Focus - Chapter 4

After reading this chapter, I have to agree with Kari.  It was hard to figure out how this applied to me being a speech pathologist that doesn't teach reading.  The one piece of the chapter that stood out to me though was focusing at least one day a week on reading current articles.  Looking back on my high school career, I have to admit that for some reason I checked out on reading and only read the novels to complete be able to complete the assignments/tests.  I feel that this was in large part was due to the fact that I had a hard time connecting to the novels to what was going on in my life at that time.  I do believe that if my teachers would have focused at least some of the reading on current events, I would have been able to connect more to reading at that age.

Data Toolkit: Ch. 4

When I started reading this chapter I was really discouraged, because it says in a "Healthy educational system" 80% to 85% of the students should be in the green and blue zones, 10% to 15% in the yellow zone, and 5% in the red zone. At the beginning of the year 27% of my kids were in the red zone for EasyCBM word reading, 39% were in the yellow zone, and 34% were in the green zone. This doesn't come anywhere close to the "Healthy educational system" standard of 80% to 85% on or above level. I recently did a progress monitor for word reading and was a little encouraged to find that now my red zone group is down to 15%. My yellow group is now 46%, and green zone is 39%.
My biggest frustration this year has been not having interventions for my red zone kids. Yellow zone kids recieve interventions through ECRI. I was glad to see my number of kids in the red zone decrease, but because I have so many students who are so low, I have not been able to teach to the top like I want. I feel like I constantly have to hold back to try to get the kids who at the bottom on board. It's not fair to the students who are at grade level and ready to learn.
I was encouraged as I read toward the end of the chapter where it talked about the growth that Riverview had in Kindergarten, and the first grade classroom had using ECRI. This is my first year teaching ECRI, so it's nice to see that the schools who have been using it have seen such great growth.

Focus Ch 4

As I read through this chapter, I couldn't help but think, How does this apply to me, a high needs sped teacher? I have one student who reads about 200 words and one that reads 34 words. Yes, we work on sight reading with MOST of the students, but we spend LOTS of time on letter recognition and recognizing their first name and when they get their first name, we work on last name. (I currently have 3 that recognize their first and last name, and 5 that don't even recognize their first name.) Reading really is not high on our priority list here. We do focus a lot more on functional tasks.

I did consider my son though. He is in second grade and is above grade level in reading, however his fluency is low. He doesn't really enjoy reading. His love is math, which he also does very well in. I have had these grand ideas of him reading chapter books, but so far, he's said they are too hard. I'm thinking it's more that there are a lot of words on the page. I'm thinking that over his Christmas vacation he will be reading a lot!!! I'm actually looking forward to it. I think that a trip to the library is in order.

I will say that when I was reading the chapter I felt that the fifth grade reading list that was mentioned had books listed that I would not WANT my son reading in the fifth grade due to the content of the books. Some of them I read as a high school student and the content is just too much for fifth grade. I shared some of this with my staff and one of my staff mentioned that her high school daughter had to read a short story last night that was full of curse words and gambling, which is not appropriate for her daughter to be reading. I worry that we may be pushing the wrong kind of reading. I have no problem pushing kids to read more and do better, but the content needs to be appropriate.

Focus: Chapter 4

Very interesting chapter and it hit a little close to home when Schmoker was describing the elementary years as "skills kill" because of the enormous amount of time (and often worksheets) that reinforce the numerous subskills that follow our state standards and are taught in our reading programs. One of the best parts of my day is when our Title teachers (5 of them) flood in for reading groups. I work with a different group each week and for 30 minutes everyday my students are all (yes, all) engaged and receiving reading instruction that is scaffolded to their level. We do some word work and flashcards as a warm-up for the reading, but then it's straight reading with rich conversations that follow each story. Without these conversations, I would not have learned nearly as much about their personal lives or interests. Hearing my students make connections to text makes me understand them better and allows me to better meet their needs. Now I just want to find the balance between incorporating the teaching of the subskills that often need to be explicitly taught (and yes, give them the paper/pencil tasks) while also allowing for time to have independent reading and time to reflect on their reading. If I can instill a love of reading in my first graders, then I know I've done right by my students.

Data: Analyze your students

I definitely agree that "teaching to the top" can feel rewarding when you see students learning and hear their progress and see their work; however, then I see that the Red Zone students didn't catch on and are still struggling which makes my previous success seem negated. Somedays I get discouraged when I feel like I am not doing enough for my Red Zone students, but then I remind myself to step back and look at my data-- progress monitoring, word lists, daily instruction etc... and then I see the baby steps and even if the progress is small--- it is progress!! I have used Tool 4 to show where my students were at in the Fall for Reading and Math and I am excited to see my next round of Easy CBM data in January. I have already seen awesome progress using the Rebecca Sitton Word List for sight word fluency (some of my Red Zone kids went from reading 12 words to 35 - 40 words in just a few weeks) and I believe that my core phonics and reading instruction from ECRI is really making all the difference. So even though I can get bogged down and feel discouraged when my students continue to struggle with certain subjects, I know am trying my best to teach to the top and remember that progress is progress!

Analyze Your Students

One of the main focuses of this chapter talked about "Creating the Standard," in order to better analyze the data of your students.  This is one of the struggles that I have dealt with in terms of tracking my speech/language data with the students that I see for services.  With so many different goals, it is difficult to monitor progress in each area to really assess the progress that they are making, especially in the area of language.  The SLPs in the district have very limited time to collaborate together to better align how we are monitoring progress across the schools.  Hopefully we can continue to share our ideas via email since our time together is limited.

Analyze your students

I have found that teaching to the top is very rewarding when your students reach the top and go beyond. I have also found that with my struggling students it is very overwhelming and they often will shut down before even realizing they can get to the top. Teaching to the "top" I think and have found will look different for every student. I realized with my struggling students they need to have very small goals to build the confidence they need to try to reach the "top".

