Snapshot: Positive Classroom Choreography

My colleague, Susan Cherwinski +Susan Cherwinski (@SJCteach) , and I created this poster to guide student-centered, engaging classroom pedagogy and language. We plan to enlarge and distribute at some time, but for now, we hope that it will help you architect a classroom that develops student investment, happiness, and success.

Connection Counts

In education, every minute matters. Effective, regular communication serves to connect and maximize our collective efforts.

Ineffective or lack of communication fosters greater individual paths rather than collective, efficient effort and collaboration. When this happens everyone ventures out on their own often replicating efforts or even wasting time by having to backtrack due to unknown initiatives, decisions, or priorities. 

How can we ensure that our communication is clear, timely, and consistent so that everyone's efforts contribute to shared vision and goals in ways that matter? 

STEAM: Sound Exploration

Inspiration for our Sound Unit End Product Prototypes

I want to use what I learned from the Marble Maze Simple Machine exploration to inform our next investigation: Sound!

This unit was birthed last fall when a student reacted to Bash the Trash's cultural enrichment performance with the question, "When can we make instruments?"

How will I do that?

First, I need to learn a lot about sound. I'll research the topic and learn as much as I can in the next week or so.

After that, I will use back-end planning to outline the unit. I'll let the new standards lead that work in part. I've also decided that the end-product of the investigation will be to design a prototype of a playground sound installation, a sound piece that helps teachers and students communicate to one another in multiple ways.

I'll host all information on the our Sensational Science Sound webpage.

Time to dig in, learn, plan, and begin our next exploration, an exploration that incorporates the learning from our simple machine unit. Onward.

What Does a Teacher Do?

It's important to assess and evaluate your role every now and then. Looking at your role with both a broad and narrow lens helps you to chart the course with regard to your professional growth and effort. A conversation with a friend in another profession led me to this analysis today, an analysis that starts with these questions:

• What are your overarching professional and system goals?
• What efforts contribute to those goals with depth and care?

Professional Goal
To teach children well.

Focus Areas

Home-School Partnership
Working with and for families and students is a primary role of the teacher. What is the best way to support families and children? Regular communication, enlisting families as part of the learning/teaching team, and ready response are integral elements to optimal home-school partnerships. The work we do at the start of the year to establish positive home-school partnerships to serve students well benefits optimal teaching/learning throughout the year.

Knowing Children Well and Positive Relationships
The better we know our students, the better we are able to teach them. What supports this effort? At the start of the year, make time to meet with and get to know each child and family in a meaningful way. Also, early year assessments, both formal and informal, help us to understand a child's learning profile well. Further, asking students to respond to the question, "What do you wish I knew about you?" at the start of the year will help us to know what's important to a child. We might want to ask parents and guardians a similar question, "What do you wish I knew about your child?" at the start of the year too in order to focus in on important areas of a child's profile to support good teaching and relationship building.

Knowing the Content Well
You can't teach well without a deep understanding of the curriculum--that's paramount. This leads me to once again think about what teachers are asked to do. It's important to narrow teachers' competency expectations to realistic parameters. With the incredible information access today, I think it's best to support a team approach to teaching children well. The team approach would foster collaboration in ways that support individual teacher's deep knowledge in specific areas and collaboration that maximizes the collective knowledge for students' interdisciplinary study and vigorous learning experiences. Too many teacher courses, particularly at the elementary level, focus on pedagogy rather than content. I believe that content needs to be a primary focus since understanding the deep knowledge in content areas leads to good pedagogy--this prompts a change in focus, one I believe will better the work we do.

Engaging, Student-Friendly Pedagogy, Tools, and Delivery
Knowledge alone does not translate into good teaching. The way you transfer and promote knowledge is paramount when it comes to fostering an engaging, empowering educational environment. Important components of that environment include the learning experiences, manner, quality, and quantity of feedback and response, pacing and patterns, and culture and community. We can promote these components of good teaching, in part, through regular collegial share and modeling.

