Just Summing It Up!

HI!

I'm back for one final blog post! I actually might keep this blog going after I have moved on from this semester. I've really enjoyed blogging because a) it is something I find enjoyable b) I learn so much better reading and then reciprocating my thoughts by writing or in this case typing and c) It was FUN to blog as an assignment. But really I think once I have a classroom of my own it will be fun to keep a record of what I have done in my classroom that either was a success or failure especially when it comes to differentiation. I don't care if anyone read my blog either because in all honesty it was really just for me and for my own benefit of learning. 

As I was just searching the web one night, I came across this and love it! I would love to have this in my classroom and have it be something my students know and understand...learning is never ending no matter how old you are. In my future classroom if you are ever "finished" with your lesson assignment, then I will definitely have strategies (tools) for them to be doing to be sure learning never ends.

In order to sum everything up that I've learn over the past couple of months, I found these awesome pictures to help me.

In chapter 7 of Fulfilling the Promise, the heading reads, "The Simple, Hard Truth About Teaching" Teaching is HARD. I was able to discover that first hand the last 3 weeks during my field work. I came home exhausted and I wasn't even the one doing all the work. Teachers deal with a lot...from the students to the parents, it is hard and that is the plain and simple truth. I feel that as a teacher even though it is hard as long as you never give up and you get to know the students and you always have the student in mind then it will make teaching a heck of a lot easier for you. In the chapter it gives a little recap on what students want and what effective teachers do. I feel it basically said, "Effective teachers know and love their students...it is responsive teaching that begins with creating ties to each child...." 

Look at this picture...the teacher in it is considering trying to use differentiation. But then after thinking about it she decides it is easier to just do nothing...honestly it might be easier, but I feel very strongly about trying. You have to TRY....don't just do nothing. In Fulfilling the promise it said that we know how to be effective teachers but WHY IS IT SO HARD THEN? that is a great question. teachers really do want to care for each child, but there are things that come up and get in the way of your feelings for a child but the book guarantees the more willing we are to take the risks, the better the lives of our students are likely to become, and the greater the fulfillment we are likely to feel at the end of the day. With that said....TRY......TAKE A RISK.....what's there to lose anyways? 

I have loved having the opportunity to read this book. It is a textbook that I actually read ALL of it! In my whole college life, I can only say that I've read maybe 4 books total and this was one of them. It was a good read and a easy read. I promise if you read it you will not be let down. It has taught me so much about what the student needs from the teacher and how the teacher can help give the student what they need. 

One last final quote that I read and of course loved was this, "If we allow ourselves to fall in love with what we do, we will be reborn countless times, almost always in a form stronger and more fully  human than the one that preceded it. Thus it may be that to teach more responsively, more effectively, we ultimately need to accept two challenges. First, we need to cultivate passion for what we do. Second, we need to remove our protective armor and allow our students to shape us, reflecting on and learning from what we see."

Until next time, keep on differentiating!

BYE!!! :) 

Toolbox

HEY HEY! YOU YOU!

How's it going!? Well if you are reading my posts in order then I know you have read the one that list a bunch of different strategies that you can use in your classroom to help you differentiate. Strategies can also be referred to as tools to use and in Fulfilling the Promise there is a BUNCH of different tools listed in the back of the book in the "toolbox" that can really be beneficial in teaching and differentiating students and their readiness levels.

In my management class I had a presentation on a tool called, "Anchor Activities." and in my differentiation class I had a presentation on a tool called, "Learning Contracts, and a tool that I just like and would love to try is called, "Cubing and Think Dots."

Let me go into more detail about each.

ANCHOR ACTIVITIES
At first I thought they were just another word for fast finishers. However, they actually go along with work that students have been working on within a unit so they are very well content based. Here are a couple pictures that help explain what they are. 

I know when my group presented to our management class, we talked about "Think-Tac-Toe" and how you can have students create a tic-tac-toe board that they can do when they finish their work. Once they get three in a row, they will receive a reward or incentive to try another three in a row. I think anchor activities are a great way for teachers to differentiate and for students to do fun extensions to their lessons and still be learning.

CUBING AND THINK DOTS
They are both designed to help students think about a topic or idea from a different learning perspective. They are easy to differentiate using readiness, interest, and learning profile. They also allow students some control and choice in some tasks and they promote thinking skills. 

