Organizing Your Classroom Library

   
    I just read this article about reorganizing your classroom library {click here}. It got me thinking about my classroom library. I have changed my ideas on how I organize my library over my years of teaching. At first, I leveled my library because that is what my district was promoting in their training but I saw lots of other ideas over the years and changed my plan. A few years back, I started organizing my fiction and nonfiction and then some books by series (Magic Tree House, A-Z Mysteries, etc.) and by topic or genre. At first, I was given baskets to level my books - the red, yellow and green ones. Then I added the whites ones because they were bigger and held odd-shaped books. Finally, I fell in love with the pink and blue ones that have dividers but they are expensive so, I have a mix of all kinds of baskets!
   Another idea that I have heard is letting the kids organize the books however they want! I thought - Not ME! Then today, I read the above article from Scholastic about a teacher who took the books out of the bins and let her students organize the books however, they wanted. I am toying with this idea but I have not decided.
   What are your thoughts? How do you organize your library and do you let your students decide how to organize it?

Shaming Students - one wall at a time.

    
   I was reading this article about data walls Shaming students one wall at a time and I was surprised in some ways and not surprised in other ways. Sometimes, we as teachers, do things that seem motivating but than when we take a closer look, we realize how negative it is for our students. I will admit that early in my teaching career, I used to have a chart for how my students were doing on their math facts but I abandoned it for several reasons. The main reason was that it really did not improve anyone's math fact fluency and I was uncomfortable with some students being far ahead or behind to be displayed for everyone to see. There is also the fact that I could not overlook, some of my students were trying their best and still not improving. I did not know how to help these students.  
  Two things happened as I continued my teaching career. The first thing was that I started looking at my instruction and decided I needed to find ways to reach more of my students. I have found some things that work with some students and other things that work for others and I continue to look for ways to improve my teaching.
   The second thing that has absolutely changed my teaching in the past year is discovering whole brain teaching. My antidote to data walls is the Super Improver Team. 

     Students earn stars and move up levels for improvement! This has been so fabulous this year.  All of my students need to improve in something - even my highest kids. It can be used for any academic improvement - math, reading, etc. and behavior as well. The students cheer each other as they earn stars and move up levels! 

   I would highly suggest checking it out as an alternative to data walls. You can check out the free webcast here: www.wholebrainteaching.com. Look for the webcasts and it is #586.  There are also many examples on teachers pay teachers that are also free.

  Do you use data walls in your classroom or something different? Please leave a comment

Oral Writing

      
     Coach B. often asks "What makes teaching writing so hard?" I have to agree with the sentiment. I still struggle with teaching my 2nd graders writing. Our district uses Lucy Calkins and I love parts of it but I still have a hard time making sure that we cover all the essentials including punctuation, capitalization, and adding details to their writing. One part of the solution is oral writing from whole brain teaching. I love oral writing because it gives the students lots and lots of practice before they actually put a pencil on their papers.
  It works like this. The teacher starts by asking a question and then the students give an answer. It can be done either individually or I like to pair up my students and they practice answering the question using brainies - particularly capital letters and punctuation.The teacher quickly goes around the room and listens in to answers and reminds them to use their gestures. The next step is to add detail sentences. The teacher uses the gesture for adders and asks the students for adder sentences and then she has them share detail sentences about the question with each other.She quickly walks around again and check their answers. Finally, the teacher asks the students to add a conclusion.  I tell my students that using "In conclusion", makes them very smart because not many 2nd graders use it.
  I think it is such a great idea to use oral writing because it gives students much needed practice before the actual writing. I need to do it more often. It helps my struggling writers get ideas and it helps my ELL learners practice vocabulary.  You can check out more about oral writing at www.wholebrainteaching.com and check out webcast #502. 

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Lesson Plans, lesson plans and more lesson plans

      Lesson plans - as teachers, we do them all the time and we have requirements for our districts. My district is now up to including 8 or 9 (I can't remember) parts for each lesson! Obviously, whomever had that bright idea is not a teacher - who has time for all that, seriously???  But the powers that be have also declared that we now need to turn in these plans to our administrators on a regular basis. For my school, that means we need to turn in plans about once a month. The principal gets to decide and that is what we do.  My lesson plans have to include: objectives, standards, procedure, materials (if needed), assessment, vocabulary, Bloom's, essential questions, and a reflection on how the lesson went.  I started using planbook.com and it has been a lifesaver and completely cut down on the amount of time I spend planning because now I can cut and paste some things.  
     I have sometimes wondered how effective (and necessary) all of these components are to teaching the students.  In learning about whole brain teaching, I came across the 5 part lesson plan which I love. It starts with Class - yes and then the teacher asks a question (which is the objective for the lesson) and the using Teach- OK, the students repeats the question. Next, the teacher does another variation of class-yes, and then the teacher gives the answer. The teacher should speak in short sentences. The teacher then uses Teach-Ok and students teach each other the answer using the teacher's words and gestures. The next part again starts with a variation of Class-Yes and then the teacher expands on the answers by using lots of examples and then does Teach-Ok again.  The fourth part is when the teacher does an oral "test" and gives examples which the students respond by giving a thumbs or a thumbs down. This gives the teacher a quick check for understanding.  The final part of the lesson is critical thinking. It involves having the students write about what they have learned.
    I love the WBT lesson plan because it gets the students involved, they are not sitting passively and listening to a teacher listening.  They are teaching their partners and using gestures to maximize learning. If you are interested in learning more about the 5 step lesson plan, you can read about it in the book: Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Children.  There are also examples of the free lesson plan on Teacher Pay Teacher. Here is one example from Farrah Shipley - a WBT guru: 5 step lesson plan. 
    I can't turn these plans in so, I don't always do the WBT lesson plan but I am using it more and more this year and when I do use it, I notice a big increase in student engagement and their retention f material.
   I would love to hear how you handle lesson planning. Would you use the 5 step lesson plan if you saw improvement in student engagement and retention of content?
      

