My First Week in 3rd Grade

I finally have time to sit down and think about my first week in 3rd grade. It was exciting, albeit a little long, and I know we are going to have a good year together!

First of all, it has been so enjoyable to feel like I am picking up where I left off in May. I have taught 2nd grade for 8 years, and so coming back to school to teach 3rd graders has been such a nice transition! I have enjoyed being able to talk to my 3rd graders and connect back to things they did last year. I've also benefited from their 3rd grade work stamina-40 minute writing assessment? No prob! Just read for a few minutes? Ok! While we will, of course, work on stamina for the next few weeks, it is so nice to have a base for that. 

3rd graders are also just a lot of fun to talk to and learn from! They have clear ideas about what to expect from themselves and from school, but are open to new things. They have some different interests and things they would like to learn about (Wars, Mythology...), they cleverly make requests (Hey, Mrs. T, sometimes chewing gum helps you concentrate-can we chew gum during Writer's Workshop?), and they are ready for more responsibility (Safety patrol applications went home this week!). It's exciting for them and for me. 

This first week was also an easy lesson in humility for me. I'm learning all about my new team and how 3rd grade "goes" at our school. I'm learning our new standards. I'm figuring out how to make a challenging classroom work. As a result, I feel like I've spent the week constantly saying "I don't know." or "We're going to do this for now and see if it works." The amount of decisions we teachers have to make everyday is astounding, and in this new situation, it is wearing on me a little bit! 

I hope that you all have a smooth transition back into school! I, for one, am ready to tackle another great year!

xoxo,

Stephanie

Taking An Uncomfortable Rest

So I've been out of school for a week now, and I just have to admit: I am in a Summer Funk. I don't know if anyone out in teacher world can relate to this at all, because we're all supposed to be jumping up and down in our neighborhood pools yelling, "Yay! Summer! Freedom! Relaxation! Recuperation! Whoo hoo!" But, that's my truth.

Whenever there are transitions in my life like this, it takes a little while for me to get settled into them. First of all, there is a bit of a sadness about the end of a great year with a class you've poured your heart and soul into. Then, there is all of this slow free time that is just lovely but also daunting for those of us who love routine and being busy. It's just plain uncomfortable!

And yes, a lot of this has to do with my time in life. Newly married, no children, living in a new city... I would probably feel a lot better if I would just get super busy and make as many plans as possible, but I know the rest is important. Even if it's uncomfortable.

Personal trainers always tout the benefits of rest days, or even weeks, on our bodies, and it makes sense to me that this can apply to all facets of our lives. Do you need rest from something in your life?

Creative Rest?
    Emotional Rest?
        Spiritual Rest?
           Physical Rest?

For me, the answer to all of these is YES. There will be time for reflection and growth soon. But for now, I will be working on taking an Uncomfortable Rest.

Participation Tracking

Recently, I have begun using a small group tool that might sound a little crazy while at the same time completely uninteresting. I've dubbed it my "Participation Tracker" Read on for my story and for my reasons why I think you should try this, too. 

Why did I start tracking participation?

So the first thing I have to say, is this: This Participation Tracker thing wasn't really my idea at all. I began piloting a program called "Jacob's Ladder" with my highest readers (those falling in the 90th percentile with their Reading MAP scores). One thing our principal wanted us to do was to keep track of how each student was participating in the higher order discussion work she envisioned happening around this group. She thought maybe we could make little checks by students' names or something so we could compare their participation to their score growth. Initially, I thought, "That is crazy. And silly. Nope. I do not have time for that. I am not going to do it.I'm just going to focus on what this program says to do. Again, No."

So what made me start it?

I decided to change my mind about that when it began to dawn on me that some of my highest performers were also the least likely to take part in the discussion and sharing. Getting them to add their ideas to our discussion or respond to others who were talking was like pulling teeth. And I began to realize that this was happening frequently. And by frequently I mean almost every day. I thought. I didn't actually know since I was simply relying on my memory for it. And why weren't they participating? We were having deep and challenging discussions! Furthermore, they had good things to say (according to their written work)! So, I decided to put a quick little table together to see if there actually was a problem like I thought.

Why am I still using it?

