Dots... Dots... Dots...

"Are they dots or are they periods?" is what I was asked by a student when asking him how many items he saw in the quick 3 seconds I gave him. "Because we aren't suppose to call periods dots!"

My experience with showing a class pictures of images in a few seconds and ask them how many they saw, was a very fun activity! I loved to see how their minds grasped the way in which to "count". When I asked how they came to that answer, hands shot up all over the place, they were all so eager to share.
"I'll show you how I strategized!" one girl said. Strategized! Wow! The terminology for these 4th graders was even impressive!
Depending on where their level in math was I found depended on how they come up with their answer. Those that obviously knew their multiplication math facts, all showed groupings in which they multiplied to find the answer. Those that didn't know multiplication math facts, showed groupings where they added together. Yet, all were very proud of themselves and the fact that they could get the answer in 3 seconds!
I constantly told them how impressed I was with their math thinking and that I couldn't believe the different ways in which they grouped dots together in order to find the answer. I also felt this was a great exercise to do before a math lesson to get students brain tuned into math (to warm it up).

Cohort 15 Red Carpet: ME, MY MOM, and PRINCESS DIANA

Cohort 15 Red Carpet: ME, MY MOM, and PRINCESS DIANA: "Please enjoy this video vignette about how Princess Diana helped a teenage girl bond with her mother. Created by Cassandra"

In my technology class I we were assigned to design a video vignette about anything we wanted, but it had to have literacy in it. After thinking for many days on what to create, I came up with an idea to share a story about my teenage self, Princess Diana and my mom.
I was frustrated with the process in the beginning. For starters the program is a Windows based one, which means I need to use a pc and I have a mac. All my computers at home are Apple products, even all of our cell phones, but I jumped in ready to learn!
So I went to the UWB library and checked out a pc and a microphone, all set to go home and put together my video. I had the pictures all set on a usb drive, but guess what? They didn't work because I downloaded the clip art from my mac. So, I gathered new pictures from the rented pc and all went well until the music...
I was thinking I could use my iTunes account but that wouldn't work so I was stuck with the free music offered on the pc, which is all old stuff before there were copy write laws.
Also, when it came time to record my voice I quickly realized it can not be done from my house of a loud NY husband, two teen daughters, a barking dog and a purring cat, so off to the UWB library I went. This proved not to be great either, because the "private" room's all have loud fans in the ceiling and the microphone picked up all that noise.

In the end I finished my vignette. It isn't the perfection I like to have, but I learned how to do it and it was really fun! The frustrations were OK because I learned quickly that this is a great tool to have for students in this techy world as a new way to tell a story.

Technology in the Classroom

I read this article in the NY Times this past week with complete fascination and with a little anger. The article is mostly about how technology is affecting homework, or the lack of homework and that teachers are frustrated with students not being able to concentrate in classrooms.
I was surprised to read this in the NY Times, a paper that I hold in very high regards. The paper is not agreeing with those interviewed, it is only reporting how teachers in this area feel.

I do believe that teachers should be jumping on the technology train to successful students. One teacher is quoted in the article as saying that when rock and roll became popular there was no need to teach through that just because students were listening to it, so why should the same be done for technology. Well.... sorry teach, but rock and roll is a genre of music, technology is the way to the future, look around you... it is everywhere!

I did however like the link on the side of the article "Video Feature, Teachers Views on Technology" most of the videos are all pro-technology and the teachers share in their successes of teaching with technology.

I obviously believe in teaching through technology and I try to learn everything that I can about it. I need to if I am going to connect with my students. My own children are addicted to every gadget they can get their hands on and when there is a homework assignment that involves technology, then guess what? They do that assignment first, the minute they walk in the door and love every minute of it!

NY Times Technology Article

I Dare You To......

Reading the "Writing Essentials" text has made me realize how important it is to get your students to love to write. There are many teachers out there who use the writing prompts, grade the grammar and spelling, and have the students re-write. But what I have learned is that writing is so much more than that! When a student reads a book, they will read more and more if they like the book, writing is the same way, you need to get a student to like it... but how?
Routman explains that you should have them write about themselves. Gosh, really? Do people like to write about their own experiences, their own idea's? but of course!

