Summary of Chapter 1: Christian Teachers in Public Schools

So I know this has nothing to do specifically with WBT, but since it is my blog I can write pretty much what I want, right? I will write later about WBT for the upcoming year though.

I bought Christian Teachers in Public Schools: 13 Essentials for the Classroom because I was struggling on how to show love to some of the student personalities I consistently come across. You know the ones...mad at the whole world but for whatever reason decide to take it out on just you. I know my actions don't always demonstrate a WWJD manner. Also, I was reading  WBT blog where the author wrote a response to each chapter of Chris Biffle's new WBteaching book published by Amazon. So I decided to emulate the way she documented her readings.

Prayer is the essential to Christian life. I  mean how can I become more like God if I don't talk and listen to Him? Chapter 1 is about Learning to Pray. I was able to gather some specifics on what to pray for my students.

1. Pray for me to have caring interactions with my students so that they may see Christ through me. Not simple huh? Hard to show Christ's love to someone for the hundredth time disobeyed you and challenges you to even look at them with "the teacher look." How can I react, redirect, and possibly discipline or punish in a way that the child can still see God's love through me?

2. Advertise a "Prayer Walk" and ask teachers to e-mail or submit on a sheet of paper specifics so when I come to their classroom door I have something specific to pray for. Explain also that their requests will remain confidential. Through this I will be a witness also to the teacher/ administrator body.

3. Pray specifics for students. This I have done for the past few years. I also have asked students if they wanted me to to come by during Extended Learning and I will pray with them. I have had students come by. What a true honor for me to pray with a child. There also has been two incidences where I have stopped teaching and had everyone bow their heads and I have prayed aloud. There are tooooooo many children out there who do not attend church, attend and don't pay any attention, and come from houses and not homes.

I loved when the author said that "We face needy children and new challenges for which human resources are simply not enough." So true. Teachers are constantly having more and more added to their plates with nothing being removed. Plates are full and over running with all the haveto, mustdods, and needtobedones. Only other teachers can understand the pressure. Doctors can walk away from patients. Lawyers can close their doors. Architects work until the project is completed and then breathe for a while. Teaching does not afford such. We can not simply turn out our lights at the end of a school day and go home. We have papers to grade. Students to worry about. Lesson plans to tweak. Our projects do not end. We are like a continuous wave in the ocean: at times large, other times small but always moving. I know of no other profession as difficult as teaching, which is why I know I need God more in the classroom. The more I give over me the more He will be in control. The more He is in control the less I stress.

It is great that there is WBT out there. It contains so many great ideas and improvements for my classroom. However, without God's guidance even WBT isn't enough to reach children on the academic, emotional, and spiritual level. Teachers are always looking for the right tools to implement in the classroom to help with student engagement, classroom management, and reduce teacher stress. Prayer should be at the top of the list.

Change....January 1, 2013

So many changes have occurred since my last post. Of course, since the last post was in August, there should have been some changes.

Most of my students bought into Class-Yes! but were becoming a little bored.  I did well with lower my voice to a whisper for them to mimic me, but other voices I am seriously uncomfortable with.  However, when my new class came along about 9 weeks into the school year, I simply just didn't feel like or have the time to "train" them.With all the common core and my alter "perfectionist" persona, I also begin to struggle with even remembering Class-Yes! I always push my students and myself. With common core implementation I am wanting my students to meet and surpass the standards with minimal effort. AND, guess what? Yep, seventh graders just aren't buying it! Mostly, they just are not academically motivated. They are happy to pass. They do not want to take their knowledge to a higher level. Thankfully they are not high in the misbehavior department.

The scoreboard never took off for me in the classroom. I tried all the possible/ suggested ways and a few of my own. I think so many of my students have either (a) burned out on any type of reward because last year they were rewarded for everything or (2) are apathetic to most positive motivation. After 20+ years of classroom management being done one way, it sure is hard to make a consistent change. The scoreboard is still up (I tried to erase it before Christmas Break and the ink is dried to the board!). Maybe I will try it again...or wait until next year.

