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?