New Year's Resolution -Purpose

     
      I can't believe that a new year is about to begin. What happened to 2014???  I am not a fan of resolutions, mostly because I never seem to keep them. I love the idea from Primary Powers to use one word for my resolution. I picked PURPOSE because it sums up my teaching plan for the rest of the year.  I find that it is so easy to get distracted by all the things that teachers are supposed to do that I lose my purpose for doing things.  
       This became very evident to me right before break and I was busy teaching Native Americans and rushing through the Lakota tribe (with 4 -6 kids absent almost each day the week before break), and after having the ELL teacher taking 5 of my ELL kids to do an assignment and when she returned - she told me that they knew nothing about the tribe! They did not know the region they lived in, that they hunted buffalo or anything! This was after 3 days of teaching and doing activities about the Lakota Indians. I quickly realized that 1. I needed to reteach it and that I had not really had a purpose to my lessons.  I also realized that I did not use my WBT  5 part lesson plan which is amazing and so helpful to all my students. So, as I am doing a little planning for the new year, I am revising my lesson plans to have a purpose and I will be checking for understanding as I go and not waiting for several days to go by.  
   For me, purpose also means that as I make choices as to what to focus on as I am teaching, I need to know what my purpose is for the lesson and the unit - what do my students need to know? It means to start from the end and work backwards in my lesson planning - which I do most of the time but not always. I also know that I can't improve everything at once but I need to focus on one thing and decide if other things fit my purpose. 
   What is your one word resolution for the new year? How are you going to improve yourself in the new year?
   

Master Class - Teach Ok

     When I found Whole Brain Teaching, I was somewhat overwhelmed with all the different pieces and trying to figure out how to make it all work. Coach B. (Chris Biffle) says that teach ok is the unifying piece that ties WBT together. The beginning pattern is to say "Class" and the students respond "Yes." and then to speak briefly. Next, clap twice and say "Teach" and the students respond "OK" and repeat what you say over and over until you tell them to stop.  This pattern is repeated throughout the lesson.  Coach B. reminds teachers that the longer we speak, the more students we lose. This is a good reminder to keep our lessons short.  An important part of teach ok is that the speaker is using big gestures and the listener is mirroring the gestures. This involves both students and it makes it easy for the teacher to see who is not engaged.  
    Coach B. suggests practicing teach ok at least 5 times per day and after each rehearsal pick 5 - 8 kids as a leadership team (with no more than 2 rebels). Stand next to the weakest rebel and then give a short, sample lesson ending with teach - ok. Observe the full turns and gestures. Praise any improvement by leaders and rebels. There is no place for the rebels to hide.
   Teach - Ok is a great way to check for student understanding because it keeps the lesson short and as the teacher walks around, she can listen in to the students' understanding and adjust the lesson as she is teaching.  
  I would love to know how you engage your students in the lesson. Please leave a comment.
         

Master Class 2.0 - Rules

   
      Every teacher has classroom rules.  Some teachers, including me in the past, made rules in the beginning of the year and then just let them slide. The rules would be nicely posted on the wall and never discussed again after the beginning of the year. I thought that I had discovered a better way when I got the students involved and had the students SIGN the poster and I revisited the rules after winter break.  The problem was that the students did not really know the rules and then I discovered Whole Brain Teaching.
    There are 5 rules in WBT. The rules are: rule #1: follow directions quickly, rule #2: raise your hand for permission to speak, rule #3: raise your hand for permission to leave your seat, rule #4: make smart choices, and rule #5: keep your dear teacher happy. These are available at WBT website and you can also find a variety of posters on the teachers pay teachers website.  
   The rookie level of the rules is to review the rules by saying the rules number and the students respond by saying the rule and showing the corresponding gesture. In the beginning of the school year, the rules should be practiced at least 5 times a day. It is important to get buy in for the rules by explaining that these rules will create a fun and organized class. Ask for a show of hands to support the rules (most children will agree). No matter the result, say I think it is a good idea to start with these and we can change them later if we need to. The rules should be posted and practiced several times a day to keep the rules fresh in the students' minds.
   The 5 rules have been a mainstay of WBT for a long time BUT now there is 1 more rule - the Diamond rule.  The diamond rule is that the student looks at the one who is teaching.  This is frequently the teacher but many times, it is also when another student is talking. I have just started using the diamond rule and I love it! It really helps to focus the students' attention.
     The pro level is to choose a student leader to lead the classroom rules. The student leader says the rule number and then the other students make the gesture and say the rule. The mastery challenge is to train at least 5 student leaders to lead the rules. A new bonus for the Master Class is the 3 Freebie Stopwatch. For example, rule #2 - raise your hand for permission to speak can be one of the most challenging.  Using a stopwatch, say to your students "Let's see how long we can go without breaking rule #2" and then the first time the rule is broken, say "That's one" and then after the 2nd time, say "that's 2" and then after the 3rd time say "That's 3. Ok, we will try again later." Then write the time on the board. Continue to try to break the class record.
    The next level is the all star level. It is used to implement the rules at any point during the day.  Rules 1 - 3 are for the most common issues in the classroom and rules 4 and 5 cover everything else. This level is for when the rules are broken during a lesson and the teacher stops briefly and says rule # (fill in with the rule being broken) and the students quickly repeat it. This quickly gets everyone focused without stopping and scolding a child.   
   I love these classroom rules because they cover everything and I practice with my students at least twice a day. The students know and understand what is expected.  You can view the webcast at the whole brain teaching. It is #583 and it free! The rules are just one step on the way to teacher heaven.