English Language Arts Made Simple

I thought it was interesting when he said "Let's face it: reading is the most important subject in school. It's more important than all the other subjects combined." I am struggling with this idea not because I disagree but because I am starting to see it more and more. My struggling reading students struggle in math not because they can't do the work but because they can not read and understand the problem or read and understand the different strategies. They are struggling in writing because they lack sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary that they are exposed to in reading. There are definitely ways to go about teaching these students math, writing and other subjects but I worry about when they are expected to do it on their own if they will really be able to. They are the students that need the most exposure to reading yet they are not getting it at home, there is only a certain amount of hours in the day and all the other students who need you as well.

Excited about AP Data

We all have felt the challenge of keeping high standards:  Students are grumpy because they have to work and think.  Admin is grumpy because grades can look lower than those for other teachers of the same class. Parents are grumpy for a combination of these reasons.  Teachers are pushed to “bump” grades up at the end of grading periods.  It can get so tempting to cave.  You just get so tired of fighting both when grading and teaching (Maybe I’ll just show a movie!).

When you care about students learning at a high level it can be lonely.  You have your own personal set of ethics and often not much else to motivate you forward.  In high school, when you are responsible for students for such a short period of time (50 min. a day for one year, sometimes only half), there is no real responsibility for slacking.  It’s hard to take the blame or credit for a student’s failure or success because so many teachers have been and are currently involved in their education. 

Today I just discovered a way that might change:  AP Chemistry.  I think I might get to teach it next year!  A coworker just emailed me a set of AP test data for our school to use for my data project.  If I can improve on past AP test scores it would actually be something concrete, tangible that I can point to and say “Hey, I did that!”

Do you get positive reinforcement for high standards in your building?

Any thoughts about how we might encourage high standards at the high school?

Focus: Ch. 4

The following passages really caught my attention:
"Every year, every student needs to spend hundreds of hours actually reading, writing, and speaking for intellectual purposes." How can we expect students to become readers without allowing hours and hours of time to practice. There is a huge gap in my classroom between the readers and non-readers. I have six kids in my class who are reading chapter books, 4 who are right on grade level, and the rest are below. Many are well below grade level. It's obvious which kids have been exposed to books their entire short lives, and which see books as foreign objects.

"Wide, abundant reading is the surest route out of poverty and the limitations that impose themselves on the less literate." I often look at my kids who are "have-nots," and wonder what the future will hold for them. This line really inspired me. I could be one of the biggest factors in these kids' lives to free them from generational poverty, simply by turning them into readers.

On page 105 Schmoker quotes Smith 2006, saying  "When we unnecessarily elongate the process of "learning to read," we postpone "reading to learn" --learning itself-- by years. It's that simple. Students aren't truly mature readers until they can read and recognize about 50,000 words. This many words can't be learned by having students sound out, syllabicate, or learn each one. The only way they can be learned is for us to insure that they read, by today's standards, enormous, unprecedented amounts of reading material." Obviously for students to become readers they must learn basic decoding skills, but one of my frustrations with our reading curriculum is that I feel like it introduces new skills too slowly. It feels like we are "unnecessarily elongating the process of learning to read." Schmoker says, "Virtually any student can learn the mechanics of reading to decode grade-level text in about 100 days." Are the publishers of our curriculum trying to stretch to skills over the whole first grade year, rather than the first 100 days?  

Storytelling

I am not a huge talker, at least that is what I have been told.  When in conversations I often find myself poised with an idea, ready to get the next word in, but beat to the punch by someone else in the group.  This happens with great frequency when someone launches into a story.  I can never tell when the story teller is finally going to finish up so that I can attempt (but probably fail) to contribute.  My hope rises and falls like a sine curve (I know how you all enjoy my science/math references) at each pause, optimistic that I might get my chance, then disappointed as they continue to prattle on.  The floor will inevitably be passed to another story teller and then I will stand there silent, like an idiot

When I do talk I like to be concise.  I was not a fan of story-telling teachers as a student.  I would usually figure out the point of the story far before its end and be annoyed that the teacher wouldn't get it over with and move on.  (I was, as are all high school students, a delightful teenager).

So, when Kim asked us last month to experiment with a new instructional technique, one that we were not comfortable with, I immediately thought I should give story telling a go.  As I am reminded on a more than daily basis my students and I are not particularly alike, so I know I can’t necessarily teach them as  I like to be taught.

My husband has this story about kindergartners in a school bus that he uses as an analogy to explain London dispersion forces.  I expanded on his ideas a bit and gave it a whirl.  I have been experimenting with other analogies/stories in chemistry as well.

I have noticed when I do this: about a third (mostly lowest third of grades) tune me out and start talking with their neighbor (oh! a story, I don’t have to pay attention), about a third (top third of grades) freaks out (worried they won’t understand the analogy enough to maintain their As?), and about a third of the class seems to stay calm and more or less understand. 

As always I would appreciate your ideas and advice about improving my story telling.

I am also curious about story vs. analogy - It’s hard for me to tell stories in chemistry and math that aren't some form of analogy, but maybe I need to try to come up with something?  Do you think this would appeal to the students more?

