Purposeful Postcards!

 I recieved a wonderful teaching tip from a friend of mine who is in her first year of teaching first grade.  She asks her student's parents and families to send the class postcards from places that they visit throughout the school year. When she recieves the postcards she then reads them to the class and they look up the location of the postcard on their giant classroom world map. I LOVE this idea and I think it would be a wonderful way to incorporate geography into your day.  It seems to me that you would want to introduce this idea to parents at your curriculum night so that you could explain your idea and answer any questions brought up.  My teacher friend enjoys doing this and says it is also wonderful pick-me-up to recieve postcards periodically throughout the year because her box is usually filled with district mail etc. She says it always brightens her mood and the students feel so important recieving mail. I was thinking you could take this activity a step farther by displaying the postcards in a fun way and by having students create their own postcards and mailing them.  What a great way to help students of any grade experience that writing is fun and purposeful.  I can't wait to try it in my own classroom someday!
 
   - Christy

     

(Final Fall Quarter Post) A Tale of Two Classrooms!

     As the quarter comes to an end, I am very thankful for professors who are understanding and a cohort that is so supportive! This has by far been the most challenging quarter in my academic career thus far.  The difficulty for me was in balancing all of the demands on my time and energy with the full coarse load and the work in the dyad.  Early in the quarter my mother-in-law was rushed to the emergency room and was admitted into the ICU.  She collapsed at her house and nearly died.  She spent five weeks in the hospital.  Because of my in-laws mental state, my husband and I have had to manage their care, finances, and the de-cluttering of their home.  We are still continuing to work on this.  To make matters worse, my last living grandparent recently passed away, leaving my husband and I to take on all of the responsibilities of handling her funeral arraignments etc.  These events added to an already busy life as a wife, mom, full time student and preschool teacher at Bothell Daycare and Preschool. 

      Even though I feel mentally and physically exhausted, I am proud of the fact that I have been able to keep up with all of my class assignments and assigned readings.  It is nothing short of a miracle that I have been able to complete "A" quality work and turn in all of my assignments on time. the only academic area of struggle for me this quarter has been my blogging.  Due to my added role of parent advocate and caregiver to my mother-in-law, I was late in starting my blogs this quarter.  I also struggled with what to writer about, often feeling like I needed to write a substantial blog but not having the time or energy to complete it.  fortunately, I was able to get caught up with my blogging.  I have my dyad and Jane to thank for that!  Jane reminded me that my blogs aren't intended to be super lengthy and essay quality.  The bright spot of my quarter "my Jr. high dyad," also helped me by giving me quite a bit of inspiration lately for my blogging.   As it turns out, my blogging has actually given me an outlet in which to share my feeling about teaching, learning, and the student experience.  It has also been helpful to give and receive blog responses.  It feels good to connect with my peers in this way and to have your blog posting affirmed by others.   

By far, my most memorable blog posting was my November 9th blog titled "When do we step in and what message does this send?"  This blog entry was very meaningful to me because I shared about an uncomfortable dyad experience I had in which I felt I had to step in and do something when I noticed a student repeatedly hitting another student during an all school assembly.  It felt good to express my feelings about the incident and to receive peer comments expressing support for my decision.  Today, a month after that incident, my dyad school had another assembly, a winter musical performance from the band and choir.  As I saw the same students from my prior incident and the teacher who chose not to respond to the hitting, I was affirmed in my choice to intervene.  It was the right decision for me and I have no  regrets about it. 

     Looking ahead, I am glad that this quarter is ending and that I will have a few weeks to devote more time toward the needs of my family.  I am also glad that I can start winter quarter with a "clean blog slate" because I need one!  I will leave you with a great summation of some of the things I have learned this quarter.  The following image and link says it much better (and more concise) than I could.  It is called: A Tale of Two Classrooms.

I definitely want to be a "Classroom B" type of teacher!



http://t.co/Nj6t8TMO

~ Christy

What Will Your Sign Say?