In my current Dyad the teacher did an amazing thing that I was so happy to have witnessed because I thought of Routman the entire time he did his lesson. He is currently doing a read-a-loud of "How to Eat Fried Worms", but he isn't the one doing the reading, he has a CD where someone else is. He has explained over the week to listen to the "voice", the excitement it has when reading, and how the speaker makes the reader want to know what is going to happen next. "How does a writer do that?" he asked his students. "How does a writer get his/her audience to want to read more and continue reading the story?"

A week later, after they had finished reading the book, he called them all to the carpet and asked them if they have ever been dared to do something or had they dared someone to do something? (this is because the book they had listened to is about a boy daring another boy to eat 15 worms!) Hands shot up from every student! He called on every single one and they shared the story.
The next day, he called them to the carpet again and this time he spoke about how to start a story to get your readers attention using the dare they shared the day before. It was amazing!! These students were so excited to write that they couldn't wait to get back and begin! As they worked on their stories over the next week, he had mini-conferences with each, making sure they were on track, had "voice" and an enticing beginning and satisfying closing. He never checked for spelling or grammar until the final draft. He did everything that Routman spoke of in chapter 9.

A week after that, the teacher brought in a recorder and let the students record their written story. They used "voice" and expression as they read from the story they had written.
It was an amazing thing to witness and I can honestly say that I have never seen so much excitement in students for a writing assignment.

What I learned this week...

In social studies we watched a segment done by Anderson Cooper on how children look, and see, skin color. I was mesmerized with the entire segment. I have felt that I am one of those parents that has talked a great deal to my children about skin color but after watching this segment I was left to wonder if I really have. An African-American mother commented that because of the negative stereotyping that her children are exposed to she MUST talk about color. This made me think... if my children were in that position, would I talk differently about the subject? I think I would..



In tech class I have learned how to develop a website! This has been so much fun! I've begun to create different tabs with favorite books, favorite math sites, what's in the news, etc.. The only problem? I need a classroom of students and parents to show it to!

In math class I learned to solve 16X18 in my head! This may be easier to some of you, as it was to some of my peers at the table I sat at, but when I was given the problem I immediately whipped out a piece of paper and figured it out the long way (or old school way). Then I learned the half/double routine:
16 x 18
8 x 36
4 x 72
2 x 144
1 x 288
Basically, what this all means is that you have to take a problem and change it to make it easier for you!

Outside of my classes...
I have been writing things I am thankful for everyday on Facebook. When I started out I was thinking, "Oh boy... this is going to be hard." I am actually finding it to be the opposite. I haven't had any trouble thinking of things, which has made me realized that as often as I think I'm losing it, I truly am not. I have a very blessed life that I have worked hard at and enjoy where I am at and who I share it with.

I have also learned that I am not superwoman! This has been a very hard thing for me to admit... I have always been able to do it all... and I probably still do way too much... but I am learning to say "NO" to a lot and as hard as it was at first, it is getting easier....

Lastly, I have learned that I will make a great teacher because I still believe in the importance of it. I am not expected to know it all but to only help my students find and build that passion within them to learn.

Let's Talk DIBELS!

The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills. There are 5 areas that students get tested on: phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle and phonics, accurate and fluent reading, vocabulary, and comprehension.


