Time and Priorities: A Fourth Grade September

As I think about the lessons that will fill the first month of school, I am once again met with the time and priorities challenge that all teachers face. At fourth grade our main objectives include reading well, writing well, and math concept, knowledge, and skill. Yes, there are discrete standards embedded in these goals, but the standards like the subject areas are easily life-long challenges as we can always work to grow our fluency, skill, and concept in reading, writing, and math.

To help with this dilemma, we have scope and sequences for ELA and Math, essentially road maps for teaching. Yet, even with these road maps there's not enough time or energy for all the wonderful tools, strategies, and lessons available. Hence I am continually weighing one approach, strategy, and choice against another, and of course the students are rightfully impacting those decisions with their interests, needs, and reactions daily.

So, with this in mind, the key is to first develop the overall unit plan--the "loose-tight" objectives and lessons with a time line.  Then begin the journey revising along the way.

Specifically, in my fourth grade class during September, that path will look like this.

Early Morning Keyboarding

• Try out programs, let students choose the ones they like best.
• After initial exploration, take a baseline typing test, chart the scores.
• Make individual goals related to practice efforts, attitude, and outcome.
• Practice, practice, practice.
• Reassess in about two weeks time, reset goals, practice.  
• Once most students' keyboarding skills have reached 30wpm, we'll use early morning teach time each day for another discrete goal.

Writing Journals

• Create online and offline journals.
• Establish a pattern of daily writing. Use "Fletcher" lessons. 

Writing Genre Studies/Digital Projects

• Animoto "I AM" Poems
• "Architect of Your Own Learning" Photobooth/Sentence Project

Reading Response/Close Reading

• Model this with The Gold Threaded Dress interactive read aloud focusing on a review/introduction to reading comprehension strategies.
• Establish Reading "Dialogue Journals."
• Start with "One Today" Reading Response/Close Reading Class Activity.
• Prep reading response/close reading activities related to upcoming "Farm Days" field study and Culture Unit. 

Social Studies/Science

• Culture Flags
• Self Portraits: History of Skin
• Animal Adaptation Reading Response/Activities 
• Start U.S. Tour Project

Field Study: Farm Days First Trip

Math

• Initial Assessments: Math Autobiographies, Attitudinal/Initial Concepts Assessment, Standardized Test, Facts Test, Performance Assessment.
• Place Value Unit
• Addition and Subtraction Review and Practice
• Measurement Unit
• Begin Math Journals (grid-paper journals)

Assessments

• Reading: Standard School Assessments
• Writing: Introduce Yourself
• Math: Standard School Assessment and others as noted above.

Regular Practice

• Reading daily and home study. 
• Writing daily and home study.
• Lexia and Symphony Math 2-3 times each week (online skills programs)
• Xtra Math: Nightly, SumDog: daily and home study.

Learning to Learn, Team Building, Behavior, and Routines

• Regular focused meetings on these topics. 

Don't Forget: "Know Thy Impact"

My favorite teaching book, Visible Learning for Teachers, Maximizing Impact on Learning by John Hattie emphasizes that educators need to "know thy impact." As I met with grade-level colleagues yesterday to chart the teaching year's course, and as I analyzed a number of scores last night, his words rang true.  Everything we do in schools, big and small, matters when it comes to student success.  Whether you're a school nurse, administrative assistant, teaching assistant, therapist, special educator, classroom teacher, coach, director or leader, your time and effort matters, and it matters a lot. We can all impact student growth with the following actions--actions which I strive for too.

Positivity
Children need a positive, affirming, "you can do it" environment.

Time on Task Coaching and Care
Children demand our best efforts. They excel when we take the time to work with them by listening, explicitly teaching, answering their questions, designing responsive learning experiences, assessing, and refining practice to help every child succeed in meaningful ways.

Strengths Based Teaching
Start with students' strengths not deficits and build from there.

Streamlined, Efficient Systems of Instruction
Show up on time. Create and stick to a positive learning pattern. Save the conversations for emails or meetings, and center the student time on effective learning experiences.

Collaborate and Share
Find ways to spread the "good news" of teaching including the lessons, activities, and efforts that make a difference.

Goal Set and Contribute
Work with colleagues to focus on specific goals that will make a difference for your students and school. Contribute your efforts to reach those goals. For example if a school-wide goal is writing then everyone from art to music to physical education to the classroom to specialists should institute some piece of that goal in their efforts. A shared goal builds community, and a shared goal also builds success.

Communicate with Transparency
Don't make colleagues, families, and students hunt for information that can positively impact learning and programs. The hunt for information wastes time and slows down potential.  For example, if there are amazing success stories with specific facts, share those stories.  All teachers and students really want to succeed, and any information that leads to that success makes a difference.

Set the Stage for Success
Klunky furniture, slow infrastructures, minimal communication, and mixed-up schedules impede progress, while comfortable furniture, facile infrastructures, ready communication, and streamlined schedules provide the "loose-tight" responsive school stage for success. Keep the time, money, and people that support education simple and streamlined, leaving most time, money, and people for invigorating hands-on, student-centered learning.

Commitment and Diversity
Look for educators and staff that are committed. Also seek diversity. Diverse, committed staffs bring energy, enthusiasm, passion, and valuable time to children.

When it comes to impacting school success with strength, what additional attributes do you believe are essential?  The potential for positive work is amazing when we all work together to make it happen--when we truly "know thy impact."

Scores, Scores, and More Scores: What Matters?