Chapter 3: HOW WE TEACH

Blog Post about Chapter 3 (10/30)  HOW WE TEACH

I really liked reading about the research on elements of effective lessons and the idea of Conley’s four intellectual standards.  It was nice to read the highlights of what great researchers recommend for best teaching practices.  All of the suggestions are things that I learned when I did my education degree work but it is good to be reminded of them.  I also think that the current work in implementing Common Core Standards makes the work of simplifying the curriculum easier and focusing on objectives easier also.  I have seen this year how this shift to Common Core also is igniting a new discussion on assessment and how do we know what students know.  My main “take-away” from this chapter though is how much formative assessment really makes a difference in student learning outcomes.  Schmoker gives an example of an Ohio professor who uses clickers to check for understanding and the classes he uses these in perform a full letter grade better than other classes! (page 69)  I like the idea of using the clickers because everyone gets a chance to answer and there is no opting out.  Normally when I ask a question and use partner share and then call on a few students, you still only get to hear a few point of views and you don’t know what everyone is thinking or if one kid had a great insight.  I definitely agree that “we must ensure that every student is responding, multiple times, to questions throughout the lecture.” (page 73)  I remember going to a PD one time and the speaker said you have to give more chances to struggling students.  The point that really hit me was if you call on the students who raise their hands and know the answer you are giving more chances to students who already understand and those who don’t, when compounded over their school career, received tons (don’t remember how many) fewer opportunities to explain their thinking.  Sometimes when a lesson is tough and students aren’t getting it, it is easy to just call on the students who do raise their hand to help move the lesson along but I have realized that this doesn’t help the whole class. 

Disclaimer: Sorry everyone that some of these posts are from chapters from a while ago.  I finally figured out what was wrong and why I couldn't post and now am a contributor!  Yeah!  Thanks to those of you who helped me! 

Reflection about Chapter 2 (9/25)  WHAT WE TEACH

From the moment I started reading Schmokers “Focus” I was hooked because I love the idea that how we teach and what we teach does not have to be super complicated.  I wanted to know what are these simple things that I can do that have more impact than when I spend all sorts of time planning something elaborate?!  In my own experience, I have recently realized how since we have so much (materials, resources, PD, best practices websites, etc.) here in America it often stretches us too thin because we are trying to implement too many things partially.  When I taught and had very few supplemental resources and only a textbook at first it was hard but later I found that I became a stronger teacher because of it.  I didn’t waste time trying to decide what to do with multiple methods or materials, I used what I had and made the best of it. 

I also really like how literacy is the “spine” of everything we do as teachers and that we have to be engaging students with reading and writing and the textbook!  When I think of my own college career, textbook reading and lectures were the ways that you gained almost 100% of the content area knowledge.  This is what we have to prepare our students for if we want them to be successful college graduates.  I admit I was very guilty previously of using picture books, video clips, or non-fiction trade books instead of the text many times because my students never found the textbook very engaging.  But now I have realized that instead of supplanting other texts I just need to use methods and strategies to make the textbook engaging and teach them how to comprehend it and push them out of their comfort zone.  I can still supplement with other materials but reading the textbook has to be more of my “focus”. 

Chapter 4: Analyze Your Students

This chapter reinforces what I know to be true.  As teachers we need to be very aware of where our students are and have quantitative data to design intervention for those that do not meet the standard and for the purpose of tracking how students are performing.  We cannot pull students from their grade level core instruction.  Students need to hear grade level vocabulary, work with other students in homogeneous groupings, and allow all students to participate in discussion.  Kids learn from each other and learn the most when they have to teach another.
The students I am working with on my portfolio project this year are all in the yellow and red zones on the data triangle.  My most intensive kids have historically been pulled from core instruction and go to the title room for reading and vocabulary instruction.  They are not progressing and haven't for years, and there is no data to indicate if anything was ever done to help them bridge the gap.
.  It take a lot of work initially to set up the intervention.  I have to schedule time that does not conflict with core instruction when I can work with individual students or small groups. I have to make sure the rest of my class is working independently on worthwhile and challenging activities.  I have to set up a progress monitoring system to make sure I am keeping appropriate data that will be formative as well as summative.  It can feel overwhelming but when a student begins to feel good about reading and school I will take the sleepless nights!

Data Class: Chapter 3

So far this school year, I have felt like I have had more time to collaborate with the other SLPs in the district than the previous two years I have worked here since we have a working lunch scheduled two time per month (horizontal). In previous years, we only met once a month which made it very difficult to share ideas and problem solve. The downside to this added meeting with the SLPs is that it takes me away from meetings at my home school to collaborate with the classroom teachers (vertical across all grades). My goal would be to be able to find another time/way to collaborate with teachers because I feel like both forms of collaboration are equally important.

Chapter 3

The part of the chapter that most affected me this time around was about the importance of clear learning objectives.  That is something I have somewhat struggled with since most of my kids can't read until the end of the year so if I write them they seem to be mostly for my benefit and honestly with switching my license between 3 states and now adding in common core it is sometimes hard to keep all the objectives straight.  Our principal just bought us new objectives charts and in assembling my objectives, I decided on posting only objectives that have the words WITH an easy to understand icon that accompanies it.  While I was referring to my posted objectives before, now that they have icons my kids are much more invested in them and can  better express to others what they are learning.  I also typed up a checklist of those objectives (in the form of I Can statements) from the Common Core as well as my social studies and science objectives from Oregon in the same format and based off of this chapter I'm going to try to send home the checklist to parents on a regular basis to get the parents as invested in the objectives as their kids are beginning to be.  I'm glad this chapter coincided with the new focus of my school on getting the objectives posted and the book got me motivated to dive slightly more thoroughly into that process than I may have done otherwise.