My 5th grader came home one afternoon and announced that she was "stupid and never wanted to read again" She went on to say that she hated the Read Naturally program. I was stunned, what program was that? Something I had never heard of before... so I made an appointment with her teacher for the next afternoon. The rest of the evening I quizzed my daughter on this program. She informed me that when the other kids in her class have reading circle, she leaves and goes elsewhere. Her spelling words also changed from 5th grade words to words like "make" and "toss"


The next afternoon when I met with her teacher I asked about the program and why I hadn't received any info about it. I was told that it was a new program they were trying to get going for struggling readers and that notices were being sent home next week. I then asked what qualified my daughter to be a struggling reader? The teacher said it was because she did poorly on her oral reading for the DIBELS testing. 
"Was she able to comprehend what she read?" I asked
"Yes, she answered all questions correctly. But she didn't pause at any punctuation, she read with out a voice"
"Is it possible that she knew someone was timing how far she read with a stopwatch?" (this I knew because as a parent volunteer I had to do this testing for a teacher the previous year.)
"Maybe, but her words still had no flow to them, it was a bit jumbled, hard to understand."
I then brought out the info I had on my daughter.. always been a grade level reader, MSP scores showed her as "advanced" in reading comprehension, and her AR level was a 5.7 as of last week. 
"How could a one minute DIBELS test trump all of these other things?" I asked. "Not only that, but I have a child who loved to read and now won't pick up a book because she thinks she's dumb based on a standard test. We need a new plan."


This made me realize that as a future teacher you HAVE to look at everything a student does or has done. That you can't take a one minute test and make a big decision on a student and their learning based just on that test. It can cause detrimental damage in some way or another. Teachers need to take their time, look at the students past, talk with former teachers the student had and make sure this is really the right move. Also look at the test that was given. Maybe they don't do well with a stopwatch ticking away in front of them or maybe they're nervous to be tested in front of their peers. The decision of the teacher has everything to do with a student and getting them to love to learn. Not all parents are like me, involved and willingly to be an advocate for their kids. What if my daughter never informed me of this program or I had kept my daughter in this program? She would have lost her love to learn, to read.


My daughter? She was pulled from the program, placed back with her class and is reading a 6th grade book and taking 6th grade spelling tests and most important... is loving to learn!

Do Not Accept Failure as an Option

I've been thinking a lot about teachers and what makes them think whether a child is a failure or not. Shouldn't the question for them be, "Have I failed a child today?" Does failure occur when a student doesn't pass a standardized test or is it when a student doesn't go beyond what you know they are capable of, yet they stay at grade level, so it's OK?

For some reason these are things I began to think about when reading Regie Routman this week. I loved how she said that, "raised expectations mean that students learn what it means to explore writing in depth" (p54). I think this would go for any subject if a teacher gave high expectations in it and to their students by asking them to explore more. No matter where a student lives, has advantages or disadvantages, they don't need different instruction, they just need more good instruction, high expectations, and support from their teachers.

Literacy is a lifelong skill so by having higher expectations and getting students to "explain their thinking" can only make a student more successful. Yes, Routman uses all of her examples in literacy (writing), but it really does work for everything else too. She continues that, "unless we spend lots of time doing the task with them" (p.76), students will not only master the skills but become confident in them and then become an independent learner.

So share! Share your work, share your ideas and most important share your own failures. this in turn will gain your learners trust which is the most important thing you can do. If you can accomplish that, then you haven't failed a child.

This is something my dyad teacher does. He is an amazing teacher!! Every student in his class is important, every student feels important and every student knows it and believes it! He is truly developing strong readers, writers and mathematicians. He allows a student to voice an opinion and to know that what they say has been acknowledged.
When it comes to reading and writing, he never uses the "usual" writing prompts. His prompts usually go with a book that they are reading together. He gets them excited for the book and the writing. This past week after reading the beginning passages of "How to Eat Fried Worms" he got the class into a great conversation about whether they have ever been dared to do something or not? He listened to all of them as they shared an experienced. The next day the writing prompt was on the board, "have you ever been dared to do something? Well I have. Let me tell you about it". These students were so excited to begin to write that I honestly don't think they even realized that they were doing an assignment!

So, yes, get students excited, get them to share their everyday happenings and get them to want to learn by expecting great things from them!

The other thing I was thinking about during this weeks readings in Fox were phonics and vowels. I still struggle with an ELL student being able to "hear" the correct sound when they are unable to pronounce it correctly. I sat with 4 students in my main placement where my job was to teach them their vowel sounds. All students, while speaking English well, only a slight accent, still had trouble hearing the short "e", "a" if they said the word. However, if I said the word they understood. Just something to think about when working with students who speak a different language, a 2nd language or has an accent.

