Involving Students in Their Learning

I involve the students in the awareness of their "tricky letters"; showing them ways that they can figure out the letter name/sound and involving them in monitoring their progress.

For example, I provide numerous alphabet charts and posters in the classroom that are always ready for any child to use. When a child does not know a letter name or sound, I direct them to an alphabet chart and provide thinking time. At first, the child will look at me and will want me to tell them the answer, but I just point to the alphabet chart (sometimes I model for them on how to use it) then I smile and wait. The children take great pride in figuring out the name of the letter or sound. Many times, a child will say to me or other children, "Don't tell me, I want to figure it out." And actually, now that they know how to problem solve, they get quite upset if someone blurts it out.

I always follow up with, "How did you figure that out?" and "Will you tell your partner (or group of friends) how you figured it out?" By retelling their strategy, they are reinforcing it for themselves as well as possibly teaching others.

The children take great pride when they can state the name of a letter or sound that they knew was tricky for them. Many times they say with a proud smile, "I didn't know that before but now I do." 

This year, the children have learned from day one that mistakes are "learning opportunities". I help the children celebrate mistakes by giving thumb-up or high-five when they catch their own mistakes. I let them know that we all make mistakes, especially me, and what's important is to try again... and with practice, you get better. They learned what to do when they get that "uh-oh" feeling...to take a deep breath and to try your best. It was reinforced with the Reading Workshop lesson on connecting it to the story, The Little Engine That Could. The children often say to themselves, "I think I can, I think I can". 

Another big factor in involving students to self-assess, set goals, and monitor their progress is educating the parents. I do this often through my newsletters and website. My fall conferences included the child and the conference became a parent/teacher/child conference. I had the students showoff their reading and writing skills. First, they taught (by showing) their parents how we do private/partner reading and at the same time I explained the skills/behaviors that the child was practicing. Then I explained take-home reading and how to reinforce the reading skills/behaviors at home. Then, students proudly got their writing folder and read one piece of writing to their parents. This allowed me an opportunity to model in front of the parents how I allow students to catch their mistakes to make their writing even better. I explained to parents the importance of sound spelling and allowing the child to "stretch" the word out and put down the sounds they hear.

So far this year I have noticed that the children are much more willing to take risks and problem solve. It is exciting to see their growth blossom before my eyes!

Learning and the Brain conference

I attended an amazing three day Learning and the Brain conference in San Francisco titled, Shaping Students Mindsets: Promoting Academic Attitudes, Persistence and Performance. I heard nationally and internationally known professors, psychologists, researchers, consultants, and educators speak about the science behind mindsets and how to create growth mindsets to boost motivation, persistence and achievement in students. Socio-emotional learning (SEL) and character traits along with the Common Core Standards are necessary for student success, yet implementing curricula that promotes and assesses SEL remains a challenge for many of us educators.

I'm excited to share the works of Christine Hertz and Kristine Mraz. They are primary grade teachers that have easily embedded NYTC reading & writing workshop, Arthur Costa’s Habits of Mind, and Carol Dweck’s growth mindset into their daily curriculum! WOW!! And they have written a book called A Mindset for Learning! Essentially they argue that it isn’t about adding a new curriculum to your already full day, but rather rethinking the curriculum you already have in ways that support flexibility, resilience, optimism, empathy, and persistence. It is not about doing some more, it is about doing something differently. It boosts learning and achievement for ALL students!

This book is made for educators! They balance theory and research (the what and the why) with practice (the how). The twelve chapters are designed to work in pairs. The first chapter in a pair focuses on theory, relevancy, and research and the second focuses on application and practice.

They have outstanding blogs too! https://kinderconfidential.wordpress.com/ https://chartchums.wordpress.com/ Amazing charts!!

I'm also following them onTwitter:   @christine_hertz @MrazKristine

ABC Tracer app

I LOVE the ABC Tracer app because it allows the students to work on their tricky letters. It helps them catch their mistake, identify what they did wrong, and then fix it! The children love to challenge themselves by trying to do their tricky letters without any "squeaky sounds" (mistakes).

Here is a child that knows they are successful with these letters because it applauds and advances to the next letter...

But then the letter "K" is tricky...

After practicing and becoming aware of his mistake...and was successful with the letter Kk!

Flubaroo and Google Forms

Google forms and Flubaroo are excellent tools in helping a student identify their tricky spelling words!  Here is a short video that I created and presented at a staff professional development meeting.

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/flubaroo/1782318/?s=c5IV0v&ref=link  

Empowering Self-Directed Learners

It is my firm belief that when children become responsible and take ownership for their own learning, learning becomes purposeful and engaging, and they will go further than I can imagine. My role as teacher is not the delivery of knowledge but as a facilitator of each child's learning. I follow the constructivist teaching approach (than the instructivist approach) where students are active and construct the meaning of their learning.

So..."How do I do it?" Hmmm...I think many, many factors play into it. I'm sure my 25 years of teaching experience play a major role but being of a growth mindset, I'm constantly reflecting and growing as a teacher. I plan, reflect and revise lessons constantly based on the students of the class and the moment of lesson. I scaffold lessons so each child is successful and continues to grow. I believe we are community of learners and that we can all learn from each other.

A couple of years ago, I created this presentation, on what makes me a 21st Century Teacher and Learner.  I read Howard Gardner's "Five Minds of the Future", a great book! Here he is on youtube explaining this book! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRUN1F4rWAE  In my presentation, I filmed myself explaining how I develop the "five minds" in the classroom.