When making think dots you can just use 3x5 cards to make it easier on you. 

 

Cubing statements that can be used are: Describe it, Compare it, Associate it, Analyze it, Apply it, and Justify it. Cubing and think dots are great because students are able to hear second opinions of their classmates.

LEARNING CONTRACTS
Learning contracts come in many different forms and they grand decisions and freedoms for the students based on their readiness and interests. They are an agreement between the teacher, who will guide and provide support, and the student who will agree to complete tasks they have chosen in an appropriately and timely manner. They are engaging and meaningful tasks that students can turn to when they have finished their regular assignment early or during independent work times. They also allow students to learn terms, concepts and skills at their own pace and for that reason they are a very valuable tool in a differentiated classroom. They are also a great way to manage time (and they work really well as an anchor activity).

Learning contracts can be done in groups or for the individual student. There are so many different types, but a few of my favorite are ticket contracts, colored contracts, and Winebrenners contracts. 

There are many more tools that I could write on but I just chose my top 3! I feel that by using tools in your classroom, it will help your classroom become a differentiated classroom and will definitely benefit the students in your class. 

I don't know if you noticed. BUT my font colors are red and green because...."It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Everywhere you go!!" .....I'm just feeling a little Christmas spirit and wanted to somehow incorporate it into the blog! :) 

Until next time....and MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

--Article

HELLO!

With the semester coming to an end, I decided I need to blog about a few more things that I feel are important to me.I read things that moms of current elementary school students have written and I don't know why I do this because afterwards I usually feel very angry. I feel that parents don't understand the teachers role in the classroom anymore, or why we teach what we teach or why do teach that way. Parents aren't willing to change their learning. Many things I've read comes across to me that they just want their children to learn the way they learned, which is fine. at home during homework time, teach them the way you learned. But do not DOG the teacher and their teaching to the common core standards because YOU don't understand them. 

I was on Facebook last night and this exact same thing happened. I read through the 40 different comments under one mother's post about her frustration with math homework. There were a few people defending the way math is taught today while others were on her side saying the only reasons teachers do what they do is because of the Obama's and because they just want to confuse their students more. 

UM..NEGATIVE! WHY WOULD A TEACHER WANT TO CONFUSE THEIR STUDENTS? 

This was frustrating to me. I never really knew how much it would bother me until I was reading through the comments. It was interesting to see that the people who were standing up for the way teachers teach were actually teachers......interesting (go figure!) Maybe that is why I was so bugged by it as well. Many of the teachers were trying to explain how the common core is just standards....There have always been standards in teaching so having them is nothing new to the system . We teach math using a variety a ways to help students see there are different ways in solving problems in case a student doesn't understand one way. --anyways, this frustrated mom on Facebook was taught using the standard algorithm and it worked for her (because that was the only way they learned, so it had to work) it worked for lots of people, even me! But after teaching 5 math lessons during my field work and using the base 10 and pictures to help students see there are many ways to visualize and solve a problem was very eye opening for me. I saw students who were struggling start to "get it" I love seeing students "get it." That is why I want to teach. I want students to understand concepts they way that is best for them to "get it."

This brings me to differentiation. I feel this mom was basically saying that she wants her student to be taught the way she learned. The "one-size-fits-all" way. WHY would you want your child to not learn multiple ways of solving problems, maybe even ways that would be better for them? WHY would you want your child to just blend in in the classroom when they could have the potential to stand out? WHY would you want your child's teacher to just teach one way...what if you child was the one child who didn't understand that way and then fell behind? ..........Teachers have come a long way and teachers all have your child's best interest in mind and if they don't, they shouldn't be teachers. I feel that parents need to understand that teachers have had training in teaching and there needs to be some respect and support for your child's teacher, after all they are trying their best. 

Wow......obviously I could go on and on because, as I just discovered, this is very important to me. But I won't. But you do have to look at these two pictures. They are just perfect. I should show this to that mother...There are reasons for teaching multiple ways. who knows, maybe her child's teacher has a great differentiated classroom!?!

So, I was reading the article titled, "Different Learners-Different Lessons" By Carol Ann Tomlinson 
A lot of what she says in the article goes along with what I was just talking about. 