The Learning Environment
The physical space and materials we use to teach well impact students' access and availability to learning. By narrowing individual teacher's content expectations we can better maximize the learning spaces. For example the science/math teacher might have a room set up for STEAM learning, while the reading/writing teacher has the room set up for English language arts study. Yet, we want to foster interdisciplinary study and work, hence unlike subject divisions that exist in some high schools, there should be an interdisciplinary flow and teamwork between and amongst the learning/teaching environments and educators to promote blended, interdisciplinary units of study and learning.

Collegial Collaboration and Contribution
Teamwork is essential to good schools. The work we do as a team to teach children well makes a significant difference in a child's experience of school. Good teamwork depends on shared protocols, values, vision, time, communication, and strategic process. I believe that many schools are at the early stages of developing structures, routines, and protocols in this regard. There is great potential for what dedicated teams with time and shared goals can do to make schools better.

Early on when I started my blog, I considered the role of the teacher. Since that time there have been many changes in education and specifically in the environment where I work--positive changes which have impacted the work we can do with and for students. Today, the areas above take precedence with regard to the teaching/learning role. The emphasis on team has replaced the focus on management, environmental design and school structure plays a bigger role in the work we do, and deep knowledge of the content we teach is even a more essential aim in order to teach well in this sophisticated, information-ready environment we live in.

Today's teacher is a skilled professional who serves students and families well with holistic goals and efforts. He/she is a lifelong learner who works to understand his/her content and students with depth and care. Teachers today work together to set goals, advocate, and collaborate around important issues with regard to student response, engagement, and education. It is a vital, interactive, deep role of care, compassion, and contribution.

With political and cultural support, the role of teacher has the potential to strengthen and invigorate community and culture in ways that benefit all. The role of teaching holds tremendous promise for our nation and world if regarded with thoughtful support and right challenge.

I am proud to be a teacher, and I look forward to using the notes above to develop my work in the days ahead. If you have thoughts to add to this post, please let me know. Together, we can continue to develop our profession with strength, contribution, and positive change.


Addition
This is a beautiful post about the role of teacher.



Notes:
David Garcia added "Intellectual Leader" to a teacher's role definition. I like that.

Thinking Ahead: Teaching/Learning Priorities

The end of the year brought multiple new professional challenges--challenges outside of the classroom focus, and challenges that impact my growth and work as an educator. I am mindful of the learning these challenges bring to my work.

As I move forward professionally, I am focused on the following areas of teaching and learning--areas I've written about multiple times, and areas that profit from continued focus and depth.

Learning
My primary responsibility as an educator is to help children learn. Hence I'll focus my summer study and research on the topic of learning both broad and specific. The broad focus will find me reading books and writing about learning from multiple view points. The more I understand how children learn, the better I'll be able to teach.

Math
I will study math regularly using Khan Academy as my "teacher." Khan is accessible and provides me with a quick review of all the math I will need to teach fifth grade next year. Truly it's an amazing site. I hope to use Khan Academy with my students too as an integral resource as I've seen how powerful this resource has been for many students this year. I will also take a math course to jumpstart the year's teaching. I'm looking forward to the learning and share the course will bring.

Science
With many new science units to learn and study, I'll read and play with science materials this summer. Step by step I'll unpack the science standards, review system-wide materials, and develop science activities and units of study. Since the math curriculum is broad and deep, I'm hoping to integrate lots of math into these science units as well.

Reading and Writing
As noted before, I'll make biography the framework for the reading/writing component of my science/math curriculum giving students a chance to hear the stories of famous scientists, technologists, engineers, artists, and mathematicians. Over the summer, I'll keep an eye open to this information as I read and view videos, books, posts, blogs, and tweets. Perhaps, I'll even be able to create a short list of professionals in those fields willing to Skype or Hangout with the class as another way to inspire students' STEAM learning.

Collegial Share and Collaboration
I continue to find that this is a challenged area given the time and structures available for this work. As a classroom teacher with multiple leaders and specialists to coordinate with, I still find that the time for this coordination and collaboration is short since I spend most of the time each day with my students. Yet, I have some new ideas with this in mind.

First, rather than multiple emails, I set up a curriculum share document. On that document I'll list the questions, ideas, and needs related to multiple curriculum areas and share it with the leaders related to the curriculum. That way there's a greater chance for integration, less repetition, and coordination of questions, ideas, and response.

