Teaching: A New Year Every Year

I'm looking forward to starting the year
with this award winning book. 

One great aspect of teaching is that every year is a new year.

Today students will bring great promise to class, promise of friends new and old, promise of learning new skill, concept, and knowledge, and the promise of a a unique classroom synergy that will create opportunity and new ways to see the world.

When children arrive, I'll take the time to say good morning to each student. I'll also look into each child's eyes and notice their affect to understand how they are feeling on this first day, a day that meets every child in a different way. Some will still long for summer and others will be eager to get started.

As the day starts, students will organize desks, make name tags, and chat with one another. I'll answer questions. Then it will be time for attendance, lunch count, review of the day's agenda, more questions, and a review of classroom routines.

We'll play a get-to-know-each-other-game, have recess, and then start the year's first lesson which includes an introduction to our online "classroom" and our first math lesson: number cards.

After lunch, I'll share that lesson with the other half of our team, Team 12, while Team 14 (my homeroom) has their first ELA lesson. The day will end with some time for quiet reading, writing, and drawing or recess and then the start of our read aloud book, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse.

Since teaching is a new year every year, we have the chance to visibly improve our craft, boost positivity, and learn something new. Today's start will be similar to past years in structure, but different with respect to slower and steadier pace--a good pace for my fifth grade students.

Twitter: Who Do You Follow?

If you're a Twitter enthusiast like me, what is your follower strategy?

At first, I was reluctant to add lots of followers to my Twitter account, but now I accept almost all worthy followers.

What's a worthy follower? To me it's someone who chooses an avatar that's a picture or symbol of their work/life and who adds a meaningful description that lets me know who they are and what they do.

I try to have a diversified following because I like to hear from many voices from all over the world. That's one aspect of Twitter I really enjoy--the polyphonic attribute: many voices and many points of view.

I know that some followers look worthy, and in truth are disguised, but that comes with the global share that Twitter offers. I also know that there's lots of marketing going on via Twitter so I accept that too--it's a marketplace of sorts, a kind of Main Street or Route 9 (my home town's shopping district) of social media.

The only followers I block are those that are obscene, violent, or spammers. One way to determine if a follower is a spammer is to open up his/her account and see what they've tweeted--if their tweets are all ads, offers to increase your followers, or "same speak" then you know it's not a real person or a person with value for your Twitter focus.

Twitter is a good medium for quick conversations about topics of broad interest, or a place to look for trends about specific topics, current events, or emergency situations. You have to treat Twitter as a trending medium, and then back up those trends with deeper research and other venues in order to find the factual information.

Who do you accept as followers on Twitter and why?  Similarly who do you follow?  Twitter is one amazing medium in today's world, one that will serve educators well if used with understanding, focus, and the knowledge that it is one social media medium that works well in conjunction with other efforts and venues.

Teaching Well: Read All About It

Start the Year with Learning to Learn Lessons
that Empower Your Learning Community.

This summer I synthesized research in a number of posts, posts that I believe will help you to start the school year with strength. I invite you to read and use any and all of this information.

Learning to Learn
We know it's critical that today's students learn to learn. That learning includes the dispositions, actions, and collaboration that enable children to work together in a positive way with the boundless information that exists. I took my research to date and synthesized it into a number of start-of-the-school-year lessons that will build classroom community, efficacy, and skill with regard to learning. The lessons can be tailored to meet the needs of any age group from K-early college years. I invite you to read, use, modify, and share your work with the Learning to Learn lessons (https://sites.google.com/site/learningtolearnelementary/).

Reflect for Success: Attributes of Successful Teaching
Massachusetts put together an evaluation document that includes the attributes of education excellence. I studied each attribute in depth, and came to the conclusion that all the attributes listed are worthy and impactful when it comes to teaching children well. This document leads educators through a reflection for each attribute. Educators can reflect in order, or choose the attributes of education excellence they want to focus on this year. This guide will also serve as an excellent document for school leaders and preservice education programs as it guides teaching efforts, conversation, and debate that will serve you well as you develop your craft, school, or preparation to teach. You can access Reflect for Success: Attributes of Successful Teaching via this link (https://sites.google.com/site/teachfocussummerstudy/home).

What Learning Paths Will You Take This Year?
Successful educators are lifelong learners. They embark on new learning journeys every year. This post will guide your efforts (http://teachwellnow.blogspot.com/2014/08/what-new-learning-path-will-you-take.html).

Learning Paths 2014-2015
This post is a sample of the type of learning path you can set for yourself and your students this year. The post synthesizes system and school-wide goals as well standards and curriculum-specific learning. This post is available via this link (http://teachwellnow.blogspot.com/2014/06/learning-paths-school-year-2014-2015.html)

I hope these posts and websites are helpful to you as you grow your craft and teach students well this year. I invite you to share this information with friends and colleagues, and I invite you to read other posts, both new and existing, on my blog, Teach Children Well. Further, I am always open to comments, suggestions, and questions. I invite your voice. I wish you a wonderful year of teaching and learning as well.

The Evolution of Your Blog

A snapshot of today's Teach Children Well blog.

Do you blog?

If so, why do you blog?

Who is your audience?

What do you hope to say?

How will your blog grow and change?

I've been blogging for several years now. I started because I had a lot to say--ideas I wanted to share, and in some cases ideas that had been previously shared without credit. I wanted a place where I could share my ideas with my name.

At that time, I had been profiting a lot from reading blogs, and felt that the venue might be a good place to share my ideas too so I started a blog. I took some time choosing a blog title because I wanted the title to represent the overarching reason and focus on my blog. I chose, "Teach Children Well," and I'm still satisfied with the title because whatever I do in education is always focused on teaching children well--giving them the best that you can do to forward their learning, confidence, and engagement.

At first, and still today, the blog is mostly about my big ideas and day-to-day efforts as a classroom teacher. Since the big ideas affect what we do as teachers in the classroom, I want to share the ideas I have for systematic change, change that can positively affect our time and efforts with children. I also know that the details matter, and I'm continually reading and researching, then developing the details related to classroom teaching to better my craft.  I share a lot of questions too, and I look forward to the answers I get online or in real time related to those questions. I know our craft as teachers is a moving target, one we will continually develop and change as the world around us changes too.

My blog has been much like a journal, a personal story. Now, I find that I'm moving more towards a magazine platform, a collection of various articles some journal-like, others book reviews, and vignettes and stories about classroom life. Like a magazine, I'm hosting ads too. I want to see what that's like. I'm trying it out.

I'm thinking a lot about voice too as I grow my blog. Who is it that I want to become as an educator? I know I want to continue to develop my craft as a teacher, but how will I move my research and writing forward too so that what I produce truly impacts others in positive ways. Also, what other voices will I invite to share this platform with me in the days and weeks ahead. I know so many dynamic, wonderful educators that have terrific ideas, practice, and outcomes to share.

How does your blog grow? What is the theme and focus of your blogging efforts? Which blogs do you subscribe to and read every day, and why do you choose those blogs?

It's important to stop and think every so often about blogging, an activity that has served so many of us well with regard to developing our work with skill, focus, and success. This regular reflection will serve you well as your blog evolves.

Classroom Symbols

There are a number of objects in my classroom that symbolize and remind me of what I want the teaching/learning year to include.

The symbols include objects that I've acquired such as posters from AllPosters.Com, gifts from children, articles from significant events, and useful objects.

Adding symbols to your classroom decor helps you and your students to stay on track with what's important with regard to actions, efforts, and collaboration.

I've made a chart of some of my classroom symbols below, symbols that will lead our teaching/learning work this year. What special objects do you include in your classroom decor, and what message do those objects send.