Tomlinson talked about how teachers today still think about how to reach out effectively to students who span the spectrum of learning readiness, personal interest, and real world experiences. In a differentiated classroom:

•  Teachers begin where students are, not at the front of a curriculum guide.
• They accept and build upon the premise that learners differ in important ways.
• Teachers are ready to engage students through different types of learning by differing interests and using different degrees of instruction and complexity.
• They also ensure that a student competes against himself as he grows and develops.
• Teachers use time flexibility and use a range of instructional strategies
• They become partners with students and see how the environment and what is learned is what shapes the learner.
• Teachers in accept, embrace, and plan for the fact that learners bring many commonalities to the school as well as essential differences that make them an individual.

I came upon this quote in the article I read and I love it. I just wish parents in the world could see that teachers might not know everything, but they really do come to school ready to teach their children in the best way possible. Here is what the quote said, 

"Teachers in the most exciting and effective differentiated classes don't have all the answers. Instead, they are dogged learners who come to school every day with the conviction that today will reveal a better way of doing things--even if yesterday's lesson was dynamite." -Carol Ann Tomlinson

Just like we've been learning in my differentiation classroom at UVU, when you differentiate you are differentiating content, process and product. As a teacher this a very important to remember. In the article it also talked about differentiating the environment which I feel is also just as important. 

Teachers look to differentiate these 4 items:

* Content (what students will learn and the materials used), * Process (activities through which students make sense of key ideas using essential skills),

* Product (how students demonstrate and extend what they understand and can do as a result of a span of learning), or * Learning environment (the classroom conditions that set the tone and expectation of learning). I'd just like to end with one last quote that says, "So it is with teaching--neither to mourn what we have not done nor to rest on our victories, but to look at all the reasons we have to show up again tomorrow at the classroom door, ready to join our students--all of our students--in learning."

Lesson Plans Tips and Strategies

HELLO THERE!!

There are so many things to remember when you are writing a lessons and I think that sometimes teachers forget some of the important items because they are too focused on just writing the content out rather than looking at the big picture. In Fulfilling the Promise it gave a few really good tips and strategies to remember when writing your lesson plans that I just want to put in this post for my own benefit and maybe possibly for yours. I'm not going to say how to write a lesson plan because most of us already know how to do that...and if we don't, then we should!

So when writing a lesson plan, the standard and objectives are very important.

Be specific on what it is you want your students to know, understand and be able to do. By being prepared on what you want the students to know, understand and do, the teacher will gain a better understanding on if the students actually grasped the concept taught.

Having questions ready is a process that helps teachers develop clarity about what is enduring and important in the lesson.

Pre-assessments of student readiness is very simple yet vital! They help with knowing where the student needs to start and as they progress where they need to be heading.

Key vocabulary with brief definitions for students who need a reminder and especially those who have disabilities with problems decoding or for your English language learners.

Always have an EXTEND for your fast learners so they will always feel challenged.

Plan multiple ways to teach especially for your struggling learners.

Always try to connect teaching to REAL-LIFE for better learning and grasp of concepts.

Before I jump in to the strategies, this picture just reminded me of the Hallmark I did in class about different pathways and how students could all be on a different road to learning and how as a teacher you need to be willing to make adjustments and scaffold students learning because there are many different ways to learn one concept and students are different and so is there learning. Anyways, back to the strategies.

Focus student products around significant problems and issues (real life).

Use meaningful audiences

Help students discover how ideas and skills are useful in the world.

Provide choices that ensure focus.

Look for fresh ways to present and explore ideas.

Share your experiences and invite students to do the same.

Use tiered approaches.

Incorporate complex instruction.

Use a variety of rubrics to guide quality.

Provide learning contracts at appropriate times.

Aim high.

Take a "no excuses" stance.

Become computer savvy. 

Help students realize success is the result of effort.

Use the new American Lecture format

Designate a "keeper of the book"

Try think-dots.

Directly teach strategies for working successfully with text. 

Use Think alouds.

Use small group instruction as a regular part of instructional cycles.

Establish peer networks for learning. 

Promote Language Proficiency.

Use weekend study buddies. 

Make peer-critique or peer-review sessions a regular feature. 

Cue and coach student responses.

Team with resource specialists. 