Also rather than asking deep questions on the fly (which is tempting when time is an issue), I'll save those questions for scheduled face-to-face collegial meetings. It's never a good idea to deal with sensitive issues with little time.

Finally, I'll be cognizant of my role expectations. With multiple system-wide, State, and national changes related to teaching/learning expectations in the past few years, that has been confusing. But recent events have helped me to understand the role parameters with greater detail so I'm ready for a new year ahead noting that my primary responsibility is to do everything I can to teach the children in my class well. A role I'm happy to do since I've made a commitment to stay in the classroom.

In that light, I'll also revisit and edit the TeachFocus website I created last year.  The website is a reflection guide related to the new Massachusetts Teacher Evaluation system, a system that truly supports what it means to be a wonderful teacher, and also a system that challenges current teaching/learning environments greatly since the standards are broad and deep often requiring supports and time that don't exist in many school organizations.

As I assess the past year, I believe it was a strong year of teaching children well. Our class community has been dynamic, and our projects and learning terrific. Professionally, I still believe the role of teacher is a challenging role as systems change. This change has created disruption in the teaching/learning paths in many organizations, and where that disruption will lead is still difficult to predict as the teaching/learning world depends on so many factors both inside and outside of school systems.

What's most important is that we keep children center stage when we make teaching/learning decisions and develop school systems and organizations. No matter what we do, we should ask the question, "Will this activity, idea, study, or share serve children well?"  and what are the elements we define when we discuss "serving children well." That focus is the triumph of the teaching/learning world because when that is our central focus, our work is centered on a most important, valuable, and beloved resource: our youth, and is there a better focus than that?

Related Posts
Holistic Learning

To Blog or Not to Blog?

Photo Credit

Many advise against blogging. Why tell your story? They ask. Putting yourself out there creates disruption and invites criticism. Or the idea that blogging is bragging--who gives you the right to tell your ideas and stories? 

I will admit blogging is a process, a process that has benefits and detriments. For example, it's not always easy to say what you mean with words on a page, hence at times your words will be misconstrued. Similarly, it's not always easy to share your thoughts--both positive and constructive as you have to decide which points are worth sharing, and which are better left quiet. Also, as you move forward, many of your ideas will change and grow, hence a blog needs regular weeding and pruning--sometimes I cringe when I notice someone is reading an old post, a post that no longer reflects my think and practice. Though, on the other hand, I like the way that looking back at old posts shows me how my practice and thought, as well as the tools and share, have changed and developed over time.

Yet blogging is a terrific way to share your story, and the transparency has the potential of inviting multiple voices when it comes to improving your craft and growing your work to serve children better. The act of publicly sharing your ideas, plans, successes, and room for growth helps to create a commitment to better work, share, and effort. Also engaging in blogging and social media gives you a front row seat to what it feels like, and the processes involved in this 21st century medium--a medium we are, in part, preparing our students for. Engaging in this medium sensitizes us to the challenges, efforts, and work our children do each day as they learn to write and share their voices too.

So, to blog or not to blog?  I've wrestled with this question in the past few days after experiencing a giant challenge in my professional career.  Do I really want to be this transparent, and why do I do this? 

For now, the positive aspects of blogging outweigh the negative aspects.  Positively, people who I serve know what I'm doing. They also know that I'm open to growing my program, and they have a good idea of the exact elements that make up the work I do each day.  Further, people in my PLN real time and online have a ready chance to contribute to my program, and many do.  I have gained countless terrific ideas from blogging out questions and plans. In addition, by blogging, I have the chance to become part of an online community committed to teaching well, and that community share has strengthened my work. I hope that telling my stories can help others too including new teachers or educators who are asking the same questions as me. My work has grown, my students are happier and more engaged, and I am more challenged and invested because of the blogging I do.

As far as the downsides of blogging, I want to read more about this medium. I want to think about voice and share noting which topics lead to growth, and which topics are better for face-to-face discussion and communication.  I'll look for posts about this from those who readily blog, read about it, and I'll seek out this discussion at edcamps and other professional conferences too.  I'm about to engage in a book study of Eric Sheninger's book, Digital Leadership, and I'll bring that question to the reading and Twitter book talk which starts on 6/10 as well.

To blog or not to blog?  What are your thoughts?