 

           One thing that has surprised me about Jr. High is the number of signs that that teachers post in their classrooms.  While visiting the different classrooms I noticed that almost all of them contain signs of various sizes and topics and they usually display some sort of positive message.  Most encourage students by saying something to the effect of "TRY HARD," "DO YOUR BEST," or they talk about the importance of learning.  Two signs in particular caught my attention for different reasons.  The first is the sign that I like the least out of all the signs that I have seen.  This sign faces students and is posted on the side of a Social Studies teacher's desk. The sign (posted below) states, "Students who don't study will work for those who did." The teacher who posted it shared that it is his favorite saying and that he hopes his 7th and 8th grade students will take the words to heart and it will encourage them to study harder.   I dislike this sign because I find it to be insensitive toward students.   How will our ELL or Special Education students feel about this sign?  Not all students learn the same way or can study as effectively as other students.  Will this make them feel inferior?   As I was taking a picture of this sign after class ended, two students actually approached me and told me that they thought that the sign was "offensive."  This sign left me wondering what message it is sending to students and how are they receiving it?   

                                                                                                      

        The other sign that stood out to me stated, "SCHOOL prepares you for your future! Deciding how "bright" of a future you want is up to you! The decisions you make today do affect your FUTURE!"  According to the 8th and 9th grade English teacher who has this sign posted on the outside of her door, she hopes that students will be inspired and that they will take their role as student seriously.  She explained that she is always trying to get students to think about their future and to understand that choices they make today will affect them in grades to come.  What I found interesting was that both signs are intended by their teachers' to encourage increased effort and productivity from students.  These signs leave me wondering, which sign would be more effective and is the teacher's intended message coming across to students?

~ Christy

How Important Is Classroom Layout?

    Over the past few months at my Jr. High Dyad placement, I have made a point of popping into every classroom in the school.  Visiting every room is a wonderful way to get comfortable with the layout of the school and introduce yourself to faculty.  I also enjoy seeing the many different ways that teachers set up their classrooms.  The layout of a classroom is so important.  This is the space in which our students spend the majority of their day and where they sit and who they sit next to can have a huge impact upon their learning.

    I love seeing the different teacher desk and student desk arrangements and asking the teacher to explain the reason behind their choice in classroom layout.  I found it interesting that about half of the teachers I asked had chosen their classroom design for a specific reason and the other half said that they hadn't given it much thought or they just kept the same arraignment that was already established in the room when it became their classroom.   Those teachers who purposefully set up their classrooms in a certain manner, shared the following rational for their choice of layout.

 

1. Individual desks, separated from others, facing forward (the most common arrangement) 

    - This allows students space from others, helps keep negative behaviors at bay, and promotes

      independent work.

 

2. Desks grouped in pairs, facing toward the center of the room (so half the room faces the other half)

    - (Least common arrangement -My dyad teacher is the only teacher to arranged their desks in this  

       way) This set up promotes partner work and whole class discussions.

 

3.  Desks grouped in pairs, facing forward (2nd most common arraignment)  

    - This set up makes "pair sharing" and partner work easier. Several teachers matched one male

     student with a female student) 

 

4.  Desks arranged in groups of four. (only a few classrooms used this arrangement)

      - This set up promotes group collaboration

 

  Once I had visited all of the classrooms and had heard from each teacher about the reason behind their classroom layout, I wanted to get the student perspective.   The 7th and 8th grade students that I asked in our first and fifth period classes were more than happy to inform me of their favorite layout.  By far, the majority of the students I asked (about 50 total) said that they liked sitting in pairs the best.  They said that they enjoyed partner work much more than working independently or even in groups of three or more.  Only a hand full of students said they preferred sitting alone at a single desk. The few students who liked sitting by themselves said that they preferred to work independently or they didn't like pair or group work.  As a future educator, I found it very interesting to hear both the teacher and student perspective on classroom layout, and it will no doubt come in handy when I am preparing to set up my own classroom in the future.  

 

What are your thoughts on this topic? I would love to hear other opinions on the variety and importance of classroom layout. 

                                                                        

~ Christy

Book Circle Group Project: Lisa Delpit

WHO I AM AS A TEACHER

Is it Possible to Reach All Middle School Students?

          The more time I spend observing and teaching in the middle school classroom, the more I wonder if it is possible for teachers to reach all of their students. This question has been on my mind for the past two months straight.  It seems nearly impossible to make a connection with each student every school day, when educators have less than an hour per class to connect with any given student, and that student is one of 130+ students in five different classes.  Teachers seem to understand that getting to know their students is a priory and is a crucial element to building a positive classroom community. Knowing each student is more than remembering their name and where they sit in the classroom.  Knowing each student means being aware of how they learn best, what their interests are, and understanding their culture and community.  If truly connecting with students is a priority as teachers, how then can this be accomplished with so many students and so little time?   What are your thoughts?

~ Christy