Data Toolkit: Ch. 3

I think someone else already posted about this, but I like what it said about the importance of not only meeting with "Horizontal" teams, but also "vertical" teams. It's really important to know where the kids are coming from and where they are going.
I am excited to learn more about the Common Core as our district moves in that direction. The concept of it seems like a no-brainer. One of my grade level team members came from a district in Arizona that used Common Core, and she speaks very highly of it. I think that it will really help us with question #1, "What do we want each student to learn?" because we all need to be on the same page.
I love how question # 2, "How will we know when each student has learned it?" ties in so well with what we read in Focus this month. It talks about checking for understanding which is what I have really been focusing on the last couple weeks.
Question #3 is what I have been struggling with most. "How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?" My tier 2 kids are getting an intervention, but my tier 3 kids, who need it most, are not. This has been incredibly frustrating for me. I do what I can, when I can in the classroom, but they really need extra small group support.

More Thoughts on Time: The Small Things

When I went to grad school my favorite master teacher there always talked about the small things that make it or break it for student success.  He taught us the importance of making sure all papers given to students were three hole-punched so that they could go into their binders, about the nuances of grading that could keep a student that didn’t turn in a final project, but learned the science from failing. 

When it comes to our success I think it is the small things that make the difference too.  The two other physical science teachers that I work with are at the opposite sides of the building for me so I never see them to talk about common assessments or lessons that worked well.  We share supplies so science teachers spend a lot of time walking the halls to get what we need to run class.  Small “one time” meetings here and there have prevented our PLC group from working together on a Wednesday for well over a month.  The small things done during scheduling keep us apart too.  An extra new math class for a teacher to teach or volatile combinations of struggling students in the same periods, these seem like small things, I'm sure, when the huge job of master scheduling is in front of you, but they eat away at our time and effect student success. 

What do you think?  What small things eat away at your time and sanity?  

Data Class-Chapter 3

As I started reading this chapter, I was thinking, "Hey, we're doing that stuff!" Data without conversation doesn't mean anything. As a high-needs special ed team, the five teachers in the district spent many hours last year working on a continuum of curriculum. If I have kids working through the same curriculum for six years in my classroom and they move on to something totally unfamiliar in year 7, then it's back to square one for them. On the other hand, if I don't know what students are expected to know in the high school program, what help can I be to those teachers if I'm not at least laying out a base for them to build on. It's hard to collaborate horizontally, but we do a pretty good job vertically. We even created a brochure last year that explains each of the five programs and the curricula that are used in each.

Guiding Questions Put on Hold

For the first three years of my time at LHS my work concentrated on what was going on in my own classroom out of necessity.  What would I teach my students the very next day?  Did I have the supplies I needed to teach?  Was I ready? This year, finally, I no longer find myself in survival mode.  Sometimes I get to think about what project I will choose to work on next.  I sometimes leave from school for the day with all my grading caught up!

I am finally in a place where I have the time and calm mindset that would allow me to truly collaborate.  My department is at the very beginning of the work of a data team: outlining and agreeing upon the most important topics for our class together and looking at the best ways to teach.  We have a lot of work to do.

The real problem is now that I have finally tackled my own personal struggles with limited time (at least for this year) these problems remain for my data group.  In September we planned that we would have some preliminary common assessment data on a state science inquiry project on pulse rate by the end of October.  I have data, I have no idea if anyone else does, and I have no assurances about when we will be able to work together next. 

I agree with Kathy.  The advice given in Hess and Robbins is great – I just don’t know when we will have the chance to follow it.

Focus Ch 3

As I was reading through this chapter, I kind of had a "well, duh" attitude. Those are things I MUST do in my classroom. We CONSTANTLY check for understanding and we do not move on if the student hasn't mastered the concept.

I had a very candid discussion with my principal about this yesterday. In my classroom we have the incredible opportunity to work one on one with students for their academics. This allows us to work at 8 different levels in reading, writing, and math for 8 different students. In our curriculum, we DO NOT move on unless a student has shown that they can perform a task 3/3 times for two consecutive days. We also have the flexibility to go back if a student regresses. In the last year and a half, we have seen SO much growth in our students because they must master a concept before moving on.

We do have one full group session per day where we are working on  basic classroom skills, like raising your hand and waiting your turn. When my students raise their hand quietly, they DO get called on to take a turn every time. They may have to wait for one person to go before them, but they do get their turn.

I do see where it would be beneficial in a gen ed classroom to do frequent checks for understanding. I also like the idea of not having kids always raise their hand. It would be a lot more difficult to know if ALL the students have mastered a concept and would take way too much time to get to every student individually.

On a side note, I did laugh at the football player comment. :) Before I read that he was kidding, I was impressed. I shared with my staff. :)

Book Study: Chapter 3

One of the pieces that stood out in this chapter for me was focusing on teaching vocabulary before reading new vocabulary in a text.  So many of the students I work with have vocabulary building goals, and I would love to be able to help pre-teach vocabulary that my students will be hearing in the classroom in order to improve their understanding of new concepts.  On of the obstacles I have come across is being able to access the vocabulary that teachers are using in the classroom since I work with so many different grades/teachers.  I would love to figure out a system for me to know what vocabulary that is being taught in each class other than going to each teacher individually.

Data Study - Chapter 3

As I spent 6 hours flying across the country last week I had time to ponder what I would change in my teaching in order to make sure my students are understanding or feeling motivated and engaged.  I feel like I have come up with three things that I already do but need to spend more time with.  I really would like more time in collaboration with my teaching partner.  We talk all day about how things are going but never seem to have time to really sit down and plan or talk about change.  It seems ot always be on the fly.  THis is very frustrating to me.  Our 1/2 days are filled with district tasks and the one day we did get collaboration time was this week when I had taken vacation to see my son on the east coast.  Argh!  The next thing I would like to do a better job of in my classroom is giving students more opportunity for reflection across the content areas.  I find this practice to be very valuable to me and I think it helps students feel that what they think and want is so important.  I plan to try and incorporate this once a week in each area.  THey have a writing journal and this could be used as a way to get them writing as well as gain informationm about their personal journey as students in fourth grade.  The third area I want to improve is the time my students spend with writing.  I love to teach writing but it seems that there is never enough time in the day, week, month to really get into a task and take one piece to completion.  I did this before I left on my Thanksgiving break and the kids finished the writing during the short week.  The ones I have read are wonderful and creative.  They struggle to get going but when I give them enough time they do a great job and become more comfortable with this type of communication.  I think the common denominator is TIME.  There is never enough of it. 