I found myself analyzing scores this evening: scores, scores, and more scores.  I was looking for trends trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.  I noticed that these factors matter:

• Student-teacher relationships: You know when a student and a teacher have a great relationship. You see it in the student's eyes, and hear it in the teacher's voice. As I looked at the scores, I noticed that students who had those relationships made greater growth.
• Time-on-Task: I noticed that students who got significant attention made gains. 
• Explicit Expectations. I noticed that students whose teachers had consistent, patterned expectations for performance made a lot of growth. 
• Class Ratios: Although science doesn't prove it, I notice it. Large classes make it impossible to give students the individual and small group attention needed to teach children well. Without added costs, we may be able to creatively restructure schools and staffing to create more optimal learning groups throughout the day.
• Instructional Expertise. Subject matter knowledge matters.  
• Explicit Teaching: You have to make time to teach specific skills, skills that are new and challenging. You have to approach these skills in a number of ways so that students see the information from many angles.
• Practice: Even if you teach all the standards and content, students won't master it without engaging, meaningful practice and application.
• Assessment: This doesn't mean lots of long, standardized tests, instead it means many check-ins with short quizzes, conversations, observations, and performance tasks that inform instruction.
• Planning and Problem Analysis: Make time to thoughtfully analyze learning problems, then try and test multiple strategies until you find the strategies that work best. 

Scores do not assess all that's important in schools. Scores are simply one indicator of performance, an indicator, at my level, that is related to essential skill development in reading, writing, and math. A focus on scores alone makes school a dull diet, but using scores as one piece of the school menu has the potential to invigorate the success we are able to bring to a child's education--success that connects with students' essential skills foundation.  

How do you assess scores?  What classroom actions and events have you found that boost students' scores as well as engagement, enthusiasm, and interest in learning.  Can we develop engaging, authentic, confident class communities and get good scores too? That's my goal this year--let's see what happens.

Tutoring and Ethics: Thoughts?

It seems to me that the use of tutors is growing throughout the country.

I hired tutors for my own children when they struggled.

The challenge for me here is the ethics relating to tutoring.

Parents and children in a school community benefit when teachers and leaders in that community tutor their children because those educators know the system, have access to familiar tools, and understand the curriculum. The system benefits because children receive the extra, targeted help in sensitive, caring ways, and system's scores and success rise. Yet, that tutoring is not available to all children, so some gain and some don't.

Many educators gain from tutoring too. Educator salaries are generally low making it very difficult for many educators, particularly educators early in their careers, to afford to buy a home, own a car, or pay for daycare. The extra money helps educators pay their bills and gives educators the terrific experience of developing their teaching craft with one-to-one efforts. Better teachers make better systems.

Yet, when teachers are spending many hours after school tutoring do they have the time to contribute to in-school needs and activities. Hence do some children gain, while the whole school loses that potential time and investment. But, since teachers usually work according to contract, would that matter? And is it fair that some children who have the means have access to the school's teachers for extra help while other children without means do not have that access?

I know that some professions present limits on professional's outside-of-work jobs as a way of avoiding conflict of interest issues as well as ensuring that the professional's time is devoted to that work environment. When are those rules limiting and when are those rules enriching?  For example if my workplace limited my writing, research, presentation, and beta testing-work, I wouldn't learn as much or have as much to bring back to the classroom since this work, similar to tutoring, invigorates what I can do to teach children well.

Perhaps the answer to this issue is protocols, protocols which allow tutoring since it does offer teachers needed dollars while also providing the system with enriched students and better teachers, and protocols which clearly outline expectations for educators' contribution to the school environment with regard to in-school work and after hours research, student-help, share, and committee work.  Similarly, schools need to look carefully at the supports students have and find ways for equal access whenever possible. For example if there are fee based programs in the school system, then there should be an adequate number of scholarships available to children in need, and if most children at risk are tutored outside of school, then perhaps some in-school tutoring could be systematized for those in need.

I outline this issue today because it is an underlying issue in school culture--one that calls for greater transparency and understanding.  What are your thoughts in this regard?

Good Schools: Problem Analysis

Wagner refers to the issue that schools don't spend enough time with problem analysis in his recent video talk.  The terrific book, Intentional Interruption, also points to the need for greater problem analysis in our educational organizations (and probably in every aspect of life).  So, how do we do this?

First, it is important that we're aware of the issue, and consult our individual and collective work with the question, "Do we really understand what the problem is?"  Identifying the problem is the first step--what is getting in our way and what do we want to fix, refine, develop, or create?  After that we have to set process--how will we analyze the problem with our best skills, understanding, and approach?  Then it's a matter of moving through the steps of analysis with a clear understanding of our objectives, goals, and vision.

For example, my school system is looking at a potential reconfiguration of the elementary schools. The process thus far has been systematic. The issues were studied and outlined; a team representing the many aspects of school life was assembled; a process was developed; their work has been publicized; and they continue on the road of analysis and solution finding.  Many conscientious educators, family members, leaders, and community members are investing multiple days and hours to create a solution that will serve children well. Recently a townsperson led an exceptional effort to design and build a new high school, not only was a new high school built, but essentially a community center was created with wonderful sports, recreation, and gathering facilities and natural areas. Good problem analysis and solution work has the potential to impact communities with strength for decades.

On the other hand, quick fixes often serve to make a problem more troubling. So with this in mind, I'll first think of my microsphere. What problems do I face?  Do I make the time to strategically and thoughtfully solve those problems or do I rush to a quick fix?  And for our teams, what issues stand in our way when it comes to good work?  How can we thoughtfully analyze these issues so that we do a better job?  And for our schools, how can we make the time in our busy, complex school web of activity to work carefully to analyze problems and find solutions?  Problem analysis is a potent issue for schools today, one that will help us to develop with strength and purpose so that we are all able to teach children well.