Afterward:
Godin's post today adds a most important reflection with regard to whether "To Blog or Not to Blog."

Also, Justin Tarte sent me his incredible post describing 10 Reasons Why Educators Should Blog  Thanks Justin.

Narrow the Focus: Reroute the Path

Recent ambitious efforts to forward ideas snowballed to a less than desired effect which left me reconsidering the professional work I do from many vantage points.

It's challenging to see potential for change, but not always know the best ways to foster, debate, and forward that change with sensitivity, collaboration, and care.

The challenging event made me look deeply at my professional commitment and work--who am I when it comes to teaching children well, and what is my role? Also, what should I do with ideas for change?

Many say, "It's the last chapter of your career, just stay quiet and focus on the classroom?" I hear these words, and agree that knowing one's role in an organization is integral to success, and using words wisely and kindly is also imperative in order to contribute to, and work within, an organization with thoughtfulness and care.

I also recognize that regular research, new ideas, and share have the potential to serve students well. Connecting with my professional learning network (PLN) online has provided me with countless positive ideas and perspectives which have helped me to develop my craft with strength. Sharing my journey allows me to enter the teaching/learning journey of others as well.

So, as I've noted in the past, I will once again work to narrow my path and teach with strength within my role as a classroom teacher who serves children well.  What will this look like?

Expectations
First, I want to be cognizant about expectations.  The expectations for teachers have changed quite a bit in the past couple of years with regard to new systems, standards, and evaluation processes. I want to make sure that I'm clear on the expectations with regard to these changes now that many new structures such as PLC's, RTI, and DDM's are in place.

Curriculum
Next, I want to focus on my students and the curriculum program.  How can I best meld new processes, tools, and standards together with rich blended learning design to serve students well? As mentioned before, I'll embrace this path with the following endeavor:

• Using Khan Academy and a DESE course to prep for the new grade level standards-based math curriculum.
• Studying system-wide scope and sequences and curriculum related to math and science.
• Reading the new science standards and melding those standards into the current framework.
• Creating more hands-on science explorations related to the curriculum, and investigating related science software such as Concord Consortium's science programs, Tynker, SCRATCH, Lego Mindstorms, and Gizmos.

Learning to Learn

After that, I want to solidify my "learning to learn" curriculum which includes student-friendly activities and information related to optimal learning mindsets, behaviors, and efforts.  I will start the year with this unit so that students know what successful learners think and do.  Once the environment is set up for successful learning with the lessons, activities, routines, and posters, then we'll revisit the "learning to learn" lessons as needed throughout the year.

The Learning Environment

Also, I want to set up the online and real-time environments for optimal learning.  Online, I'll establish 24-7 communication systems so that students and families can access almost all learning information and materials whenever and wherever they are.  In real time, I want the classroom to be inviting, inspiring, and useful to students' learning.  For example, I want to organize materials so they're easy to find and accessible to students when needed.  That will take time since there are a lot of materials when it comes to good science and math teaching. 

Professional Contribution

I will continue to blog, and mainly write about curriculum design, research, and learning as I delve deeply into information related to cognition and new learning strategies and processes. Willingham's book, Why Don't Students Like School, is waiting for me as a first step in this effort. I will look to the leaders in my school community for direction when it comes to professional contribution expectations at school. There are always many endeavors at play, and I will seek their consult as to which endeavors match my skill set the best. 

Photo Credit

Rather than snowball, I'd like to see this new framework create a strong bridge to continued growth as I work to teach children well.  Onward. 

Changing Grades: School Year 2014-2015

Positive actions and intent focus for any grade.

As the result of an elementary school reconfiguration, I will change grades.  There are many teachers changing grades and/or schools as we extend grades k-4 throughout three schools.  Early in the year I made a commitment that if the process was thoughtful, I would not complain about any change. Hence, I'm not complaining as I do think the process was thoughtful; the reconfiguration will result in more space for teaching and learning, and the greater space will be helpful as we work to meet every child's needs.

I'll move from fourth grade to fifth grade.  I've taught fifth grade before, but this time I'll focus on mainly science and math.  It is an exciting time to focus on both those studies as the integration of technology gives us terrific new potential to inspire, educate, and respond to all students with regard to both topics.