Mentioning next year, I was informed that I will be teaching eighth grade next year.  My principal really liked me implementing Genius Ladder. We call it the Genius Paragraph since we are in middle school. So new common core, new textbooks, BUT the same students. So I am being careful with what I use for presentations because I do not want a repeat for the students next year.

Another change was the school dropped a couple of teachers because our numbers did not qualify us for the number of teachers. So no longer do I teach language and reading but only language. Now if you don't know common core doesn't differentiate. Reading and language go hand in hand. Also, once my classes had settled down ( We have a lot of transition until September), and I had learned just about everyone's name, I received a whole new class of 30 students!  Initially, the students were bucking me and my ways because I am "old" school. Naturally, they wanted to return to their former teacher. Secretly, I wanted them to return also! Time was cut by 15 minutes in all classes. Stressful because now I teach only language arts, yet I help with the lesson planning for the reading also since the teacher has NEVER taught middle school (and shhhhh!doesn't want to learn)

Finally on a personal level my husband's 3rd vertebrate has slipped and we have been driving almost every other month to a hospital 3 hours away for various tests etc. to convince insurance that the only solution is surgery. That or him living with his head chopped off!

Now a reflection on the words "on a personal level". Exactly what effective teacher out there has a personal life during a school year?

I have done a couple of wholebrain implementations with a little twist. I will talk about at least one of them this weekend. Don't want to share without pictures.

Have you tried http://www.learnzillion.com ? Great site offerring support for common core teaching! AND, as always meeting my standard...... FREE!

Week Three of WBT and Me

This week I think I fell back into some of my "old" teaching styles. Guess what???? They worked as well as they did when I used them last. I left at the end of the class period feeling frustrated and worn out. Monday I will become a new woman...a WBT woman. Two of my classes are becoming lethargic in their "Class-Yes" responses. Not their fault. I take full blame. One of my students, an IEP, even said I was not doing the "class thing" too much anymore. The Scoreboard has been a flop! Tow of my classes beat me and received a reward, but they thought they deserved more. So the plan Monday is to have them generate a list of "free" things they can win when they beat me at the Scoreboard. Maybe this will help them to buy into it more. I also need to spend some time (whenwhenwhen?) looking into Mind Soccer and other fun review activities for Fun Fridays.

With the Scoreboard I was keeping a daily tally so student could see how close they were each day. Maybe the Scoreboard is not visually appealing to seventh grade students? In looking at the board you would think my more difficult students were evident by the differences in the numbers from "them" vs. "me". Not true. My most difficult class is the first class! I also have written with smiley faces what they were doing correctly and what was being consistently done incorrectly. They just do not want to give up their talking, joking, and put downs.

Again from teacherspayteachers, I think is an assess yourself concept. I created the tree map and we really focus on the words novice, apprentice, practitioner and expert. I write an "I can...." statement on a writing strip and the students assess themselves using post-its. Quickly I am able to see who needs what level of instruction. I really stress that the students be honest with themselves. I even turn the board away from the class, so those sitting near do not have the opportunity to see who is ranking themselves how. Seventh grade students are ALWAYS looking for ways to make others feel bad. Students have the opportunity to walk up and around the board to place their sticky note on it.

Posted in the room are the definitions of a novice, apprentice, practitioner, and expert. We review these often. Also I used the same terms with my rubrics for writing. Friday, during a writing one of the students used practitioner within her writing as one of her two mandatory vocabulary words.

Goals:
Grade papers
Prepare for Grade Recovery
Create a project for "Thank You, M'am"
Revisit my presentation for my two lower classes
Implement Scoreboard with MORE gusto

Welcome to my Seventh Grade Home Away from Home

Welcome to my home away from home. I think many teachers feel this way. Are you like me in that even when you are not in your classroom, you are thinking "teacher" thoughts? It drives my sweet husband crazy when all he wants is a little of my time and I am thinking of Whole Brain Teaching and ways to better implement it into my classroom.

