Education: Effective Systems Matter

By now, you've probably surmised that I'm an idealist--no idea too big to tackle, no vision too broad to journey.  Yet, that certainly gets in the way of balance, and without balance one simply becomes exhausted and no good for anyone or anything.

Thank goodness for a long weekend to recoup, and tomorrow I'll be back on the teacher treadmill with thoughts of balance on my mind.

If one wants to help teachers achieve this, I suggest the following changes to educational systems:

• Create regular opportunities for teacher voice when it comes to decisions that impact the work they do.
• Establish idea systems and communication systems so teachers aren't doubling up on efforts that have already been established or are currently in the planning/creation stage.
• Ensure that every teacher has planning/response time each day as well as a break after a two-three hours of teaching large numbers of children.
• Lessen or eliminate cafeteria, playground and other duties so teachers have time to reflect and transition between lessons and classes.
• Carefully review roles and decisions to make sure that some professionals are not doing the lion's share of direct service, while others have most of the decision making, planning time.
• Give teachers time to attend professional workshops and conferences.
• Help teachers out with the logistics such as field trip planning, money collection, payment forms and supply acquisition--efforts that usually take lengthy amounts of waiting and procedural time that could be spent on student work and efforts.

It's not a perfect world in education or any other field, but shoring up systems that support teachers who in turn support students will help to create better balance and enhanced effect.

What would you add to this list?  How do the systems work in your organization?  What can we do to make the work of educators manageable, inspired, balanced and innovative to best support students?

Effective systems eliminate drudgery, repetition and wasteful spending while effecting greater time for reflection, tasks and work that matter.

What's Your Teaching Perspective?

What is your teaching perspective?  What are the central questions, beliefs and understanding that underly your practice each year?  What do you think is most important? How do you prioritize?

As I think deeply about school culture and my own beliefs, I realize that questions and discussions about our individual and shared perspectives are critical to shifting culture and creating vision.

Before you are able to share your perspective, you have to understand how you approach the job and the central questions, beliefs and ideas that energize and guide your work.  Then you'll be ready to engage in discussions with colleagues--discussions that compare, develop and combine perspectives.

Student Perspective
When I look into my students' eyes, I see the potential for a better world.  They come to school with terrific energy, optimism and open minds.  Each child enters the room with a unique story, set of skills, interests, preferred learning style, challenges and perspective.  I don't expect my students to be the same or learn in the same ways.  Instead, I think of myself as a coach, mentor and guide whose job is to develop each child's self-concept and foundation of concept, knowledge and skill so he or she can move forward in life with confidence, purpose, self-understanding and a strong academic foundation.

What is your student perspective?

Curriculum Perspective
Our grade-level curriculum is mainly guided by the Massachusetts State Frameworks which are currently evolving to the Common Core.  At fourth grade, these guiding standards are essential basic skills, concepts and knowledge points that provide a strong foundation for future learning and growth. The way we teach the standards is left up to school systems, schools and individual educators.

My general teaching perspective is that you determine what's essential and you teach it in targeted, motivating, meaningful ways.  In my classroom, you will see many different teaching strategies and methods in place including single skill practice games and activities to project base learning.  I try to offer students a varied menu that exposes children to a myriad of learning strategies and methods while providing students with the chance to choose methods that best meet their personal styles, interests and abilities.

What is your curriculum perspective?

Scheduling Perspective
I craft my schedule each week to maximize teaching opportunities. If I know that teaching assistants or specialists are joining us, I'll target that time for one-to-one or small group instruction in areas that are most challenging where students can profit from that small group, individualized attention.  I plan the most challenging lessons and activities for optimal energy times of the day, and quieter, more procedural events for times with less energy.  We use a Learning Action Table to guide our classroom focus and goals thus allowing student/parent voice and perspective when it comes to the classroom program.

Scheduling for the whole school should prioritize direct service to students and optimal planning time for every professional to provide that direct service.  At times, it can be the case that some professionals in the building have extensive direct service responsibilities while others have very little--children profit from direct service, but it's necessary to give professionals adequate planning time to ensure optimal teaching. That's a tricky area of school scheduling, but an essential area to review.

What is your scheduling perspective?

Collaborative Perspective
Our grade level team meets regularly.  We share the perspective that we want to create an engaging, targeted learning program that is varied and responsive.  We bring many view points, skills and styles to
our discussions which broadens our ability to teach children well.  While our overall curriculum program and targets remain the same, we may teach our classes a bit differently dependent on the needs and styles our students.

What is your perspective related to collaboration?

