Week 5
Week 5 in the books! This week, we continued our first unit on the Early Americans. My cooperating teacher left the room for all of my blocks...it was kind of awesome! It really felt like my own classroom.
On Monday, the students finished their MAP testing, so we continued on Tuesday with Early American Government and Economy. To me, this is the driest segment of the unit, so I tried to make it fun for the students. My students sit at tables of 4, so I had the tables choose a leader. They all had to agree, and the chosen leader had to stand up. Then I posed a question: Should we eat pizza every day for lunch? The students immediately started laughing and shouting YES!!! However, I had post it notes that I handed out to each person. They had different sayings on them. One said " Your grandma gags every time she eats cheese." Another said "Your mom is allergic to gluten." Another said " Your brother is lactose intolerant". Other notes had something silly and irrelevant on them such as "Your best friend snores". After everyone had a post it note, I told them to discuss the question. I told them they had to take into consideration what was written on the post it note, and decide if eating pizza every day would be beneficial for the whole group. When they made a decision, I had the leader come to the front of the room to declare the decision for the group. They all answered "No". I asked them to explain, and they described the notes that would cause having pizza every day to not be good for the whole group. After I sent them to their seats, I asked the leaders to stand by their chairs. I said "Welcome to the tribal council." I went on to explain that the leaders they chose were the "chiefs" of their tribe, and the rest of the group was part of the tribal council. I went further to explain that when a tribal council meets to make a decision, that the benefit for all members of the tribe were taken into consideration. They completely understood the concept! It was a pretty fun activity and engaged them in content that can have a dry delivery most times.
Another cool activity we did this week was expand on a project we worked on a couple of weeks ago. I called it the "Geography Survivor" project. I gave each student a poster board with one of the following written as a heading: mountains, near an ocean, desert, and forest. The headings represented the tribal regions that we were starting to cover. The poster board had 4 boxes labeled clothing, shelter, food. and challenges. The students were tasked with brainstorming what kind of natural resources they could use in their region to survive- to make a shelter, make clothing, eat, and what would be hard about living in that region. I wrote about this a couple weeks back, but I wanted to give you a refresher because the kids have been asking me when we could do that again, so I obliged- with a twist. I brought those poster boards back out and had them brain storm what the people in that region could use to THRIVE, not just survive- meaning what natural resources were available to make things that tribes in other areas might want or need, but not have access to. Another hit! I did this as an introductory activity to trading and the Early American economy.
The last subject I would like to broach is tough and disruptive students. I did tried a couple different strategies this week with two continuously disruptive students. I have this incredibly bright student that has some trouble managing her behavior. Her mom is very sick, and when mom is having a bad day- oh boy does it show up in her behavior that day! I tried something different this week. When she started on her cycle of class disruption, I wrote a note to a teacher down the hall and sealed it in an envelope. All it said was "She needed a minute to take a walk". I told her that I needed someone I can trust to deliver my letter because it was so important, and handed it to her. Her eyes lit up, and she joyously frolicked down the hallway, waited patiently to deliver a response, and was a new kid when she walked through the door. MAGIC, I tell you!!!!!
For my other disruptive student, I asked him politely if he was willing to do a HUGE favor me. He responded with his typical reply, "Bet". I asked him to grab my favorite stool and bring it to the front of the class for me for discussion time. He smiled his huge grin and brought it up for me with flourish. Now, EVERY DAY for discussion he brings me the stool, gives me a big grin, and says "I got you, Ms. Pez". Another example of MAGIC! He is so much more responsive during class, and is trying so hard to work hard for me.
In summation, in terms of behavior management, I learned that giving a tough kid a little trust or a special job can do wonders for the classroom climate!
Schmidt Chapter 2
Eptness: I learned that Eptness is crucial for an inviting and collaborative classroom environment.I learned that giving students some choice in their own classroom environment, and making sure that students' strengths are being emphasized can be the difference between learning and just moving through a brutal school year. Three behaviors I will use are Encouragement, Model Being a Learner, and Never Too Late.
Encouragement: In my classroom, I will encourage not only a job well done, but a job well tried! I will encourage effort as much as the scores on assessments. Not only will I verbally encourage effort and challenges, but I will give a grade for effort, because it should be recognized just as much as knowledge of content.
Model Being a Learner: We are teachers, but we don't know everything. Being receptive to what a student can teach you is important in modeling the desire to learn new things throughout life. I already do this in my classroom. When I learn something new that I'm excited about, I share it with my class. Also, if I don't know something about a subject, I ask my kids if they do. I actually have a few students that are helping me brush up on my Spanish. They LOVE teaching the teacher, and they are so incredibly helpful and patient when they are teaching you. I've also recently learned about new and trendy social group names, courtesy of some of my students. They love to explain things that are relevant to them that escape people my age!
Never Too Late: I live by this notion, so of course I will implement this in my classroom! I feel like this behavior is key to students not giving up. If they think it's too late to turn in an assignment, or too late to catch up on work, or too late to repair a relationship- with you or with another student, they will continue to do so into adult hood. We don't just teach our students facts. We teach them life lessons. One MUST be that it's never too late. In my class, I accept late work. Depending on the circumstance, I may not even take off points. I forgive. If I have a student that knows that they did something that I didn't like, or something that was wrong, I always talk to them. I always tell them I forgive them, or my favorite "Tomorrow is a new day!"
Signing off until next week!
Lisa P.