I'll also join a new team, a team similar to my current team in that they're dedicated and skilled at what they do.

Summer study will find me immersing myself in the two main topics in the following ways:

• Taking a Massachusetts Department of Education course in proportional thinking and math. 
• Completing the grade 5 Khan Academy course of study to refresh my skills in that area.
• Continuing to add to the newly revised class math website. 
• Reading the the new standards and the MA standards related to science.
• Reviewing the many science standards at grade 5 and updating the science website. 
• Thinking of ways to create a math/science-friendly environment.

50% of this year's students will follow me as I'll work in a cluster of two teachers and approximately 50 students.  I'll talk to my students about that today, and ask for their advice on what's important for a teacher who is moving up with a grade.  I'll be interested in their thoughts, ideas, and questions.  I find that this transparency really helps with any transition.

I'll continue to work on the move-up letter prior to teacher announcements.  I'll add a parent survey portion so parents will have a voice as to next year's program and effort to best meet their child's needs. I'll take their comments and thoughts seriously as I plan the year ahead. I'll also confer with next year's team, and add the points, information, and supplies they feel are integral to a successful fifth grade year. 

The learning curve in the last couple weeks has been steep, but not without good merit for my future teaching/learning work.  The journey continues always with an element of ease and predictability and an element of challenge, surprise, and change. 

Lessons from the Architectural Firm

I had the great luxury of a liberal arts education. My father, who did not have the chance to go to college, advised me, "Study whatever you're interested in." That's what I did. I studied religion, English, science, art, psychology and more. I learned a lot and enjoyed it.

Then when I graduated, I needed a job. I didn't know where to begin. After some time, I landed in an employment agency in Boston with my art portfolio. The consultant met me, looked through my portfolio, and announced, "I have a job for you!"

She sent me to Sasaki Associates, Inc. in Watertown, Massachusetts.  It was a large-studio like building situated along the Charles River. When I walked in, I noticed the open spaces and white walls. I admired the renderings, photos, and art. I was excited. I got a job in the marketing department. The firm was vibrant. Architects, landscape architects, engineers, environmental scientists, graphic designers and planners were scattered throughout the firm creating.  I learned a lot while I worked there, and carry those lessons forward into my classroom today.

The Creative Process
I learned about the creative process. I watched projects evolve from the idea stage to completion.  I listened to the designers talk about their work, and I became more aware of the architectural world around me.  I bring that creative process to my classroom as we embark on our signature learning projects each year.

Charrette
I experienced the charrette - the exciting, collaborative session when a group of designers draft a solution to a design or complete a design project often late into the night.  Our class "charrettes" when we get to the end of a project. We get to feel that excitement, and collaborate to complete our projects and learn.

Spread the Good News
While I was at the firm, they hired a consultant. One of the consultant's main pieces of advice was to "spread the good news."  He told us that every time we observed or heard something good about the firm, tell two more people.  I've continued that practice.  Bad news spreads fast, but often good news doesn't. Educators are shy to share their good work, and others often don't take the time to recognize the good work of students and staff.

Celebrate/Have Fun
On Fridays, the firm often rolled in snacks and drinks. Employees at every position gathered, relaxed, and socialized. Sometimes leaders and others offered a few uplifting words or stories. It was a time I looked forward to, and a time when I got to know the people I worked with.  The firm also had a softball team, service projects, and athletic events that the the staff got involved in.  These events fostered collegiality.

Learn
Brown-bag lunch meetings happened often. Usually people met to discuss an article or idea.  That fostered professional development in a casual, optional way.

Love What You Do
I really enjoyed working with so many passionate designers. They loved what they did.  It made me want to pick a profession that I could really invest myself in. While I appreciated architecture, my passion was related to learning and children, so I left Sasaki and entered graduate school.  Later my Sasaki director was the person that led me to my current teaching position. He raved about the Town, and I followed his lead.

While college and graduate school offered me a great education, I learned a lot at Sasaki Associates too. What I learned applies so well today as we move students and schools forward to 21st century skills and teaching.

May Students See Me as This Beautiful.

I hope I can live up to the beauty of this image of me created by one of my students for Valentine's Day.