Professional Development and Growth Perspective
I believe that academic programs should match and model the learning and activity in society because that allows students to easily transfer and extend school learning and activities to their broader world.  I also have my eye on the future since creating a better world is one reason I became a teacher. I want my students to be aware, in developmentally appropriate ways, of the world at large and the skill set they will need to navigate that world with confidence and voice.  Hence, my curriculum program is always evolving.  Each year, I reteach skills, activities and concepts that remain meaningful and beneficial to students, but I let go of practices that are out of date.

That can present problems because sometimes I'm able to move more quickly in my classroom than State or Federal school programs.  For example, my class is mainly writing with computers.  We're doing this because I know that computers allow students to better express themselves with greater clarity and ease, and that their expressions can be shared with many near and far thus creating an audience and a greater sense of purpose.  State standardized tests still require students to handwrite a lengthy draft and final story in one day--few adults would engage in that task today given the ease of computers with ready thesauri, dictionaries, spelling and grammar checks, image inserts, font choices and more.  This present-future tension will always exist as education evolves.

What is your perspective about professional development and growth?

Role Perspective
As education changes, roles will change to?  What is your perspective about your current role?  I see myself as a child advocate first. As a child advocate, it's my job to best teach each child in affirming, responsive ways.  Also advocating often means speaking up when a child is not receiving optimal services, or a school system is not embracing new systems, techniques and technologies that could better serve children.  Secondly, I see myself as a collaborative member of the school community with a collective mission of serving children well--in that role, I feel it's important to ask critical questions and share important knowledge that impacts learning for all members of the community.  In return, I look forward to engaging in colleagues' questions and knowledge to better our collective approach.  I believe in respectful, thoughtful dialogue, but recognize that this can be hampered without shared protocols, time and optimal communication systems.

What is your perspective regarding your role in the school community?

Schools have changed a lot and will continue to evolve. Perspectives will change too. Understanding each others' perspectives will better develop collaborative school communities which in turn, will better serve children.

Does your perspective differ from mine?  If so, how?  What areas of school life did I miss where perspectives may differ greatly?  What is the best way to foster a discussion about perspectives?  Do you think this is a necessary and important point to consider?  I welcome your comments and thoughts.

Creating a Student Response Pattern

MCAS scores are in. As a teacher, I meet the scores with mixed emotions.  I know the scores only reflect one dimension of a child's overall profile and performance, but nevertheless I want all my students to score well demonstrating wonderful growth scores.  Every teacher wants the best for each student.

I make it a goal to teach the standards with as much depth and breadth as time allows, and I try to teach those standards within meaningful contexts, activities and project based learning.  I'm always looking for new and better ways to teach curriculum concepts and skills to best promote students' success.

My grade level team meets twice a week to collaborate and plan for an optimal grade level program.  As a school, we have numerous opportunities for professional development and tech integration.  It's an optimal environment for learning and teaching.

But even in the best of situations, educators are challenged by the limitless possibilities and potential education presents.  You could work all day long and still have more work to do.  Parenting is similar.

Now that the year's routines have been set, it's time to set a reasonable weekly pattern of student response and teaching.  Here's a menu I'll try to follow.

ePortfolio Edits:  I'll make an effort to personally meet with each child once every two weeks to review ePortfolios with care.  Together each student and I will discuss exemplar points as well as strategies and techniques for further writing growth.  On the off week, I'll evaluate and comment on students' ePortfolios online.  ePortfolios include students' weekly reading letters, stories, project work and free writes.

Blog Review:  We'll review the content blogs together, noting optimal comments and examples to further our shared learning of the blog topic/questions.  I'll continue to comment on the NING blog on a regular basis.

Math Problem Solving: We'll problem solve in workshop mode.  We'll start with a focus lesson, then students will break out for independent, partner and small group work.  As students complete their work or face questions, they'll have the chance to check in for edits and help.  In the end, we'll share our experiences, strategies and learning.

Math Skill Work:  Often, we'll use quick-feedback online skill practice sites as the immediate feedback aids in skill acquisition.  Other times, we'll review and check the work together.

Project Based Learning: Similar to math workshop, students will have the chance to check in as needed for edits, assistance and review during project workshops.

Unit Assessments:  We're fortunate not to have grades, so I have the freedom to respond to assessments with notes highlighting information mastered and areas that still need attention.

Student Share and Stories:  Elementary school students look forward to sharing.  Students will have the chance to share their work and stories during our daily tech share and our weekly NING share.  This builds oral language skills too.

Hands-On Learning: Crafts and hands-on activities are embedded into our social studies and science units--students look forward to these activities.

Reading with Students:  During reading workshop, I'll meet with individual students on a regular basis.  As time goes on, I'll begin meeting with small book groups too.  I'll also keep up on students' reading through their weekly reading letter, and target instruction with individuals and small groups as part of our RTI efforts.