So here is my classroom door. Idea stolen from a freebie on teacherspayteachers. It says, "When you enter this classroom..." and then there are many descriptions. For example: You are a learner. You are a writer. Get the idea? All it took was bulletin board paper (free), printer paper (free), glue stick (free), masking tape (free) and finally clear contact paper from Wal-mart (cheap). Can you tell that I like free? My husband sure does also. I have received a lot of compliments from the door and so far no destruction, so students must like it also. I plan to change it out monthly. Next month I will feature the Genius Paragraph.

To the left on the door are copies of two pieces of student work with teacher commentary. I wanted students to know early that I would be looking at their work and showing off exceptional pieces. Also, it quickly lets administration know that teaching is going on. The big push this year is writing, so already I have evidence of student writing posted.

Are word walls big at your school? When we first began word walls, and I googled for more information all I could find was elementary information. Initially my word wall was for looks only. There was not much interaction.  I simply had the words randomly written on my dry erase board. We were given last year in our "Welcome Back" bags a box of 80 CD covers. Really? What can I do with those?  Probably the idea hit in the middle of the night (Most of my good ideas do.). Using a cardboard box from the school (free), I covered the flatten box with bulletin board paper (yep, free). Used double sided tape from the media center (free, I have good connection) and just taped the empty CD covers up. I cut up a plethora of squares from construction paper (free) at the beginning of the year. All I have to do is write the word and definition on the construction paper and slide it into the CD plastic holder. Ohhhh...did have to buy the boarder (Dollar Store).

This year I used the same CD covers and pasted them outside on every other locker. Students went out into the hallway and copied the word/ definition into the ISN. Every 40 seconds I had them move to another word. Perfect behavior from the group of seventh graders, even when another class came walking down the hall. I didn't have to wait for the slower writing or slower working students to finish. A couple of years ago I would have given this assignment in worksheet form and walked around the classroom begging for the students to remain on task and to finish up. Can you imagine all students only taking 40 seconds (really less) to write a word and its definition? Friday, when we were working on our essays, I even had a few students ask to go to the Word Wall to revisit the words.

I stole an idea for my Super Improvers Wall and am eager to get it up. I hope this week to find the time to create it.

I continue to struggle with getting students to buy in 100% to the Scoreboard. I think this week I will have a daily reward. Last week I discovered a cool video from YouTube about the coordination conjunctions that one of my classes was able to watch since we were extended by 45 minutes! They asked, and I played, to see it over and over. So I could reward the winning class this week daily by playing the video and allowing them to dance. Honestly, I don't think they learned much from the video. They just liked the music.

I love working with the genius ladder. You will see more of that later. It is a great tool for application/evidence of differentiation.

Scoreboard and Brownie Points

This week my goal was to make a better effort implementing the Scoreboard within each classroom. I watched WBT video (517) on implementing the scoreboard. Most of the students are on board. I even had to leave a combined class today to go and observe another teacher. The teacher covering my class was amazed at how well the class behavior was while I was gone. What was really cool was that the classroom was wall to wall students because we broke up a classroom. I had about 10 extra students in the room. There were about 35 students in the room. All on task. All working. The students received a Mighty Oh Yeah! (Smiley Face). I think this week someone will win against me so I can prime the pump.

In my classroom I also am implementing the "Brownie Point" system. I drew and trimmed from construction paper "brownie pans". Any adult can sign a brownie (brown construction paper). When the tray is full, I will bake the class brownies. Whenever an another adult is around, the students are on their BEST behavior. Before they leave the presence of the adult, they ask if the adult will sign their brownie.

Today, because I had a class and a half with me at lunch I told them that both classes would receive a brownie if an adult complimented their behavior. However, if they did not make it up to the classroom with the same behavior, I would half one brownie and each class would receive only half. They got half. Like Coach B says - Keep standards high. Now each of those two classes has to get an extra brownie to fill up the half brownie space on the tray.

I look forward to going to the media center next week knowing that the students will be wonderful just to earn a brownie!

Shout out to me.....My principal emailed me compliments for student engagement and had me share about WBT at the faculty meeting.