On Monday, the students finished their MAP testing, so we continued on Tuesday with Early American Government and Economy. To me, this is the driest segment of the unit, so I tried to make it fun for the students. My students sit at tables of 4, so I had the tables choose a leader. They all had to agree, and the chosen leader had to stand up. Then I posed a question: Should we eat pizza every day for lunch? The students immediately started laughing and shouting YES!!! However, I had post it notes that I handed out to each person. They had different sayings on them. One said " Your grandma gags every time she eats cheese." Another said "Your mom is allergic to gluten." Another said " Your brother is lactose intolerant". Other notes had something silly and irrelevant on them such as "Your best friend snores". After everyone had a post it note, I told them to discuss the question. I told them they had to take into consideration what was written on the post it note, and decide if eating pizza every day would be beneficial for the whole group. When they made a decision, I had the leader come to the front of the room to declare the decision for the group. They all answered "No". I asked them to explain, and they described the notes that would cause having pizza every day to not be good for the whole group. After I sent them to their seats, I asked the leaders to stand by their chairs. I said "Welcome to the tribal council." I went on to explain that the leaders they chose were the "chiefs" of their tribe, and the rest of the group was part of the tribal council. I went further to explain that when a tribal council meets to make a decision, that the benefit for all members of the tribe were taken into consideration. They completely understood the concept! It was a pretty fun activity and engaged them in content that can have a dry delivery most times.
Another cool activity we did this week was expand on a project we worked on a couple of weeks ago. I called it the "Geography Survivor" project. I gave each student a poster board with one of the following written as a heading: mountains, near an ocean, desert, and forest. The headings represented the tribal regions that we were starting to cover. The poster board had 4 boxes labeled clothing, shelter, food. and challenges. The students were tasked with brainstorming what kind of natural resources they could use in their region to survive- to make a shelter, make clothing, eat, and what would be hard about living in that region. I wrote about this a couple weeks back, but I wanted to give you a refresher because the kids have been asking me when we could do that again, so I obliged- with a twist. I brought those poster boards back out and had them brain storm what the people in that region could use to THRIVE, not just survive- meaning what natural resources were available to make things that tribes in other areas might want or need, but not have access to. Another hit! I did this as an introductory activity to trading and the Early American economy.
The last subject I would like to broach is tough and disruptive students. I did tried a couple different strategies this week with two continuously disruptive students. I have this incredibly bright student that has some trouble managing her behavior. Her mom is very sick, and when mom is having a bad day- oh boy does it show up in her behavior that day! I tried something different this week. When she started on her cycle of class disruption, I wrote a note to a teacher down the hall and sealed it in an envelope. All it said was "She needed a minute to take a walk". I told her that I needed someone I can trust to deliver my letter because it was so important, and handed it to her. Her eyes lit up, and she joyously frolicked down the hallway, waited patiently to deliver a response, and was a new kid when she walked through the door. MAGIC, I tell you!!!!!
For my other disruptive student, I asked him politely if he was willing to do a HUGE favor me. He responded with his typical reply, "Bet". I asked him to grab my favorite stool and bring it to the front of the class for me for discussion time. He smiled his huge grin and brought it up for me with flourish. Now, EVERY DAY for discussion he brings me the stool, gives me a big grin, and says "I got you, Ms. Pez". Another example of MAGIC! He is so much more responsive during class, and is trying so hard to work hard for me.
In summation, in terms of behavior management, I learned that giving a tough kid a little trust or a special job can do wonders for the classroom climate!
Schmidt Chapter 2
Eptness: I learned that Eptness is crucial for an inviting and collaborative classroom environment.I learned that giving students some choice in their own classroom environment, and making sure that students' strengths are being emphasized can be the difference between learning and just moving through a brutal school year. Three behaviors I will use are Encouragement, Model Being a Learner, and Never Too Late.
Encouragement: In my classroom, I will encourage not only a job well done, but a job well tried! I will encourage effort as much as the scores on assessments. Not only will I verbally encourage effort and challenges, but I will give a grade for effort, because it should be recognized just as much as knowledge of content.
Model Being a Learner: We are teachers, but we don't know everything. Being receptive to what a student can teach you is important in modeling the desire to learn new things throughout life. I already do this in my classroom. When I learn something new that I'm excited about, I share it with my class. Also, if I don't know something about a subject, I ask my kids if they do. I actually have a few students that are helping me brush up on my Spanish. They LOVE teaching the teacher, and they are so incredibly helpful and patient when they are teaching you. I've also recently learned about new and trendy social group names, courtesy of some of my students. They love to explain things that are relevant to them that escape people my age!
Never Too Late: I live by this notion, so of course I will implement this in my classroom! I feel like this behavior is key to students not giving up. If they think it's too late to turn in an assignment, or too late to catch up on work, or too late to repair a relationship- with you or with another student, they will continue to do so into adult hood. We don't just teach our students facts. We teach them life lessons. One MUST be that it's never too late. In my class, I accept late work. Depending on the circumstance, I may not even take off points. I forgive. If I have a student that knows that they did something that I didn't like, or something that was wrong, I always talk to them. I always tell them I forgive them, or my favorite "Tomorrow is a new day!"
Signing off until next week!
Lisa P.
Lisa, I love your idea for helping students understand the concept of a tribal council with the idea of benefiting each member. I'm sure this was so much more effective than something like lecturing or just reading about it. I also love how you approached your disruptive students by giving them some special responsibilities. Great ideas!
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