Ok, I have a few big reasons:

1. It helps me be more fair with my attention. With a brief glance at my checklist, I can see who I've given attention to (whether they have asked for it or not), and who still needs to be invited to participate. Then, I can work to purposefully invite them into the discussion. 
2. It has been super motivating for many kids. They know I'm giving them a check or a tally, and they know how to get it. (But don't forget to get some "baseline" data when they DON'T know you are using it as well.)
3. It gives me real data to start a conversation with students who struggle to participate. You can't argue with the data! And yes, at this point, I am showing them the whole class spreadsheet. I feel like it is effective for the struggling student to "see" himself in the context of the whole class and the whole learning conversation. 
4. It also has given me real data to start a conversation with one student in particular who thrives off of attention and participation, but on the other hand falls apart when I don't call on him every time he has something to say. I'm able to show him how he has been called on more than others and that he needs to let others speak. Again, he can "see" himself in the context of the whole class.

Does it have potential for other areas? 

Of course! One week, I printed off the whole class roster and challenged each kid to participate in whole group Math discussions at least twice during the week. I planned the goal  number based on the opportunities I knew students would get that week to be one voice of many during whole group instruction.

I would encourage teachers at any level to try some form of Participation Tracking out-even if it's just for the day. Challenge yourself! Challenge your kids!

Here is a link to the tracker shown above. It's available to you to edit and use as you need:

Click For the Free File!

Perseverance & Resilience

The stage was set. The challenge was given. I could hardly wait to watch my students tackle their engineering challenge to kick off our study of motion. "They are going to be amazing!" I thought, "They will grow and stretch and be motivated by their learning and hard work. In fact, I bet some of them will be so inspired by my teaching methods that they will grow up to be Scientists!"

And then....

And then!

They crumbled. The met the challenge with excitement. And then it met them and they turned into precious little balls of helplessness and crushed self esteem. All within five minutes.

Ok, I may be exaggerating, but just know that there were more than a couple of kids for whom this was true. They were a little crushed. And I was a little crushed, too!

So it made me ask myself some questions:
How exactly can I better teach and instill perseverance and resilience in my students?
What have I done in the past to encourage helplessness. Furthermore, how can I change that as we move forward?

So I picked 2 things to try for next time:

1. To Teach: I decided to go back to our school-wide Habits of Scholarship: Craftsmanship, Perseverance, and Collaboration. We spent some morning meetings using our dictionary, thesaurus, and base words skills to develop stronger definitions and examples of these. It was really important for us to take a step back, slow down, and work on making these words a bigger part of the culture in our classroom.

2. To Change: I have got to stop "spinning plates" during my more challenging assignments. Do you know what I mean? When you can't get to conferencing, listening in, and facilitating because you are answering questions, putting out fires, and restating instructions 20 million times? So, this week we started with writing. We instituted a "Quiet 10" time at the beginning of Writing Workshop where students and I are to be writing with no talking. Students are told to be writers and problem solvers. So far they are doing a great job! This is just one first step to improving the independence and "stick-with-it-ness" for the class!

My Experiences In Teaching Current Social Issues: Refugees

On November 15, I had planned to begin a week teaching my students about refugees. We are an Expeditionary Learning School, and we were using our Social Studies learning about culture and civil rights as a jump off into a partnership with the Global Village School in our neighborhood. A school for girls. Refugee girls.

The lessons were written, the resources were made (I had to create everything since 2nd grade resources on refugees are slim at best). The read alouds were ready to go.

       

And then, on November 13, Paris happened. And I was nervous. Teaching about refugees? Right now? Really? I had already been nervous about the subject. My Facebook feed had been blowing up with dissenting opinions on the United States' acceptance of refugees for months. And then tragedy struck our world again. And "refugee" became a bad word. As if it wasn't before.

But I forged ahead. And thank goodness! We had a wonderful experience learning about how civil rights issues are still issues for many, many people in our world. My students learned about people who could be so much like them, but have such a different life experience. We took action together to inform others about these issues, and then raise money to help our new friends from the Global Village school with a culminating Walk A Thon. It was all amazing!

An infographic created by a group of 3 Second Graders.

Reflections from Day 1 and Day 10 of our study.

Students collaborating on the creation of an infographic using PPt.

Students reflecting on their interviews with Refugee Girls.

Our map showing the paths of the refugees we met and read about.

Our Walk A Thon to raise funds for the school.

And the parents and community were so accepting. And I was grateful for that. And I learned that I can keep teaching about the hard issues. I can keep teaching compassion. I can keep teaching these precious lives I am entrusted with to be compassionate and brave and to make change.

A flyer we created as a class to pass out during our Walk A Thon to raise money for the school.

Misconceptions

"You can't take a bigger number away from a small number. "

"Everything in the world is made of matter."

"A circle has one side."

"When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." 

Do you ever try to make a BIG statement -usually in an effort to teach hard and fast rules or facts and think to yourself "Did I really mean that?" Maybe you haven't, but I maintain that you should. No matter how confident of a teacher you are.