Lexia: Lexia offers students online reading skill practice.  When needed, Lexia online reports can be accessed for data to better inform instruction.

Computation Ladders: Students "climb the computation ladder" by practicing and learning basic fourth grade math skills, then testing out of those skills with online tests.  Once every two weeks, students will take the tests in class and I'll look over their work.  Students are also encouraged to practice and take tests on their own at home. They bring in the results for me to see.

It's essential to respond to students' learning efforts and endeavors on a regular basis.  I'll keep an online data file to track student conferences and work reviews. Future lessons and efforts will be based on the results of the collected data.  The chart will also ensure that everyone gets their fair share of teacher response and coaching.

A plan for student response transforms limitless potential into a responsive pattern focused on student engagement and success.

Embedding Technology into Academic Programs

Effectively embedding technology into education boosts student access, motivation and learning.

There are many ways an educator can employ technology to develop student success.  It's best to journey down this tech-ed path project by project with student learning as the central focus.

There are many projects to choose from--all worthy endeavors when it comes to embedding technology into your daily practice and professional development.

I recommend you choose a project type from the list below, then begin that leg of the journey.

Creating a Professional Learning Network (PLN)
Develop a PLN to foster efficient, targeted professional development engagement via Twitter, Google+, Facebook, blogs and targeted social networks.

Classroom Website: Resource Center
A classroom website provides students, parents and colleagues ready access to links, newsletters, calendars, schedules and information related to your academic program.

Content Blogs
A blog devoted to a specific content area is an easy way to share content information via student comments and teacher modeling.  Unlike classroom anchor charts and hand-outs, students are able to access the blogs repeatedly to acquire content knowledge and understanding.

Class Social Network
There's never enough time in a classroom situation for every child to share his or her point of view--the classroom social network, also known as the "cloud classroom," extends the classroom learning and discussions beyond the walls of the school into homes and other student spaces.  On the network educators, parents and students are able to post timely comments, images, videos with one another thus building a sense of community and shared learning.

ePortfolios
In place of paper/pencil notebooks, students can begin to create portfolios for writing and other work online. The ePortfolios provide students with ready access to spell check, choose font styles and colors, insert images, and access dictionaries and thesauri.  Student ePortfolios are easy to share, comment on, revise and utilize for future projects.

Multimedia Compositions
Multimedia compositions are a great way to present students' or educator learning, research and creativity. Through a mix of video, text, images and other presentation tools, students and teachers are able to craft and publish engaging, informative and interactive presentations to boost learning for all in the academic community.

21st Century Learning Units
Revise a current unit or create a new unit that focuses on 21st Century Learning: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking skills and communication.  Utilize a myriad of tech tools in the unit development and implementation.

Learning Links and Tools
The web is filled with useful learning links, tools and apps to support student learning.  Building an organized, easy-to-access reference list to support student learning will enhance learning for all of your students.

What project types have I missed?  Which project listed above are you currently developing with greater depth, purpose and effect?  What are your favorite ways to learn about and employ a new technology venue in your classroom?  How do you assess the venue's impact on student learning?

I look forward to your comments and responses.

Developing Math Vocabulary

Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. 
-Albert Einstein

Math is a language, and this week I'm exploring ways to help students learn the language of math.  How does anyone learn a language best--immersion: see it, say it, hear it, write it.

This week, the class will focus on vocabulary related to number sense.  Essentially the words we use to describe numbers and operations.

So far, here are the ways we have already worked with this and the ways I plan to extend this emphasis in the week ahead.

• Math Talk: Discussing together that math is a language and just like we use language to describe characters in a story or people we know, we can use language to describe numbers.  Documenting the discussion on a Google doc for later review, share and conversation extension.
• Comic Strip Creation: Collaborative groups create comics that define one term.

• Crossword Puzzle Practice: Working on a crossword puzzle to learn words.
• Problem Solving: Using math language when explaining a math problem solution. MCAS is one resource for great practice problems.
• Assessment: Quick assessment to see who has grasped the focus vocabulary.
• Math Dictionary: Utilizing optimal online and off-line math dictionaries.
• Learning Tools Center: I am creating a tool center where all math tools and other tools for learning are clearly marked with names.  There will also be charts that list math tools that we use for equations and other mathematical processes. 

How do you foster math vocabulary understanding and growth in your classroom?  I am interested in learning about the many ways this can be successfully facilitated in classrooms.

Addition 6/1/14

Making Math Vocabulary Movies

Frayer Model Google Presentation

Google Table Shared Math Dialogue Writing