Data Toolkit: Ch. 2

Like Amber said, "Better late, than never!" I was late getting this book, so here goes my post from last month.
The problem that I am facing in my first grade class is that many of my students are coming into my class without the skills they should have learned in kindergarten. Because of this a large percentage of my students are reading well below grade level.
I feel really stressed, because there is a lot of pressure to get these students where they need to be by the end of the year. I also feel frustrated that I'm not able to give as much attention to the students who are on track.
The data that I have for reading is running records and EasyCBM progress monitoring.
The data is telling me that these kids need a lot of support.
I am trying to come up with as many opportunities as I can for these students to get extra support, whether it be interventions, peer tutors, or small group/ one on one time with me.

Focus-Chapter 3

During the first couple months of school I was guilty of calling on the students who raised their hands, but quickly noticed the pattern of who was going to raise their hand every time, and who was going to fly under the radar. The kids who were raising their hands were the ones who I already knew knew the answers. In the past couple of weeks I have had a couple different trainings that have helped me with this, and it really aligns with what Schmoker says in the section for checking for understanding. Since then I have been limiting my questions that allow for one or two students to answer by being called on. In ECRI training I learned that if a question has a short answer that I can use a hand signal to have the students give a choral response. If the answer is longer, or will have varying answers, I will have the students "pair share," as I circulate and listen for understanding. Before, I didn't spend a lot of time with "pair share," because I felt like the kids would get off task, but I'm am finding it to be a great way to check for understanding. Afterwards I like to either share some of the interesting things that I heard, or have a few students share.

Data Analysis: Chapter 3

As someone else mentioned in a post, I too feel that this chapter was not really new information but rather a "reminder" of how to accomplish solid improvement in the classroom/student achievement.

One thing that did stick out to me was the importance of not only meeting with your grade level team, but the teams of those in front and behind you. It seems as though there is little to no time  to communicate with teachers on the sides of your grade level, and I feel like it would be a great resource of information for the different grades to collaborate more often. In the book, it talks about how if we form these vertical grade level teams, the entire school improves. It makes me wonder why we aren't taking the time to collaborate more with our "vertical" team?

Ch. 3 - The Three Guiding Questions

I found that the section about asking the right questions was very appealing to me. I am doing the FbI project and since I teach lower grades I am having troubles with what types of questions to ask, and how to ask them so students will understand instead of just click an answer. I do not want too many questions but I want to gather enough information. Finding what questions are the right questions to ask will take some trial and error.

I also think that the question of "how will we know when each student has learned it"is a very important question yet it is a very complicated question. I have a big class and students at many different levels who think in many different ways. There are many different ways that a student could show me that they have learned something and that sometimes the curriculum doesn't allow for many different ways to show learning. I have found that looking at an end of the unit test and re-writing it so there are many different questions (write, draw pictures, think of an opposite etc.) to show different ways of thinking has been the best way for me to gather data and allow students to show me how they have learned something.

Ch. 3 - How we teach

I thought that the part of effective lessons was interesting and I was able to reflect on my teaching. I do state my objectives although I have found it somewhat tricky because I teach a lower grade. I often draw picture like math symbols or write the main idea rather than objectives because I find my students will read or look at them if they are short or eye catchy with pictures. I am still trying out different ways of stating objectives so that I can reach all students - even the ones that are unable to read.

I also practice the "I do, we do, you do" and find that it works well especially teaching something that they are not familiar with. Sometimes I find that the "we do" or guided practice is the strongest part of the lesson. I do think that I can be better at checking for understanding throughout a lesson, it is easier for me to do in some subjects, but I need to do a better job at checking more often.

Book Study Chapter 3: How We Teach

Checking for understanding was a big component of this chapter for me. It is something I try and do multiple times a day. Schmoker talks about how this means so much more than the simple "raise your hand if you have a question or don't understand." I feel it is so important to check in with your students to see what they have gained or learned from your teaching. What your students reflect back to you is critical in knowing the success of the lesson, and the success of your student. I feel this is especially important in math. My students know they get a "quiz" at the end of each math lesson. I take the concept and write at least 2-3 problems that they must solve at the end of the lesson, and I collect them and use it to guide where I go the next day in math. Because of the daily quiz, students tend to be focused and engaged in math better than when I didn't implement them. They are held responsible for their learning each and every day. 

"Focus": Chapter 3 Reflection

How We Teach.

I enjoyed reading this chapter because I agree with the importance of effective lessons that incorporate clear objectives, teaching/modeling, guided practice, and a big focus on checks for understanding. One quote that really stuck out to me states, "This ongoing 'check for understanding' allows the teacher to see what needs to be clarified or explained in a different way, when to slow down, or when it's all right to speed up the pace of the lesson." There are many times when I feel pressured to keep the lesson moving when I know some students aren't quite "getting it" because we only have 15 minutes left and there's lunch, recess, or whatever the case may be. After reading this chapter I have definitely been more conscious about implementing the components of effective lessons and making a big focus on checks for understanding by using partner discussions, circulating the room, and using white boards for written responses. 

Another key point that resonated with me was making sure we are constantly establishing a purpose for reading (or any activity or lesson we are introducing for that matter). Without a purpose or student engagement, no real learning can take place so we have to become very intentional about how we can motivate, or "hook", our students to become thinkers and actively engage in their learning.

