read that lengthy article in the paper, a fellow teacher posted an article to her Facebook page that was touting the benefits of including meditation in the school day to help children to relieve stress, improve performance, and increase their levels of happiness. The article features a picture of students sitting atop their desks, eyes closed, finger tips together, legs crossed, in a meditative pose. The article goes on to state quite succinctly the five reasons why meditation should be allowed in schools. Check out the article here...Meditation in Schools

Another quick search on the internet proved that other top leaders of major corporations and companies such as Google are also embracing these ideas and including them as a part of the corporate culture. With leaders making grand statements claiming that they had breakthrough results when they meditated, it is hard to not want to at least give it a try.

I think that learning is a challenging act that takes courage and a great deal of effort that occurs over a lifetime, beginning in our elementary years and following us through adulthood. Children are learning so much even in just one day that at times they must feel like their heads are about to explode with all of the information they are absorbing. The process is fun, exciting, boring, tedious; it is so many things, and for many children it is extraordinarily stressful. Kids are being asked to know more, do more, be more, and have huge lives in and outside of school. Imagine the benefits of teaching students to look inward, to sit with themselves in a still and quiet place, to calm their breathing, to relax? Maybe the breakthrough results leaders of this country want can be obtained in different ways other than high stakes testing. Maybe students would be more able to receive learning and advance in unimaginable ways if we started teaching them from the inside out? I for one would be willing to give meditation in the classroom a try.

Chrome Sweet Chrome...

The chrome books have finally arrived and we are looking for unique ways to use them in our classrooms. Google classroom allowed me to share videos, articles, and critical thinking questions to my students.

My students logged into their Science classroom on their chrome books and worked in their guided reading groups to answer critical thinking questions in a Google doc. On Monday, the groups will present their findings to another third grade classroom while also presenting a kahoot quiz. 

My students read about and listened to both sides of the argument of whaling for scientific research. Some students began to see a possible reason for whaling and shared with the class that the limits need to be carefully thought about because over population might cause issues with other animals such as seal pups.

Excuse Me While I Charge My Chrome Book...

Dealing with the somewhat expected, unexpected happenings in a classroom with new technology :)

     It has been less than two weeks since our district distributed chrome books to students in the third and fourth grades in our elementary school. Students have been excitedly anticipating getting their mini computers since before they started school in September. All year long we have been answering questions and listening to their thoughtful wonderings about the technology that would soon be heading their way. Finally, they have arrived.

    While these little technological additions to my classroom have created excitement and engagement, they also have created learning...it is just that the learning is a little different than I thought it would be. So far, I have learned a few things from teaching with technology.

Be patient, it will pay off in the end (I hope!)

   I am learning, and my students are also learning; having patience through this process is a must. In the first week I encountered problems such as students not having their chrome books with them, or they had them but they were not charged, there were issues logging in, issues getting onto the websites, problems typing in the proper address, and even the problem of accidentally blocking trusted sites. I am not kidding you when I say that the period felt like it just got started and we barely got into our work! I have to remind myself that there is a learning curve and we will all improve. I will improve by understanding the pitfalls and heading them off before they happen, and students will get better at navigating the issues on their own, or with each others help.

For now, less is more...be strategically hopeful

    There are so many cool things to do with computers from games, to online polls, to blogs, to reading programs, to whatever you can pretty much dream up and the online barracuda doesn't choose to block! So....you want to try all of it, right? Nope, wrong. I am thinking of my time on the chrome books as an investment. Then the next question I ask myself is which activities are worth the squeeze? Which ones are going to give me the return on instruction that I am looking for, and are therefore worth the upfront investment in time to teaching my students how to use the program and get acclimated to it. As of this point, I have been focusing on using the technology for an online reading program called Raz-Kids. The jury is still out if I will get the return on investment yet, but I am (strategically) hopeful.

Be prepared for the unanswerable question...have a backup plan

   I am really enjoying teaching with the chrome books, but inevitably there is always the student who forgets his book, or the student who does not have a charger and the computer is hopelessly dead without power, or the elusive problem that I am not technologically savvy enough to handle on my own (oh why, oh why do I need a network administrator password to make changes!). Whatever the issue may be, I now make a point to remember to have a back up plan such as some handouts that students can work on the old fashioned way, or an actual real book that a child can hold and read. Having a backup plan is a must, and make sure you have copies for everyone in case the technology turns out to be a complete flop!

It is just me and my technology (WRONG!)

       My relationship with technology was always my own, just me and my computer. Now my relationship extends itself past myself to my students as well. I don't want to be the lid on technology, so I have to learn too. When taking time to figure things out, I still get the occasional "If my dad was here, he would have figured this out already." LOL. I think it is OK, because I am embracing it, learning from it, and allowing it to expand in my classroom. It is not rocket science, I get it, but it is a learning experience for me, as well as my students.

     

A Learning Heart

Last year I graduated with my Masters Degree and embarked on a special journey to Europe with my cousin Heather. After traveling together for over a month I learned more about myself and the world than I had throughout all my years of formal education. 

