What's happening in 6th grade?
Sorry to be so cliche... Going to use this space to share some personal/professional goals and initiatives I have set for myself this year. I have "bitten off a lot of the cookie" but it helps to hold myself accountable by "putting it all out there! It's going to be awesome!
Let's get to it: Personal Goals:
I share these goals so that there may be some degree of accountability... Now that they are out there, it's written and documented. These are my goals for the 2017-18 School Year! Bonus! Looking Ahead to Next Year... Gamification is on the horizon... Don't want to bite off more than I can chew this year, but look forward to researching more about badging systems in gamified classrooms. I think this will be easier to manage than XP systems, but hey - that's why this is in the works for next year!
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The other day, I was talking about some of the changes in my classroom this year with an esteemed colleague of mine. She is a very experienced retired teacher and now works as an instructional aide to some of our middle school students with learning needs and also helps the teachers in carrying out differentiated instruction. She pointed out, "Wow. You are really making them think this year!" In years past, I may have been a little apprehensive of pushing all students to this point... in my naivety. Perhaps in some ways thinking that some students only needed the basic learning/understanding. Boy, was I wrong! It is in this thinking, STRETCHING, reaching beyond our comfort zone that we learn! We cannot learn new things unless we venture into the unknown! Unless we act upon what we know or are learning. If we do not challenge our students to think critically and respond critically to what they are learning, we are not preparing them to do so on their own in the future. All of our teaching and instruction should be oriented toward stretching their thinking!
No no! Not this type of stretching! This looks painful!
Just as we stretch before we exercise, stretching our thinking and brains allows us to push ourselves further as we warm up on our walk or jog! As we and students begin to think critically by analyzing, evaluating, and finding solutions, we are training our mind to work harder in the future.
Have you ever thought of it this way? If we only ever prepare our students to listen, memorize, and take tests, what are we preparing them for in the future? Umm... Their Driver's Test? The SAT? (Not really!) Maybe MAT and GRE? The Praxis Tests for our future "mini-me's"? No! I have very little else to look forward to in the future, if this is the case! We must challenge our students to stretch, create, and find solutions! In my Social Studies class, I plan to continue to encourage students to engage in current events in our community, state, country, and world! Beyond simple reflection and summarizing, what can THEY do about it? How can they respond to these events and local happenings? Is there a solution to a problem? A person or people to comfort or reach out to? This is stretching beyond traditional consumption of information. In this case, I hope that my students will take the information, think and DO SOMETHING about it. If they do this, they are stretching their minds much further than a traditional "once-and-done" assignment mentality. In the end, let's encourage our students to THINK, TO STRETCH beyond their comfort zone and DO SOMETHING about what they are learning! p.s. This reminds me of a popular song! See below!
I would consider myself to be successful and well-formed product of the factory/industrialized style of education. I was prepared for college after a very traditional (lecture, regurgitate, and repeat) high school experience. Perhaps this was because my own college experience was very similar! Upon deeper reflection and being out of college for several years now, I realize that I've learned stuff, stuff, and more stuff. I had never actually learned how to learn! Before college, I learned how to listen, how to study notes that had been given to me, and to a much lesser extent... how to read to derive key meaning from a text. (Disclaimer: I have been blessed with teachers who have continued to inspire and motivate me to be the best I can in everything I do. They have inspired me to continue on this journey of learning through my adult years.) The following tweet perfectly encapsulates how I was prepared throughout much of my own education for the world and career ahead of me!
Thankfully, I heard this message relentlessly as a student, even if through more traditional learning and instructional methods. It is very easy to prepare students to be master "Trivia Crack"ers or Jeopardy players, but are we preparing our students to learn and discover in a world where all of this "trivia" is at their finger tips in the form of a phone or tablet... or watch?!? (Who knew?) That's up for debate and reflection depending on our own practices in our classrooms. I know I'm working toward moving away from forming "Trivia Crackers!!" In a generation in which the differentiation of assignments was even somehow standardized, I had very little exposure to exploring the creative realm. (For example, I can specifically remember in my Junior Year Honors' English Class, we were all assigned to create the same sock puppet video of a scene from MacBeth! Very fun and memorable, but this was not personalized in any way. Students had very little "wiggle room" to show their learning in their own preferred modes and methods. "Differing" from the norm of regular traditional direct instruction to create many of the same product is not differentiating curriculum.) We have the opportunity to open up a world of creativity and change mindsets of our students. Let's change our students' expectations from solely being consumers of the information we spew at them to curators, learners, explorers, researchers, creators, and so on! This will not be easy. It's going to require some work up front on our behalves. We are going to need to break from the traditional methods we grew up with in order to learn best practices in a 21st century classroom. We need to seek out best practices to encourage creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking among our learners. Many students will come into our classrooms expecting to consume and spit back information. This must change. You can do it. In my first four plus years of teaching, I have watched and marveled at picturesque Starbucks-like classrooms all over social media - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and PINTEREST. I've never done "a reveal" but am giving it a shot this year! This is it: my work in progress toward a more student-centered choice-filled classroom as I venture into what seems "quasi-flexible seating" for this year I have heard many critics say "Isn't flexible seating for second grade?" (I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grades!) My response is now somewhere along the lines of... (in a kinder more charitable tone) "Not unless older students' learning is done in passive, disengaged fashion in cemetery style seating!" Again, would never say this, but this is the realization I have come to! The goal is to create a classroom the students can collaborate, choose, be comfortable, and also... LEARN in. Disclaimer: My classroom is my "movement toward" the true "more traditional" flexible seating. In my class, I am presenting options for seating with many of the traditional desks I need to have in my room this year. That's okay! I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of options in seating I have been able to finagle! I believe the principle behind flexible seating is truly student-choice. This is my guiding principle! Here is my favorite place in the room! Love the bean bags. They're super comfy. :) The desks in the corner are NOT for "the difficult kids..." This is another place for students to choose to learn! Some students may choose to work with less distractions and hope this provides them the option! A view of some pods and rows. Again. Choice! Maybe you noticed... NO TEACHER DESK?!?! I am very excited to have shed this "paper and junk collector" from my classroom in order to create more instructional spaces for my students. I plan to use this table as a small group instruction table and double as my desk when there are no students in my room. Wait... What will I do when the students are in there?! Work with the students! Completely avoiding the temptation of sitting behind a desk when I could instead be working with students. #NODESK #FTW Psst... Inspired by Ed Casey and Dave Burgess, beginning school year with "What's in the box?" Want to engage students and build relationships right off the bat! Love this! My sister bought me an air plant. Just had to share. Bet she had no idea he would be so special in my classroom! :) Ha! That about does it for the "big reveal!" My classroom never looks the same in January as it does in August/September. I'm sure this year will be no different - although who knows! I'm super excited to dive into this blended learning adventure with more student choice built into classroom design.
We'll see how it goes! I look forward to getting student feedback. Maybe they will have other ideas in creating a better learning space! T-19 days. 2017-18 School Year, Here we come! |
About MeLouie here! 5th Grade Teacher. Level 2 Google Educator. Love all things Google. 1:1 Chromebooks. Archives
June 2020
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