Data Analysis: Chapter 3 Reflection

After reading Chapter 3: The Three Guiding Questions, I was thinking to myself that it wasn't necessarily any new information, but it certainly was a friendly reminder that our teaching can really be simplified into those 3 guiding questions (which also relates closely with our "Focus" book study, but I'll save that for my next post!). I was just filling out a pre-observation form today that answered these 3 questions and it is just a good way to reinforce what is truly important in your lessons and be intentional with our goals, objectives, and assessments.

Something that stood out in this chapter was the importance of PLCs and sharing student work/assessments with our grade level team members, as well as our fellow teachers a grade above and below us. I most definitely agree that the best work we can do for ourselves, our students, and our teaching practice is sharing what we know and learning from other colleagues; however, I feel like inevitably there is just never enough time!! Our Wednesday afternoons become filled up with many things that are definitely important, but I feel like they don't always have direct impact on improving my teaching practices, nor allow time for real collaboration with others. So I do agree that using these 3 guiding questions are the basis of our instruction, but I would like to have some more collaboration time for real, meaningful conversations with my team about our students, our lessons, and our data.

One last thing that I enjoyed reading was the comparison of our teaching teams to the Tour de France team because as it states in the book, "no one wins alone". The more teachers and staff work together and support one another, the greater the outcomes are for every child. 

Book Study Chapter 2...Better late than never!

So I'm getting ready to go over my book notes to do this month's blog posts and realize that I never went back on and posted about chapter 2!

As I was reading back over my notes, I remembered thinking how Schmoker talked about the importance of creating a curriculum high in critical thinking, but yet meaningful to to the students. So many times I think it is easy for us to get caught up in wanting to teach things "we" think will be great, but it's important to remember to keep the students in mind when planning our lessons. When I think about applying this in my room, I think about how important it is that our students are learning/know how to use informational text. We need to have resources available to us that students find meaningful and want to critically evaluate. What are some expository resources you like to use in your classroom that you find students find meaningful to them?

And finally, the other piece that I found interesting was the part about how students are rarely reading or being taught how to read a textbook, which is causing students to lack the deep reading, writing, and inquiry that is required in college. I had never really thought about this, but as I read it I thought, "my students rarely use a textbook!" And then I thought back to my college days and how the textbooks were a major part of my classwork. If we are not teaching students to use them now, then how much harder will it be for them to succeed in using them later? When I think about when I was in elementary school, I remember having a textbook for everything, and I also don't remember not being able to navigate one when I started college. Does it really make a difference? I often wonder why we don't have math text books, and how much easier it would be for parents to help their child with things such as homework if they had the old school textbooks with examples at the beginning of each section. Something to think about I guess!

Reducing Standards

The part about chapter 2 that I found most interestin was when they referred to reducing the amount of content standards and teaching the few remaining standards more in depth.  They mentioned that Oregon had recently drastically reduced the number of standards we are teaching and that we have seen a huge growth in 8th graders knowledge as a result (they said they perform more like sophmores).  Is this something that our district did prior to common core (cut some standards out) and if so did it work as well as they talk about in the book?  Just wondering.  I often feel as an elementary teacher, overwhelmed by having to teach them every subject with enough depth and understanding so this has been something that really got me thinking about how in depth each of my lessons are and which standards should hold priority over others if any...

Switch to Common Core and Literacy

After attending the conference Digging Deeper into the Common Core English Language Arts, many important thoughts about the importance of Literacy came to light.  In Chapter Two: What We Teach, Schmoker details Literacy as the "Spine" to learning.  Literacy is in all things.  If we don't teach our students to read or write well they will forever be behind.  The level of rigor in Literacy needs to increase in our schools and in all grade levels, K-12.  Spending time understanding the changes that are coming when we make the switch to Common Core Standards, it is very clear that we need to make improvements in the realm of Literacy. Schmoker has many suggestions for these improvements: textbooks, more reading, more writing, asking questions, delving deeper into texts.  By starting to incorporate these ideas into our classrooms now we will not only be more prepared for the upcoming new standards, but give our students the opportunity to be successful in class and ultimately the world.

Focus: Ch. 2

OK! After spending the better part of the evening trying to figure out how to get on here and write a post, here I am! Needless to say this is my first blogging experience, so let's hope this goes through!
The area that had the biggest impact on me as I was reading was the section about "Literacy as the Spine." I think that a solid literacy foundation is the single most important aspect of a person's education. This foundation is essential for all other learning through out school as well as life. As a first grade teacher I feel a tremendous amount of pressure to make sure that students have a solid foundation before moving on to ensure that they get the most out of their education.
I also liked that the chapter talked about these skills as being important for everyone, to prepare them, not just for college, but careers and citizenship as well. Citizenship isn't a word that we use often, but I like that he used it, because we really are preparing students for the world, not just college.
I agree with Schmoker that we need to simplify the curriculum and really focus on teaching less, well, but I'm unsure of how, as teachers, that we are supposed to do that. I know that he says we need to cut the standards down to about 50%, but as a district, we are assigned curriculum that we are expected to teach with fidelity. I don't think we have the freedom to cut anything out.

Identify the Problem : Ch 2

As I was reading chapter 2, many thoughts came to mind that I've been thinking about lately. One of the major ones was when the author talks about how it is often not a lack of knowledge or skill that prevents someone from solving a problem, but rather the motivation to do so. This is something I struggle with constantly when looking at my students. Many of them have the skills/knowledge to solve problems or do assignments I put in front of them, but they are not motivated to do so. It is a constant battle of trying to "intrinsically" motivate my students to want to be successful, when in reality the kids of today are so extrinsically motivated. I see the effort they put when doing assessments even sometimes and I think to myself, "I never would have just acted like I didn't really care when I was their age!" I will watch them click through an easyCBM assessment, not picking up the pencil and using the paper they have in front of them to help them solve equations or story problems. So my problem is, how do I get these students to care about their learning/success? That EVERY assessment or assignment is important and worth their time to do their absolute best. How do we motivate a generation that is so used to being rewarded with something concrete every time they complete something, rather than just being proud of being successful?