WOAH! That was a heck of a lot of strategies!! I didn't realize there was so many until I got reading the chapter! This may seems like a lot, but in reality, there are hundred of thousands more! So there really isn't a reason for teachers to not try and help each individual student. There are thousands of strategies that they can use to help get to students! I know all these may seem a little overwhelming, so just focus on a few of them and get really good at the ones you choose. In my next post, I'll zero in on a few of them just so you get a better idea. So go and read that post! :)

SEE YOU LATER!

Fair is not equal teaching

HEY, LONG TIME....NO BLOG!
I'm going to just dive right into chapter six of "Fulfilling the Promise." 

"All children can learn" 
 does not mean 
"All children are the same" 

If we are going to take teaching seriously, we need to realize that students are not just different on the outside (like their appearance) yet they are different on the inside as well. Just like at school in almost all of our classes we have been taught that FAIR IS NOT EQUAL...this is something BIG to remember when differentiating. 

In Fulfilling the Promise it talks about how a teacher always functions with the students in mind. A teacher creating ties in the classroom builds student confidence through both an escalating sense of personal worth and realization of personal power. 

The teacher says to the students because you matter, I'll do my best to:

1. Make sure I teach and you learn what is genuinely of value in a subject. 

2. Pique your curiosity about what we explore, capture your interest, and help you see daily that learning is inherently satisfying.

3. Call on you consistently to help you become more than you thought you could become through dedicated work.

4. Be your partner, coach, mentor and taskmaster all alone your learning journey in this class. 

I think that all 4 of those things are REALLY important for both the teacher to do and for the student to understand that the teacher is doing them. Learning is important and the KEY to teaching. If students aren't learning, then what is the point? right? .....So be  sure that you teach what is important for them to know and understand and make sure that you are letting them explore and you are teaching ways that will help engage your students so they will be excited to learn. Also, hold students accountable while you are teaching and be sure you are coaching them and mentoring them while they learn. I believe that if you do ALL of these things, you students will definitely gain TRUST in you and your classroom with run smoothly.

I thought this was so appropriate for this post and for differentiation. Seriously....if a child isn't learning how you are teaching, you need to make some adjustments and teach the way they learn so learning is actually possible for them. 

Just something to think about...
Until next time!!! :) BYE!

In it for the outcome

Hey! 
Hey!
In Fulfilling the Promise, I read something that loved. It read, "The teacher's role bears some  of the hallmarks of the counselor, parent, coach, social worker, and so on, those are not the teacher's central role. It is the mandate of the teacher to teach. Thus teachers shape lives, not by providing a sturdier network of social services, not by helping the child explore the psyche, not by standing on the sidelines and providing strategies designed to capture the game point, BUT by equipping students with the intellectual wherewithal necessary to make their way in a world that increasingly demands academic preparation for full societal participation."

I just loved that because it really helped put into perspective what a teacher's central role is. I feel that sometimes we think we need to do it all...but ideally, that isn't what OUR role is. I came across this shirt on the internet and I think I need to buy it. Teachers teach for the outcome of the student. Nothing else. However, this ins't the case with all teachers. I remember having a few teacher who I knew did it for the paycheck...they came, they "taught" they went home.

Did I like them?? NO!

Did I learn anything from them?? NO!

I hope to be the complete opposite of these teachers and really know what I'm teaching and teach with confidence. Also, be able to really connect with my students and do whatever it takes so they "get it." They will know I care and I will know they get it....get the material and get that I care.

I can only hope!

"As adults responsible for the growth of the next generation, we should know that we are not doing our jobs unless we provide youth with the opportunities to live right-that is, with chances to do their best. A just society is one in which men and women, rich and poor, the gifted and the handicapped, have an equal opportunity to use and to increase all their abilities, each according to her or his talents" (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen, 1993, p. 260).

Just a reminder on what COGS I've already talked about. First there was THE STUDENT SEEKS, second there was THE TEACHER RESPONDS.

Now, I'm going to focus on how CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION ARE THE VEHICLE which is the last COG.

There are a few elements of curriculum and instruction that I would like to discuss.

IMPORTANT:

• What we study is essential to the structure of the discipline.
• What we study provides a road map towards expertise.
• What we study is essential to building student understanding.
• What we study balances knowledge, understanding and skill.