Here are other powerful resources that have greatly influenced my teaching:

• The Element by Sir Ken Robinson
• Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck
• Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• Nurture Shock by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman
• Habits of Mind by Art Costa
• Dispositions by Art Costa 
• Who Owns the Learning? by Alan November

Something I always do is that I put myself into the shoes of my learners. Sometimes I literally sit on the rug so I'm physically at their level or role play a lesson to understand their perspective.

Informational Writing

Kinders have a lot to think about when writing. From letter formation to spelling to sentence structure to providing meaningful content, it can easily overwhelm them. This year while working towards my goal, 4.3 Developing and sequencing long-term and short-term instructional plans to support student learning, I am trying to develop lessons to support student learning of informational writing by breaking up the learning goals into smaller mini lessons. For example, I separated out letter formation and spelling. We play games, add words to our dictionary, and learn spelling patterns during guided reading.

We learned about sentence structure and sentence conventions by acting out, illustrating and writing silly sentences. See image below "A soft snowball runs!" Do you see the shoes and moving marks in the illustration. :)

To help with content for informational writing, I have been reading numerous arctic and antarctica animal books and viewing video segments from Discovery Education. Then, we have been reflecting and doing interactive writing:

Now, I'm taking it a step further. Together, we are making an Animoto movie from the interactive writing. The children decide on two images from Discovery Education and help me type their sentences. I explicitly point out all the different components of writing that we learned as I type. "Do you remember what goes between words?" "What makes the /k/ sound in rock and pack...what's the rule?" "How do you spell 'the'?" By doing this it ties together all the writing learning into this one piece of writing. This reinforces reading, sentence structure, sentence conventions, and informational content of animals.

Wow! The Animoto movie turned out great! The children helped make the final edits before publishing it. We even shared it immediately with our families in that day's tweet which provided a picture of the chart paper interactive writing and the link to the Animoto video!

A few days later, the children did their informational writing prompt and I think they did very well! I noticed everyone was able to think of a topic and had at least a couple of facts. This is an improvement from years past where I would always have a few write narratives or opinions about animals.

During parent conferences, parents were telling me that their child was very interested in animals and making comparisons with new information. Yippee!!

Schedules and Routines

I strongly believe that schedules and routines help students feel safe and comfortable which allows them grow as a learner, build their self confidence and take risks. They become successful learners. At the BTS night talk, I emphasized the importance of schedules, routines, and child responsibility.  Here is a screen shot of my BTS flipchart:

On my website under "Child Development"is an outstanding link by Maci Elkins titled Routines and Schedules for Children. Her article, titled Ready, Set, Routine!, simply explains the importance of schedules and routines for children. She states, "Routines involve repetition.  Repetition involves predictability. Predictability involves stability. Stability involves security.  Kids crave routines because routines make kids feel safe and secure. ... Routines also provide opportunities for children to experience success in what they are doing, which then promotes self-control and self-esteem."

In my classroom, I have established a weekly schedule and post/use various routines with the children. Here are some:

• My weekly schedule is on my website and posted in my classroom for parents.
• A daily schedule is read with the children every morning from the morning message on the interactive whiteboard and it's posted using icons. Children refer to this schedule often throughout the day:
  
• During Reading & Writing Activity Workshop (60 minutes, 4x a week), a "must do" activity for all is introduced with a short mini lesson. These "must do" activities are carefully and thoughtfully chosen to further the student's learning. I never look at it as copying a worksheet and assigning it so the children have something to do. Instead, it's developing and building upon a standards based skill. Sometimes the must do is partner reading a book from their book bin, helping others remember to use their inside voices, or choosing something new from Alphabet City or Writing City. During this time, I can do guided reading with small groups, children use the computers to build reading skills, & various choice activities are set up for children. I created this movie a few years ago that showcases the classroom environment during this Reading & Writing Activity Time. Children are allowed to choose activities that are of interest to them, which allows for the rotation of small homogeneous groups for guided reading and computers. Everyday during and at the end of this time, we pause and reflect on our choices and learning... I have found that this inspires others to make good choices, builds their independence, and prevents distraction to everyone's learning. The children know when and where to go by listening for the signal chime and looking at this schedule:
  
• Writing Time (30 minutes, 3x a week) is the area I'm eager to develop to be more in line with Lucy Calkins Units of Study. I'm currently beginning to make charts with the students as well as improve "Writing City" in the classroom.
• Learning Centers (90 minutes, 1x a week) is a time for students to work in heterogenous groups and rotate together to five Learners Centers. This is a time for direct instruction, introduction of a new game, and integration of their learning. Three parent helpers, my classroom assistant and myself each run a center. Students know where and when to go with the ringing of a bell and this chart:
  

With the above schedules and routines in place, I believe I help the "students develop and practice resiliency skills and strategies to strive for academic achievement, and establish intellectual and emotional safety in the classroom" (CSTP 2.3). But I would like to help the children internalize this and become aware of and responsible for their learning. As stated in the innovated column of CSTP 2.3, I would like to "share responsibility with the students for the establishment and maintenance of a safe physical, intellectual, and emotional environment focused on high quality and rigorous learning" and have "students demonstrate resiliency in perseverance for academic achievement".  I think the work at the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project with Lucy Calkins and Art Costa's, Habits of Mind Across the Curriculum will help me achieve this. Both are a way of teaching that involves the student to become aware of and take ownership for his/her learning. I am beginning to view the NOYCE Foundation, ECRW, I Am A Writer videos. I've never heard of this foundation and really appreciate seeing writing workshop in action.