Goals:
Super Improvers Wall
Genius Ladder
Take pictures and post

I have essays this weekend to grade...joy, joy, joy

Weekly Reflection

So Friday I had the students set up their Interactive Student Notebooks (ISN). Their first entry was entitled "Weekly Reflection". After we orally wrote and orally edited as a whole group they went to work on their independent writing. Many wrote a full page! WHOOOO! Too often I have students ask "how long does it have to be"? This time there wasn't any question. Some even went to the second page. Those who did stop writing I asked them if I could oral edit their writing. Much better then simply telling them to write some more. For my last two classes I also had them write what the best part of the week in my class was. Whooo! They talked about the hand movements, the brownie points, and being able to talk with others in class. one even said she like the oral writing/ editing and was doing it even while she wrote.

Teachers spend so much time hearing negative from students. As the year goes on the parents also get on board and complain. Maybe also administrators complain about overall scores when students being taking benchmark assessments. It is wonderful to finish out the week reading something positive from the ones who matter the most...my students. Friday I turned off my classroom lights looking forward to turning them back on Monday.

Monday I plan on returning to the basics and stressing to the students the hand movements with "Class-Yes". As last week went on I became content with their halfhearted "yes" and didn't focus on making sure their hands were folded. Also, I need to implement the scoreboard more deligently. I did have a few students ask if they had scored enough points for "Friday Fun", and I never even mentioned if they even needed a set number of points! I can't expect these fish to keep biting if I don't use the right bait.

So what will be on the menu for "Friday Fun"? The goal is to prepare for a few minutes of "Minute to Win It". It is something they have not done, so there is the hook. It is too early in the year to have too much down time for them, and I need to set the tone.

Monday I also plan on implementing the "Genius Ladder". My principal is wanting all classes to really focus on writing. I can tell I do have some good writers who already know paragraph indention and development. However, I also I had too many who seemed to have no clue and preferred to write from the top of the page all the way down or not even write a paragraph but write each sentence with a number on the left. I think the Genius Ladder can be differentiated applied to help all students.

GOALS:
Genius Ladder
Minute to Win It
Scoreboard
Super Improvers Wall
Take pictures of classroom and post

Day Three with WBT

Today is number three of me being a Whole Brain Teacher in a seventh grade classroom. So how are things going? I will have to say pretty well. Today was the first day of me falling back into the habit of pleading with students and reminding them over and over again to remain on task. I know I did not use the scoreboard like I should have and students are becoming more settled into the class.

So Monday began with me introducing "Class-Yes" with most of the students buying into the idea. We practiced saying the phrase in many different ways until we both became comfortable with it. Since I teach middle school I also taught the 5 classroom rules and their motions. I tried teaching the scoreboard and "Teach-Okay" also.

What's the problem? The students seem really easy to train. It is this teacher who is struggling. I have said the same things for so long that there have been times the past three days when I became tongue-tied. Has anyone experienced that? While it is certainly easier to return to my old patterns of teaching, they are not the better ones to pull from.  I have forgotten to consistently use the scoreboard. I have not required the students to raise their hands and motion for permission to speak. I was thrilled today when one of my students raised his hand for permission to walk, hand gestures and all. These problems are not the students though. They are mine.

So what is the fourth day's goal? I pulled the students out of small groups and straightened up my rows. Tomorrow we will have some more traditional work for the class so that I can spend time working on training me (the teacher) to consistently implement the scoreboard, "Class-Yes", and  encouraging of students to use the classroom rules.

I am still struggling with creating my Super Improvers Wall. I think what I am going to do is to place all the students names into the computer. I can print out their names and glue the name to the beginning color of my SIW. From there I will add stars to the cards and as the student moves up in rank I will print his name out and place it on the corresponding color card. Initially a lot of work, but I know it will be well worth it. I can see already where a few of my students will get back into line just knowing their name is on the SIW and they see success.

Wow! A super week so far with this being the first year for me and whole brain teaching AND my first blog entry! Here is proof that one is never too old to learn!