FOCUSED:

• Whatever we do is designed to get us where we need to go.
• Both teacher and students know why we're doing what we're doing.
• Both teacher and students know how their work contributes to the bigger picture.

ENGAGING:

• Students find meaning in their work.
• Students find themselves absorbed by the work.
• Students see themselves in the work.

DEMANDING:

• Student growth is nonnegotiable.
• Standards for work and behavior are high.
• There is no "loose" time.

SCAFFOLDED:

• The teacher teaches for success.
• Varied materials support growth of a range of learners.
• Varied avenues to learning support a variety of learners.
• The teacher uses modeling, organizers, and other strategies to point out success.

The importance of curriculum lies in helping students master and retain important information, organize knowledge about different concepts, and develop understandings. Important curriculum is necessarily focused on higher level thinking...basically you wants students to be able to make meaning, apply and extend knowledge, and understand skills.

After reading about scaffolding, I was reminded of the Hallmark that I was assigned in class, this it what I learned by really "digging" into it and trying to dissect it.

A “way up,” usually through multiple and varied pathways, and never a “way out.”

Differentiated tasks cause each learner to stretch, through a support system that helps the learner “navigate” the unknown portions of the work. This requires the teacher to “teach up” to a child rather than teaching down, and to include opportunities for scaffolding in ways that help each child “up”. This usually implies that the teacher is providing at least two different learning options or pathways that may occur simultaneously in the classroom. This is also something that prevents “drill & practice” remediation. It requires knowing each student, as well as applying strategic thinking and actions.

This hallmark should affect all good instruction by a teacher needing to know each student and being able to apply strategic thinking and scaffolding for each student. A differentiating teacher sees the need to scaffold using alternative pathways so students aren’t so much as “different” as they are “differently scaffolded.” –considering the goal of a teacher so to have all students succeed in learning.

Scaffolding takes work and many teachers do not feel they don’t have the time. However they’ll wish they took the time to scaffold when they have to reteach the material. I feel scaffolding a student should happen throughout the day every-day, however I don’t think it is happening in every single subject throughout the day every-day. I think there are crucial times of the day when this hallmark should be happening more than other times of the day. Scaffolding could relate to a map of roads that lead to a desired destination because a teacher leads students using different directions that all lead to the desired destination.

<<<<UNTIL NEXT TIME!>>>>

Guidelines-Routines-Support-Responsibility

Great classrooms can come from 4 general rules: 

1. We will show respect for people, their ideas, and their property.
2. We will work hard to ensure our own growth and to assist the growth of others.
3. We will persist, even when things are difficult and uncertain.
4. We will accept responsibility for the quality of our work and for our behaviors and actions.

Strategies to Enhance Classroom Guidelines:

• Time is Valuable
• Fair is Ensuring All Learners Get What They Need to Succeed
• Teach Up, Work Up

I know when I think of "Routine" I think of this...

Wake up, exercise, shower, eat and brush teeth. This is MY daily routine. In a classroom there should be a daily routine also. Routines are great for students and NEEDED! I think the teacher needs a routine also just to stay sane...and on top of things. 

Additional Classroom Routines That Support Flexible Teaching:

• Use Visual Cues
• Pre-establish Groups
• Use Goal Cards Regularly
• Teach for Smooth Transitions

In "Fulfilling the Promise" it said, "There are an infinite number of supports that teachers use to bridge the gap between the learner and the unfamiliar. They exist to help students think more efficiently about their work, to teach, to model, and to encourage. Absent such support systems, students muddle in uncertainty. Clarity of understanding is hard to come by. Discouragement prevails."

Careful observation-kid watching-is important in providing appropriate scaffolding for students!!!

Additional Support for Learners Success:

• Vary Materials
• Use Graphic Organizers to Help Structure and Extend Thinking
• Provide Survival Packets
• Use Participation Prompts
• Build Language Bridges

Remember to work together as a class so there is shared responsibility. Students need to know the classroom is not "yours" it is "ours."

Additional Examples of Shared Responsibility:

• Use Evaluation Checklists
• Involve Students in Scheduling Decisions
• Engage Students in Assessing Their Own Progress
• Help Students Learn to Set Their Own Academic Goals