Ahh state testing, anyone reading this blog understands what happens to the classroom environment during four weeks of testing. 2 math, 2 reading, 2 science and 2 MAP. I am not celebrating that! We had a state wide shut down on Wednesday with our state testing. All tests cancelled in the state of Ohio for the day. I had planned on two hours to complete the math test, so what did we do when that happens? Of course, more time to read, share books, play word games especially hangman and celebrate no testing. 10 years ago, probably 5 years ago, I would have jumped right back into instruction. Not any more. I'm celebrating hangman with my students and of course a little word study thinking integrated with my word choices.
Coming together with their snacks and sharing our class read aloud, Flying Solo. This is a perfect time of the year as my fifth graders transition next year to a sixth grade building. I LOVE this story and most of all I LOVE the life lessons. Conversations around the characters and their decisions and choices are powerful. As we were reading Wednesday, EV noticed that that storyteller's name: Klof Selat meant folk tales? These are the moments that learners will remember forever. I am so thankful for the opportunity for my readers to connect with authors through twitter. Thank you for celebrating this week with me.
I have always wanted to write a visual blog. Totally based on photos and have the captions tell the story. I learn so much from looking at photos on blogs. I have decided to try it with our first math project : __________ By the Numbers. Insert student's name in the blank.
My students enjoy working around the room.
One of my students is learning English so we worked very hard on this sentence.
Finally we ended our lesson with sharing Wonder #411 How Many is a Google? What a great way to hook the students into WONDERing in math. I got this idea from #5thchat on Tuesday nights at 8:00. it is the BEST virtual PD come join us.
Most of the time I think about wondering through my students' eyes, but for the month of April I am going to reflect on how wondering has changed me as a teacher.
#1 I have grown professionally outside of school because of my connections with NCFL. I have a larger audience because of my blog and my virtual twitter PD including virtual chats. Because of my extension beyond my school, I have widened my learning and my professional contacts. I now "talk" frequently to Tracy and Tara about new ideas. Tracy left this in the comment section of a blog post Here is a tip...show the photo with no talking and write your wonders, give a fact and write more wonders...then share! Great lesson on how our own experiences draw different wonder and curiosity and how that changes the level of your wondering. Appreciate the "known to new" learning! Tara and I always seem to be on the same page although she is in New Jersey we posted about state testing on the same day, and she is handling it must better than I did. "I walked into our classroom today, and gazed upon those rows with loathing. Gone were our friendly pods of five desks, spaced at odd angles so that everyone could move around the room easily. Gone was that friendly feel of a room where people often work together to learn, where discussion and collaboration is encouraged. Gone was that familiar, reassuring feeling of being able to see each face as I stood in front of the room." These comments and many more have changed my lessons, my thinking and most of all encouraged me to reach out and extend my learning. This summer I am excited to be planning some PD on my dock with many of my blogging and twitter friends.
#2 Many of my blogs posts have been about the integration of Wonderopolis within my classroom almost everyday but especially on Wonder Wednesday. This was a huge shift for me because I now weave non fiction into all aspects everyday. NF is no longer just a unit in isolation. With the articles that I have been reading about Common Core I believe this is the shift towards more Non Fiction. Finally the integration of technology through our iPods and iPad have been an integral part this year especially with this class. As the years roll on as Bob Seger sings, I have noticed students need/want technology. That could possibly be another blog post in the future (I am still wrapping my thinking around that idea) When they use the iPad to read about the wonder or watch the video/links and then click to the word document to take their notes or answer the 3 questions they are actively engaged in their learning vs. one computer and a spiral notebook. This shift happened for me as well as the realization two years ago that we need need to prepare our students for the 21 Century especially in our classrooms. Taking time to reflect has been a powerful tool for me in 2012.
Here are some other OLW reflection posts for the month:
The term full circle happened to me professionally when we had our book club meeting at my house last Tuesday. The circle started with me reading about the book on a blog, and I bought it. I then followed the #Allwrite tweets for two days and saw the book was mentioned. I tweeted to my friends who were there let's do a book club on my dock. Mary Lee and and Cathy at Reflect & Refine took me up on my offer and finally we met. Mary Lee was first to post at Year of Reading and she captured our book club so well that I "stole" her post about Making Learning Whole . I enjoyed how David Perkins connected the game of baseball with helping students learn to play the whole game. I echo all of her thinking especially the connections that I have made through twitter this summer. The past two days I was lucky to have lunch with my friends from school, and they don't follow twitter. I offered some advice and start with being a quiet observer for awhile and then all of a sudden your learning community will hit a grand slam! In addition, I've decided to build my own baseball field of learning so here are my key bases:
Home Plate: Teach today what learners will need to understand and act on tomorrow because tomorrow is a moving target. pg. 220
First Base: Making work visible- takes steps along the way and the final results need to be shared in order to make the game worth playing. p.180
Second Base: Aptitude is not the same things as attitude. pg. 70
Third Base: Part of the art is throwing out what is not so important yet, while leaving the general spirit and shape of the game intact. p.38
Thanks Mary Lee and Cathy I absolutely agree with your comments as well on Mary Lee's post -you two hit it out of park for me!!
In tribute to the game I love here is a small clip-enjoy!
Grab the marshmallows, the chocolate and graham crackers and come along with Wonderopolis tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET for their first virtual campfire conversations on twitter. Hurry it's not to late,if you don't have a twitter account it's easy. Just google twitter and open an account-it's free and a great way to communicate with many people from all over the world. When you log on to twitter, use the hashtag #WonderChat after you leave your comments. Camp opened today with the wonder of What Does Poison Ivy Look Like? I've already been to the grocery store and ready for the conversation at 8:00.