Literacy- Week 3: Excited to get Kids to Write!

     Could there possibly be a better book out there on how to get students to love writing, than Regie Routman’s, Writing Essentials? I love to write, I’ve never thought myself particularly brilliant at it, but I love that I can get my thoughts down on paper and reflect on those thoughts at a later time. So, the question always comes out, “How can you get a student to come to that same realization and make them see the benefits of writing?”

     Routman says that too many teachers are either not confident in their own writing or teach writing based on test scores only. They have come to believe that the published programs on writing (curriculum) is the best to teach and have forgotten the fact that if a student is taught to love writing first, then they will do well on the tests. But how do you do that? How do you teach writing so that all students become effective and joyful writers and communicators?

     Routman has her 12 writing essentials that lists such things as “write for a specific reader”, “create engaging leads”, and “craft authentic voice”. Apply correct conventions and form is listed as number 10. It was after reading this that it hit me! Teachers are doing it all wrong! We should be helping students find their voice first, we should be celebrating their “risk taking” by helping them find writing topics that they can relate to, and most of all, we should be encouraging them, even if there is only one sentence written in a 30 minute class.

     I liked how Routman said that teachers should model writing in front of their class. Explain you should be your heart on the page when writing. Show them how to take a topic that is interesting to them, or an everyday happening, and begin a “list” of things to talk about. It can be a small list written on a post-it note and build on it from there.

     Routman’s one line that affected me the most? “Kids enter kindergarten loving school and full of the promise of possibilities. They see themselves as writers…they want to write. It’s our job to ensure they don’t lose that positive, I am a writer spirit” (p. 20).

    Isn’t this what it is all about? To make kids love to write! I know that after reading these first three chapters I am ready, and excited, to teach it!


Regie Routman's website:
http://www.regieroutman.com/

Move Over Johnny Appleseed, There's a New Girl in History!

I have had a fabulous day!!! I spend my Friday's volunteering at my younger daughter's school for her 5th grade class and today was just amazing! I had asked her teacher if I could do a read-a-loud and she welcomed the idea with open arms. Of course, I was nervous because, well, they're 5th graders!

I decided to read to them "Wangari's Trees of Peace", because I had come across the book last year and had not had the chance to read it to a class. I kept going back and forth on the content because it does have a couple sentences about Wangari being clubbed by soldiers and thrown in prison. But I felt so strongly that the message in the book was too important not to share with the students. Basically, that Wangari kept doing what she knew was right and didn't let anyone stop her. After reading the book the class and I had a fabulous discussion on Wangari, her beliefs and how one person can really make a difference.

One girl brought up learning about Johnny Appleseed in the 1st grade and that he "kinda did the same thing". This got me to thinking that Wangari is much more of an inspiration than Johnny Appleseed and I asked the kids if they had a choice, who would they want to study. They chose Wangari. Mostly because she is a recent person in history. For me, it is because she is a woman, in Africa, who followed her heart and her head and didn't let anyone stop her!

I then showed this video to the class, explaining that the power of one can go far and that you should never give up on what you feel is right and believe in. It was a great day!

Wisdom from the math professor

- Again everyone solves a problem differently depending on how they see it.
When you see the problem 15 + 19, does your mind solve by:

15
+19

or 15+20-1

or 15+19=14+10


- "Get into the habit of writing addition and subtraction problems horizontally (46 + 37) this allows the students to give meaning to the numbers as 10s and 1s"

- "Help students figure out how to turn a math problem into a friendly problem. One that they can solve easily"
ex: 46+37
40 + 30
6 + 7
70 + 13
OR: using doubles
ex: 25+28
25 + 25 + 3

- When a student shows you a way to solve a problem that you are unfamiliar with, or if their process isn't what you want, say, "Oh, I thought about it so differently. Show me your thinking"

- If a student is unsure about sharing their process in front of others say, "We're in a place where we all share our thinking"