FOCUS Chapter 2

FOCUS chapter 2

Some thoughts..

We are to educate each child as if they are going to college.  Yes!  I consider my teaching to be college prep...and I teach first grade.

Does LHS offer speech/debate class?

Meaningful reading, writing, speaking and thinking.
I am using non-fiction text in my classroom more than ever before.

Problem solving is a big hurdle for my first grade class.  It seems that the children come to me without the ability to solve the smallest hiccup in their day.  Their pencil breaks and I am asked "What do I do?'
I am teaching children how to apologize and how to accept an apology...

What We Teach

I thought it was interesting reading chapter 2 because when I was at the district wide meeting last Wednesday we were just discussing how there is a standard in the Common Core that says students must be aware of and use different types of technology in 2nd grade. (I am assuming even younger grades have this too.) My group was commenting about the time commitment it takes to teach different computer programs like Word, Excell, Powerpoint etc. My 2nd graders know exactly how to get on the internet and go to gaming sites, but they have no idea how to type in a Word document or even know what the program is. I agree that these are skills they need to know, especially starting in younger grades for the reason that when they reach upper elementary they can have the skills to publish and edit each others work. I remember that typing was a part of my elementary curriculum and I still remember learning how to type.

After reading Chapter 2, a lot of things were important but just the statement: "Think of literacy as a spine; it hold everything together."  How true is that.  Without the skill of reading and understanding our complex language, our spine is flawed.  We have to crawl before we walk and if students miss out on important foundations in literacy, how difficult is it to get them where they need to be?  I think all of us have seen the results of a student missing the important components of reading and the long road to get them repaired.  I just thought that it was an interesting analogy of literacy.

"Focus" ~ Chapter 2: What We Teach

So let me start by saying that I am enjoying this book because I do agree with the fact that it seems like education has been overtaken with loads of new programs, assessments, curriculum, techniques, strategies etc. etc... and it often times feels like we don't give something enough time to really prove it works or doesn't work. In addition, I also agree with Schmoker's top 3 elements to a "reasonably good" education: 1. What we teach 2. How we teach and 3. Authentic Literacy (pg. 10).  However, I guess he makes me a little nervous when he talks about reducing standards and that "no one could meaningfully teach more than half of them" as he referred to his 7th grade History standards (pg. 47). I know looking through standards can sometimes feel overwhelming, but I know they each have been put in place for specific reasons; therefore, as I read through this chapter it just made me start thinking about Common Core and evaluating what I think are the "essential standards" in first grade.

Data Analysis: Identify the Problem

Identify the Problem.
A few weeks ago, I sat at my desk completely exhausted from a crazy, chaotic Friday.  I felt like we completed everything I had planned, but the day definitely didn't go how I had planned. Before I knew about Tool 2, I actually made a list of all my stressors, including all the little things (seating arrangements, unsharpened pencils, etc.) and all the big things (not meeting the needs of my lowest 2-3 students, wanting to challenge my higher students, etc). I was able to solve a few problems right away with some more thorough planning and rearranging; however, the biggest problem that is still weighing on my heart is helping my red zone students make progress and finding the time to give them the appropriate interventions and/or support.

How do I feel?
What data do I have?
I have a total of 28 students with 57% (16 students) meeting or exceeding the reading benchmark, 32% (9 students) below benchmark, and 11% (3 students) in the red zone according to my EasyCBM data. It's those bottom 3 that really scare me because I fear that they are going to continue to fall more and more behind as the year continues.

What am I doing about this problem?
In my first grade class, we are implementing ECRI (Enhanced Core Reading Instruction) and I do believe that this program is helping all my students make tremendous progress with our whole group lessons. However, ECRI focuses on the Tier 2 students, who get 30 additional minutes of small group reading instruction (11 of my students). While those students are in small groups I try to meet with my Red Zone students for one-on-one help; however, there's always 'something' that seems to interfere. I have recently rearranged my schedule to complete more of our literacy activities before lunch and this has seemed to help keep everyone on task and focused. I will continue to do my best to meet the needs of all my students and I am looking forward to collecting more data to track their progress.

21st Century Education

I find that Schmoker’s writing lacks the openness and complexity I appreciated reading Teach like a Champion.  In TLC techniques were described along with the shortcomings we could expect when using them.  In the second chapter of Focus Schmoker criticizes the 21 Century Education hype and recommends a “content-rich curriculum” heavy on literacy.  I agree with him, but he is missing that corollary piece I so appreciated in TLC that made if feel like I was being addressed by a fellow professional that had tried out their own recommendations and found limits to them.  The way Focus continually bludgeons me over the head with the same simple repetitive (and yes, good) ideas instead brings to mind a teacher-student interaction.

Time should not be wasted making wikis, videos, and webpages when simpler, more time efficient activities would suffice, but students should not be allowed to graduate from school technologically illiterate/ phobic.  When I ask students to email me lab data some don’t know how or they don’t have an email account or know how to quickly get one.  When I ask a student to email themselves some work because they can’t figure out how to log on to their H drive and they lost their jump drive they don’t understand what I mean.  They don’t know how to attach a file to an email.  When I ask students to include their own name in their file name they delete the file type extension when renaming it and then can’t figure out how to open their file anymore or what went wrong.  When I ask students to use Pinnacle to check their grades they don’t know how, they tell me they don’t like computers, that they don’t need to know how to use them and that their teachers will inevitably print their grades for them.