I learned that many traditions I keep are part of my Swedish heritage. I traveled to Gotland, Sweden and met my Cousins on my mother's side for the first time. I learned so much about my family history and that being strong and a little bit stubborn was a family trait that ran deep. The traditional food we ate was less unfamiliar than I originally thought it would be. I took for granted that the pickled herring my mother would make us growing up, the cream of everything, and the Swedish style cakes were just what our family liked, not realizing these were recipes and lessons passed down from generation to generation. Meeting my Swedish relatives helped me to understand better who I am, reconnect to my mother who passed away in 2005, and helped make the world seem a little smaller. 

After leaving Sweden, my cousin and I traveled on to Germany and many different cities in Spain. We learned how to find our way around without understanding the language fully. We learned how to listen to one another and not let one or the other take over, we talked things out. For example, when we were confused about where we were and how to get somewhere and one person though we knew better we would talk and explain why. We also had moments where we just took a chance and tried each other's way with trust and faith that we would figure it out if it did not work. Our partnership took on a natural flow and neither one of us over powered the other. If one of us made a mistake, there was never any I told you so talk. We just would try again.

We did things that were hard together, like lugging heavy suitcases up staircase after staircase. We did scary things together like walking over a high bridge when I am terrified of heights. We figured ways to save and not to spend so much money. Once we found a bus ride to the airport that was only 5 euros. We found ways to be kind to strangers. We once gave our unused bus tickets away to a stranger. We even had to act like an airplane once to find the bus to the airport. 

It was a beautiful adventure, I learned so much, and there truly is no price tag I could place on that experience. It is a piece of me now and I am grateful for it, especially because I get to bring it to my teaching every day. 

Testing Our (PARCC) Anxiety

 

 

It is 4:05pm on Thursday and I am sitting in my classroom looking at the empty desks in my room. Just moments ago my room was full of life; my students were packing up, chatting with each other, laughing over funny things that happened during the day, a few students were having a disagreement, some were sitting quietly at their desks reading their books, and others were anxiously helping me with different jobs around the classroom. These moments are the most hectic and the most chaotic; my students have contained themselves all day long for learning, for work, for cooperation, for rule following, for thinking, for creating, for problem solving, for dealing with whatever I decide to put in front of them. They deserve this small amount of time for themselves, and it gives me a chance to observe how they interact with each other without the structure. I listen to their conversations even though they don't realize I am listening, I watch how they treat each other when they think it doesn't count anymore, and learn about the things that interest them and excite them. When they all finally leave and the last bus is called it is like a whirlwind; suddenly the class is silent, the desks are still, and their little smiles, laughs, and quirks are just a memory left in my heart and on my mind.

 

When I am left with that silence it feels like relief followed by immediately missing them. But the quiet gives me moments to reflect and to think about the conversations we had during the day. I think about all the things that went well and the things that did not go so well (and how I can make them better). I have to pause and think about each student and something new that I learned about them. They are each their own individuals with their very own ways of being.  

As I reflect on them as individuals and think about how each of them has grown so much in the year I smile knowing that they have grown, they have stretched themselves. These thoughts, however, are quickly followed by how it will all matter in the end when these same students sit down to take the PARCC assessment in March.

Recent articles posted on nj.com tout how this test, unlike the NJASK will be able to quantify just how far ahead or behind little Johnny is and what skills he needs to work on. Or how little Sally's scores compare to the district or the state average. These quantifiable items reported in color direct to parents is supposedly an improvement from previous data. Now even teachers will be able to see exactly what needs to be taught. 

I don't think of my students as a number or a piece of data. I look at little Johnny and see a very smart boy who at an early age is analyzing all of his thoughts for logic and I can see where that slows him down in writing. Or bright Sally who uses the formula to write because she wants to do a perfect job and if I can encourage her to loosen up her creativity will flow, hopefully. Or Lee who is smart but struggles with confidence and gives up too soon so I help to build up his self esteem. These are the children I work with each day, so eager to learn and to work hard. How will they feel when all of their work turns into a scorecard from a computerized test? 

I understand the need for more accountability, I guess I just want that accountability to go back to focusing on the students... as creative individuals rather than computerized test takers.

For the article about the Parcc Assessment:

What the parcc results look like...

Snow Day Fun!

     I am looking out my window on this Sunday morning and thinking about the impending snow, sleet, and complications the weather is going to cause for the morning commute and for my 3rd graders (who most likely will have another snow day). 

     Last week my students had Monday and Tuesday off from school due to the snow. During our Wednesday morning meeting we got caught up and students shared all their stories about what they did during their snow days. After we shared and all got reconnected, I had students go back to their desks and write all about the adventures they had on their snow days! 

      My students wrote about getting pummeled with snow by their brothers, and they used amazing sound words like BAM! and KABOOM! They added text properties to their writing by making words like "Frozen" look like icicles. They added details and used "show not tell" by writing about their faces having big goofy grins as they slurped down the warm hot chocolate as fast as they could. 

     There were stories of forts and snowball fights, stories of sisters locking each other out of the house and laughing uncontrollably, stories of moms and dads helping children build snowmen, and taking them sledding and snowboarding, and so much more.    

     While my students were so engaged in their writing, I reminded them of the elements of writing a paragraph. We discussed who would be the audience of their writing and what they wanted their readers to think and feel while reading their piece of writing. We talked about the different styles of writing and mentor texts that helped us to see how adding details helps excite the reader and gives them so much more to visualize while reading. 

     My students were excited about writing and took their own form of compositional risk by trying something new with their piece. In the end, our snow days were not a complete loss, and in fact they were the impetus for some truly creative writing!