I think that, especially in the primary grades, we teach more misconceptions than we realize. This is understandable! I get it! I know why it happens. (That's not to say I think it should happen.) We want to help our students make sense of the world, but we realize that the world is really tricky to make sense of.  Because of this, we try to make these big statements, often losing some of the nuance of what we are teaching. We sometimes think that specificity is confusing.

In addition, as primary teachers, it is truly difficult to be experts on all of the theoretical subtleties of each subject we teach. Do you continue to reflect and study some of the facts, ideas, and principles you teach every year? We teachers must continue to question what we think we know and seek answers and understanding.

It's in fact NOT true that you can't take a big number away from a small one. And it's ok to tell kids that. Let me suggest that you add the words "in 2nd grade" or "for now". I have found that students find this more exciting than confusing!

Your students might even call you out on the second statement. Is EVERYTHING really made of matter? What about light? Sound? Those kids, they will get you every time! 

And the circle thing. I mean, talk about blowing adults' minds. And from what I can tell, it is up for debate. 

The last one, though, probably has you thinking about the way you already address these "exceptions" to the rules. And there are always exceptions, right? 

As an aside, it is not just teachers who have this problem with teaching and believing misconceptions. So don't feel bad! I was discussing this issue recently with a group of adults. My example of teaching students through misconceptions was that Earth's seasons are caused by the Earth's elliptical path around the sun. I mentioned this briefly as an "untruth" and was immediately shot down. I should have pulled out my teacher voice! And maybe Google!

Be specific. Be accurate. And above all, be reflective. 

Reflections of 2015 Linky Party and Countdown

Today I am linking up with for a 2015 Reflection. Let’s do a little countdown, shall we? Here is my Top 10 for 2015!

10. TPT

In February, I decided to start trying to sell some of the things I have been creating these past eight years as a 2^nd grade teacher on a pretty cool website called Teachers Pay Teachers. Do you know it? Jk. My coworkers have been nagging me to do this for ages, but I knew it would be a lot of work. I wanted to do it right. I had to check into the legalities of my creations, clip art use, etc. If you’re reading this, you probably know the drill. So I finally took the plunge and got creating! I am pleased with how it is going so far, but hope to add more and really make a name for myself in the TPT world.

        

9. Starting The Blog

At the same time I began TPT, I knew that having a blog was going to help me sell products. Furthermore, it was going to help me share ideas. I think that in my own classroom, my best work does not happen in a way that I am able to market through a product, so having a blog is a great way for me to reach out and share! My then boyfriend-soon-to-be-fiance helped me create a logo. Soon after beginning the blog, I knew I was going to need some design help, so I found and hired Alexis at Laugh Eat Learn to do the work for me. Check her out!

8. Engagement

In March, I got engaged to the love of my life! Read about it in this post.

7. TPT Seller Challenge

In June, I took the TPT Seller Challenge. Or, I started to take the Challenge. I think I participated in 3 out of 4 weeks. It was a good experience because it got me reflecting on my work so far and helped me hone some skills. Read about what I learned and did through this challenge here and here.

6.  Baby Cora

I got a new niece! This was basically the highlight of my summer. She is super sweet, and loves to smile and squeal. I’m glad that I have both a nephew and niece to spoil and I’m so thankful to live a little bit closer to my sister now than I did in the past.

5. The First Day

Yes, the first day of school was a momentous and important occasion in 2015. It was my first new school since my first year of teaching. In the week leading up to it, I felt like seven years of first days did not adequately prepare me for the first day of year eight. I was so nervous! But it went beautifully. And it was only the first of many beautiful days.

4. Moving Again

In September, we bought and moved into a dream condo in a great location in Atlanta. We love working together to make this place a true home. Most recently, we finally got a sofa!

3. A New Place

I could dwell on the past and get all sappy, but I already did that here. As 2015 comes to a close, I could not be more thankful to have found a teaching position in a wonderful new school. The Lord certainly answers prayers. Finding a new school to work in is about so much more than location. It’s about finding your place. A place among a community, coworkers, and children. We all have a place, don’t we? And right now, mine is really lovely.

2. Getting Married

In October, the best day of the year happened. Our wedding day. Check out this post for some more pictures and details.

1. Jamaica

Our honeymoon was a huge highlight of our year together. We waited about a month after our wedding to go to Jamaica (had to take advantage of Thanksgiving  break) and it was so amazing. Ah, I can close my eyes and almost feel the warm tropical breeze right now…oh wait, that’s just December in Georgia!