I love this quote from the article "Engaging Minds" by Davis, Sumara and Luce-Kapler:
"Communty is stronger when difference is embraced, rather than merely accommodated or tolerated." I feel really strongly about the importance of community within the classroom, and school. I feel like a great way to build community is through sharing experiences that help us get to know one another. Also, the discovery of and sharing of our unique gifts is a reoccurring theme in my thoughts. This quote reminds me that community is truly about celebrating DIVERSITY. I think it is really important for students and teachers to celebrate this together, and to talk about how being different is a good thing. All too often we are taught to conform to the norm, and I wonder what that does to our creativity and sense of self? We need the entire RAINBOW of gifts that each person brings to the classroom. How to cultivate this is another question... We have been learning really wonderful theories about teaching. Still, very practical questions come up that need answering. A colleague's question today about how to "reign students in" (after getting them excited about drama games) prompted me to do this search. Here are some great practical techniques for getting students' attention:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nGFCeBxVLZhpeguDZA4qE95ff10i1QizJMQD99X1n7U/pub?&loop=false&delayms=3000#slide=id.p ![]() Our thoughts are powerful! This link has strategies for positive self-talk we can use as children and adults: http://kidsrelaxation.com/?cat=20 I especially love the Experiment in Thought and Word which could include a cross-curricular science component to a literacy unit. Mentor Text: An excellent book that addresses the difference between positive and negative thoughts, is Meet Thotso, Your Thought Maker by Rachel Robb Avery, Nancy “Fern” Bennett Phillips, and Rebecca Davie Hazen. You can buy it on amazon or visit their website at www.smartthot.com. Kids love the interactive nature of the book and the fun way it depicts sunshine thoughts, boo boo thoughts, and bandage thoughts. - See more at: http://kidsrelaxation.com/uncategorized/your-mind-is-your-playdough/#sthash.PRkwY3Hb.dpuf I really like this self-assessment rubric that I found on Unique Teaching Resources: http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/Giving-Tree-Lesson-Plans.html It is the first lesson plan that I have found that both looks cherry at first sight and has some visual elements to it. I am a highly visual learner and so I can relate to those kids who also need visuals to stimulate them. I think this is especially true for our wee young ones. So it looks like I may have to create my own rubrics to use in class. I love the idea of self-assessment, so that the students are involved and are aware of where they need to develop. I think assessment AS learning is the form that I most connect with at this point, though I understand the others (OF and FOR) have their places too. I love the idea that Good feedback is information that empowers students. ![]() We are starting to create our first Unit Plans and I am constantly asking myself the question: How would I do this if I was teaching from a "student-directed" approach? I wonder if students in public schools would be used to that approach and if not, how could I introduce it?
My new favorite site is EDUTOPIA and this article on Play-Based strategies would be a good one to get kids into the idea of being directors in their own learning: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/play-based-strategies-engage-leaning-susan-ragsdale A teaching strategy that I liked from this article: In the game Tiny Teach, people pair up, and each person teaches his partner something he knows how to do (or something about the subject you're going to discuss). After five minutes, the leader asks for volunteers to demonstrate what they've learned from their partner. (If playing this game for highlighting individual knowledge, give a few examples to illustrate what they might share, such as how to shoot the perfect free throw, how to count to five in Japanese, or a favorite recipe.) In response to a question on my midterm exam, I am prompted to consider how the Think Book could be used in a classroom setting with young children. I think a scrapbook would be an excellent way to collect thoughts, pictures and ideas that intrigue. I could see this merging with the writer's notebook to become almost like an ARTIST SCRAPBOOK. With middle school students, it would be fun to do an online blog or electronic version, as I love teaching photoshop basics and making graphics. Fonts are also really cool... In general I am excited to see how my background in digital arts will translate into my classroom curriculum. This also made me think of THE BOOK OF AWESOME - which is something I explored with kids at Eagle Arts Academy in 2012. We made an over sized book which the entire academy was invited to write in during our two weeks together. On the second week, one of my video students decided to make it into her final project and she recorded audio and video, inspired by the Book, to create a film that was shared with the entire camp on the very last day. It was awesome! As a child, I had a hard time staying focused in class. I think all kids deal with this at one time or another, as we all have energy levels that fluctuate throughout the day. I like programs like Zone'in which acknowledge that we NEED a variety of energy levels to function in life. High energy or low energy are not a bad thing, but a certain mid-range energy level is needed for optimal learning. Kids get this and once they become self aware, can begin to self regulate in class.