Sorry for that little rant, but when I talk to a 17 year old students and he refers to computers as my grandfather might, basically  - that confusing annoying box over there that I never want to (and won’t need to) use – it scares me.  Not knowing about computers is ok (but unfortunate), but refusing to try to learn is not.  I have been in discussions with teacher that went something like “kids these days” have this technology stuff down. This just isn't the case.  What have you seen in your classrooms?  Can we assume students growing up in the 21^st Century now the basics of using technology?  What is the role of the state of technology in our schools in this whole problem?

Identify the Problem

After reading the chapter and contemplating what keeps me up at night, I have focused on a dilemma I face with being able to make progress with the students I see for speech and language services.  Having over 60 students on my caseload, I struggle with feeling like I am able to make a difference when I am only able to see each student for 2 - 20 minute sessions per week.  These sessions are typically in groups of 2-3 students, so at most, each student is really only getting 10 or less minutes of individualized instruction.  With such limited time with each student, it is very difficult to see progress on their IEP goals when it comes time to review the goals each year.  This in turn leads to fewer students being dismissed from speech/language services, which in turn leads to continually higher caseloads.

Focus: Chapter 2

This chapter helped me reflect on focusing my instruction/therapy with the students I see for speech/language services.  So many of the students I work with have so many needs/goals in the areas of speech and language, and it is often difficult for me to feel like I am making a difference when I am only able to see them 2 days per week for 20 minute group sessions.  Schmoker stated that we must, "focus on the most essential standards...to promote learning and increased test scores."  When I write speech and language IEP goals for students, I often think, "How in the world will I ever be able to target all of these goals in 1 school year seeing the student twice per week?"  I need to focus in on each student's highest need instead of trying to touch in so many different areas.  Hopefully that way, I will be able to see better progress throughout the school year for my students.

Identify the Problem

Chapter 2 has helped me narrow in on a problem and an area of growth that I can work on. It also helped me with my Feedback project. I have a lot of students in my class with a wide range of reading ability. I have students who are 2+ years behind while I have students that are 3-4 years ahead. It has been a challenge to reach every student in my class when I have such a short amount of time to do so, especially reaching those who are so far behind, and challenging those who are so far ahead. So it is clear that my strategies (or strategies I will try) need to be effective. The dilemma is to find which strategies will be the most effective for the majority of my students.

Keeping me up at night: Knowing whats going on at other high schools.

Finally, teaching for my sixth year, I have been allowed to work with an average to above average academic group of upperclassmen teaching chemistry (my primary endorsement)!  Now that I have started off with something positive I feel I can now unload a bunch of negatives:

It has turned out that my standards for this group of students has been far too high starting out the year.  When it comes to previous knowledge of the content they probably should have been the same for my chem students as they were for my frosh science class. 

My husband teaches sophomores in Corvallis the same content we are working on in my junior/senior class.  We gave a common assessment – our first test.  Corvallis sophomores on average scored 20% better than the Lebanon juniors and seniors in my class.  Many of my chemistry students have expressed a desire to go into medicine in college.  Next year or the year after when my students go to college there will be no allowances made for the city they come from.  I worry the accommodations we are so used to making at our high school are giving students like those in my chemistry class a skewed view of what it means to be a good student and to work hard. 

And yet so many students think that this work is too hard – there are only about 70 students enrolled in chemistry in our district.  LHS has about 200 more total students than my husband’s school and his has ~100 more students enrolled in chem.  I know these are two very different cities, but I feel like our students are capable, that it is fixable, and it is important – so many good jobs require at least success at chemistry in school if not application of chemistry principles in the workplace.

I am curious about perceptions of chemistry (+science and math in general) among adults and students and how this influences success and enrollment.  I want to know specifically where the hang ups are for chem students.  The math we do in my class (What is the common denominator of 3 and 2?  We have 6 on the left side and 4 on the right, how many more do we need on the right for them to be equal?) is so much simpler than what they are doing in the high school math classes I don’t feel like math can be the primary issue…  Is it vocab?  Is it something else?

What's your dilemma?

If I were to say, "What do you wish was different in your classroom right this minute?" What would come to mind? The easiest way to identify a dilemma is to start with simple questions, like....

What keeps me up at night?
Who needs help in my class? Who struggles the most?
What assessments did students do the worst/best on?
What lessons did or did not go well?
Are my students at level? Who is and who isn't?

These kinds of questions will lead you to start looking at the available data. What sources would you look at to answer the above questions? Come to class prepared to share some ideas for your data project. See you next week!

Data Class: Identify the Problem

This year I am participating in the Portfolio project and am planning on working on intervention in the classroom and tracking data on students that come to me below grade level.  I have students in literacy, reading specifically,  that are more than 2 years behind grade level and students in math that have "holes" in concepts that are making their learning and enjoyment of math, and thus of school in general, very challenging.  I am passionate that all students are capable of learning and can be brought forward if the time and effort on the part of all stakeholders is firm and unwavering.  I have read the second chapter of The Data Toolkit and began with Identifying the Problem in a very systematic format.  It is a powerful tool that has forced a lot of reflection on my part and also has allowed me to move past my frustration of "why" and toward the possible solutions that are available.  I am excited to continue this journey and am so hopeful that with support these kids will make great progress.

NEW YEAR! NEW FOCUS!

This year the book we are exploring is "Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning" by Mike Schmoker.


This book is designed for teachers to reevaluate the focus of their instruction and the curriculum involved.

It will help participants raise the level of their instruction by working on the following areas: The importance of simplicity, clarity and priority; content, instruction, and literacy in the content area. 

I look forward to hearing about how this book impacts instruction and ultimately student achievement.

But I will start with a more philosophical question...

What is your focus?