Self-regulation is something that keeps coming up in discussion, so I decided to look into it more. Self-regulation ideas to help students focus during Read Alouds: - Sit on a special "wobble" cushion - Colour a mandala while you listen - Do the "opera singer" hand pose if you have too much energy - Hand massage if you don't have enough energy ![]() Ever since I first went to Burning Man, I have been fascinated with the idea of bringing a gifting culture to Vancouver Island. I feel that a school is a perfect environment for a gifting culture to take root and my own teaching philosophy is deeply rooted in the three principles you see in this image. I call my future classroom the 'gifting place', as we will be focusing on self discovery and sharing what makes us each unique and special. I think this is an idea that everyone can relate to, but we don't always know how to go about exploring it. I am excited to bring this forward to my classroom and greater community some day. If we can be less focused on 'trying to fit in' and more focused on figuring out why diversity is cool, then I think we are already a step in the right direction to discovering how to live peacefully on this planet. Visualization is a great tool to help students cultivate imagination and vision. Here are a few links I have found to scripts that take us through these guided imagery sessions:
http://kidsrelaxation.com/?cat=15 I feel that guided imagery could be useful in helping students self-regulate if they are feeling really energized, or if they need helping focusing before a writing assignment. Personally, I love going on these mini journeys and can't wait for the next one! ![]() Today we had a workshop with Carol from the Curriculum Library on making and using writer's notebooks. It was lovely! I can imagine so many ways to use the notebook with students to get them jotting down ideas, interesting quotes or funny sayings. This becomes a treasure chest of gems for the future artist to pull from when delving into a writing project. I wish that I had learned more techniques to feed my inner artist when I was younger. I always loved creative writing and I could have gone so much deeper had I had the container within which to explore. Helping my students understand WHY writers write will take them to yet another level where they can think about how their stories impact the world and inspire others. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Carol's idea for WISDOM STORIES and would like to know more about her process of creating this with her students. Did she do anything in particular to help them feel safe? Which questions did she ask? How did she first present the idea of wisdom and its importance to the class? So excited to explore this further. Make it Artsy! I think it would be fun to combine the notebook project with an art project and create a funky cardboard or cloth cover for our writer notebooks. I think the more we put into them, the more inspiration is bound to come out! Inviting writers to think about WHY we write, not just about HOW or WHAT, is a new idea for me. I love it! Writing Power is a great gem and I am intrigued by the term ALOCOGNITION - which refers to being aware of others' thinking. I have also been pondering METACOGNITION and how we can teach students to think about their own thinking. I think the key is really to check in with students before, during and after reading, and to ask good open-ended questions, rather than just recapping a story that students have just heard. By asking good questions, we the teachers are showing respect for our students and their emerging thoughts. By trusting in their ability to answer, we honour their autonomy and show them we care about what they have to say.
This link from Reading Rockets has some great strategies: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/instruction-metacognitive-strategies-enhances-reading-comprehension-and-vocabulary ![]() I think it's quite interesting how we are still stuck on this concept of progression as linear. Today we looked at the 6 facets of understanding and I can see the benefit to knowing them and building them into my lesson plans so that students can demonstrate what they know. I noticed that the revised Bloom's taxonomy now has CREATE at the top of the pyramid, as opposed to EVALUATION, but why is one more important than the others? We have this need to classify and put things into neat little boxes and I think it's rather funny. Maybe it's just me, but I like this version a whole lot better: Collaboration and language arts go together really well. The website below encourages deep learning through collaboration and lists the key points of:
- Establishing class agreements - The art of listening - The art of questioning http://www.edutopia.org/blog/deeper-learning-collaboration-key-rebecca-alber How can inquiry based learning be applied in a language arts classroom?
I asked this question in an earlier post and have been reflecting on it ever since. A few creative ideas have been bubbling: ORAL LANGUAGE: "News Reporter" - give students a picture cut from a newspaper and ask them to create a story about it that they will then "report on" to the class. WRITTEN LANGUAGE: "Photo journalism" - give students an old black and white photo and have them write a photo journalist piece on the history of the place. |
Mme B...
Loves to grow tomatoes!
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